Princess Yongmei’s hand went into the CIA agent’s head. It was a very strange sight – a slender arm sticking through the head of a hardened man, and that man totally unaware of it!
Princess Yongmei quirked the corner of her mouth and withdrew her hand.
Xia Lei thought she wanted to kill that CIA agent when she’d first made her move, and that the man would die too, but the agent was still alive after she withdrew her hand. Don’t even talk about death – this agent had no reaction at all. She was unable to move a glass of red wine after being let loose this time, so how was she going to attack a hale and hearty CIA agent?
But this action was a new discovery for Xia Lei. Princess Yongmei did have her own consciousness, and her own moods!
Her type of existence was unknown but it could be confirmed that she was definitely not some illusionary projection. Her existence was real!
This was a startling discovery but this was not the time to study Princess Yongmei or the ancient alloy. Xia Lei’s thoughts soon returned to the real world. He was up against trained CIA agents, armed to their teeth, and any carelessness on his part could spell disaster!
“What are you glaring at me for? Bastard!” The CIA agent pointing a gun at Shentu Tianyin’s head saw Xia Lei glaring at him. He suddenly took a step forward and kicked Xia Lei in the lower abdomen.
It was a hard kick and Xia Lei stumbled two steps back before he stabilised himself. His lower abdomen hurt but he didn’t show it.
“What are you doing?” said Shentu Tianyin angrily, “Let him go! I’ll give you money! How much do you want? 5,000,000,000? I’ll give you 5,000,000,000!”
“Shut up!” The agent who’s just kicked Xia Lei raised his gun again.
Shentu Tianyin shot him a glare – there was no fear in her eyes, only anger.
“Enough, Hank.” Ramsbigg stopped him. “This woman is very useful to us. She’s delicate. We’ll have trouble if something happens to her when you hit her.”
The agent named Hank stopped upon hearing that.
But Xia Lei had already remembered his name.
“Cuff him. Take them away,” ordered Ramsbigg.
An agent came forward and tied Xia Lei’s wrists with plastic ties, then shoved him and said aggressively, “Get in the car!”
Xia Lei reached out to pull at the car door but was kicked by that agent. “You’re not good enough for seats. The cargo compartment is where you should be,” said the agent mockingly.
Xia Lei was pushed to the back of the Ford Raptor and the agent opened the back to let Xia Lei climb in.
Shentu Tianyin was pushed over too, then lifted bodily by Hank and thrown roughly into the cargo compartment.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll bring you home,” consoled Xia Lei. He made his legs pillows for her to keep her back off the chilly cargo compartment surface.
Shentu Tianyin was trembling. Xia Lei was a measure of comfort and provided some sense of security to her but it was not enough. She could not help imagining herself being abused by these people, being killed, and whichever scenario she thought of made her quake in terror.
The only one maintaining calm throughout all these was Princess Yongmei. She floated lightly into the cargo compartment after Shentu Tianyin was flung in, to stay close to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not care anymore what she did now.
Ramsbigg appeared at the back of the vehicle with two syringes in his hand and a sinister smile on his face. “I have to admit that you’re a good guy but the chances of you bringing her home are nil. Go to sleep. You’ll wake up on our military ship. Prepare to welcome your new life, Mr Xia.”
Xia Lei barely kept his anger in check. “What’s your name?”
Ramsbigg paused, then laughed abruptly. “What? You want revenge?” He looked at his subordinates and laughed even louder. “You guys hear that? He wants revenge!”
Laughter ensued.
“I’ll give you one last chance. Let Shentu Tianyin go,” said Xia Lei icily.
“You’re threatening me? What will you do if I don’t let her go?” Ramsbigg did not think anything of Xia Lei’s threat.
“I will kill you. I will kill you even if we get to America,” said Xia Lei.
Ramsbigg immediately let fly a punch at Xia Lei’s face, and Xia Lei’s head hit the wall of the cargo compartment with a thud.
Shentu Tianyin let out a cry and threw herself across Xia Lei, using her own body to protect him.
“What a loving pair.” Ramsbigg scoffed, then stabbed a syringe into Shentu Tianyin’s snowy neck. His thumb pressed down, pushing the anaesthetic in the syringe into Shentu Tianyin’s body.
Shentu Tianyin collapsed on Xia Lei and lost consciousness.
Ramsbigg grabbed Xia Lei by the collar and pulled him before himself, then plunged the other syringe into Xia Lei’s neck.
Xia Lei did not resist and let Ramsbigg inject the contents of the syringe into his body.
His body was immune to anaesthetic. Only a few of Ahn Suhyeong’s underlings knew that but those who knew were already dead, so Ramsbigg had no idea about this immunity.
However, Xia Lei still pretended to get drowsy after getting injected and he collapsed in the cargo compartment.
