Ten hours later, they arrived at Punjab, near the borders that divided India and Pakistan.
The scenery outside the vehicle was a piece of barren land. Vegetation was absent from the hills and there seemed to be an endless horizon of gobi made out of stones and sand. There was no one here, let alone a single rat. Albeit resilient beings, rats still required food and water, none of which was present at this place.
“Boss, if we go past that mountain, we’ll be in Pakistan.” Anjum Khan pointed to a huge mountain ahead of them. “Locals call it the Bone Mountain because of a war that took place here in the past. It took the lives of many, hence why it got its name.”
Xia Lei took a good look at the mountain. It looked like a standard stone mountain. Its uneven surface consisted of various sized stones and sharp cliffs. It looked very difficult to climb.
This terrain was most suited for battles where your opponents outnumbered your forces. That was also the reason behind his choice of location. This was where he had planned to perish the Hattori clan.
Another reason behind it was due to the location’s proximity to the Pakistan border. If anything had gone terribly wrong, all Xia Lei needed to do was to cross over the mountain into Pakistan. Taking advantage of the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China, even a regular Chinese civilian would receive great help from the Pakistanis.
“Anjum Khan, give that dude a call. Have him add another detail to the intel. We’ll be crossing over the mountain to get into Pakistan within four hours.” Xia Lei instructed.
“Why so specific?” Anjum Khan was confused.
Xia Lei explained, “Yesterday, I’ve phoned the UAE’s Prince Harifah to have him order the nation’s media to broadcast fake news that I was visiting the nation. The Americans would definitely take note of it and verify its authenticity. By now, the Hattori clan would’ve already given the American Intelligence Department our deliberately leaked information. That would result in the Americans holding two very different pieces of information. It would be difficult for them to decide where my location is. No matter what, the CIA would need some time to truly analyze and investigate it. The specific four-hour time frame was to pressure the Hattori clan into coming here. They would be desperate to clarify their given information to the CIA.”
Anjum Khan replied, “I got it. The CIA would definitely not have enough time to join the battle. As long as they’re not involved, it’ll be easy for us to take out the Hattori clan.”
“What if the Hattori clan had actually bought over help from the Indian military and their special forces?” questioned Sa’im. His brows were slightly furrowed, worried about the potential outcome.
“If not many of them show up, we’ll stick to our plan and destroy them all. If there are too many of them, we’ll retreat,” answered Xia Lei. He had already thought this through.
They continued their chatter, until the two four-wheeled drives they rode on halted at the foot of the mountain. This was as far as their vehicles could go. The particular path was built for the transportation of Indian armies and resources during the war between Pakistan and India. They did not extend it into the territories of their neighbour.
Everyone got off the vehicle. Anjum Khan stepped away to give the Indian official a call. Meanwhile, Xia Lei busied himself with moving Ning Jing out of the car with Tsukino Kyoko’s assistance.
Perhaps the sunlight was too intense, Ning Jing started to stir from her sleep. She propped herself up on the stretcher bed, glaring at everyone around her cautiously. Finally, she rested her gaze on Xia Lei. “Xia Lei, where are you bringing me to?”
Said man was immediately stunned.
Ten hours ago, not only she had no memory of who he was, but she also had zero recognition of who she was! How did she regain those memories during their ride?
“Xia Lei, answer me, where are you bringing me?” Ning Jing’s tone was filled with severe displeasure.
Xia Lei snapped out of his daze. “You finally remembered me?”
“Of course! Even if you became ashes, I could recognize you!”
“You…” Xia Lei was confused. That was very unlike Ning Jing. Since he knew her, she had always behaved in a mild and sophisticated mannerism. Her words were always gentle to him. Since when had she talked to him this way?
“What’s wrong with you?!” Tsukino Kyoko reprimanded. “How could you be so ungrateful? My boss almost died trying to save you? Not a single thanks uttered and you’re speaking to him like that?!”
“Save me? More like he killed me.” Her voice was still unmistakably Ning jing’s voice, but the feeling she gave off was as if she was a different soul.
As Tsukino Kyoko was about to reprimand her, Xia Lei waved his hand. He stared at Ning Jing’s gauze-concealed face and activated his X-ray vision. The dressings and scars beneath soon disappeared, only to reveal a forming new face. It looked familiar, it was Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue’s face!
Suddenly, something flashed within Xia Lei’s mind. It all started to make sense. All of those unsolvable mysteries resurfaced. Memories of him locating Princess Yongmei’s body in the old tombs back in Afghanistan then finding the same body underwater in Japan along with the weirdly familiar face painted by Leonarda da Vinci in the artwork displayed in Mark Armin’s house. The female pirate in the painting too had the face of Princess Yongmei Zhu Xuanyue’s face!
