The shocking ‘accident’ at Arabino Range had media outlets all over the world scrambling to be the first on the issue. Japan had lost three Type 10 Tanks and nine men, but the Land of the Rising Sun wasn’t planning on demanding any explanation from China. On the contrary, they were very much afraid that China would demand an explanation from them. After all,having three tanks malfunction at the same time and target one tank was a hard lie to stretch. Who would’ve bought that lie?
On the other hand, China wasn’t planning on questioning Japan about the incident at Arabino Range. The foreseen best outcome would just be an official apology from both sides, which gave no meaning to the already ended issue. Not to mention, Xia Lei was the one who destroyed three of Japan’s tanks. The incident literally ended with an eye for an eye resolution.
Xia Lei remained unbothered about the entire ordeal. Returning to China, the man immediately started a maintenance and resurrection project for the damaged ZTZ100 while he provided some feedback to improve the model.
For the Thunder Horse Organization, the Arabino Range incident was beneficial to them as it was essentially a field test. The so-called accident had testified to ZTZ100's overall practical performance. The ZTZ100 main battle tank was the brainchild of Thunder Horse Organization’s most advanced technologies. Any inadequacy and shortcomings sourced from the data collected on Arabino Range were very important.
On the second day since his return, Sa’im too had returned from America.
Xia Lei met him in a secret room back at the Peace Mansion. While the meeting was in progress, four women guarded outside the door. They were Giovanna and Stella from the Grey family and Rosa and Theresa of the Russo family. Their wounds were healed and they were officially members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. However, their main task was focused on protecting Xia Lei and the people around him. Therefore, it was probably more appropriate to call them Xia Lei’s knights than members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
In the room, Xia Lei dove straight into the topic. “Still no updates on her?”
Sa’im shook his head. “None. After our last call, I’ve tried to search for her and used some of my contacts. Unfortunately, we found nothing. The last place she appeared at was Washington, but she’s clearly not there anymore.”
Xia Lei thought of Langley but he said nothing. He didn’t want Sa’im sending his men to that place. The area was the CIA’s turf. It was literally a forbidden territory for spies and agents.
“Also, I obtained a very weird piece of information back in America.”
“What is it?” Xia Lei returned to the present.
Sa’im answered, “A few inexplicable deaths had occurred in Washington. Initially, the police had suspected that it was a terrorist attack that used nerve toxic gases but the progress on the case was gradually undeclared. Eventually, the cases fell silent.”
The term ‘inexplicable deaths’ was something Xia Lei had associated with Zhu Xuanyue. The man didn’t need American intel and investigation findings to know that this was Zhu Xuanyue’s doing.
“The weirdest thing is that all victims that had died were members of the mafia and drug dealers. They’re all scums of society. Some American media outlets had even hailed the mysterious murderer as some kind of hero. They have yet to find out about the person’s gender. Some depicted them as male while some were convinced that they were female. There was no uniformed idea about its gender,” said Sa’im.
Xia Lei thought to himself. “She kills only bad people. Was this because of me? Was it because I yelled at her and she had learnt that she was in the wrong? If that’s the case, she’s not as evil as I had imagined her to be…”
“That’s all I have.” Sa’im looked ashamed. “Boss, you entrusted a task to me but I lost her. I…”
Xia Lei flashed a reassuring smile. “This isn’t your fault. It was a task even I couldn’t complete. You may head back now. I’ll be handing you someone new to investigate.”
“What’s the new task about?”
“The FA Organisation.” Xia Lei continued, “The Knight Hospitaller has been severely damaged. Without their threats, the FA Organization will definitely resume its operation. I want to know their next moves so I need you to collect as much FA intel as possible.”
“Got it, I’ll have my men start work as soon as I get back,” said Sa’im.
After Sa’im had left, Xia Lei stayed behind in the room in a daze. There was an unwavering presence in his mind. Zhu Xuanyue.
Earlier, when Sa’im had told him that Zhu Xuanyue was only murdering bad people, Xia Lei felt the sudden urge to bring her back. However, now that he had thought things through with a calmed heart, the urge dissipated.
What would happen after her return?
Fearfully, the man would be faced with the problem of getting her fed. Was there an abundance of villains for her to feed on in Bailu Town and Jingdu? Zhu Xuanyue couldn’t live on without food either. She was bound to get hungry.
“The more she eats, the more energy she’ll harbour. If this goes on, will she recover her normal state? What would she be like when that happens? Will she be a friend or foe?” Those were questions Xia Lei had no answers to.
The door to the secret room was opened. The entrance of the four female knights immediately added alluring fragrance to its interior. There was a variety of scents, the room smelt of roses, lavenders, jasmine and something akin to sweet osmanthus.
