The God of War whistled harshly against the wind, spelling out doom and destruction for those who braved against it.
In that split second, even Xia Lei’s mind was a blank canvas, not to mention everyone else.
The God of War missile flew onto the right of the ship hull.
Ka-boom! A water pillar rose to the ocean surface!
The ship swayed, but there was no tell-tale sign of fire. Nothing was destroyed either.
Xia Lei frantically clambered up from the deck and ran for the right of the hull. Everything was fine and the missile did not manage to tear a hole on the ship. It plunged into the ocean below headfirst and exploded underwater.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two missiles were headed their way again.
It wasn’t established if the Israeli military or Mossad was behind the manipulation of this threatening drone but Xia Lei could figure that the man behind the drone was pissed. He had fired two at one go.
Sa’im kneeled on the deck, both palms flat against the ground. He prayed wholeheartedly, “Allah, I’m your loyal slave…”
The Iraqi ship captain did the same as well, praying for their god’s protection.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, remained standing. His eyes were calm as he watched the missiles rush for the ship with their fiery tails. At this moment, there was no fear in his heart. Oddly enough, the man had the capacity to smile. Xia Lei knew that with that around, there was no way that the Israeli would be able to drown them all.
The other two missiles splashed into the ocean, one of them landing in front of the ship and the other landing behind it.
Boom! Boom!
Two pillars of seawater rushed for the sky. The waves generated by the shockwaves came crashing against the ship. It was a terrifying display no doubt, but it wasn’t enough to blow up the ship.
Xia Lei raised his right arm towards the drone and extended his middle finger proudly.
A blatant gesture of mockery and insult.
Miles away in the commanding centre of the Jerusalem Mossad base, Israel.
Xia Lei’s image was enlarged greatly along with his vulgar digit.
A Native American face was plastered widely on the central screen. The man’s smirk was an eyesore and the confidence that shone through his eyes was immense.
Running in the background was a face recognition software that rapidly birthed point-by-point analysis and comparison. Soon enough, another face was produced on the screen. It was Xia Lei’s face. The conclusion offered by the face recognition software was that the facial features of these two men were at about fifty percent similarity. But the compatibility of their skeletal structures and physique was a complete match.
With the complete matches, the software’s AI had neglected the difference between their facial features to lock on Xia Lei.
“It’s him!” The edge of Kerns’ lips twitched involuntarily out of rage.
With confirmations that it was Xia Lei, Yan Fo immediately dug out his satellite phone.
He needed to reach the head of the CIA, Williams.
“Mister Williams, I’ve got terrible news.”
“Did the prisoner escape?” Williams’ voice rang through the receptor.
“That’s not the pressing issue.” Yan Fo inhaled sharply, letting his emotions settle to the bottom of his stomach. “What I wish to tell you is that… Xia Lei is not dead.”
“Huh?! What? That’s impossible!” Williams’ exclamation came like a grenade. “What the fuck is this bullshit?!”
Yan Fo was unfazed. “Mossad will be sharing their data with the CIA soon. By then, you’ll know what I’m saying. Xia Lei is in Israel and he has rescued the prisoner we’re trying to bring to America.”
“I’ll have someone dig his grave up right away! I need to open up his grave!” Williams was reluctant to believe that Xia Lei was still alive.
How was this remotely possible?
It was a process. They had launched assassinations after assassinations. And after all that work, their success was a lie? Why couldn’t the damned Chinese bastard just die obediently and make everyone else happy?
“If it really is him, I want you to kill him no matter what it takes! I’ll have America send the nearest army troop to your aid! Tell me, where the fuck is he now?”
Yan Fo supplied, “He’s on board a cargo ship heading towards Cyprus. It was supposed to be cruising towards Port Said, Egypt but it changed its course to Cyprus for some unknown reason. The Israeli found them through satellite and dispatched a drone to investigate. They managed to find Xia Lei and his people. They’re all in disguises but they had their images captured.”
“Are you sure it’s them on the ship? Like, now?”
“Yes. Mossad had just verified Xia Lei’s identity. They’re using their facial recognition system and it offers a ninety-five per cent accuracy,” said Yan Fo.
“Then what are you waiting for? Israel should dispatch planes to blast the ship open!”
“They had attempted that but their drones had fired three missiles to no avail. None of it had managed to even scratch the hull.”
“What the hell?”
“Perhaps it's some issue with their drone or missile. I wish to ask for the US Navy’s involvement. This is the best shot to kill off Xia Lei for good. There will be no better opportunity if we miss this,” uttered Yan Fo, his eyes glinting with a flash of something fierce.
“Our Sixth Fleet is in the Mediterranean. I’ll contact the Pentagon right away.” Williams quickly hung up.
At this moment, Kerns barked out an order to the drone driver. “Close in on the cargo ship and fire the missiles at close range. If that doesn’t do the trick, ram the drone into the ship!”
The droner driver executed Kerns’ instructions.
