It was very quiet underground.
Xia Lei spaced out as he stared at the silver piece of metal he had brought out of the underground chamber.
Da Vinci said it was a portion of an angel’s sword. The Knights Hospitallers then coined it God’s Metal and were willing to get their hands on it no matter the cost. Da Vinci didn’t have any conclusive results from his studies while the Knights had paid a terrible price for it\. This was the piece of silver metal’s story. It was a mysterious piece of ancient alloy indeed.
‘If it is merely a piece chipped off the sword, where is the rest of it? Could it be with the Knights Hospitallers? Perhaps they wanted this piece to complete the entire sword?’ This was what Xia Lei thought to himself.
In a moment, his left eye twitched again as he summoned his X-ray vision.
When he looked at the piece of ancient alloy, his vision turned dark. It felt as if he was close to death. It gave off an aura of dread and despair. This time, he did not ‘fall into the darkness’ nor was he afraid. His vision slowly penetrated the metal like how a piece of cotton fabric is slowly dipped into a tub of water. Slowly but surely, he reached its core. He was now one with the piece of metal.
There was nothing special about it. He felt the same as using his vision on a regular piece of metal, like silver or aluminum. It didn’t have a very dense atomic structure, perhaps it was not even as dense as titanium alloy.
“That’s odd. It could easily scratch metal while remaining scratch-free itself. It’s very light, yet hard. I have run tests on its durability and it was found to be harder than titanium alloy, then why does it feel so normal? Did I overestimate its abilities?” Xia Lei was very puzzled. After that, maintaining his X-ray vision, he summoned his magnifying abilities.
When he magnified his vision, what he saw through his left eye instantly changed. It was as if he had stepped under a night sky. There were countless stars shining in the sky, twinkling.
He suddenly thought of the drawing of the starry skies in the chamber. That drawing was made of minerals. After Zhu Xuanyue awoke, the minerals disappeared, leaving the canvas behind. At the time, when he looked at the drawing it was as if the bits of minerals were rotating like nebulous stars in the sky. In this piece of metal, the shiny mineral bits were motionless.
“What are these bits of minerals?” Xia Lei was very surprised.
Ring… Ring…
The abrupt ringtone interrupted his train of thought and the X-ray vision he had on the metal.
It was Liang Siyao. “I have the information you wanted.”
“Go on.”
“I am outside your mansion,” said Liang Siyao.
“Alright, I’m coming.” Xia Lei hung up. He thought for a moment then took the piece of silver metal, placing it in his pocket before leaving the underground laboratory.
Exiting his mansion, he immediately saw Liang Siyao standing under a marlberry tree. She was clad in a grey linen shirt and skinny jeans. Under the loose-fitting shirt were two tall mountains on display. The tight jeans showed off her curves perfectly, accentuating her full behind. It was a simple, yet flirtatious outfit.
Her face had some color today, satisfied by last night’s rendezvous. Catching sight of Xia Lei, she immediately flashed him a smile and could barely hide her joy and emotion in her eyes.
Liang Siyao was happy enough just to see him. Imagine if he gave her a hug and a kiss. She would have been over the moon.
Xia Lei walked over and in a low voice said, “You didn’t have to come. YOu could have texted or emailed me.”
Liang Siyao replied, “Regular phone calls are not safe. Coming in person was the only way I could ensure complete privacy.” The truth was that she wanted to see Xia Lei. She felt like a teenage girl who had tasted passion for the first time. Her heart itched for more after having been apart for a day. However, she would never tell Xia Lei this.
“Mmm, it’s better to be cautious anyway.” Xia Lei didn’t dwell on the topic, leading Liang Siyao ahead.
When they were further from the mansion, Liang Siyao finally said, “I found the Roman official telephone line for the Malta underground chamber but I know you obviously don’t want that. So I dug deeper and found the Knight Hospitaller’s leader, Walton’s private number.”
“Alright.”
Liang Siyao gave him a number then said, “I really don’t understand why you want to contact them. This is a mercenary group from the Middle Ages. They’re as good as dead.”
Xia Lei said, “You’re wrong there. The Knights Hospitallers have their own military power, More than they let on”
“You…” Liang Siyao suddenly understood. “You’re contacting them to hire their mercenaries? You need mercenaries to help you with your revenge?”
It wasn’t hard for her to piece the puzzle together.
However, the image of the dead Amanda and Park Taeyong flashed before Xia Lei’s eyes.
Liang Siyao held Xia Lei’s hand. “I know you’re in grief but you have to remain calm. From a certain aspect, the Knights Hospitaller is practically a country. They have very firm beliefs and you cannot buy them over with money.”
