The morning rays shone from between the curtains, welcoming the world to another new day.
The house owner bustled about in the kitchen as he fried some eggs, turned on the coffee machine and busied himself with making a hearty fruit and vegetable salad. His name was Honick, a textbook Caucasian man. The man was pretty young to achieve his position as a financial securities company manager. Admittedly, Honick was very outstanding in this aspect, which was evident by his success on Wall Street.
Honick was making three sets of breakfast. One for himself and two for his masters.
“Is he alright?” In the living room, Xia Lei averted his gaze from the kitchen onto Zhu Xuanyue. The woman was currently watching some cartoon broadcasted on TV.
“Uncle Xia, what do you mean?”
“I made you hypnotize him and have him work for us. Of course, I meant if there would be any problem from your hypnotism,” explained Xia Lei. The man was worried about this dumb child’s horrid incompetence. She had ruined everything last night and he must prevent her from repeating the same mistake.
Zhu Xuanyue pouted. “You gave me a ton of instructions as soon as I woke up. I did everything as you said and you’re questioning if I’d make a mistake? I’m beginning to think that you’re not my real uncle.”
“I never claimed to be.” Xia Lei chuckled helplessly. “I’m just trying to make sure, this matter is very important.”
Xia Lei had fed her knowledge of modern hypnosis techniques and theories. He really wasn’t keen on having her turn someone insane or dumb them down when attempting deep hypnotism.
Zhu Xuanyue had followed his words faithfully. Judging from Honick’s reaction, her success was guaranteed but Xia Lei felt the need to reconfirm.
At this moment, the woman turned around and whistled towards the kitchen.
Honick immediately ran out of it, coming to a halt in front of Zhu Xuanyue. The man wordlessly kneeled before the woman without hesitation.
Zhu Xuanyue lifted a leg. “My little slave, polish my shoe.”
On her feet were a pair of filthy leather shoes.
Immediately after sounding her request, Honick held up her foot and began to clean the shoes with his face and tongue.
Not waiting until he was done with hers, Zhu Xuanyue barked out another command. “Go clean Uncle Xia’s shoes too.”
Honick obediently crawled over with his knees rubbing against the carpeted floor.
Frantically, Xia Lei moved his legs away. “Alright, alright. That’s enough. I believe you. Please get him back into the kitchen.”
Zhu Xuanyue stared at Xia Lei. “Have you forgotten what you told me? The usage of a keyword during deep hypnosis will allow you to instruct him too.”
“Do you have one?”
“Yeah, I do.” Zhu Xuanyue seems serious.
“What’s the keyword?”
Zhu Xuanyue showed her fingers. “Uncle Xia, sleep. Uncle Xia sleeps butt naked. Uncle Xia is a bad guy.”
“I could use other words but you could give it a shot, Uncle Xia. As long as you recite the keywords to him, he’d enter a deep hypnosis condition just like you’ve mentioned earlier. He’ll follow your instructions. You can try it and see for yourself.” Zhu Xuanyue stifled a giggle, she really wanted to hear Xia Lei spew out those keywords.
Xia Lei flicked the bulb of Zhu Xuanyue’s nose and faced Honick. “Uncle Xia, sleep. Uncle Xia sleeps butt naked. Uncle Xia is a bad guy.”
The command was as if flipping a switch within Honick’s brain, the man’s eyes changed abruptly. He seemed to be in a daze.
Xia Lei instructed, “Rollover.”
Honick laid himself flat on the carpet and rolled once.
Xia Lei continued, “Two rolls.”
Honick obeyed and rolled twice. What Xia Lei requested, Honick would do. The man had asked him to roll twice and Honick followed his instructions closely, not a roll less and not a roll more. Honick executed Xia Lei’s commands to the letter. The current Honick was like a highly intelligent robot, carrying out Xia Lei’s instructions like a computer.
In Xia Lei’s absence, Honick would be controlled remotely away from America just by a few mutter of words.
The man had now obtained a puppet who works for Wall Street. This was a very successful first step into his second war.
“Resume making breakfast,” said Xia Lei.
Honick stood and left for the kitchen.
Zhu Xuanyue freed her small feet from the encasement of the leather shoes, choosing to place her legs on top of Xia Lei’s thigh. She whined childishly. “Uncle Xia, I did what you asked for well. How are you going to reward me for being such a good girl?”
Xia Lei cautiously questioned, “What kind of reward do you want?”
“Can we go take a hot shower and sleep?” A light of hope danced in Zhu Xuanyue’s eyes.
But Xia Lei retorted, “We literally woke up just a while ago. Quit messing around, we need to head to Lockheed Martin’s headquarters after breakfast.”
Zhu Xuanyue immediately responded with a pout, she was obviously displeased.
Xia Lei attempted to soothe her. “How about we do that tonight, yeah?”
The woman immediately leapt into his embrace, nuzzling her face into his chest like a kitten. “Alright! I hope the skies get dark soon.”
