As Xia Lei and Ahn Suhyeong spoke, burly black men and white men appeared from the doors on both sides of the entrance. Xia Lei knew that they were from the CIA without using his X-ray vision, and that he had been surrounded. He knew that he couldn’t count on Bureau 101 now, and Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan would be of no help even if they were here. He could only rely on himself.
Xia Lei’s left eye observed, and his brain whirred…
“You’re finished, Xia Lei,” laughed Ahn Suhyeong, “But you did a wonderful job of chasing Shentu Tian-Yin away. You’re now someone she can’t reason with, and I will replace you. I will take care of her in your place for the rest of her life, hahaha…”
Xia Lei took no notice of the words meant to humiliate him; his gaze went to Goodson.
The CIA had the cafe surrounded and Goodson looked relaxed. He did not look away from Xia Lei’s gaze but met it. There was a faint smile on his lips too.
Xia Lei scanned the cafe again, including the two doorways on both sides, but he did not see Liang Si-Yao.
“Hold your hands out!” The policeman with the handcuffs spoke fiercely to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stretched his hands out but not to comply with the policeman. He abruptly grabbed the hand of the policeman pointing the gun at him and drew him into the his arms, gun included.
Ahn Suhyeong roared angrily, “You dare -”
Xia Lei raised his leg in a vicious kick between Ahn Suhyeong’s legs. Ahn Suhyeong fell to his knees, his mouth wide open but soundless.
The sudden change made the CIA surrounding the cafe react and at least ten more rushed in. However, the first people to react were the policemen next to Ahn Suhyeong; they drew their weapons and shouted. It was chaos.
Bang! Bang! Two shots fired.
The tempered glass of the floor-to-ceiling window shattered. The customers and waitstaff in the cafe screamed. Some ran away and some threw themselves flat on the floor.
“Get him!” Goodson realised what Xia Lei wanted to do.
Bang bang bang! A black man fired three times but all three bullets hit the policeman Xia Lei was holding against himself. The bullets hit the policeman’s chest, abdomen and thigh. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, so no blood spurted from his chest and abdomen, but his thigh flowered with blood and he cried out in pain.
Xia Lei pushed the shot policeman violently forward and, while the policeman still blocked lines of fire, he turned and jumped out of the glass-less window.
This was the fifth floor and it was about 20 metres up.
At a height like this, even a rabbit would shatter all its bones if it jumped down, much less a man.
But Xia Lei did jump, and without hesitation too.
His right foot kicked against the windowsill as his body flew out the window, and his body moved left from the force of the rebound. When the rebound effect faded, he immediately grabbed the drain pipe which extended from the roof.
The drain pipe swayed, threatening to fall away from the wall.
Xia Lei relaxed his grip. He slid quickly downwards and was one floor lower in the blink of an eye. He grabbed at the pipe’s wall-fasteners with both hands when he came to them, and relaxed his grip afterwards, sliding one more floor down.
This sequence of actions was complicated, risky and took just three seconds.
This escape route had been calculated by his left eye and his brain. His left eye had seen the drain pipe next to the window and his brain had analysed the possibilities for action, and Xia Lei had followed suit. He had taken a huge risk but he had no other choice.
Xia Lei dropped to the third floor in the blink of an eye.
The black gunman who had shot at him and two gun-wielding policemen stuck their heads out the shattered window at almost the same time and aimed at him.
Xia Lei’s legs kicked against the wall and he leapt away from the drain pipe.
Bang bang bang…
Bullets hit the drain pipe and the wall. The plastic drain pipe was broken and sparks exploded on the wall.
Bam! Xia Lei fell onto a Hyundai parked below. The car roof turned concave with the impact and his internal organs and brain felt like they received a great shock. It was like his organs were going to burst out of his body; it was almost intolerable.
The black gunmen and two policemen on the fifth floor adjusted their aim and fired again.
Xia Lei rolled off the car roof. Bullets hit the roof, piercing through it.
Goodson stuck his head out of the broken window too but he could only see Xia Lei’s swiftly retreating back.
“Pieces of shit! Chase him!” Goodson screamed in anger, “We have to capture him here in Korea, no matter what!”
Traffic on the roads shuttled back and forth and pedestrians came and went. Gangnam district was like a maze and finding and catching Xia Lei in an environment like this was no different from finding a needle in the ocean. Xia Lei’s left eye could see up to a radius of over 4,000 metres – it would be very difficult for anyone to get close to him to catch him!
