Four military dogs came chasing before Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan could get to the peak, and all four started attacking them.
Roar! A military dog jumped up from the ground with its jaws open to rip Tang Yuyan’s throat out. Another dog darted at the leg. The two dogs worked very well together, and this showed how well trained they were.
Xia Lei was in a similar situation with two military dogs attacking him. One circled around to his back. The two dogs looked like they were going to attack him from front and back.
Xia Lei lunged forward and swung the butt of his gun at the dogs. Before he could take care of them, however, Tang Yuyan’s right hand swung twice, and the two dogs attacking her fell to the ground. Each dog had a throwing knife in its head.
Tang Yuyan turned around, and she swung her right hand again.
“Whuuh!” The dog behind Xia Lei cried out and fell to the ground.
Bang! The butt of Xia Lei’s gun smashed into the head of the dog backing away, and it fell to the ground.
Tang Yuyan clapped. “Well, it seems I’m better than you in something.”
Xia Lei shrugged. How many could be rivals of the descendants of the Tang Sect when it came to knife throwing skills? He’d always wanted to learn the true Tang Sect Qinggong techniques and their hidden weapon techniques, but he had not had the chance. The two times he’d sneakily learnt some of their techniques were just the tip of the iceberg.
“I can get Grandfather to teach you if you come with me to the family home.”
Xia Lei was speechless.
Tang Yuyan swiftly plucked the throwing knives from the dog’s head and put it in her belt. Xia Lei then saw her throwing knives clearly — they were shaped like willow leaves. They were very sharp and there was a blueish black on their edges, poison, apparently. Her belt was interesting too. It looked like a normal leather belt, but the centre of it was empty and it could hide small throwing knives.
He had taken off her jeans shorts earlier tonight too, but he had not discovered the secret hidden in the belt. This made him rather ashamed of himself. Just where had his thoughts been at that time?
Bark bark bark…
Barking came from downhill again.
Xia Lei put his thoughts away and frowned. “Fuck it, are the Indian troops professional dog handlers or something? Why did they bring so many dogs?”
Tang Yuyan sputtered with laughter. “Looks like you use curse words too. I couldn’t tell.”
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. “I used to work on construction sites, so I’m not some refined gentleman. You only know about this now?”
Tang Yuyan still rolled her eyes at him. “You dilrod. That bit ‘o smack is what this lil’ lady likes about ya, speng.”
Xia Lei was confused.
“Haha! You think you’re the only one who knows how to use curse words? I can, too.” Tang Yuyan bumped Xia Lei. “Come on, the Indian troops will catch up with us if we don’t move.”
Xia Lei followed Tang Yuyan up the hill. He could not help puzzling over what Tang Yuyan had said, but the slang from the Sichuan region was something he could not understand.
Torchlights flashed downhill. Dozens of Indian troops had already charged out of the forest and were following the tracks of the dogs in pursuit.
However, these Indian troops were not Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan’s only enemy.
In the forest, a young man in monk robes raised his head to look up at the peak. He saw the flickering torchlight, and the baying of the dogs. A faint sneer appeared in the corners of his mouth. “Father, you’ve always thought I was useless, didn’t you? This time, I’m going to prove myself to you. I might have been born from a maid, but I am the strongest in the Hattori family! Only I can be the successor of the family, not that mixed-blood woman!”
His name was Hattori Tsukijin.
He was Hattori Masao’s bastard child, and Hattori Mei’s younger brother from another mother.
Xia Lei had speculated that he was related to the Hattori family, but he had not expected that he was Hattori Masao’s son. There was no avoiding this mistake, because Hattori Mei’s mother was an American, and Hattori Tsukijin’s face was a very Asian one.
Hattori Tsukijin walked out of the forest.
He waved his hand forward, and three gunmen followed him, advancing towards the peak.
They did not seem bothered at all about the dozens of Indian troops armed to their teeth…
Half an hour later.
The temperature had dropped drastically though they were not yet at the peak. Cold wind cut at them, and brought Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan from autumn’s beginning to wintry cold in an instant. The E450 had windbreakers in it, but they had not had the time to take the clothing with them.
“So cold, brr…” Tang Yuyan shivered. “Lei, are you sure that you chose the right path? Brrr. We haven’t g, got to the peak and we’re already s, so cold. Won’t we freeze to death when we get to the peak? Wait, no, we might have turned into popsicles by the time the Indian troops capture us.”
“This is our only way out of danger,” said Xia Lei. “Those Japanese people are guarding the way down, and we’ll be sure to exchange fire with them when we go down. We would have enemies on our back then. If we move sideways, those Indian troops would be with us, on level ground. Will you be able to run away from dozens of guns shooting blindly? I don’t want to test my luck.”
“Okay. D, Dying with you is not such a bad thing… Aren’t you cold?” Tang Yuyan hugged herself and looked curiously at Xia Lei. She realised that Xia Lei did not seem affected by the temperature though he was dressed much the same as her. He was not shivering, nor stumbling over his words, and most odd was that his face still had its usual pinkness.
