Xia Lei ran out of Caitlin’s house.
The location of the explosion was at the little hotel. By the time he found its source, the unfortunate establishment was already engulfed in flames.
Caitlin and Jack quickly ran out of the wooden house.
“Isn’t that the hotel?” Caitlin’s face paled. “Costa, aren’t you staying in that hotel with your sister?”
Xia Lei said nothing, quickly making a mad dash to the hotel. He ultimately thought about what happened on his way to The Flaming Skeleton. The strong sense of impending doom and the odd gaze of Jesus inside the church. At the time, he brushed it off as an illusion but now it really seemed like that wasn’t the case!
Did the black-robed man cause the explosion?
Did a fight break out between Zhu Xuanyue and him?
These were questions Xia Lei needed answers to.
Before long, Xia Lei had made it to the asphalt road along the front of the hotel. There was already a crowd forming around the vicinity, a good majority of the town’s residents were gathered here. He scanned his eyes throughout the crowd, but Zhu Xuanyue was nowhere to be found. Following that, he focused his left eye into the sea of flames. But before he could study the blazing building carefully, the wooden hotel collapsed into a wreck.
A fire truck zoomed over, and firefighters jumped off the truck. They motioned for the curious crowd to stand back.
The sheriff of the town had also made his appearance. The man was questioning the residents to learn the cause of the explosion but no one had a clear idea of what had happened.
Xia Lei averted his gaze to a direction, where he spotted his Ford pickup truck. The vehicle had suffered some damage but was fine overall. The shattered window on the driver’s side had resulted from the merciless impact. Suddenly, Xia Lei noticed something white on the dashboard. It was a piece of paper.
The man’s left eye twitched and pulled the paper closer to his line of sight.
A box-shaped motif was drawn on the paper, it was depicted in a way that the box was on top of some flames. Underneath the illustrated flames were two Han characters. Destroy.
[TL Note: Destroy - 毁灭]
The man immediately froze upon comprehension. The box may have been drawn with simple shapes but he understood that the person had meant the ancient alloy box.
With that, Xia Lei could confirm that the black-robed man had left this note.
“What is he trying to achieve through this note? Is he asking me to destroy the alloy box? Why can’t he do it himself? If he really wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to stop him.” Xia Lei failed to grasp the idea. However, his direct concern now was Zhu Xuanyue’s safety. Undeniably, she was extremely powerful but the woman had a child’s mentality. How was a child going to be able to beat the black-robed man?
Ka-boom!
The pickup truck exploded out of nowhere.
The crowd yelped in shock, frantically backing away from the burning vehicle. The firefighters were thrown onto the ground by the impact.
It felt as if a time bomb was planted in the pickup truck, sneakily waiting for time to pass to set into action. But Xia Lei discarded the thought. Regardless of the type of bomb, explosives are an essential ingredient. Explosives were compulsory but there was literally no sign of it.
This reminded him of that incident back in New Delhi, where the black-robed man had appeared out of the blue and tried to interfere with Zhu Xuanyue’s resurrection. Following the black-robed man’s invasion, the lab was subjected to an intense explosion. There had not been any forms of explosives in the laboratory. There was no way it would have achieved an explosion at such a scale.
“The black-robed man and Zhu Xuanyue exist in the form of pure energy. Did the collision of energies trigger an explosion? Why would he want to fight Zhu Xuanyue? What is his goal? To stop her? Or to kill her?” Questions tormented Xia Lei’s mind.
Caitlin and Jack finally made it over.
The woman cautiously came to stand at his side, wrapping a gentle arm around his body. She comforted, “Costa, your sister…”
There was a paused silence before Xia Lei muttered, “I don’t know. I hope she got away in time.”
“Don’t worry, God will protect her,” Caitlin reassured Xia Lei.
Jack did not approach Xia Lei. Instead, he talked to an acquaintance in town. “What happened here?”
“Not sure. I heard it’s caused by gas leakage.”
“What about the hotel customers?”
“With an explosion like this, chances of survival are small.”
“Could it possibly be caused by something else?”
“Something else? Do you mean a terrorist attack? Impossible, I was just outside the hotel and saw no one entering or exiting the hotel. Plus, what terrorist organization would be dumb enough to blast a small hotel? It’s a waste of resources.”
Hearing their conversation, Xia Lei couldn’t help but become increasingly anxious. “No one was seen leaving the hotel. The black-robed man is an energy form while Zhu Xuanyue currently has a body. There’s no way she could disappear in thin air like the black-robed man. Had the black-robed man won their fight? Is she dead?”
Was Zhu Xuanyue dead?
Xia Lei fervently rejected the possibility the moment it presented itself in his mind. There was no way that Zhu Xuanyue would die. Even if her body was blasted to bits, it would just be akin to a torn garment. As long as she was willing, she could create her new ‘clothes’ anywhere and anytime she pleased. Another thing that comforted him was that the New Delhi explosion was way severe and she had managed to survive it. She looked frail after the impact back then. If the black-robed man couldn’t get rid of her when she was at her weakest, how would he be able to kill her now?