Xia Lei entered a shopping centre and exited a shopping centre. He was now in a set of casualwear – black jacket, blue jeans and a pair of New Balance sports shoes. He also had a baseball cap on his head. He pulled the bill of the cap low so his face could not be seen easily. The baseball cap also helped to hide his face from the surveillance cameras in streets and shops.
Xia Lei broke his mobile phone when he left the shopping centre and threw it into a dustbin.
A blonde-haired Korean youth was playing a mobile game on the streets. Xia Lei walked over and tapped him on the shoulder as he said in Korean, “Hey, want to make some cash?”
The blonde youth looked up at Xia Lei, and his game avatar was killed. He frowned. “새끼,죽고싶어?”
This was a line of cursing – ‘Bastard, you wanna die?’
Xia Lei did not get mad. He took out his wallet and pulled out a stack of brand new 50,000 KRW notes; it looked to be about a million KRW. He waved the stack of notes at the blonde youth and said with a smile, “This money for your phone.”
“You… You crazy?” The Korean youth looked at Xia Lei in shock.
“Selling it, or not? I’m going to look for someone else if you’re not,” said Xia Lei.
“Yes, I am. Give me the money first.” The Korean youth looked wary, afraid that Xia Lei would scam him out of his phone. His phone was actually a Samsung smartphone of the cheaper variety. The money Xia Lei was offering was enough to buy dozens of phones like his.
Xia Lei handed the money to the youth and the youth turned it about in his hands to see if the money was real. After confirming that it was indeed real currency, he handed his phone to Xia Lei. He ran off as soon as Xia Lei had the phone, afraid that Xia Lei would change his mind and want his money back.
Xia Lei mingled with the crowd, phone in hand. He dialled Long Bing’s number as he walked.
“Where are you?” Long Bing sounded anxious, “I can’t get through to your phone. Our people spotted CIA in the hotel.”
“I’m on the streets. I’m safe for now,” said Xia Lei as he walked, “I want to leave Korea. Arrange it for me.”
“Incheon Airport is out of the question now. You’ve got to go by sea. Where are you now? I’ll come get you right away,” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei glanced at the street sign and said, “I’m now on the street next to Bongeunsa*.”
“Stay safe. I’m on my way.” Long Bing hung up.
Xia Lei put the phone away and observed the streets.
A police car came whizzing over and Xia Lei lowered his head and kept walking. The police car went past him without stopping but Xia Lei was still fairly nervous. If he was discovered now, another round of chasing would begin.
The police car turned out of the street but an ear-piercing siren came from another street. Who knew how many police cars and Korean intelligence agents were out now looking for him.
Unfamiliar country and strange streets, coupled with the wailing of sirens, cold guns and goodness knows how many plainclothes agents mixed in with the crowd – all these gave Xia Lei immense pressure and it also enraged him.
Í’m not a criminal but here they are trying to get me arrested in this unscrupulous manner. What right have they? They attacked me in Afghanistan and shot blindly at the Bureau 101 agents. They also fired rockets at the White Hun Tribe. What gives them the right to do something like that? Fine. I’ll make them pay for it one day!’ A fire raged in Xia Lei’s heart.
There were rules in this world but even the US, which claimed to have the most sound of laws, had people and groups which ignored the laws and acted above them. The CIA and the AE Research Centre seemed to be examples of such groups. Xia Lei was still too small a fry to fight against groups like these, but the seeds of revenge were already planted in his heart.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring…
The phone rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei hurriedly took it out but the number displayed was not Long Bing’s number; it was a local Korean number.
XIa Lei hesitated, but cut it off in the end. This was someone else’s phone and the person calling was probably one of the friend of the youth who’d sold him the phone. There was no need to pick up a call like this.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring…
The phone rang again. It was the same number.
Xia Lei cut the call again.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring…
The phone rang for the third time – same number.
Xia Lei found it odd and he picked up. A woman’s frantic voice came from over the line. “Lei, get out of there, quick!”
Xia Lei’s body stiffened.
It was a strange Korean number and he could not see the face of the woman who called him but he was very familiar with this voice. This was Liang Si-Yao’s voice!
“Can you hear me?” came Liang Si-Yao’s voice, “You made a mistake! You called an international long-distance number – you were found with just a bit of combing! Leave, quick!”
Ear-piercing sirens suddenly sounded and two police cars appeared at the same time on both sides of the street, and a black Chevrolet Suburban SUV. The road was blocked off.
“I… I’m leaving.” Xia Lei hung up. He threw the phone to the ground, then swiftly dove into the greenery by the pavement, going over the wall and into Bongeunsa.
Police lights flashed. A large group of Korean policemen and plainclothes agents had him surrounded!
