Xia Lei poked his head out from the deep pool beneath the waterfall and floated downstream.
Intense gunshots came occasionally, in the distance. This was not going to start or stop in the way Dark Mona wanted. The Germans and the CIA weren't easy to deal with either. Dark Mona had led the FA Organisation's agents to ambush the convoy escorting Xia Lei earlier, with the advantage of the right time, place, and heavy duty weaponry. Now, the Special Forces from the CIA and Germany had gotten involved, searching for FA Organisation agents by air and by land, killing them off.
Xia Lei was no longer concerned about who would be the final victor at the end of this battle, or how many free agents from FA Organisation would live to see the next day. This current situation was fairly advantageous for Xia Lei because the CIA and the Germans would think that the FA Organisation had seized him. They would then pursue the free agents of the FA Organisation relentlessly while the only thing the FA Organization agents could do was escape. This meant that they wouldn't be pursuing him, whether it was the CIA, the Germans, or the FA Organisation's free agents.
The river water was ice-cold and posed a huge risk, but Xia Lei didn't dare crawl out from the river, because he would only be able to escape without a trace via the river. The moment he climbed ashore, all of his footprints and blood stains would become clues for the Germans and CIA to pursue him. In addition, the downstream current was much faster than the speed at which he could run with his weakened legs.
An hour later.
Xia Lei let go of the piece of wood he had been holding onto and reached for a branch by the riverbank, pulling himself ashore with it.
This place was about ten kilometers away from the waterfall where he had escaped. He wasn't completely out of danger at this distance, but there definitely wouldn't be anyone after him here.
Xia Lei looked up at the sky before he entered the woods next to the riverbank. He now had to be on guard against the CIA agents and the Germans, on top of unmanned drones and satellites.
Xia Lei didn't go too deep into the forest. He stopped after he entered, and sat on the ground. He ripped the leg of his trousers open, revealing the wound on his thigh.
The wound was still bleeding, and traces of inflammation had appeared around it.
Xia Lei's left eye twitched and he quickly spotted a piece of shrapnel buried in his flesh. It was probably four centimeters deep, and he couldn't dig it out with his hands at all. It would have been much easier for him to take it out if he had a pair of tweezers, but right now, he didn't have anything else on him besides a gun.
He did not have any surgical instruments, anaesthesia, or a pretty, sexy nurse. There wasn't much else around him besides trees and rocks. However, he had to take out the shrapnel in his wound, and stop the bleeding or he would die from blood loss, even if he were a superhero made of iron.
Xia Lei scanned everything around him and very quickly locked on a rock fragment. It was very thin and seemed very sharp.
"That's it. My scalpel." Xia Lei shifted over and picked up that rock fragment.
A minute later, Xia Lei held a piece of wood between his teeth and he grasped that rock fragment in his hand, cutting at his wound little by little, enduring the sharp pain.
After cutting his wound open, Xia Lei bit down on the piece of wood and reached his right index finger into bullet hole, pushing deeper, little by little. This was an extremely painful process and for every little bit his finger burrowed, his pain doubled. The unceasing increases in pain tormented his nerves.The pain surpassed anything a normal person would be able to bear. An average person would have fainted a long time ago, much less a prolonged probing of the wound.
However, Xia Lei could still continue, because every time he was on the verge of fainting, his brain would let out that miraculous energy. His brain then resumed a normal train of thought, keeping him awake.
Xia Lei's finger finally touched the shrapnel. His finger followed the piece of metal until he could hook onto the bottom, and he yanked it up.
Blood spurted, and the bullet poked out of the wound.
"Hoooh— Haaaah—" Xia Lei took deep breaths, in and out.
He was experiencing a rending pain, but his brain was very awake. He didn't even feel dizzy at all. This was an extremely strange condition to be in.
"Dark Mona, this is what you’ve given me. I'll let you experience how this feels if I get the chance,” muttered Xia Lei to himself. His face all sweaty. He grimaced in pain, yet a cruel smile stayed in the corners of his mouth.
Without taking any time in between to ease the pain, Xia Lei took out the gun he had taken from Sean and removed the ammunition clip, taking out two bullets. Then, he looked for a rock and broke off the tip of both. He dumped the gunpowder of a bullet onto rock and tipped the other bullet's gunpowder into the wound on his left leg.
After two minutes, Xia Lei picked up a small rock and smashed it onto the gunpowder on the big rock. The pile of gunpowder was immediately ignited, setting fire to the pile of dry grass he had prepared. He moved the tinder close to the wound on his left leg.
Poof! A weird sound rang out and the wound on his thigh suddenly burst into flames. Xia Lei clutched his left leg tightly and gritted his teeth to stop himself from screaming.
That was it for the treatment for his wound.
