Three days later.
A few printers chugged fervently in the background, printing out sheets of designs. The desk in Xia Lei’s office was crowded with rolls of design plans, each of it reaching a diameter of an inch. These were all the refined products of the designs Xia Lei had ‘duplicated’ off suppliers from America and Europe. Some of them were for Alloy X and the remaining were for the drone.
These design plans were categorized and separated neatly. A majority held information about the spare parts and standard to comply with its components. Xia Lei had done his job to its fullest and the only thing left now was to send it off to domestic suppliers along with negotiations about the quotation.
The rest would be handled by Liang Siyao and the Thunder Horse Organization’s employees.
After he confirmed that the last of it was printed, Xia Lei entered the relaxation room. The man had turned into Li Youdun by the time he exited the space.
Liang Siyao, who had just retrieved the last sheet from the printer, was stunned upon seeing ‘Li Youdun’. It took her a while to respond accordingly. “Hubby, are you sure about this?”
Xia Lei nodded. “Of course, this plan is very important to me. Just do as I say.”
“But you haven’t told me where you’re going to be for the time being? When will I see you?” Liang Siyao’s worry was apparent.
Xia Lei gulped. “You’ll see me in half a month or maybe twenty days. I can assure you that it won’t stretch beyond a month’s time.”
Liang Siyao furrowed her brows. “So how long will this take? Half a month? Twenty days? Or a month? Also, don’t you dare escape my question. Where are you going to be?”
“Haizhu.” Xia Lei answered, “I wish to go back and visit the city. I’m familiar with that place. There’s no way for the CIA to notice me. But you all need to act like you know nothing of this and you must not travel to Haizhu to look for me.”
“Are you really sure about this?”
Xia Lei nodded solemnly. But he was certain that this was just a white lie. The place he was heading to would be dangerous but he didn’t wish to overwhelm his wives with worry.
“Call Zhengnan over. He’s done preparing,” instructed Xia Lei.
A few minutes later, Liu Zhengnan entered Xia Lei’s office. The man had donned a human face mask that Xia Lei had created for him. He was once again, Xia Lei’s imposter.
“Take a seat on my chair, I need to touch up a few things,” said Xia Lei.
Liu Zhengnan plopped himself down on the seat. “Brother, how… How long am I expected to play dead?”
“I’d say ten days to half a month?” Xia Lei grabbed his cosmetic brushes and began his attempt to make Liu Zhengnan appear dead.
“What? Ten days to half a month?” Liu Zhengnan was positively pouting. “Can’t you have someone else do this job instead?”
“Hey, stay still. You’ve played this role several times now. You’re the best at this, no one is fit to be my imposter.”
“Dude, I’m your brother in law!”
“Shut up or I’ll have Xia Xue beat the shit out of you.” Xia Lei warned sternly.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” That seemed to do the job.
Xia Xue was Liu Zhengnan’s weakness. One mention of her was enough to finish him.
Moments after finishing up the look, Xia Lei left the office.
“Hubby? Hubby…! Aaaaaaaaaaah!” Liang Siyao’s cries of despair boomed through the corridor outside Xia Lei’s office.
Her cries surprised the employees in the office block, prompting them to run over to its source. Before they could enter Xia Lei’s office, E’er Demutu was there to halt them. They could only see Xia Lei on his chair from a distance. Xia Lei’s face was purple with blood trickling out of his eyes, nose, lips and ears. The man was even foaming at the edge of his lips. It had appeared that Xia Lei was dead.
“What the hell?”
“How is this possible?”
“Sob… Director Xia… Sob…”
“Director Xia, you can’t leave us! Wake up! You said that you’ll lead us to defeat Lockheed Martin! How can you leave the world just like that?!”
“Aaaahhh! Director Xia!”
Cries and sorrow overwhelmed the office building. Xia Lei was China’s national hero and he was well-received among his subordinates. The employees of the Thunder Horse Organization loved and respected him to bits.
Xia Lei’s other three women had arrived at the scene. E’er Demutu had only stepped aside to allow their entrance before resuming his station at the door. No one was permitted to enter.
The four women surrounded Xia Lei’s lifeless body, crying their lungs out like no tomorrow.
“Hubby, how could you do this to us? What do we do now? What will happen to our children?” Fan Fan cried.
“Sob… Sob… Sob… Hubby… Wake up… Please… Wake up! Sob… Sob…” Jiang Ruyi was inconsolable.
“Wake up! You can’t die on me! Who did this?! I swear I’ll rip them apart! Sob…” Long Bing seethed with both sorrow and anger.
“Hubby… Hubby… You were alright just now. Why did you die in a blink of an eye? Sob…” Liang Siyao mumbled.
Four women with vastly different personalities displayed their sorrow differently.
As if influenced by their tears, more began to sob. In that split second, Thunder Horse Organization turned gloomy, grief heavy in the air.