Princess Yongmei wrinkled her brows and suddenly reached towards Ramsbigg’s head. It was useless. Her hands went through Ramsbigg’s head instantly and nary a thing happened to him.
“Move out!” Ramsbigg reached out a hand and closed the door to the cargo compartment.
Princess Yongmei rushed at the cargo compartment and screamed, her teeth bared like a feral, spitting cat full of aggression.
This development did not escape Xia Lei’s eyes even though it was dark in the cargo compartment.
‘She shows aggression when someone harms me and tries to attack whoever hurts me. Her attacks are useless but she has this mental capacity to do so. Looks like releasing her was the right choice. She’ll have different reactions as she interacts more with the outside world, and from these reactions I may be able to find some clue to solving the mystery of the ancient alloy and the bronze book…’
Just then, Hank’s voice came from outside the cargo compartment and it was full of surprise. “Did you guys hear something?”
“Hear what?” said someone. “I don’t hear anything. You okay, man?”
“Fuck. I’m sure I heard some voice but I don’t understand it. It’s weird,” said Hank.
“Get on!” Ramsbigg’s voice. “We have no time to waste! Go, go, go!”
Xia Lei used his left eye to look through the compartment wall and he caught sight of Hank getting ready to board the vehicle, shaking his head as if to clear it. It seemed like he was still hearing something, and he was trying to rid himself of it.
Xia Lei turned his gaze to Princess Yongmei.
Princess Yongmei looked straight back at him with an innocent look on her face.
‘She put her hands through Hank’s head and he’s hearing strange things now… Isn’t this the same situation as the two scientists in the laboratory who died? Could she be the cause of those scientists going mad and dying?’ thought Xia Lei, but he rejected the possibility right away. Princess Yongmei had not appeared when those two scientists had died, so in other words, the death of those two were more closely linked to the ancient alloy and bronze book.
Then he thought of another possibility.
Princess Yongmei might have characteristics similar to the alloy or bronze book, and this characteristic could make people go mad or die.
There was a high possibility of this because Princess Yongmei could enter the alloy pieces – the alloy pieces were like her ‘body’ in this world!
The Ford Raptor started moving while Xia Lei was musing over this.
The CIA agents had two other off-road vehicles, and they did not take Xia Lei’s Chevrolet Suburban.
They left the deserted industrial area single-file – one off-road vehicle forward and back, and the Ford Raptor in the middle. The three vehicles zoomed along the quiet roads.
Xia Lei reached into his underwear and pulled out a needle from the waistband. He poked the needle through the plastic tie and made five holes, destroying the integrity of the plastic tie. He then clenched his hands into fists and wrenched them apart violently.
Pop! There was a soft sound as the plastic tie was broken.
Xia Lei used the same method to get the plastic ties off Shentu Tianyin’s hands but she was unconscious and did not feel it.
Xia Lei then used a long needle to pick the lock of the cargo compartment. He held the lock in his hands and put gentle pressure on it, not letting it lock itself again and not letting it spring open.
This was why he had purchased needles and hidden them. He’d learnt how to turn these needles into weapons with the skills of the Tang sect, and the skills he’d learnt from Qin Xiang enabled him to pick locks and escape.
The three vehicles quickly came to the spot where Xia Lei had hidden his car earlier, and thick grass and reeds lined the road. Just ahead was the highway and it would be difficult for Xia Lei to escape then.
Now! Xia Lei suddenly let go of the compartment door and let it swing up and outwards. He gathered Shentu Tianyin in his arms and dashed towards the thick reeds by the side of the road.
Rustle! A large area of grass was suddenly flattened.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin had just touched ground when the agents in the vehicle behind them finished raising the alarm. The three vehicles stopped at almost the same time and doors opened, releasing 20 CIA agents.
Xia Lei did not wait for them to catch up. He carried Shentu Tianyin in his arms and went into the grass.
Pew pew pew… Pew pew pew…
Hanks shot in a sweeping arc in the direction of Xia Lei’s escape with a silencer on his M16A1 assault rifle.
“Bastard!” Ramsbigg pressed the gun in Hank’s hands down and shouted angrily, “We want him alive, not dead!”
Hank shook his head and there was a strange look in his eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on… It’s like there’s people talking in my head. Buzz, buzz, so many people!”
“Make an appointment with the psychiatrist when you get back.” No sooner had the words left Ramsbigg’s mouth than he looked off in the distance behind himself and barked, “Who’s that?”
Several CIA agents close to Ramsbigg looked behind themselves in alarm but saw nothing other than weeds and tall grass.
Ramsbigg shook his head hard too. “Go after him! We have to catch him, no matter what. He has a woman with him – he can’t get far!”
The CIA agents split up and went in three directions, two groups adjacent to where Xia Lei had headed and one group right after him.
They were the elite of the CIA. They did not know why the anaesthetic had stopped working but they believed that it was going to be no problem to catch up to Xia Lei and capture him in this situation.
