It was morning and Xia Lei walked out of his room. Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were already waiting for him at the entrance.
“Boss informed me that a chartered plane will arrive in the afternoon. We’re flying back,” said Long Bing, straight to the point.
Xia Lei nodded. “This is best. The sooner we get back the safer we’ll be.”
“Nn. Let’s go eat something,” said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan walked next to Xia Lei and said in a low voice, “I went past your room last night and heard you talking to someone. Who was in your room?”
Xia Lei was sure that Tang Yuyan could not hear Princess Yongmei’s voice because she was broadcasting her voice via brain-waves or something. That sort of voice just popped into the brain and ears could never catch it. He was wary of this situation though, and was silent for a bit before saying, “I was practicing Hebrew.”
Tang Yuyan gave Xia Lei a sideways look but did not ask more.
The three of them ate their breakfast in the hotel, paid their bill and left. They used the same off-road vehicle they had arrived in. Xia Lei surmised that this vehicle had been left behind by his father, Xia Changhe, so he did not intend to change vehicles. He also suspected that there was a tracking device on the off-road vehicle and that his father would use the tracker to locate him.
If Xia Changhe was going to show himself, then Xia Lei wanted to tell him some things, the most important of which was that he was now in charge of the research on the ancient alloy, and that the alloy pieces and compass were in his hands. He did not want his father to keep getting involved with this matter - it was too dangerous.
The only problem was that Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were sticking to him. This posed problems for him and his father to meet.
Xia Lei drove the vehicle aimlessly around on the streets of Amman, looking for Xia Changhe and Yelena. An hour passed, and he found nothing.
“How long more are you going to drive round and round like this?” said Tang Yuyan. “I’m getting dizzy.”
Xia Lei thought for a bit. “Let’s go to the airport. We’ll leave right when the plane arrives.” After a pause, he added, “Right, is there anyone in charge of documents like passports and such?”
“Do we need you to worry about things like these? Of course there’s someone in charge of it. We only need to bother about getting the items on the plane,” said Tang Yuyan.
The car moved out of Amman as they chatted. It went on the highway to the airport and on for 20 kilometres more before coming to Queen Alia International Airport.
The airport was very busy. Xia Lei found a parking spot by the side of the road and parked.
There was a petrol station next to the road too, and a supermarket next to the supermarket.
Xia Lei’s gaze stopped on the petrol station. A woman was at the petrol station getting petrol for her motorcycle.
‘It’s her!’ Excitement sprung in Xia Lei’s heart.
The woman was Xia Changhe’s assistant, Yelena. Just as he’d guessed, Xia Changhe must have some way to track this vehicle since he left it behind, and follow him all the way here. Yelena had appeared too so his father must be close by, right?
Xia Lei looked away from Yelena and around but he did not spot his father. He understood why Xia Changhe would not want to show himself, though. He had two Bureau 101 chiefs with him and they were clever women indeed. Their meeting would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Xia Lei stopped looking and said, “You two wait in the car for me. I’ll go use the toilet. I’ve been driving around for so long, my bladder’s bursting.”
“Since you’re saying that I feel like I need to go too. Let’s go together,” said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
“You two go ahead. I’ll stay in the car and watch our things,” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan alighted, then walked towards the toilets of the petrol station.
Yelena didn’t even give Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan a glance.
Xia Lei went into the male toilet and Tang Yuyan went into the female toilet.
Xia Lei was nervous in the male toilets. ‘I want to go to the toilet and she wants to go too. Did she discover something? Is she following me?’
It was possible.
Xia Lei could not sit idle at that thought. His left eye twitched and the wall between the male and female toilets disappeared. A squatting Tang Yuyan entered his field of vision. Snowy, parted thighs and running liquid… She really was relieving herself.
Xia Lei hurriedly stopped using his X-ray vision after catching just a look; he didn’t dare to keep looking.
If Tang Yuyan was following him then she would probably be with her ear to the wall right now, or climbing up the wall to spy on him. But no. She was relieving herself. How was a woman going to spy on others when she was relieving herself?
‘What do I do? How do I get the information I want to tell my father to Yelena?’ Xia Lei was getting anxious, but his mind was a blank and he started to sweat.
Two minutes later, Tang Yuyan’s voice came from outside the door. “Are you done? Hurry up.”
Xia Lei’s brow darkened with gloom in the male toilet. She was even nagging him in the toilet - how much more intrusive was she going to get?
“Hello? Are you okay? I’ll come in if you don’t respond!” Tang Yuyan’s voice carried some worry and anxiousness.
“I’ll be right there!” said Xia Lei grumpily.
It seemed she was acting out of concern but it was still ridiculous to him.