Ten minutes later, two helicopters landed on an empty square before Thunder Horse Organization.
Tang Yuyan and Shi Boren scrambled out of the aircraft and began to dash into the office block.
Tang Yuyan ran as fast as her legs could carry her. “You damned bastard, you fucking bastard! How could you die?! You made me fall in love with you and yet you had the heart to leave me behind in this world… You bastard!”
Love and hate were two strong emotions, not always separate.
Shi Boren’s expression was solemn. Xia Lei’s death was certainly complicated. It definitely didn’t require much brainwork to figure out that it had something to do with America. What was even more worrying was how far could Thunder Horse advance without Xia Lei? How would the country respond to this massive loss? Every issue he considered was important to the country.
Behind Shi Boren were medical assistance from Bureau 101. They trailed behind the dashing pair closely, medical kit and stretcher in their grip.
“Move aside!” Reaching the top floor, Tang Yuyan squeezed herself between the crowd of employees standing along the corridor. Before they could even make way, she slammed herself into them ruthlessly.
“Hold it!” E’er Demutu raised an arm to barricade Tang Yuyan’s path.
“What the hell are you doing? Fuck off!” Tang Yuyan’s emotions were long out of check.
“You can’t enter.” There was no aggression in E’er Demutu’s tone.
Tang Yuyan drew her Viper pistol and pointed its muzzle at E’er Demutu’s forehead. “I said fuck off!”
The man remained stationary. “You can’t enter.”
“What gives? Arrest him!” Shi Boren arrived at the door, anger written all over his face.
At this moment, Fan Fan finally peeled herself away from Xia Lei’s side to stand behind E’er Demutu. “He’s doing his job under my order.”
For some reason, hearing those words from her lips filled Tang Yuyan with the violent urge to shoot her.
“Officer Fan, do you know what you’re doing?” Shi Boren roared at Fan Fan.
Fan Fan wiped her tears. “My husband is dead and I don’t wish for you to disturb his peace.”
“We’re here to investigate his death! We need to avenge Xia Lei! Also, why are you rejecting medical assistance? There could be a chance for resuscitation! Let us in, please!” Shi Boren pleaded with his words.
Shi Boren had a point.
However, Fan Fan wasn’t having any of it. She replied, “Thunder Horse’s private doctors had already conducted checks. There’s no mistake about this. I’ve already reported his death to the authorities. A designated investigation squad will be arriving shortly. Bureau 101 has no right to be involved in this case.”
“You…” Tang Yuyan couldn’t stop her tears, fury roaring in her heart.
The person she loved had left this world. He was only a few metres away and yet she was not spared the grace of seeing him one last time? This pain was agonizing! Her heart felt like it was ripped into a million pieces!
“Tang Yuyan, put away your gun!” Fan Fan raised her voice. “I’m telling you, this isn’t my personal decision. This is the decision made by the authorities. If you wish to barge in, there will be consequences!”
Tang Yuyan reached an abrupt arm to push at E’er Demutu.
Before E’er Demutu could respond, Shi Boren restrained her. “Yuyan, calm down. This is what the authorities had decided to do. We need to wait outside for further instructions.”
Tang Yuyan gritted her teeth, heart pounding with pain. How she wished she could kick E’er Demutu and Fan Fan away and dash to Xia Lei’s side. How she wished to hug him tightly one last time then send him off to the afterlife. Despite that, her brain began feeding her images of Tang Yunhai and Tang Tianlong. She thought of the Tang family and her urges died down just then. Shi Boren was right. This was a decision made by the higher-ups. If this case had not required the involvement of Bureau 101 and she had stubbornly insisted to enter the scene, her leadership position would be threatened.
She had told Xia Lei that she would leave the Tang family for him. However, this was easier said than done. It was just too difficult.
Shi Boren was worried that Tang Yuyan would lose her cool again. The older man quickly pulled her aside to a window and whispered into her ear. “Do you remember what that Folsom revealed during the Boao Forum? Xia Lei is an advanced human. His body is a valuable resource. His death is marked with an unknown price. The authorities must be aiming to ship his body away for further research. These are things you can’t change.”
Tang Yuyan trembled and hunched forward onto Shi Boren’s shoulder. She fell apart. “Godfather, how… How is he dead? Sob… I loved him so much and yet I cannot have him… Sob…”
Shi Boren wanted to comfort her but he didn’t know what to say. Words paled in a situation like this.
Soon after, a bigger helicopter arrived. Tens of personnel from an unspecified department exited the aircraft. Every ounce of them radiated piercing coldness. They showed a slip to Fan Fan and brought away Xia Lei’s body.
Fan Fan followed the team, leaving Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi to grieve in the office.
Making it onto the helicopter, the dead Xia Lei cracked an eye open. “Sister… Where are we heading to now?”
“The funeral home. Resume your act.” Fan Fan turned to look at him. “Next time, pop a sleeping pill in.”
Liu Zhengnan was speechless.