Xia Lei sighed heavily. His temples were throbbing painfully.
After breakfast, Honick left his home for New York. He still had two days to spare for his leave but Xia Lei wasn’t keen on having him remain in Washington for the time being. In his second war, Honick would play an immensely vital role very soon. Not long after Honick had left, Xia Lei brought Zhu Xuanyue away from the comfortable house.
They went straight to a second-hand car market to purchase a Ford pickup truck. From there, Xia Lei drove them both to Lockheed Martin’s headquarters located in Bethesda, northwest of Washington DC. The National Naval Medical Centre and Discovery Channel headquarters were established there too.
Folsom was dead and Lockheed Martin needed a new CEO. Surely, their plans with the FA Organization were not going to stop. Therefore Xia Lei had decided to go investigate the drones Folsom offered along with the precision-guided missile.
A corresponding plan was birthed during a night of silence earlier.
The Ford pickup left the city towards the northwest.
Zhu Xuanyue adjusted the mirror above the passenger seat, immediately pouting at the sight of her new face. “I look horrible. Uncle Xia, you really suck at making face masks. Can’t you make my face look cuter?”
Xia Lei answered with nonchalance. “This is temporary. After we’re done with our task, you may return to your original face.”
“How long will it take?”
“I’m not sure.” Xia Lei’s reply was honest.
The main motivation behind his trip to America was to have Zhu Xuanyue get rid of his enemies. He had gotten Folsom out of the way which eased his burdens along with the Thunder Horse Organization’s own issues. He had aimed to get rid of Hattori Mei as well, but the Japanese had managed to save herself. However, it was an accident, so it wasn’t a loss that was too unbearable.
Next, he’d target the FA Organization.
To head directly to Mexico and use Zhu Xuanyue to defeat them was a choice. The choice was upfront and simple. The headquarters was located in Jalisco, where all the drug lords and drug rings had gathered. It was a wild place that even the Mexican army dared not dabble into. If a battle was to happen in Mexico, Zhu Xuanyue would be able to resurrect herself but Xia Lei would not be able to do so. Hence, he needed a thorough and safe plan. He must not be hasty.
Another choice would be to utilize the deal between Lockheed Martin and the FA. The plan would consist of them tempering with the drones and precision-guided missiles.
Xia Lei had also come up with a backup plan. His last resort would be to hire armed mercenaries. However, the incident with the Knight Hospitallers had served as a lesson, which made Xia Lei rather reluctant to execute this plan.
The car continued to drive for another two hours, finally bringing them to Bethesda.
From the car window, Xia Lei took a peek at Lockheed Martin’s headquarters. It was an eight-storey building that had blue-tinted glass panels installed all around it. The signet of Lockheed Martin reflected the strong sunlight radiantly on its wall.
As the headquarters of Lockheed Martin, its appearance was surprisingly simple. Xia Lei felt like it wasn’t even half as pleasing to look at against regular buildings in China. But that did not change the fact that this was the headquarters of a world-renowned arms giant. The building may look plain but its influence was widespread!
Behind the building was a wide factory area, which birthed the famous F35, F16, F22, F117A and other aerial weapons. This was also the main factor that gave America its invincible military capabilities. Without it, there was no way America could wage wars and build military bases all around the globe.
Xia Lei’s first glimpse of the area had him shocked. Though the Thunder Horse Military Factory had indeed achieved great results, its performance was ten thousand miles behind that of Lockheed Martin. The military power offered by Thunder Horse would allow victories on land but Lockheed Martin could win the war thousands of kilometres away.
To catch up and even surpass Lockheed Martin would require the Thunder Horse Organization to research and produce aerial weaponry!
“Uncle Xia, is this where you wanted to go? Is this Lockheed Martin’s office?” Zhu Xuanyue beamed at the sight, pointing an excited finger at the vast factory area behind the building.
“I see lots of planes!”
Xia Lei replied, “Yeah, we’re here. This is where I wanted to go.”
Zhu Xuanyue looked at him. “Uncle Xia, let’s barge in. Let’s kill everyone and blow up every single plane!”
Her eyes shone brightly with absolute excitement. On the contrary, Xia Lei actually looked troubled. “Xuanyue, this is Lockheed Martin’s headquarters for crying out loud. It's the world’s best military company. You can’t just barge in and attack everyone and everything in sight.”
“I don’t believe that!”
“You don’t? Lockheed Martin is like the heart of the American army. How would the country not protect this place? If you attacked stubbornly, a precision-guided missile would be fired and you’d be blasted into chunks,” warned Xia Lei. It wasn’t a baseless guess. As soon as they deem Zhu Xuanyue as a threat, heavy arms would make their appearance after their regular soldiers fail to subdue her!
“Then what should we do?”
Xia Lei fell silent for a brief moment. “Let’s go find a nearby place to stay and get used to our surroundings. After that, we’ll decide what to do next.”
“Alright, let’s go sleep!”
“You’re definitely a pig.”