The rustling sounds of pants being worn rang beside his ear. At that moment, such stimulating sounds reminded Xia Lei of her fair, alluring bosoms.
“Ugh.” Tsukino Kyoko let out a petite little moan before she collapsed onto Xia Lei’s back. Her body was so soft and supple.
Out of the blue, Xia Lei began panicking. “Kyoko, you…”
“I feel dizzy.” Tsukino Kyoko feebly replied.
Xia Lei anxiously turned towards her, and only then did he realise she was extremely pale. He held onto her hand and checked her pulse. It was muddled and erratic, which left him even more panic-stricken. “Are you...feeling worse?”
Tsukino Kyoko murmured weakly. “Not really, but my heart’s beating so fast and I feel so weak.”
“I’ll take you out now alright, to the hospital. Lean on my back I’ll get us out.” Xia Lei freed her from the setup, laid flat on the ground and awaited her to climb onto his back.
Deferring from his suggestion, however, Kyoko replied. “No, you need to find the crystal skull. I know how much it means to you.”
“Screw that. Your life means the most to me! C’mon, cut the crap and get on my back!” Xia Lei was slightly agitated.
But she was insistent. “No, I’m really fine, I can take this.”
Xia Lei emphasized. “I might have extracted most of the toxins from your wound, but I couldn’t do it a hundred per cent! We don’t know everything about the toxin just yet, what if…”
“Clock’s ticking, boss.” Tsukino Kyoko declared.
“You sure are a…” Xia Lei sighed in response. He then pulled out a utility toolbox from his backpack, and from it, he retrieved separate parts of a Gust assault rifle. Assembling them together, he crawled out of the tunnel of the entry. He then aimed and fired at the skulls above!
Bang! Bang!
Clusters of skull pieces puffed up the air as they fractured into pieces. A tight array of iron needles formed an impenetrable death trap over the pyramid.
Xia Lei cleared an entire magazine of five rounds as he single-handedly blew a path out of the granite walls of the cave!
The iron needle trap came to a stop.
Subsequently, Xia Lei brought along his rope and a pair of custom made climbing gloves as he cautiously made his way towards the crystal skull. Throughout most of the action, his body was left hanging haphazardly in the air, solely relying on the strength of his arms! It was as if he was walking on a tightrope. Any misstep and he would succumb to the abyss.
About ten minutes later, Xia Lei finally came close to the crystal skull at the pinnacle of the pyramid. At this point, the glorious beauty of the crystal was right within his field of vision, yet just adequately beyond grasp.
It was not the crystal skull found within the Mayan ruins or the ones in the middle of the British Museum. This wasn’t even made out of crystal! The Mayans sculpted theirs from a single chunk of crystallized rock. This one seemed like a naturally occurring skull!
“A real skull huh? Whose skull could look like this? God?” Xia Lei mumbled.
“Boss…” Tsukino Kyoko’s trembling voice resonated from below. “Hurry!”
Her voice was feeble and shaky, yet within the enclosed structure of the cave walls, he could still hear it in an instant. He promptly snapped out of his contemplation as he replied. “Almost there, just hang on a little.”
He resisted the urge to reach out with his bare hands, choosing to instead first secure the rope onto a granite boulder. It was his escape route should anything go wrong.
Once it was settled, Xia Lei awakened his X-ray vision. He intentionally avoided the crystal skull and began examining its surroundings. The structure of the cave around the direct radius of the skull was complex, to say the least.
Behind the crystal skull was relatively unarmed, a tunnel or crack towards where the scare sunlight seeped through were also absent. It seemed only to be set on the granite rock formations, and to retrieve it was arguably the easiest part of the process.
“But why is the rock formation so strange? Could something be lurking in the radius?” Xia Lei grew more suspicious with time.
On one hand, Tsukino Kyoko’s life is on the brink, and there was no guarantee how much time more could she afford. But on the other, the crystal skull was now within reach, and all he had to do was to grab and go. But somehow, the more straightforward the process was the more apprehensive Xia Lei was of it. And in a crucial time like this, he managed to calm his mind.
Xia Lei began to envision the structure of the pyramid in his head, piece by piece, from its length and width to the approximate weight of each singular building block.
And then he began structuring a simulation in his mind as he removed the crystal skull from the pinnacle of the pyramid. What came next was shocking as the entire megastructure crumbled into rubble! Piles and piles of stone boulders and debris collapsed upon themselves!
“Phew…” Even if it was a simulation, that sure caught him off guard.
Fixated onto the simulation in his mind, the entire deconstruction of the pyramid took at most only two seconds! And in those two seconds, he couldn’t picture himself escaping into the tunnel. And even if he did, the collapse of the pyramid would bury himself and Kyoko alive under its debris!
With a structure like that, no one could possibly retrieve the crystal skull from the pinnacle of the pyramid.