Xia Lei used a strip of cloth as a simple bandage, then walked towards the riverbank.
Night fell. Duesseldorf's lights shone bright, looking like a jewel next to the Rhein River from above.
However, tonight was different from the average night. Many armed German soldiers had appeared on the streets of Duesseldorf. They paid particular attention to Asians, and went up to them to all the Asian men they saw, to interrogate them, inspect their ID, and verify their identity. While this was all happening on the surface, some agents from the CIA were doing the same thing in train stations, airports, hotels and other places like that. They didn't go up and interrogate people but the moment they discovered some suspicious targets, they would approach the target without batting an eye and surround him.
Whether it was the Germans or the CIA, they only had one target, and that was Xia Lei.
The fight between the Germans, the CIA, and the FA Organisation had been over a long time ago. They couldn't capture the main culprit of the ambush, Dark Mona, but they had confirmed something — Xia Lei had not been taken away by the FA Organisation; he had escaped. This was why this spread-out net had been cast for this manhunt.
Now, the whole city of Duesseldorf was like a huge cage. It wasn't just the CIA agents or the German police and soldiers. There was also the CIA satellites and a number of unmanned surveillance aircraft on the move.
But Xia Lei had disappeared like a fish which had been released into the ocean.
Where was Xia Lei?
The CIA, Germans, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan all wanted to know the answer to this question.
The news blared on the television in the basement of a Chinese restaurant in Duesseldorf.
The screen showed a female anchor standing in front of Rheinmetall AG, and she was interviewing a sexy German woman.
"Isn't that the little German slut?" Tang Yuyan immediately recognised Sylvia, who was being interviewed.
Long Bing looked at Sylvia on the screen and the signboard of Rheinmetall AG behind her with a cold look in her eyes.
"Miss Sylvia, I received information that stated that a very serious incident has occurred in Rheinmetall AG. Are the military and the police currently out and about because of this incident? Please tell us more about it," said the anchor.
Sylvia said, "A group of terrorists raided Mr Mark Armin's house and they attempted to kidnap him but were unsuccessful. However, Mr Xia Lei from Thunder Horse Military Factory, who is currently doing an exchange of technologies with our company, was kidnapped by these terrorists. The soldiers and police are currently trying to save Mr Xia. He is a very good person. I am praying for him and I hope he is safe and sound."
"Is Mr Mark Armin all right?"
"He is receiving treatment in the hospital, and that is also the reason why I'm standing here. His current condition does not allow him to accept any interviews."
"Does this terrorist attack have anything to do with our refugee policy?"
"Perhaps. I'm just a regular person and I don't really understand those things. Right now, I only hope that our troops and police can save Mr Xia Lei from the clutches of those terrorists."
The interview went on but Tang Yuyan had already lost control of her emotions. She kicked a beer crate and said angrily, "That whore is lying! They're clearly the ones who took Xia Lei and now she's saying some terrorists took Xia Lei! Shameless!"
Long Bing’s voice was ice. "She is German, so someone had prepared what she should say about today in advance."
Tang Yuyan’s foot descended on the beer crate again, kicking that unlucky beer crate to pieces.
"According to our information, neither the Germans or the Americans were victorious in that conflict on the road. Right now there are two possibilities. One, Xia Lei was taken away by that group of people. Two, Xia Lei escaped while the two parties were fighting," said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan calmed down at last. "Which do you think it is?”
“The streets are crawling with German soldiers, police officers, and CIA agents right now, all looking for him. Our intelligence personnel gave us information that German soldiers and police officers are interrogating young Asian men on the streets, and some even have Xia Lei’s portrait. The CIA are looking for people at the airport, train stations, and hotels. There are a lot of unmanned surveillance planes being utilised as well.” Long Bing looked at Tang Yuyan. “Which possibility do you think it is?”
Xia Lei looked back at Long Bing fixedly. “You mean… Xia Lei escaped when both sides were fighting?”
Long Bing nodded. “There’s a 90% chance that that happened.”
This seemed to be the reason why she was so calm.
“Then where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then we should go look for him right now! He definitely needs our help!” Tang Yuyan grew excited.
“Calm down!” Long Bing replied coldly. “Don’t let your hormones influence your IQ. Right now, the streets are filled with people trying to catch Xia Lei. Do you think we wouldn’t be on the Germans and CIA’s list of people to capture? If we were to go out right now, we’d not only be of no help to Xia Lei but become a burden to him, and trouble for him.”
“You mean we should wait here, then?”
“Yes, we have to wait here. He knows of this safe house and will come find us.”
“Are you sure he’ll come find us?”
“I’m sure.”
“You know him that well?”
“I understand him more than you, at least.”
Tang Yuyan glared at Long Bing and stopped talking. This Long Bing was showing off, wasn’t she?