So this was how she was born!
The truth to many secrets lies in front of us. We just have the habit of overlooking them.
It was the same for Princess Yongmei’s body. It would be impossible for someone to own the exact same body across different time periods. Plus, Princess Yongmei existed as a mere pure form of energy. She was basically indestructible but she had no physical vessel. If she wanted one, all she could do was to overtake someone else’s then alter it to her needs through special methods.
Now to think of it, Salman had already dropped them a hint earlier. She mentioned that the bodies were clothes to the goddess. Since they were referred to as clothes, that would indicate that their forms could be tailored and fitted! The explosion that took place in the laboratory was just the ‘alteration’ of the bodies. Princess Yongmei had stitched different clothes together to fit her needs!
That begs the question, what was the black-robed man’s role in Zhu Xuanyue’s ‘reincarnation’? Was he here to stop it? What were his intentions?
Unfortunately, the only ones that could answer it would be Zhu Xuanyue and the black-robed man themselves.
Xia Lei’s flurry of thought was short-lived. After a brief pause, he muttered, “Is Gu Kewen speaking to me?”
“Gu Kewen?” She stared back at him blankly.
“Yes, Gu Kewen. I’m sure you remember the name.” Xia Lei continued to probe.
She hugged her head with her arms. Her expression changed drastically. Even her tone was different, reverting back to her usual soft and gentle tone. “I don’t know and I don’t want to know. Why don’t I remember anything? Weirdly, I have this feeling that you’re the closest person in my life. You won’t hurt me, right?”
Xia Lei felt as if the woman in front of him had switched back to Ning Jing.
“Please, take me away from this place.” She suddenly grasped onto Xia Lei’s elbow, giving him stares that glimmered with sorrow and pleading.
“Are you Ning Jing?” Xia Lei tried again.
“I can’t remember. If you think that’s who I am, then I shall be that. I’ll listen to everything you say. Just take me away from this place. I don’t want to be near any of them.” She cast a glance at Tsukino Kyoko, not forgetting to flash her a wry smile.
Tsukino Kyoko spoke up at this. “Boss, what the hell is wrong with her? Was her brain damaged by the explosion?”
Xia Lei answered, “Of course the explosion did something. Nevermind, let’s just start our trek up the mountain. We’ll save this discussion for later.” Then, he gently pressed Ning Jing back to her stretcher bed. “Please just stay still. I’ll bring you away from here.”
“Hehehe…” She started to cackle. “What are you so afraid of? There must be people chasing behind you, right? Xia Lei, you won’t be able to escape your fate this time.”
“Gu Kewen, is that you?” Xia Lei was extremely confused.
“Who the hell is Gu Kewen? I’m not sure why but the sight of you disgusts me. It would certainly please me if you fell and broke your leg.” She uttered.
Smack! Tsukino Kyoko who was about to move the stretcher landed a hard slap to the back of her skull. The Japanese lady started to warn her. “Your brain may be damaged but mine certainly isn’t. Continue to spew bullshit and I’ll twist your neck!”
Perhaps the slap had inflicted some pain, Ning Jing finally fell silent.
Following that, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko lifted the stretcher to head towards the mountain. Though he had successfully saved Ning Jing, there was not a single hint of happiness in Xia Lei’s heart. If this was really Ning Jing’s fate, her entire life was one sad event after another.
At the same time, another question manifested in his heart.
What was presumably Gu Kewen’s ‘vengeful soul’ had already revealed itself along with Ning Jing’s original soul. What about Zhu Xuanyue’s? Wasn’t she the real formidable soul? Could it be that she had tailored her ‘clothes’ but it still wouldn’t fit? Or was she still hibernating for some reason inside her ‘clothes’?
Multiple questions tormented Xia Lei’s sanity.
Anjum Khan approached him. “Boss, it’s done. He said he’ll plant the information we gave into the Indian counterterrorist intel network immediately. I’m sure the Hattori clan will catch wind of it after a few minutes.”
“Well done, then they’ll conduct a preliminary search in this area with the satellite and find our discarded vehicles. That way, they’ll be convinced that this is real news.” A smile finally appeared on Xia Lei’s face.
“We only gave them four hours. There’s no way they could catch up all the way from New Delhi,” said Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei replied, “If they use helicopters, it’ll only take one hour to get here. They would need some time to prepare the helicopter and some weapons, so I say we’ll be seeing them in our horizons in another two hours.”
“What if they use military helicopters?” asked E’er Demutu.
Xia Lei smirked. “Then we blow them up.”