No one uttered a single word in the underground space. The silence was suffocating.
Xia Lei speedily checked the side and front walls, his X-ray vision penetrating beyond the walls with ease. Despite that, behind the walls were concrete. There was no means for him to view past it.
Xia Lei turned to the right wall. Behind the walls were also concrete.
Following that, Xia Lei moved to look at the left wall. This was when he finally discovered a hidden space behind it. It was a tunnel that was about one hundred and fifty metres wide and stretched forward with no end in sight. Four fully-armed combatants were stationed inside the tunnel. All of which had tall, well-built bodies that were carrying the best American weapons. The pins of the M41A assault rifles were unlocked, they would be able to open fire at any given notice. The wall shielding them was nothing more than aluminium alloy, particleboard and spray paint. Surveillance footages were even made available to them through monitors on the wall.
Evidently, behind the left wall was where the emergency evacuation route of the safe house was located at.
Having discovered the hidden tunnel, Xia Lei deactivated his X-ray vision. He made his anger visible. “Mister Yang, what is the meaning of this?”
Yang Shan returned him a smile that did not reach his eyes. “Mister Li, your question does not make any sense to me. What are you referring to?”
Xia Lei replied, “You asked for me to meet you here. But you’ve arranged six field agents here and placed armed combatants in the emergency evacuation path. That’s what I’m talking about. What are you trying to achieve?”
Yang Shan and Sperry were taken aback, shocked at his words. They weren’t expecting Li Youdun to be capable of such deductions through a wall.
“Hahaha…” Yang Shan was quick to regain his composure, cackling in the process. “Mister Li, I hope there is no misunderstanding between us. We have no intentions to go against you. As you know, Xia Lei is not dead. There is a high chance that our informant base has been compromised. I’ve closed the base for the time being and retreated to this venue. But who could truly guarantee that this place is safe? That’s why we’re always prepared for possible battle and evacuation. Mister Li, does doing so make you feel uneasy?”
Xia Lei calmly responded, “Why would I feel that way? I just think that you’re extremely paranoid.”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Yang Shan studied Xia Lei’s expression. “Mister Li, we called you here to ask you a few very important questions. Mister Williams has given us the authority to do so, please kindly cooperate.”
Xia Lei’s expression betrayed nothing. “No problem. You may start whenever you please.”
“Let us begin now then. Please take a seat, Mister Li.” Yang Shan invited him over and instructed one of the field agents, “Make Mister Li some tea. He likes Chinese tea.”
The agent nodded obediently and left for the water cooler at a corner. The corner even had a pantry cabinet that housed tea leaves and mugs along with a coffee machine.
Xia Lei observed the tea-making agent from the corner of his eye. Unfortunately, the agent had his back facing him, there was no way Xia Lei could see his hand movements. But as Xia Lei prepared to activate his X-ray vision, Yang Shan abruptly demanded his attention. “Mister Li, let us start.”
At this point, Xia Lei did not bother to check on the agent anymore. Anyhow, he would not drink from that cup. He lifted a chin and answered, “Alright, what would you like to know?”
Yang Shan questioned, “You said that you killed Xia Lei. So why is he still alive?”
Xia Lei replied, “I have no idea. This question would be better directed at Hattori Mei. She was the one who supplied me the poison. She mentioned that this poison is transmittable through the air. Death would follow after three minutes of contact, at most five minutes. As long as the poisoning has taken effect for more than three minutes, no amount of antidote would be effective. I placed the poison in Xia Lei’s office and made an excuse to leave. After they declared his death, they brought away his body. Isn’t that sufficient proof that Xia Lei was dead? Why are you even asking me this question? Who the fuck do I direct this question to myself? I too wish to know whatever the fuck is behind this!”
“You really don’t know?” Yang Shan narrowed his eyes at Xia Lei, evidently not convinced by his answer.
Xia Lei scoffed. “Am I supposed to know?”
The field agent returned with a cup of steaming Biluochun tea made out of cheap tea leaves.
“Mister Li, please enjoy.”
Xia Lei did not bother to extend an arm out, merely acknowledging it nonchalantly. “Place it on the table.”
The field agent heeded his request and quietly backed off.
“Mister Li, there’s no need to be so cautious. We just want to confirm a few things,” said Yang Shan, the ghost of a cold smirk atop his lips.
Xia Lei uttered, “It’s better to be careful. I’m alive because I’m cautious.”
“Sometimes, there’s no use being so cautious,” Sperry interjected from the side.
Xia Lei smiled faintly. “That is true. Being cautious sometimes has not much use but that would highly depend on who that person is. There’s a difference between Wolverine and the Hulk.”
Sperry chuckled. “Hehe. I never knew that you had such great humour, Mister Li. I rarely laugh at jokes but that was pretty amusing.”