“I have my ways, just leave it to me.”
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes. “We have reconciled, yet you still treat me as an outsider?”
“I don’t want to involve you in this. Getting involved will not benefit you.”
“I know you care for me, you don’t want to see me in danger but I am still your woman. We can share the burden together.”
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. “Must a woman always interfere with a man’s work?”
“Alright, alright, I’ll leave you alone, alright? You think you’re so macho…”
Xia Lei slapped her ass.
And just with one slap, the resentment in Liang Siyao dissipated. Her heart melted and her knees buckled. She didn’t know where her sudden well of courage came from but without checking if there were any people around them, she hooked herself unto his neck and gave him a passionate kiss.
There were indeed people around him, a few construction workers were passing by.
“Fuck, Mr Xia has another one? Her legs are gorgeous!”
“Shut up, do you know who she is?”
“Who is she?”
“You’re new, so you don’t know. Let me tell you, kid, she was Mr Xia’s first girlfriend Liang Siyao. She’s a Wing Chun expert. I am willing to bet she could take down fifty of you without a sweat!”
“Fifty? You must be exaggerating. But she has gorgeous legs!”
“Why did she break up with Mr Xia?”
“I don’t know but who could ever leave him? Look at this, they broke up but she came back anyway.”
“Speaking of which, when is Queen Shentu coming back?”
“How would I know, why don’t you ask Mr Xia?”
“Do your work, stop fantasizing.”
The few workers laughed and left. Liang Siyao was satisfied, finally willing to let Xia Lei go. She grinned. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll see you?”
He shrugged. “So what if they do? I don’t care what they think, do you?”
“I don’t care either. Alright, the man has his work while the lady…has her own work too” Liang Siyao smiled then turned to leave.
Xia Lei stared as she left. He was not in a hurry to call Walton but instead when to the materials laboratory in the Thunder Horse factory.
The materials laboratory was a very important facility. The materials used to make weapons had to pass a quality check performed by this facility and enter the manufacturing area. Plus, they were also performing some research on new materials to help with the advancement of technology within the business. This laboratory didn’t just consist of regular staff. There were highly-paid material scientists too.
Xia Lei turned to the person in charge of the laboratory when he arrived. It was a material scientist named Li Youdun. “Could you look into this piece of metal for me? Is there a way to slice a little off for analysis?”
He took out the piece of silver-colored metal and placed it in Li Youdun’s palm.
Li Youdun took a look, then asked with surprise, “Director Xia, what metal is this? I have never seen such a thing before.”
“Don’t ask questions. Just answer mine,” said Xia Lei.
“We have just brought back a high-precision laser cutter. But Director Xia, how much do you want to slice off?” Li Youdun was obviously not sure what ‘a little’ meant.
“As small as possible. Small to the point where one could not tell that it has been tampered with. You understand?” asked Xia Lei.
Li Youdun nodded. “I understand. I’ll get to it immediately.”
“How much time do you need?”
“It will be done very quickly but I am not sure how long analysis will take.”
“Go, I’ll wait here.”
Once Li Youdun left, Xia Lei sat at his office desk and pulled out his phone to call the number Liang Siyao gave him.
The phone rang for about fifty seconds before it was answered. A man asked in Italian, “Who are you? Who gave you this number?”
It was obvious Liang Siyao had given him a number that was not available to the public. They had every right to be cautious.
In Italian, he answered, “I am Xia Lei.”
The man on the other side of the phone was silent for at least thirty seconds before saying, “It’s you, the Chinese thief.”
“Thief? If you speak to me like that, we will not speak again. And you will never see the thing you all want so much,” said Xia Lei.
“Don’t you do what thieves do? That is something very sacred to us! You should not have stolen it. What about this, I will give you one million US dollars and you give it back to us? Also, I can also bend the rules and grant you a knighthood so you will be an aristocrat.”
“One million dollars? Heh.” Xia Lei snickered coldly. “What about this, I pay you one million dollars and you apologize to me. What do you think?”
“Do you know who I am?” There was anger laced in his voice.
“Bishop Walton, leader of the Knights Hospitallers. Perhaps you might have secret military mercenaries with commanders or something but let me tell you this. I don’t care. If you don’t respect me, I will not respect you. I called you not to confess my sins, I called to propose a business with you.”
Walton went silent for a moment. “What is this business about?”
“God’s metal. I can give it to you.”
“You… What do you want from us?” Walton was so emotional his voice shook.
“Send someone who has the power to make decisions to talk to me. I would also accept a personal visit from you.”
“What are you trying to achieve?!” Walton asked again.
“Goodbye.” Xia Lei hung up.