All four of the female knights were dressed in dark feminine suits. The well-tailored garments highlighted their curves beautifully, extruding the sexiness they naturally possessed. In this getup, they didn’t look like knights or security but they certainly looked like secretaries.
Xia Lei could no longer resume his thoughts. He smiled at them. “You smell really good. When did you buy perfume?”
Giovanna was the first to speak up. “We used Taobao.”
“We used your chef’s account to buy these,” said Stella.
“It was ten dollars per bottle.” Theresa helpfully supplied.
“And it was on promotion. Buy four free one.” Rosa chimed in.
Xia Lei stared at them in confusion.
“What’s with that expression?” Giovanna pouted. “We’re penniless, we even had to borrow money from your chef to buy ourselves perfume.”
“Yeah. And these clothes were gifted to us by Liang Siyao,” said Theresa.
“We don’t even have money to buy our other ‘necessities’,” grumbled Rosa.
Xia Lei was stunned. “Buy what?”
“You know, that.” Stella seemed a little bashful. “Period pads.”
The unannounced appearance of the female knights doused in cheap perfume and cries of poverty had made their ulterior motive obvious.
Xia Lei dug into his pockets for his wallet and pulled out a card. “Take this. You can buy anything with this, including cars.”
“What? Even cars?” Giovanna gaped in shock.
Xia Lei replied, “This card has a limit of ten million dollars for domestic transactions. Use it as you please.”
“Woah! Xia, you’re so wonderful!” Giovanna spread her arms and embraced Xia Lei. Her full breasts unforgivingly pushing themselves against Xia Lei’s taut chest. The female knight even pecked his cheek after releasing him.
Their gestures were a common form of greeting in Italy. However, Xia Lei was raised in China. They did not do that in China. Regardless of his discomfort, Theresa, Stella and Rosa did the same after Giovanna had let go of him, kissing and hugging him in turn. The physical contact had stirred up some physiological reaction, which could be seen from the tent of his pants.
Giovanna was all smiles as she stared at Xia Lei. “Xia, are you thinking of what I’m thinking?”
The other three stared at him intently. Their eyes were smiling, lips curled in a coquettish manner.
Sheepishly, Xia Lei said, “Go! Buy whatever you want! Now that you work under me, I’ll make sure that you live the rest of your life in luxury. Each of you shall receive two hundred thousand dollars per month as salary.”
“Yay!” Theresa exclaimed, rushing towards him with stretched arms.
The other three followed suit.
Xia Lei frantically dodged their incoming embraces. “Enough, that’s enough. I’m not too used to gestures like these. Anyway, let me just say this again. As long as you serve me, you will enjoy comfortable and dignified lives.”
“We were already yours in Malta,” uttered Giovanna.
“Yeah, do you need us to show you our hearts.” Theresa’s fingers were fumbling with a button.
Xia Lei could feel his head spin. “You… What are you trying to do?”
The four women looked at each other.
Giovanna spoke, “We will not be returning to Italy and we’re not planning to return. We’re your knights and we’ll protect you with our lives. However, we don’t wish to abandon our faith, so…”
“Go on.”
“Xia, could you build us a Catholic church?” Giovanna finally said it out loud.
Rosa added, “Just beside the Peace Mansion.”
Theresa supplied, “With the church, there’ll be more brothers and sisters joining us. We’re well aware that we’re way weaker than your men in comparison. Hence, we wish to build a faithful team.”
“Yes.” Stella chimed in, “We’ve got many brothers and sisters back in Italy who would be more than willing to join us.”
Ah, so that was it. Xia Lei hadn’t seen this coming but the revelation had him comforted. “That’s a great idea. Sure, no problem. I’ll contact a construction company in a bit and have them build a church for you beside the Peace Mansion.”
A faithful religious team controlled by his four female knights meant additional power. It was true that the ladies were nothing like the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. But with that, they would be able to hold very important roles around him.
“Xia, we didn’t know this before but we know better now,” mentioned Giovanna.
“Know what?”
“You’re the most charming man in the world, and perhaps the best man the world has to offer.” Giovanna went forward and gave him another embrace.
Xia Lei had never felt more awkward in his life.
The female knight whispered into his ear. “You saved our lives and protected our dignity and faith. You own us. If you want it… it’s alright too.”
Xia Lei felt his body tense up.
Though it wasn’t explicitly worded, it wasn’t difficult to comprehend the matter she was implying.
Giovanna released her grip and beamed. “Alright then, we’re going shopping.”
The other three sisters flashed their best smiles at Xia Lei.
But all Xia Lei could feel was a flurry of emotions terrorizing his heart.