While the exchange felt unnecessary and unimportant on the surface, it was merely a cover for the creeping tension manifesting in the room.
“I don’t joke often but I love telling these on the eve of a killing.” Xia Lei added on.
Sperry’s expression immediately turned dark. “Li Youdun, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Xia Lei narrowed his eyes. “I was merely reminding you to not make a mistake. Some mistakes can only be made once because it’d lead to death. Some things just don’t offer the luxury of a second shot.”
Sperry began to reach for his hip.
Yang Shan waved an arm, signalling Sperry to ease off. The man sent Xia Lei a sharp glare, the unfiltered intention to rip Xia Lei from limb to limb!
“Mister Li, let us resume our topic.” Yang Shan continued, “The second question. Your assassination efforts involved placing poison in Xia Lei’s office and yet he was unscathed. With his intelligence and ability, did he not suspect you at all?”
Xia Lei’s answer was firm. “No.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“If he had suspected me, he would’ve already captured me or even killed me. Why would he leave me alive to lurk within the Thunder Horse Organization?”
Yang Shan and Sperry locked gazes.
Xia Lei went on, “Also, he went to Israel. I think he was deliberately using my assassination to fake his death and head to Israel. While I’m not sure what his goals are, we were tricked. After his return, the Hattori clan made another attempt to assassinate him with the same poison. The killer was shot dead by Tang Yuyan. The killer’s death had helped distract suspicions away from me. With that, I’m confident to say that I have not been exposed and my identity is still currently protected.”
Yang Shan asked again. “Third question. Do you still have a chance at obtaining the new material trade secrets from Thunder Horse?”
Xia Lei answered, “Of course. I’m still the current leader of the new material department. I still have a chance of getting a hold of the information. It is not an issue at all.” While speaking, Xia Lei stoke a glance at his wristwatch. It was 7:52 pm, there were three minutes left to the ambush.
A smirk took form on Yang Shan’s lips. Without warning, he turned his desktop monitor around and turned on its power.
The monitor immediately displayed a call interface. In the video tab, Williams was staring into his monitor, looking at Xia Lei who sat opposite Yang Shan.
The recording of their conversation was clearly ongoing since the beginning. Yang Shan had merely switched the display off but the monitor’s camera remained on. Williams had been watching their exchange and observing Xia Lei for a while now.
Xia Lei was suddenly reminded of the CIA’s Tenshin system, a highly advanced AI system. While Williams had sat back and enjoyed the entire conversation, the Tenshin system was probably hard at work running extensive analyses on the recorded footage!
Xia Lei was confident that with the superior analysis and recognition capabilities that the Tenshin system had possessed, his real identity had already been revealed!
To not notice that the external camera on the monitor was in use and that the CPU beneath the desk was running was a gigantic mishap. This was a mistake that Xia Lei would be prone to repeat. His X-ray vision had limitations when it came to computer parts. There was no way he could tell what software was running in the device.
As realization dawned upon him, Xia Lei braced himself for battle. Despite that, his external appearance remained calm. He greeted Williams. “Mister Williams, how are you? I wasn’t expecting you to be waiting for me in the background. You’re more than welcome to demand reports from me right away.”
Williams drawled his words. “Report? Well, it’s no lie that I need a report on the entire situation. However, what name were you planning to sign with on that report? Li Youdun or Xia Lei?”
“Mister Williams, what do you mean?” Xia Lei checked the time discreetly through the corner of his eye. One minute fifty seconds left to the ambush.
Williams chortled eerily. “In Israel, you were a Native American. If we didn’t have a recognition system, you would’ve gone past us. The real Li Youdun must’ve been dead now, aye? You disguised yourself as Li Youdun and managed to trick us. However, I wasn’t expecting you to enter our safehouse alone. You are such an unpredictable opponent. Always full of surprises. I’m just going to ask one question. What is it that you’re after?”
Xia Lei answered earnestly, “I want to kill everyone here.”
“Hahaha…” Williams guffawed and abruptly shifted into a roar. “Kill him!”
Xia Lei instantly shot up and plastered both palms against the underside of the table. He flipped it upwards.
The office desk flew from the ground and knocked Yang Shan and the six field agents that stood behind him over.
The wide tabletop effectively veiled at least half of the field agent’s attack trajectory.
Sperry urgently stepped back, reaching for his gun at the same time.
However, Xia Lei was faster. He pulled out a Viper pistol but also a small glass vial. The glass container was tossed onto the left wall as fast as it had appeared.
Throwing out the vial, Xia Lei immediately threw himself to the ground sideways. In mid-air, he fired a bullet from his Viper pistol.
Crash!
The ceiling’s LED lamp was instantly reduced to shards. Off it went!
The underground space was abruptly thrown into complete darkness.
Clack!
The office desk finally collided with the floor. And the shooting ensued.