It was evening. The warm lights radiating off the decorations hung around the Peace Mansion filled the atmosphere with joy.
The bride was currently conversing with her three pregnant bridesmaids. They felt each other’s bellies, exchanging thoughts and muses about pregnancy. The groom was cast aside by the lot, no one bothering to include him into their conversation.
Xia Lei paced outside the door back and forth, stopping once in a while to stare at nowhere. He was anxious. This was the hour that he was supposed to consummate his marriage with Fan Fan, but the bride hadn’t done so much as look at him in the eye.
There was no other reason for that. This Xia Lei was fake. The real Xia Lei was currently on a stakeout in Li Youdun’s office over at the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters.
Now that the collaborative operation between the FA Organization and the Hattori clan had failed, the CIA informant base was definitely going to contact him soon. Xia Lei was waiting for the fated emergence of the messenger dove.
One hour had passed and there was still no sign of the dove. Despite that, Xia Lei had not felt nervous nor had he felt the need to activate Xiao Qian to begin bugging the informant base.
Using Xiao Qian to excavate intel from the CIA could only be done once. That single instance would result in the CIA noticing the virus and then destroying it off. That was why Xia Lei had decided to only use Xiao Qian when it is most crucial.
He decided to utilize his waiting time by browsing the world wide web for equipment suppliers. He was in search of suitable machinery that could be used in the production of Alloy X and the drone. But of course, these pieces of machinery would undergo customization once they arrived at the doorstep of Thunder Horse Organization.
The country was more than happy to provide the Thunder Horse Organization with everything they needed but Xia Lei had to admit that their domestically produced machinery was lacking quite significantly. With that being said, the domestic machines would require a lot of customization and that would become a burden to his workload. This was the main reason why Xia Lei was more willing to pour in more funds to import equipment from other countries.
Soon, the skies turned dark.
“Was my prediction off? Could it be that the CIA informants had not thought of contacting me?” Xia Lei’s confidence was wavering. He continued to stay rooted in the office but eventually decided to leave after an extended period of time.
At this moment, the long-awaited messenger dove flew in from the window and perched itself on top of Li Youdun’s desk. There was a note stuck to its anklet, obvious to sight.
“Coo… Coo…” The dove called, as if urging Xia Lei to hurry up and retrieve the note.
Xia Lei grabbed it and plucked out the note.
On it was a string of numbers. 66, 39, 28, 56…
It was the same as the last note, all of the numbers pointed to a certain page in the book.
Xia Lei didn’t even need to flip through the pages of the french version of L'Île mystérieuse this time. On cue, the image of the entire book appeared on the front of his mind. It didn’t take long for the man to pinpoint the corresponding pages and lines. Before long, the translated lines began to manifest in his thoughts.
The content of the note was spelt out in his head. Tomorrow, two p.m., Great Wall Mutianyu section.
Xia Lei released the dove and left Li Youdun’s office.
Upon entering the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei had already returned to his original state. Liu Zhengnan had left the premises after receiving a message from Xia Lei.
His entrance into the bridal room was welcomed by the sight of all four of his women. His lovers were all smiles and giggles, obviously engrossed in their conversation.
“I’m back,” said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan lifted her head to meet his eye. “Zhengnan, that’s not funny.”
Xia Lei went over and slapped her ass hard. “Huh? You can’t even recognize your own husband?”
The sound that rang from the physical contact was crisp. While Xia Lei’s exertion was suppressed, the impact was loud. Fan Fan was stunned but reached a jerky arm over to embrace him. “Haha, it’s your fault that you asked Liu Zhengnan to be your imposter. What should I do if he tries to cop a feel?”
Xia Lei slapped her ass once again, this time softer.
“We should head back now, have a great rest tonight,” announced Liang Siyao, sending a meaningful glance to Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing.
“Yeah, it’s quite late already. We should head back to rest.” Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi immediately took the hint. They swiftly trailed behind Liang Siyao and took their leave.
Xia Lei teased shamelessly, “Hey, why are you all leaving? Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep together?”
“In your dreams.” Liang Siyao scoffed and disappeared out of sight along with Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi.
When Liang Siyao and Xia Lei got married on New Year’s Eve, she was allowed to enjoy their privacy alone. Now that it was Fan Fan’s turn to get married, Liang Siyao was determined to not impede on their private moment. Liang Siyao was now the main manager in Xia Lei’s messy family. She had taken it upon herself to coordinate the relationships between the women.
Exiting Xia Lei and Fan Fan’s bridal room, Liang Siyao reached over and grabbed Long Bing’s wrist. “Ah Bing, tell me. What kind of wedding would you like to have?”
Long Bing shook her head. “The thought has never crossed my mind. I’m fine without a ceremony. I don’t really care about it. It’s just a figure of celebration.”
Liang Siyao frowned. “Don’t say that. A wedding is a very important event for women. Give it a thought and tell me how you would like your wedding to be, I’ll plan it for you.”
“Sure, I’ll tell you when I’ve got an idea.” Liang Siyao turned around to hold Jiang Ruyi’s hand this time. “How about you, Ruyi? How would you like your wedding to be?”
