A shot rang out in the freezing snow. The last man from the FA organization fell onto the ground. E’er Demutu, who fired the shot, clutched his chest as he fell onto the ground. No one saw how he was shot, but the Grey and Russo sisters had only noticed it when he fell.
Xia Lei ran towards E’er Demutu and threw away his gun. He held up E’er Demutu’s head, tears welling up in his eyes. He croaked, “Don’t die… Please... Please don’t die!”
“Boss…don’t stay here. I don’t think I can make it…Ugh!” E’er Demutu spat out a mouthful of warm blood. And with that, he closed his eyes.
Xia Lei’s fist clenched on E’er Demutu’s chest nervously. Fresh blood was dripping out from between Xia Lei’s clutch.
No matter how hard Xia Lei called out to him, there was not a single response.
“We have to leave this place now!” Giovanna lifted Xia Lei from the ground.
Xia Lei shoved Giovanna to the ground. “All my men are dead, I must avenge them!”
Giovanna shouted at Xia Lei, “Xia Lei, calm down! We are in danger now, the FA organizations members will reach us in no time.”
“Danger?” Xia Lei’s emotions were on overdrive. “All my men are dead but you guys are unharmed. What danger do you have?! Is this the chivalry of Knights Hospitaller? You’re nothing but a bunch of cowards!”
Giovanna was speechless. Guilt crept up her spine as she took in Xia Lei’s accusation. She wanted to get up from the ground but she was once again slapped onto the ground. He was like a child with no control over his temper.
Theresa quickly shielded Giovanna. She scowled, “What do you want? We’re not your enemy. We’re fighting against the FA organization too! Would you like us dead to satisfy your insane idea of fairness?”
“That’s enough! Stop this nonsense right away! Dark Mona must be somewhere near, she’s probably happy to see us like this!” shouted Rosa.
“We need to leave! Now!” Rosa’s voice trembled with a sense of urgency.
Xia Lei picked up the XL2500 sniper rifle from the ground and wiped away his tears that were gathering at the corner of his eyes. Then, he stretched out one of his hands to Giovanna. “Sorry. I was too rash. Their deaths have nothing to do with you all.”
Giovanna got up from the floor with the help of Xia Lei. “I swear, we’re going to take out Dark Mona.”
Stella added on. “Although all your men are dead, you have us and the Knights Hospitaller, you’re not alone!”
Xia Lei nodded. “Let’s go then.”
Five of them continued to march towards the peak of the mountain.
Giovanna slowed down her pace and stayed at the end of the line. She whispered into the transmitter hidden in her cold protective suit. “He’s alone now and we’re heading towards Dark Mona’s stronghold. It’s about seven hundred metres away. It’s time to proceed to the next step.”
“Try to stall him. Don’t let him go near Dark Mona’s stronghold. We’ll be there soon.” Arthur’s voice rang from the mini receiver in Giovanna’s ears.
“Roger that!” Giovanna ended the conversation. She suddenly clutched her stomach. “W…Wait! Hold up!”
Xia Lei turned around to face her. “What do you want?”
“My stomach hurts… I couldn’t bear with it anymore, please give me a moment!” Giovanna ran behind the trees anxiously.
Xia Lei frowned. “What’s happening?”
The other three women looked at him in bewilderment and said nothing.
Giovanna loosened her belt, took off her pants and crouched on the ground.
She didn’t intend to do so. However, she recalled that Xia Lei had a superb observation skill during his previous battles. She had no choice but to do this in order to make her story seem believable. Thus, her fair buttock was exposed to the Siberian forest.
White snow, fair buttocks, frigid wind and corpses that scattered in the forests. The scene was truly bizarre.
The sound of pee echoed from behind the trees. The hot fluid released by Giovanna melted the snow producing steam, which floated out from behind the trees.
Xia Lei stared at the trees.
“What’re you looking at?” Stella blocked Xia Lei’s line of sight.
Xia Lei snorted. “Do you guys still think I’m interested in that? Follow up, I’m heading forward first.” He turned around and left.
“Wait! How could you leave us?” Stella took a glance at where Giovanna was taking a piss.
Xia Lei didn’t turn around. He continued to march in the snow with a calm, intense look. His eyes were scarily cold.
Rosa, Stella and Theresa were frozen in their stance. They weren’t sure whether to follow Xia Lei or to wait for Giovanna.
Giovanna ran out from behind the trees while tightening her belt. She was secretly worried. The act of pretending to have a stomach ache was not working. What else could she have done?
After ten minutes, a team with thirty-five people came from the three o’clock direction.
