Giovanna took less than an hour to reach the Knight Hospitaller. Following that, Walton made an appearance on the screen of her laptop.
“Mister Xia, it’s nice to see you again,” said Walton.
Xia Lei replied, “Mister Walton, I’m sure you know why I’m calling you today.”
“Of course, it’s just...” Walton paused. “I just wish you could give us some time.”
Instantly, Xia Lei frowned. “I’ve already given you plenty of time. The Knight Hospitaller still hasn’t produced any results. Let me guess, you’ve found out its location but decided to not inform me about it. Are you planning to not take any further action?”
“Mister Xia, how could you put it that way? For the sake of finding out where it is, we’ve lost a lot of our members. I think you should thank us instead of reprimanding us.”
“What did you find?”
“Well...” Walton continued, “How about this? Come to Malta, we’ll talk when we meet.”
“You’re trying to get me to Malta?” Xia Lei found it suspicious.
This was a matter that could be relayed clearly through phone but Walton had wanted him to travel to Malta. Xia Lei was fully aware that Walton was just the Knight Hospitallers leader on the surface. Walton must’ve been acting based on the real leader, Angelo’s intention.
What was the Knight Hospitaller trying to do?
“Mister Xia, there’s no need to overthink this.” Walton explained, “We’re not trying to plot anything against you. We’ve already found out where the FA headquarters is. Sadly, it’s not possible for the Knight Hospitaler to do this alone. We must come up with a feasible plan. We need your help.”
Xia Lei went silent. “Tell me, where is it?”
“We’ll meet at Malta Island. Please kindly bring along our sacred relic.”
“Hahaha!” Xia Lei was so pissed that he started to cackle. “Do you think I’m stupid? Malta is your territory. You’re trying to have me bring over your sacred relic, ambush me to retrieve your stuff and then kill me? This is just plain suicidal for me.”
“I swear in the name of the Knight Hospitaller you shall not be met with such situations. Trust me, we’re just trying to destroy the FA Organization to complete our part of the deal.”
“There’s no progress to our initial promise, how am I supposed to believe you?”
“Mister Xia...”
“That’s enough.” Xia Lei said, “I’ve already given you fifty million USD and a lot of weapons. I guess I’ll just forget about the fifty million dollars and cancel our deal. I’ll go take care of the FA Organization myself and you all can forget about ever getting your sacred relic back.”
“No no no!” Walton was pressed. “Mister Xia, this is just a misunderstanding. We really have no other intentions. If you don’t trust us, you can return us the sacred relic only after we destroy the FA headquarters.”
“Give me a good reason to go to Malta.”
“You’re bound to come.” There was a small smile on Walton’s lips. “You’ll need us to destroy the FA Organization and…” He paused. “Are you not curious about the secrets behind our sacred relics? I know you’ve been into Da Vinci’s underground maze. You must have questions which need an answer.”
“Alright. I’ll give this some thought and come back with an answer,” said Xia Lei coolly.
“Sure, please get back to us as soon as possible. I’m looking forward to seeing you. Goodbye, Mister Xia.” With that, Walton disappeared from the screen.
Xia Lei turned to look at the four women. “I find it hard to decide. Any suggestions?”
“Come with us to Malta Island.” Giovanna added, “We’re comrades, not enemies.”
“We won’t hurt you.” Rosa went on, “Plus, you’re crazy strong. There’s no way for us to defeat you even if we wanted to.”
Xia Lei smirked. Not his enemy? If he wasn’t well-prepared for the Siberian operation back then, Xia Lei would’ve been long dead in Arthur’s hands. With Walton’s current invitation to Malta Island, Xia Lei could already guess what was lined up ahead of him.
“Mister Xia, as mentioned, you can leave the sacred relics behind. That way, you’ll be more at ease. We’re after the relics, not you.” Stella joined in to convince him.
“You’re eager to learn about the secrets of the relic. I’m certain you’ll find your answers in Malta,” supplied Theresa.
Xia Lei stared at them. “You’re all my knights, right?”
The Gray and Russo sisters looked at each other. They were but they refused to admit it.
Though so, Giovanna nodded. “Yes, we’ve sworn our loyalty to you. According to our tradition, we are your knights.”
“So you’ve sworn to obey my orders, right?” asked Xia Lei.
“Yes, as long as your orders do not violate justice.” Giovanna hurriedly answered.
“I won’t have you do that.” Xia Lei began to walk to his bed and laid on it. “Come, all four of you shall sleep with me tonight.”
“Huh?” The female knights were shocked.