Which reminded him of his assumptions a while back. He was sceptical that the crystal skull would still be in place, yet it would never have crossed his mind that this would be the outcome of whoever attempted.
If you can’t retrieve it, it sure was not going anywhere.
Even the man with the King Cobra tattoo or Xia Changhe would have already known about the defence mechanisms in place. If either of them attempted before, this place would already be in ruins long before he could make a move!
“Building a pyramid like this was the first of its kind and possibly the last. But from the message he left me, it seems he wasn’t my enemy. He might even see me as his successor, to use me as the weapon to kill Zhu Xuanyue.
If that’s true, then the crystal skull must be up there because he placed it there. He wanted me to come around and take it away. Maybe he might have an escape route built-in somewhere to support my cause…” His mind clicked as Xia Lei instantly went into the supernatural mode.
This time, his mind no longer relied on simulations to picture the self-destruction of the pyramid, but instead, he began calculating the symmetry point of the entire stone structure. He took into account the size, weight and positioning of each and every stone block into the calculation.
After a few minutes, Xia Lei’s line of vision was promptly directed towards a granite rock. He swung himself towards it and gave it a thorough puff. The dust cleared from its surface, exposing an ‘AE’ symbol in the process.
His eyes twitched ever so slightly as he gave it a quick scan with his X-ray vision. It was then he realised there was a tiny crack right under the symbol. That was the answer to his query, It was where the centre of gravity lay for the entire pyramid!
“So you really did leave a safe route for me. Not sure why but I feel like there is a lot in common between the two of us. I promise you, the route that you started, I’ll do you a favour to make it to the end. I’ll crack all the riddles there is to crack, and when that day comes I’ll tell you all the answers that I’ve found.” Xia Lei mused to himself as he pulled out a military-grade knife and aggressively stabbed it onto the ‘AE’ symbol.
Ka-chang! A pop of activation was heard as the granite stone with the ‘AE’ sign cracked open. Amidst the fractured pieces was the steel of the knife, matching up to ninety per cent with its after-effect on the granite rock.
Without hesitation, Xia Lei grabbed hold of the crystal skull, gave it a hasty twist and popped it out of its place. He then promptly slid down the rope into the tunnel entrance, gave the rope a little jerk and propelled himself safely right where he needed to be.
“You got it?” Kyoko appeared rather anxious to know, yet her face seemed far paler than before.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Xia Lei stuffed the crystal skull into the utility bag and dropped to the ground. “Come, crawl on my back.”
Tsukino Kyoko feebly latched herself onto his back, her arms around his neck, both legs wrapped around his waist with whatever strength she had left in her.
Xia Lei then hurled himself up from the ground and dashed towards the entry that they came in from with a lightstick in his mouth. Their decision to leave markings throughout the route ended up to be an invaluable decision as he easily navigated through the twists and turns of an underground cavern.
“Boss, if I die, can you bury me in the courtyard of the Peace mansion?” Kyoko mumbled into Xia Lei’s ears.
“Don’t say that. You’re not going to die. Not on my watch!” Xia Lei sped up his climb as he replied.
“I’m serious, can you promise me that?”
Xia Lei was stunned, and with a grim tone, he promised. “If that happens...I’ll make sure of it.”
“Can you plant a cherry blossom tree by my tombstone?”
“Sure. Let’s stop talking about this alright?” Xia Lei was feeling awful. If he had to risk the life of Tsukino Kyoko for the crystal skull, in a million different outcomes he would have chosen against the crystal skull.
Nothing was worth more than life, especially for a woman that would die for himself.
“That’s great to hear,’ Tsukino Kyoko chuckled before she let out a sigh. “What a pity though…”
“What? Is there anything you always wanted to do? Tell me, I promise you that I’ll get it done.” Tears had already been encircling his pupils at that point.
“Really?”
“No matter what it is, I’ll give you my word.”
Kyoko hesitated for a little before she replied. “I never even had a boyfriend, I’m still...an inexperienced woman. It would be a pity if I die like this. But are you sure you would fulfil this little wish of mine?”
“I…’ Xia Lei’s tongue was tied.
To bury her in the courtyard of the Peace Mansion, planting a cherry blossom tree by her tombstone. These were hardly tough requests. Expensive care, big mansions, or wealth that could last her a lifetime was nothing but a drop in his savings. But her last wishes were personal to Xia Lei. And what he deemed the toughest.
“Thank you.” Kyoko made sure to express her gratitude.
“Thanks...for what?” Xia Lei at that moment just wanted to slap himself in the face!
Tsukino Kyoko added, “You agreed to fulfil my dream. I can’t be more grateful for that. When I recover we can talk about this again.”
Her literal death wish was a tomb and cherry blossoms! How else could they discuss this when she recovers?
What was happening?
A piercing screech was heard from the back.
“Shit!” Xia Lei instantly turned pale as he once again hastened his climbing, hoping he could dog his way out on all fours!