Jiang Ruyi hummed in thought. “Honestly, I’ve not thought about it. I’ll tell you when I think of something.”
Liang Siyao flashed them a smile. “I’m sure you’ve some thoughts about it. You would probably want the ceremony to be held in Haizhu, right? Were your parents able to attend with ease? I can plan for Xia Lei to travel to Haizhu for your wedding.”
That brought a small smile to Jiang Ruyi’s lips. “Thank you, Siyao.”
Liang Siyao beamed. “You’re welcome. We’re a family now, there’s no need to be so courteous.”
Abruptly, their synergy was interrupted by a strangled moan that sounded like Fan Fan.
The three women couldn’t help but turn around wide-eyed.
There was a beat of silence before Liang Siyao regained her composure. “She really needs to go get some medical attention for her disease. Her bed stamina is literally non-existent.”
The next day, in the afternoon.
A Buick Encore parked itself in the parking lot of the Mutianyu Great Wall attraction located in the outskirts of Jingdu. Xia Lei exited his car, bought admission tickets and entered the site.
To not meet at the informant base was William's intention. It was weird that the CIA leader had not instructed Li Youdun to meet at the Tree Leaf Cafe. But this showed how powerful Williams’ orders were.
Xia Lei ascended the stairs to the Great Wall, travelling along its majestic length while studying his surroundings. It was still the Lunar New Year and the place was crowded with tourists. The traffic was horrible along the walls. But despite the situation, Xia Lei had it all under control. As long as the person is within his field of vision, no one could hide nor escape his detection.
With the powerful synergy between his eyes and brain, an assassin hidden in the crowd with the desire to take him down could be easily avoided!
Continuing his path ahead, a few ‘tourists’ caught Xia Lei’s attention. A few people blended into the crowd, seemingly training their gazes on him from time to time. They were armed with cold weapons, short daggers and shurikens.
“Are they from the Hattori clan?” Noticing the assortment of weapons on their bodies, Xia Lei’s mind landed itself in confusion. “The elites of the Hattori clan were almost depleted, why are there still ninjas here? Unless…”
He immediately remembered someone. Hattori Mei.
Thinking about the possibility of Hattori Mei here filled his heart with a flurry of emotions. As long as Hattori Mei was dead, the threat Hattori clan posed on him would be eased by half!
A man started to walk towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei immediately recognized him. He was the waiter at the Tree Leaf Cafe. So he was right. The waiter was part of the CIA. Following that, Xia Lei returned his attention to the spying ‘tourist’. The man stood tall on a tower with a pair of binoculars in his grip. He pretended to appreciate the scenery but in reality, the man had been observing him.
Was this part of the strategy?
Xia Lei felt his heart sink. “Had they noticed that I’m an imposter? Are they trying to take me down here? That’s impossible. There are just too many eyes here…”
The man finally got to the front of Xia Lei after weaving through the crowd. In a lowered voice, he spoke, “Mister Li, please follow me.” He turned around and began to walk in that direction.
Xia Lei followed him forward.
They continued their trek past the tower, soon reaching an area with fewer tourists. The two men picked up their paces. The ninjas Xia Lei had spotted earlier joined their path, keeping a huge distance between them. They were experts of stealth. It was literally impossible for anyone to notice anything weird even in a more desolated area. However, their opponent was Xia Lei. No matter how good they were with hiding, they were still vulnerable.
There were fewer tourists a kilometre ahead. They had finally reached a point where the signage had read ‘Renovation Ahead, No Visitors Beyond This Point’. Xia Lei saw a tower with scaffolding but there was no one in plain sight in that area. It was then that he activated his X-ray vision. He hadn’t bothered to use the vision on the stone material but directly applied it to the wooden portion of the tower instead.
He found Yang Shan and his superior, Sperry. Beside them was a woman he was all too familiar with. Hattori Mei was here.
Xia Lei’s hunch was correct. The Hattori clan had paid an excruciating price to assassinate him this time and had gotten no benefit in return. But why did Hattori Mei take the risk to travel to Jingdu? She couldn’t possibly be here to bring away the bodies of her family fighters, right?
The waiter led Xia Lei over to the tower’s stairway. The man paused his footsteps. “Mister Li, please head upstairs.”
And Xia Lei did. His appearance immediately attracted Hattori Mei’s attention. The woman stared at him intently.
“Mister Li, you’re late.” Yang Shan remarked nonchalantly.
Xia Lei replied with the same tone. “My presence here is risky. You should be clear that my mission does not include working for you.”
That seemed to silence Yang Shan.
Hattori Mei stepped forward and held out a hand. “Mister Li, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Hattori Mei.”
“I’m aware of that.” Xia Lei received her palm. “Speak, tell me why you called me here? If there’s no reasonable excuse, I’ll relay your mishap to the CIA headquarters.”
“Well, your journey here is not for nought. I’ve got something really important for you.” Hattori Mei clapped her hands lightly.
One of the family fighters held out a brocade box and came to Xia Lei.