The more he thought about it, the more comforted he felt.
“Costa, how about I accompany you to ask the sheriff?” Caitlin voiced, “Perhaps he would know something about this.”
Xia Lei nodded solemnly. “Sure.”
As Caitlin brought him over to the sheriff, Xia Lei reached a hand into his pocket and did something to his phone.
Ring… Ring…
Xia Lei’s phone rang all of a sudden.
“Ah, please excuse me for a moment. I need to take this call.” Xia Lei brought out his phone. Without leaving for some privacy, the man answered his phone beside Caitlin.
No one was calling him, Xia Lei had merely played his ringtone out loud.
“Huh?” Xia Lei was evidently outraged. “You’re back to Mexico?! Your boyfriend cheated on you? Bastard… Fucking bastard! I’ll beat him up when I get home!”
Caitlin sighed relievedly.
“Thank goodness you’ve left the hotel. There was an explosion at our hotel. Yeah, it’s bad… I’m just relieved that you’re safe and sound. Do you have any idea how worried I was just now? Alright… See you soon.” Xia Lei ‘ended’ the call, returning the device into the pocket of his pants.
“Is your sister alright?” Caitlin was concerned, feeling the urge to confirm the fact.
Xia Lei answered, “Luckily, she managed to leave before all of this.”
“Ah, that’s great news. God must’ve protected her. Come, let’s go home first. The sheriff and firefighters will get to the root of this incident,” said Caitlin.
“Alright, looks like I got to stay at your place tonight.” Xia Lei flashed her a small smile, allowing her to wrap her arms around his as they left.
Jack caught up to them. “Let’s head back together.”
Caitlin furrowed her brows but said nothing.
“Mister Costa, is your sister alright?” asked Jack.
Xia Lei replied, “Yeah, she left earlier. She’s alright.”
“Wow, talk about luck,” commented Jack.
Xia Lei added on, “She’s an incredibly selfless girl, God would surely protect her.” He paused and let his gaze land on Caitlin. “My mom was a devoted Catholic. You’re just like my mom, to be able to encounter you is my pleasure. It feels almost as if my mom is guiding me from heaven, wanting me to do the right thing.”
“Oh, Costa… You’re the absolute best.” Caitlin was moved, throwing her arms around his waist to capture Xia Lei’s lips in a kiss.
The two of them began to make out in front of Jack. If the brother was absent, the pair would’ve probably started fornicating in the snow.
“Uh… Do you need me to walk away?” Jack huffed a sheepish dry chuckle. “I can leave you both alone but I must remind you that outdoors is a little too cold for intimacy.”
Xia Lei and Caitlin separated themselves.
Xia Lei said, “I’m terribly sorry, I was too emotional. Caitlin, this is a blessing from above, I need to do something in return. Caitlin, I’ll give you one hundred thousand dollars, please use the money to help anyone in need. You can pass an amount to the hotel owner, or to those who had died or gotten injured in the explosion. You may even help them buy necessities. Will you be willing to do that for me?”
“Of course, you’re such a kind person.” Caitlin beamed, casting a glance to the side at her brother. Though no words were spoken, her eyes were clearly mocking Jack. She thought to herself, ‘What’s the point in working hard if I could just take my pants off?’
Jack could only chuckle breathily. He said nothing else.
The three of them made it back home.
“I’m so happy today, how about we drink again?” suggested Xia Lei.
“You want to drink again? We…” Caitlin attempted to hint at Xia Lei that they should continue their rendezvous but as soon as she found herself being pushy, the woman silenced herself.
“Sure, we should celebrate this miracle.” Jack, on the other hand, was enthusiastic.
“I’ll go get the booze.” Xia Lei walked towards the alcohol rack.
Jack was still silent. But the moment Xia Lei had his back to them, Jack immediately pulled Caitlin closer to his body. He whispered, “We can’t just give away the one hundred thousand dollars. With the money, we can renovate the house and even buy a brand new pickup truck.”
Caitlin scowled in annoyance. “Must you talk about this right now?”
Jack replied, “It seems like this man is a true rich idiot. You hit the jackpot his time. Remember, you must not let him leave you. This might be the nest thing to ever happen to you.”
Caitlin nodded.
As the siblings plotted behind his back, Xia Lei had dropped a white tablet into a glass of whisky. The tablet fizzled and dissolved into the drink.
The tablet was not a regular sleeping pill. It was a special medicine made by Bureau 101.
Now that Zhu Xuanyue was missing, the rest of the operation had to be done alone. As the ace supervisor of Bureau 101, it wouldn’t take much for him to handle this pair of day-dreaming siblings.
“Cheers.” Caitlin and Jack raised their glasses in unison.
Xia Lei smiled and chugged down his portion in one go.