Xia Lei actually found it strange too. This was his first time going from a warm place to a cold one very suddenly, but his body seemed to have automatically adjusted to this big change in temperature. He did not feel cold at all. He knew his body’s condition well and his limbs had no signs of freezing up. His heartbeat and his breathing had no adverse reactions to the big change in temperature either. The most obvious proof of this was that his face and the palms of his hands were still warm.
He assessed his body more closely and soon found the reason. He was not affected by the cold because of the mysterious power in his brain. It was directing the flow of blood in his veins, and maintaining regular function in his organs
Xia Lei grew calm after finding the reason, but he put on an act of being very cold. “What do you mean, I’m not cold? Let’s go. Let’s climb around the p, peak, and w, we… go around it from the side.”
“O, Okay.” Tang Yuyan clenched her jaw and continued climbing.
Xia Lei wanted very much to take off his shirt and give it to Tang Yuyan when he saw how cold she was, and even give her his trousers too. But, he thought again that if he actually did that, then… wouldn’t Tang Yuyan look at him like he was a monster?
They finally climbed to the peak.
White peak after another went on as far as the eye could see. This was a snowy world, and there was no end to it in sight.
“Oh my goodness…” Tang Yuyan fell butt-first on the snowy ground in despair. She was not going to hang on for very long with the amount of clothes they had on them. If a person did not have winter clothing to ward off the cold in this cold environment, he would freeze in under half an hour and die.
Xia Lei could not be bothered to keep up pretenses anymore. He took off his shirt and his trousers.
“Wh, What are you doing?” Tang Yuyan looked at the underwear-clad Xia Lei in shock.
Xia Lei threw his shirt and trousers at Tang Yuyan. “Put them on.”
“No! Do you w, want to die?” Tang Yuyan refused right away.
“Put it on!” Xia Lei shouted at her. “I’m the one making decisions now! Do as I say, and no talking back!”
Tears sprang from Tang Yuyan’s eyes. From her point of view, it looked like Xia Lei had given her all of his clothing for her to be warm. How could she not be touched by such a caring gesture?
Tang Yuyan still stood there dumbly, and Xia Lei rushed forward to force the shirt on her.
“I, I don’t w, want the trousers.” Tang Yuyan reacted then.
Xia Lei suddenly slapped her across the face. “Wear it!”
This slap was not hard at all, but it shook Tang Yuyan. She had never been hit by anyone in all her life, but Xia Lei had given her a slap now. However, there was no anger in her heart at this slap. Instead, she was so moved that her eyes leaked tears and mucus built in her nose came flowing out.
A man was giving what little clothing he had on him to you in the snowy cold, and you refused, so he slapped you to make you put the clothes on. Could you blame this man for slapping you?
Tang Yuyan bit her cherry lips as she put on Xia Lei’s trousers, and cried as she said, “I, I don’t want to live either if you die.”
“We won’t die. Believe me. Come with me.” Xia Lei headed towards a rock cliff. He had discovered a recess under the cliff while Tang Yuyan was getting into his trousers. There was a gap before two pieces of rock which allowed him and Tang Yuyan to hide in there.
At the cliff, Xia Lei first let Tang Yuyan go in, then went in himself.
The cliff and the rock kept the wind out. Tang Yuyan was in better shape, but she was still chattering with cold.
Xia Lei held her in his arms to try to give her some of his body heat.
“How are you still so warm?” asked Tang Yuyan in surprise.
“This is a Wingchun secret technique…” Xia Lei thought of a name. “The Virgin Warming Sun.”
“Virgin?” Tang Yuyan’s expression grew more surprised. “You… are a virgin?”
Xia Lei really wanted to slap his own mouth. Why hadn’t he chosen something else for the fake name? What had he chosen the word ‘virgin’? If he was a virgin, then what would Long Bing think? What would Jiang Ruyi think? Shentu Tianyin, Liang Siyao… what would they think?
Bark bark bark…
The sound of barking came suddenly.
“Damn it! If I’m going to die, I’ll take down some Indian soldiers too!” The barking drew Tang Yuyan’s attention away and she snatched up the Gust assault rifle, preparing to crawl out.
Xia Lei pressed her shoulder down. “You stay here. I’ll get you a dog-pelt jacket.”
“You’re going to kill the dogs?”
“Lend me a throwing knife.” Xia Lei reached out to Tang Yuyan’s waist.
Tang Yuyan instinctively avoided him, but it was just a symbolic gesture. She calmed down right away when Xia Lei’s warm hand touched her waist, gentle as a kitty.
Xia Lei took a throwing knife from her waist, then crawled out. Just before he went out, he looked back at her. “Will you be able to kill the Indian soldiers if they catch up to us?”
“Yeah! Fuck it, if there’s going to be any trouble because of it, I’ll shoulder it!” said Tang Yuyan fiercely.
Xia Lei grinned. “I know what to do then.”