“Come on, I want to bed you.” Xia Lei’s grins were unbearably lewd.
“Shameless man.” Rossa’s cheeks were burning red from anger. “We’re your knights, your fighters. We’re not prostitutes!”
“Please respect us.” Theresa was equally enraged.
“Hehe, you may be real knights but you’re definitely not my knights.” Xia Lei propped himself up from his mattress. “I was just trying to find out how loyal you are to me. Turns out, you all have zero loyalty.”
Giovanna was irritated. “What are you playing at?”
Xia Lei crawled away from the bed. “Since you’ve obviously zero loyalty for me, I’ve made my decision. You shall leave for Malta at this instance.”
“You’re trying to chase us out?” Theresa gasped.
“We’re your knights! You can’t do this to us!” exclaimed Rosa.
“This is literally humiliation,” huffed Theresa.
Nonchalantly, Xia Lei replied, “We’ll leave the discussion of whether you’re my knights until the day you’ve learned to offer me real loyalty. It’s not my intention to chase you away by asking you to return to Malta. I want you to relay my decision to Mister Walton. I’ll go to Malta Island on my own terms.”
The four women looked at each other in unison.
Xia Lei urged them. “Go. There will be no meals for you four from the kitchen today.”
“How stingy,” uttered Giovanna under her breath.
“I’ve never seen a man this petty in my life.” Rosa’s voice rang.
“He’s not a gentleman at all.”
“How about our plane tickets? Are we supposed to buy our own tickets? We’re your knights. The least you could do is to purchase them for us,” complained Theresa.
Ignoring them, Xia Lei turned around and left.
No matter what, Xia Lei needed to get to Malta Island to retrieve the armour. However, he just couldn’t wrap his head around the Knight Hospitallers current motivation. There was no way he could just barge onto the island without proper planning. Bringing the four female knights with him would just make him an easy target. His presence in Malta Island would open up an array of opportunities for the Knight Hospitaller to take him down. He couldn’t just go there. HE had to sneak in.
If he brought the sisters to Malta, he would be alerting them of his presence. If he snuck to the island, he would remain in the dark while the enemy was in the open. This was why he found the need to humiliate the sisters then chase them away.
As soon as Xia Lei left the room, Stella dashed to the windows and lifted the curtains slightly to observe her surroundings. From what she could see, Xia Lei was making his way slowly towards the kitchen. She huffed. “That bastard is really going to inform the kitchen. He’s crazy petty.”
“Hey, are you forgetting that he rescued us with three million USD? He’s not that stingy of a person. He’s just trying to get rid of us,” argued Theresa.
“How far is he?” questioned Rosa.
Stella released the curtains. “Out of sight.”
Giovanna turned the laptop on and started a video call, this time with a different account. The person who appeared on the display was no longer Walton but the Knight Hospitallers signet.
As soon as the signet appeared, all four women bowed to the screen respectfully. In unison, they greeted, “Leader.”
A low, hoarse voice rang through the speakers. “Has he made his decision?”
“Yes,” Giovanna reported. “He wants us to return to Malta. He’ll come over alone.”
“Hmph, sly fox.”
“We...” Giovanna gulped nervously. “He doesn’t want us in his house any longer, he’s chasing us out.”
“I’m disappointed.” There was anger radiating from the voice booming through the laptop. “You’ve remained in his residence for long but you’ve yet to discover where he hid the sacred relic. Your incompetence has caused severe damage to the Knight Hospitaller. Our future plans and operations had to change because of your mistakes.”
The four female knights shivered, keeping their heads down.
“Come back. Awaiting your return is not honour but punishment.” Uttering that, the signet vanished from the screen.
The four women were rooted to their spots blankly, refusing to budge.
Unbeknownst to them, there was a voyeur standing outside the walls behind them.
And that voyeur was none other than Xia Lei.
“Angelo, what the hell are you trying to do?” Xia Lei pondered. Before he left, he had a hunch that Giovanna would contact the authorities of the Knight Hospitallers headquarters. If it wasn’t Walton, it would be Angelo. Now that Angelo was the real recipient, Xia Lei was surprised to find the man extremely cunning as he refused to show his face.
Thankfully, his efforts were still considerably fruitful.
The Grey and Russo sisters were now stuck in an awkward predicament. They had pledged their loyalty to him and became his knight, but Xia Lei had mercilessly chased them away. Now that they were to return to Malta, they were about to face punishment too. Certainly, the outcome was beneficial to him as it gave the four women a chance to become his true knights once and for all.