Xia Lei walked out of the bathroom and the image of Tang Yuyan relieving herself surfaced in his head again when he saw her. He had only had a glimpse of it but it was burnt into his memory, never to be erased. He just had to think of it now and to stimulate him and make him secretly ‘excited’.
“Why’s your face red?” Tang Yuyan looked curiously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei laughed dryly. “I was using the toilet, okay? Why do you have so many questions?”
“You must be red from constipation. You’ve got a problem,” said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei had no words to counter that remark.
“I want to go buy something from the supermarket. Want to come with?” said Tang Yuyan.
“No, you go ahead. I’ll go back to the car and wait for you.” Xia Lei found another excuse, “Long Bing’s alone in the car. I’m a little worried.”
“Okay, I’ll be back soon.” Tang Yuyan started walking towards the supermarket.
Just then, Yelena came walking towards Xia Lei. She had her helmet on and her face could not be seen.
Xia Lei turned around and turned on the tap in the sink to wash his hands.
Yelena brushed past as she went towards the female toilet.
Xia Lei spoke in a low voice, “I excavated the items but I don’t have all the parts. I’m in charge of this project now. Tell him not to get involved anymore. Too dangerous.”
Yelena gave a slight nod.
Xia Lei turned off the tap and left. He had not looked at Yelena during the whole exchange.
Back in the car, Xia Lei said without batting an eyelid, “Did you see anyone suspicious?”
“No.” Long Bing’s voice was indifferent, “But if you want to talk about suspicious, then you and Tang Yuyan were suspicious, even going to the toilet as a pair. You two having an affair?”
Xia Lei was frozen, speechless.
Tang Yuyan returned quickly from the supermarket with a big bag of Jordan specialty snacks. “Eat up, my treat,” she said with a smile.
The two women went through the pile of snacks in the car but Xia Lei was not that interested. He saw Yelena leave in the rearview mirror and he started the car engine a few minutes later to move to the to a more secluded spot. He parked.
They had three XL2500s in the car, and one Gust assault rifle. These weapons could not be brought into the airport.
After he parked, Xia Lei put his seat down flat and lay on it to take a nap. Tang Yuyan and Long Bing continued eating snacks and chatting about girly topics. They were entirely comfortable with Xia Lei but he did not interrupt their conversation. He closed his eyes and faked sleep.
Long Bing received a call in the afternoon.
Half an hour later, people from the embassy came and drove the car Xia Lei had driven to the airport. Embassy staff had diplomatic immunity and were able to help Xia Lei and his group to move the alloy pieces and the guns to the plane without interference from the airport security restrictions and staff.
They boarded the chartered plane from China smoothly and their luggage were similarly loaded safely onto the plane.
On the plane, Xia Lei saw Shi Boren and the suited Ling Han.
“Impressive indeed, Boy!” Shi Boren clapped Xia Lei hard on the shoulder as soon as they met. “Well done! I’ll throw a celebratory party for you when we get back.”
“I’ll have a few drinks with Boss Shi, then,” said Xia Lei with a laugh.
“That’s a promise.” Shi Boren was jolly.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips. “Godfather, Long Bing and I also risked our lives alongside Xia Lei. We nearly died in Jerusalem. How about some praise for us?”
“Hahaha…” laughed Shi Boren, “You two have put in a lot of effort too. You will have your reward when you get back. Don’t make a fuss here.”
“Humph. You only praise Xia Lei.” Tang Yuyan’s voice was tiny.
Long Bing was a picture of calm and said nothing. Tang Yuyan was being cute for her godfather but what was she going to act cute for? Besides, she wasn’t a woman who would do such things.
“Where are the items, Mr Xia?” asked Ling Han.
“In my rucksack. Would you like to have a look, Mr Ling?” said Xia Lei.
“No, no,” said Ling Han. “I was just asking. I’m just assured that you did your job. No need to show me.”
The ancient alloy was like a plague and the people who knew of its power definitely didn’t want to come into contact with it.
After a pause, Ling Han said, “Did you find a new pointer needle, Mr Xia?”
“Yes. I’ve already put it on the compass,” said Xia Lei.
“Where does it point?”
“East,” said Xia Lei. “I suspect the next treasure location is in Japan, or on some eastern island.”
“Japan?” Ling Han wrinkled his brows. “If it really is in Japan then things will get difficult.”
Japan and America were long-standing allies and Japan was totally reliant on America for protection. Digging for treasure in Japan was not going to be easy!
“Who cares where it is. Boy, I think it’ll be no problem as long as it’s you tackling it. See, after getting the call from Long Bing, the higher-ups implied that they won’t be sending a treasure-seeking group for the next location. They’re going to let you choose your team, and you bring that team with you,” said Shi Boren.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei’s lips. He’d expected this.
The plane took off a few minutes later. Queen Alia International Airport was left in the distance, becoming smaller and smaller till it could not be seen anymore.