The leader of the team, Arthur conversed through the satellite phone while he was walking. “He lost all his allies during the battle with the FA organization. I’ve instructed Giovanna and her team to stall him. There’s no way he could escape this time. He’ll need to face a hundred of us and the people from the FA organization. Hmph! He would never have known that the rest of the members from the FA organizations were elite, or else he wouldn’t have lost all his allies in such a short amount of time. If we were to face the FA organization, we’d have to pay a heavy price to eliminate all of them. These two battles had also exhausted Dark Mona’s men. Thus, I’ve instructed another two teams to launch an attack on Dark Mona’s stronghold. Yes, I’ll contact you as soon as I catch Xia Lei.”
Arthur ended the conversation and broke into a smile.
His plan was progressing well, Xia Lei was almost in his hands.
The Knights Hospitaller team travelled to the battlefield. Soon, they reached the scene where the first battle happened.
“Commander, there are corpses there.” Someone pointed at Tsukino Kyoko’s corpse.
“That’s the body of Xia Lei’s women. Ignore it, we don’t have time to waste. Let’s run!” Arthur urged.
The Knights Hospitaller team followed Xia Lei’s trail and began to run towards the direction.
Arthur stared at Yelena’s face for a while before he stepped over her body. There was no sign of blood on her face and there was a stain of red blood at the corner of her mouth. He averted his gaze after a while and drew a cross in front of his torso habitually.
Several people were running in the snow, making a thumping noise wherever they went.
The sound of the whistling wind was heard amid the thumping sound.
Just when the last man from the Knights Hospitaller passed by the two corpses, Yelena and Tsukino Kyoko who were on the ground got up silently. Then they held up their guns and pulled the trigger.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The gust assault rifle showed no signs of its signature tremble as it was equipped with a silencer. However, hot bullets were still shot from the muzzle. The man who ran at the end of the line fell onto the ground.
The runners in the middle and front of the line turned around when they realised that something was amiss.
Before they could even fire their shot, bullets were coming through silently from the side and in front of them. The bullets were driven into their bodies cruelly, blood spilt everywhere and melted the snow on the ground.
The whole battle began and ended in less than five seconds.
Five seconds ago, there was a team with strong battle effectiveness. They were all the elites from the Knights Hospitaller, the ones chosen to catch Xia Lei. However, their lives were reduced to nothing as they rested on the snow to be forgotten deep within Siberia.
In these five seconds, only three men from the Knights Hospitaller had managed to fire their shots, none which made contact with their target. Their marksmanship wasn’t too bad, but there were bullets from every direction. Taken by surprise, they didn’t know where to aim. It was the moment of hesitation that ended their life by the gust assault rifle.
Arthur was the last man standing.
He was alive, but his mind was as blank as a corpse without a soul.
Alessio and Anjum Khan appeared from the left of the forests. They were holding their gun while approaching Arthur slowly.
Sa’im appeared from the right, also approaching Arthur slowly.
E’er Demutu appeared at last and approached the same man from the direction where Xia Lei left.
Arthur turned around and saw the two ‘corpses’ from before. As soon as he saw Yelena and Tsukino Kyoko’s face, he finally understood everything. He had been racking his brain to lure Xia Lei to Siberia. Xia Lei was his prey but now the tables had turned. He was now in the palm of his prey.
Could this be more ironic?
“What are you doing?” Arthur shouted. “I’m here to help you! Why’re you doing this?”
“Put down your gun!” Alessio spoke in Italian.
“Bastard! Who are you to order me around?” Arthur held up the gust assault rifle.
Poof! A bullet was fired from the gust assault rifle held by Anjum Khan, hitting Arthur’s wrist in an instant.
The gust assault rifle fell from Arthur’s hand. The fear that had been repressed in his heart suddenly erupted and his face lost its colour in an instant.
“I’ll keep you alive if you follow our orders. If you refuse to do so, I’ll kill you by slitting your throat,” said Alessio.
Arthur stared at Alessio.
Out of nowhere, a needle flew out from the mouth of E’er Demutu into Arthur’s neck.
Arthur wobbled for a while before he closed his eyes and fell onto the ground.
A golden pipe slipped out from E’er Demutu’s mouth. He puffed out his cheek and took a blow at the pipe. A sharp, birdlike sound came from the pipe.
This was a sign that the battle was over.
It travelled far away.
“It’s done.” Yelena kicked Arthur who was lying on the floor. “You've kept me lying in the snow for so long. Serves you right.”
Alessio lifted Arthur from the floor and carried the larger man on his shoulder. “Let’s go, now we just have to wait for the boss to finish his task.”
“I’m not worried about him at all. There were only a few people that could kill him. They are Long Bing, the two German women, Fan Fan and… I couldn’t remember their name, but it was definitely not Dark Mona,” said Yelena.
The other five of them looked at her in bewilderment.
Yelena shrugged her shoulder. “Oh well, forget it.