Four military dogs fell to the ground. Three of them had had their throats cut, and one had had its neck broken. Xia Lei had taken just two minutes to do all these. The dog which had its neck broken by Xia Lei was food for his escape. Tang Yuyan’s throwing knife had poison along its edge, so there would be no dog meat to use as food if he had killed them all with the knife.
Xia Lei was on no rush to drag the carcasses of the dogs back to the recess in the cliff after killing them. He stood at the edge and looked down, observing the activity below. The military dogs had caught up, so the Indian soldiers should be not far behind.
The flickering light of torchlights came from downhill. The Indian soldiers had caught up.
Xia Lei’s gaze went past those Indian soldiers, and further away. However, he did not see the people he wanted to see.
Amanda, Park Taeyong, Bagu and Marcus had not turned up.
Amanda had called him before he’d arrived in the western province, and said that she and three other members of the Zodiac Team were half an hour away from him and Tang Yuyan by car. Half an hour meant about sixty kilometres, so if Amanda and the others were on their way, they should have arrived long ago.
‘Could Amanda, Park Taeyong and the others stopped and camped sixty kilometres away? If that’s the case, then they really wouldn’t know anything about the battle here. But the Japanese have jammed the signal in this area, so Amanda can’t track my location using the satellite phone. Won’t she have found it strange with her experience? If Amanda and the others hurried over right away once my signal disappeared, then they should have arrived by now, right?’ Xia Lei was anxious. He had very confidently told Tang Yuyan that they would not die here earlier, and his confidence had come from Amanda and the three other Zodiac Team members’ presence. They were all skilled combats worth ten of their number. If this support team of his arrived, they would be able to sandwich the Japanese people and Indian soldiers flanking them now, and let himself and Tang Yuyan escape, and even finished his revenge.
But there was no use being anxious. The Zodiac Team had not turned up, and he and Tang Yuyan were still in grave danger.
At that moment, four military men entered his field of sight, and he was stunned.
Those four military men were not Amanda, Park Taeyong and the others, but the Japanese people who were after him and Tang Yuyan!
The four Japanese people had the young man in monk robes in the lead, and they followed closely behind the Indian troops. The two factions climbed towards the peak together. Under normal circumstances, those four Japanese people should be avoiding the Indian troops, but what Xia Lei was witnessing was obvious — the Japanese people knew of the existence of the Indian troops and vice versa. However, both factions were peaceful and did not exchange fire. They were also climbing up to the peak together on top of that.
There was only one possibility for this situation, and that was the Japanese group and this group of Indian troops were working together. This was a carefully made trap!
In that instant, Xia Lei’s brain sorted through all of the events which had happened, and the previous parts he had not understood, and the gaps, were all filled and made clear.
Someone had leaked information on this mission.
There might’ve been some terrorists who had infiltrated the country, but they had been taken out by the Japanese long ago and replaced by them. The possibility of this was over 80%. And the possibility of leaked information was 100%!
This situation before him looked like it wasn’t just him and Tang Yuyan in danger, but Amanda and the others too!
So who had leaked the information?
Now was not the time to find the traitor and catch the person. Xia Lei went around the cliff and quickly moved to the other side of the peak.
In the ice and snow, a group of white figures moved, heading in his direction. They were about 500 metres away, and there was snow blocking his field of vision, but Xia Lei saw those white figures clearly. They were military men in snow camouflage gear — white men and black men. They were carrying the best of American weaponry.
‘The CIA?’ A chill ran across Xia Lei’s heart.
Americans, the Japanese, Indians… There was a UN army surrounding this hill.
The truth was revealed in an instant. The cooperation between the Japanese and the Americans was all due to Gu Kewen’s working together with Hattori Masao. They had just moved the location from Paris to this hill. As for the Indians, they definitely did not dare to attack China’s agents openly, since this was a sensitive territory. They did not dare, but the corruption of the Indian troops was widely known. You just had to pay the right price and it wouldn’t be difficult to buy an Indian garrison in the area.
Since he and Tang Yuyan had been attacked, the enemy had been trying to drive them to this hill, and push him up the peak, bit by bit. Now, the Indians, Americans and Japanese had this hill surrounded. He and Tang Yuyan were in a desperate situation and there was no way out.
Xia Lei lifted his gun and his left eye focused on a man in snow camouflage gear. He pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The dull gunshot broke the silence of the peak. In his field of vision, a man in camouflage gear fell to the ground. He had not killed this man, however. The man could still roll about after being hit, and he hid behind a rock.
The wind behind the hill was just too great, and there was snow falling too. He had calculated the wind speed and the effect a low temperature would have on the bullet trajectory, but the wind was unpredictable. It whooshed left, then right, so there was no way for him to calculate a certain result.
However, he had managed to wound one of them, and the rest of the snow-camouflaged did not dare to risk it. They quickly hid behind rocks. One of them returned fire, but the bullets couldn’t reach Xia Lei at all.