Displayed on the screen, the drone plunged from its altitude sharply. It arrived five hundred metres above the ship within five seconds, hovering above it with an aerial distance of one thousand metres. At this distance, it was almost impossible to miss!
The drone driver pressed on the button and fired.
Whoosh! The final God of War zoomed for the ship.
Two seconds later, it came close to the ship’s tail. And without warning, it was deflected ever so slightly away from its intended trajectory and plunged into the ocean.
Ka-boom!
The waves generated off the last missile were suppressed well.
“What the fuck is going on?! Can anyone tell me?!” Kerns raged.
The drone driver turned around to face him with great confusion. “I have no idea.”
At this moment, the Heron 2 drone fell into the sea. The impact as it collided with the water surface had broken off its wings and it began to sink towards the bottom.
The footage on the central screen went black.
“Switch to the satellite feedback! Quick!” Kerns yelled.
The fast return of the satellite feedback had shown them a boundless horizon of the ocean voided of any cargo ship.
Watching the turbulent ocean, Kerns could only gape at the absurdity of the situation.
Onboard the cargo ship floating on top of the Mediterranean sea…
“Hahaha! Long live Allah!” The Iraqi ship captain climbed onto the deck and watched the destroyed drone that floated on the water surface. Overwhelmed by a flurry of emotions, he screamed, “Allah must’ve blessed us! Our prayers were answered! Israelis! Israelis! Ha! They’re a fucking joke!”
A vast variety of responses were drawn out by the sailors. Some of them were excited while some were still absolutely dumbfounded.
Sa’im clambered up from the deck and watched Xia Lei with eyes filled with respect and loyalty. He did not think that his answers to Allah were answered. He has prayed too many times to know this wasn’t the work of his god. But this incident was sufficient for Sa’im to pin its conclusion onto Xia Lei. The gaze that the Iraqi had trained on Xia Lei was that of a worshipper.
Xia Lei peeled his attention away from the dark blue ocean. There was no relief on his face, only solemness.
“Boss, are you god himself?” Sa’im tried to probe.
Xia Lei halted his footsteps. “If I am god, can I not pay you your salary?”
“Uh…” Sa’im flashed him a toothy grin. “You’re human, the best man in fact!”
But Xia Lei was not in the mood for friendly banter. The man muttered, “Gather our team immediately in my cabin. This is not the end of the dangers we’ll be facing. This is merely the beginning.”
Sa’im replied, “ We’ll be entering Cyprus sea territory very soon. The Israeli will not dare to let their jets enter into the territory of a European Union ally and attack us.”
Xia Lei stared at him hard. “I’m not talking about Israel, I’m talking about America. The American Sixth Fleet is based in the Mediterranean sea. You can’t be serious about expecting us to last a battle with just a cargo ship? The American fighter jets would not give a shit about a European Union member.”
“Right away!” The magnitude of the issue had settled in, changing Sa’im’s expression in a flash.
Xia Lei returned to his cabin and brought out the crystal skull from his bag.
He raised it to his eye level. There were no detectable changes on the skull. It was still as pristine and pure as the first time Xia Lei had noticed it. It seems to have no life either. It was as if the events earlier had nothing to do with it! But Xia Lei was certain that everyone on this ship had owed their lives to this translucent crystal skull!
“If you have a soul or intelligence, can you please enlighten me on what you are? If you are a human skull, what form did you possess when you were alive?” Xia Lei mumbled to himself.
The crystal skull provided no responses, only leaving behind its cold sheen.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team gathered in his cabin in no time, even Qian Jun. Everyone’s attention was grabbed by the crystal skull that sat atop Xia Lei’s palm.
Xia Lei explained, “It’s able to disrupt modern equipment and technology. We were able to survive all thanks to this. While our threat earlier was just a drone, I believe that the American Sixth Fleet would dispatch their fighter jets to hover above this entire area. They might even use their submarines.”
“If it can disrupt the Israeli drone, I’m sure it’s able to trick the American jets and submarine.” Anjum Khan mused.
But to everyone’s surprise, Xia Lei shook his head. “You’re oversimplifying the problem. We’re not sure how much equipment the crystal skull can tamper with. If its limit were full electronics of two planes, we’d have nothing left to bury if the Sixth Fleet attacks. They attack in a formation.”
Anjum Khan was silenced, face morphing into sobriety. It was certainly not rational to bet his luck on a crystal skull he knew nothing about.
Xia Lei continued, “We need to consider another situation. What if the crystal skull exhausts some kind of energy to trick their equipment? The more disruption it poses, the more exhausted the energy is. If its energy is depleted after one round of attack from the Sixth Fleet, we’d be goners.”
Everyone was dead silent, hearts heavy to its extreme.
“Also.” Xia Lei swallowed. “We might need to face the worst scenario soon.”
“What is it?” Sa’im couldn’t help but ask.
Xia Lei answered, “Cannonballs need no equipment. How many bombardments do you think this ship can withstand from the Sixth Fleet?”