Xia Lei gave up after firing once. He turned and left.
There was a limit to the amount of ammunition which he and Tang Yuyan had brought. They did not have a lot left after their battles, so Xia Lei would rather not shoot if he could not do one-hit-one-kill.
Xia Lei dragged the four military dogs to the cliff. Tang Yuyan wanted to crawl out of the gap in the rock but Xia Lei stopped her.
“I heard you fire just now. Are the Indian t, t, troops close?” asked Tang Yuyan. She was wearing the shirt and trousers which Xia Lei had given her, but it was not enough for her at all. She was still chattering with cold, and her tongue was stiff as she spoke. She hugged her sides, and her skin looked like it was turning black and blue. This was caused by a slowed blood flow. In this condition, her brain and organs would not receive enough oxygen and nutrients — she was not going to last for very long, much less battle alongside Xia Lei.
Her condition made Xia Lei’s heart ache for her, and he also felt a bit like he owed her. She had brought him on this mission but the target of the Americans and Japanese was him, not her. She was meant to just face down a few poorly-equipped terrorists on this mission, and her seven subordinates would not have had to die either.
“I, I, I’m t, talking to y, you…” Tang Yuyan shivered before she could finish her sentence.
Xia Lei wasn’t sure if he should tell her the actual situation, that they were surrounded and that they were in dire straits.
After some hesitation, Xia Lei said, “Yuyan, don’t come out no matter what happens, okay?”
Tang Yuyan paused. “Wh, What do you mean b, by that? W, We can’t escape a, anymore?”
“No, you will be fine,” said Xia Lei.
“S, Stop lying to me! I w, want to fight with you!” Tang Yuyan climbed stubbornly.
Xia Lei suddenly chopped at her carotid artery. Tang Yuyan let out a grunt, and fainted.
Xia Lei took the bullets from her gun, and the magazine at her waist, then dragged the carcasses of the four military dogs into the recess. He used the throwing knife to cut open the belly of the dogs and covered her with their internal organs. Last, he moved some rocks over to block off the entrance to the recess.
“Their target is me. This is my battle and it’s nothing to do with you. You should not die here,” said Xia Lei. But Tang Yuyan could not hear him anymore.
Tang Yuyan was in no condition to fight alongside him. Letting her get into the line of fire was a waste of bullets and also sending her to die. Why not just hide her away and give her a chance to survive?
After hiding Tang Yuyan away, Xia Lei left the cliff. He wanted to look for a sniping spot now, and kill as many enemies as he could while he still had the advantage of the terrain. The pressure on him would lessen the more enemies he killed.
Attack the Americans in the back. This idea was quashed by Xia Lei as soon as it popped up in his head. He had already fired once, and found that it was difficult to kill his target. Those Americans could be the elite of the Special Forces soldiers, and could also be agents of the CIA. They were more powerful than the Indian troops no matter how you looked at it. It was going to be much more difficult to fight them, compared to fighting the Indian troops. Also, the wind in front of the hill was much weaker, and the effect the wind had on the bullets would not be as great as it had been behind the hill. Xia Lei quickly reached a decision with that analysis. He was going to cut the Indian troops down first!
Xia Lei lay flat on a rock overlooking a large area, then stretched the XL2500 out. He quickly locked on to an Indian soldier, and pulled the trigger.
The Indian soldier was pierced by the sniper rifle bullet in the instant after the gunshot rang out, and he fell to the ground with a fist-sized hole in his chest.
The Indian soldiers heading to the peak were immediately in a great disarray. They had obviously not expected that the person at the peak actually still dared to shoot them. Some let out curses, and some fired at the peak. However, they were using the Indian-made INSAS assault rifle, and it was a type of gun modelled off an AK47 but the performance was very poor. The bullets which shot from the INSAS assault rifle were blown about again due to the strong winds, and it was like they had not deviated from their trajectory. And so, the shots came at Xia Lei, but only a pitiful few could reach Xia Lei, much less hurt him.
“This is the territory of India. I command you to surrender!” shouted an official-looking person in English.
Bang!
The Indian official had just finished speaking when a bullet went through his brain, sending fragments of skull and splattering brain matter.
The Indian official fell to the ground, eyes open and full of anger in death.
“I’ll kill you even if you’re in New Delhi!” Xia Lei spat.
Bang bang bang…
Ratatatatat…
Gunshots sounded from under the peak again. Bullets shot like rain towards the peak.
A dark figure sneakily came to the frontlines and hid behind a rock. After he stopped sneaking about, he poked the grenade launcher out from the top of the rock and stood carefully, adjusting the angle and preparing to shoot at Xia Lei.
“The Japanese are most adept at sneak attacks, huh?” Xia Lei squeezed the trigger.
Pew!
The Japanese military man operating the grenade launcher fell to the ground with a thud. He had only let half his head show, and that was the half of his brain which he lost.