Light bled out of their windows as the evening faded into night. The Peace Mansion was well lit despite the darkness that shrouded them. The only thing out of the ordinary was that the Special Forces had intensified their patrol and security efforts. The entire premise of the Peace Mansion and Thunder Horse Organization were heavily guarded by the Special Forces. After the shocking incident that occurred in broad daylight, the strengthening of security measures was inevitable.
But as far as things were concerned, an unarmed reporter did not seem threatening. The incident could not be blamed on the inadequacy of the Special Force members stationed here either.
Beneath the Peace Mansion in the underground dungeon…
Two men faced each other, gazes locked. One of them was seated while the other stood.
“Have you thought it through?” Xia Lei interjected the deep silence after a full minute. “You’ve been restrained here for a while now. You could get a second chance at life.”
“Are you trying to buy me over?” A disdainful smirk manifested on Li Youdun’s curled lips.
Xia Lei laughed. “I don’t understand what’s going through your mind right now. What did the CIA offer you? Honour? They don’t even dare to acknowledge your identity. Was it money? How much have you earned from the CIA? You were tasked to steal industrial secrets and you even had to risk your safety to assassinate me. And all for what? A measly two million USD. Was the money even worth it? People who work for us earn more than that in a year.”
Li Youdun focused his uninterested gaze on Xia Lei, completely silent.
“Tell me. Now that the CIA Jingdu informant base is forced to close, I’m sure there’s another backup stronghold somewhere. Where is it?” Xia Lei had not given up yet.
“So I’ll tell you and you’ll give me a painless death?” Li Youdun raised a questioning brow.
Xia Lei answered, “No, but I want you to do me a favour.”
“You want me to be a double agent?” Li Youdun was surprised.
“Nothing is impossible. Not only will you get paid by the CIA, but you’ll receive money from me too. I’m offering you a six million USD yearly pay. I’ll transfer five hundred thousand USD per month to your preferred account on a fixed date. This does not include any bonuses. With that added, you making ten million USD a year from me is not an issue.”
“Hahaha…” Li Youdun’s laughter echoed about in the closed space.
“What are you laughing at?
“You really think I don’t know what you’re up to? You’re going to trick information out of me then kill me. You’ve got no need for double agents, to begin with, right?”
“That’s not true.” Xia Lei shook his head slowly. “I can show you my sincerity. Give me an account and I’ll immediately transfer one year worth of salary. I’m sure six million USD is a sincere enough gesture, no?”
Li Youdun hesitated.
“You’re just after the money and I can give you that, lots of it even. As long as you agree to work for me. This is just a business deal, there’s no need to overthink it.” Xia Lei relentlessly convinced him. But he spared Li Youdun silence to answer after his sentence fell.
Having enjoyed one minute of clear-mindedness, Li Youdun settled on a decision. “I’ll pass you my account. We’ll talk after the six million USD enters my account.”
“Sure.” Xia Lei swiftly went over to the torture gadget counter and booted his laptop. “Your account number, please.”
Li Youdun recited the numbers of an anonymous account he registered in Switzerland. He was still suspicious about this entire deal.
Xia Lei was quick to complete the transaction. He brought the laptop to Li Youdun and showed him the record.
The record was as promised. Xia Lei had transacted six million USD into the account.
“You see that? That’s my sincerity.” Xia Lei hummed. “It’s your turn to show me yours. Tell me, where is the CIA’s safe house?”
“Freedom EDM Music Bar. That’s the CIA’s safe house in Jingdu. Yang Shan and Sperry should be there,” answered Li Youdun.
Xia Lei smiled. “That’s my boy.” He produced a key and unlocked the shackles that restrained Li Youdun’s limbs. Li Youdun was free.
“You… You’re really letting me go?” Li Youdun’s disbelief was written all over his face. He studied Xia Lei’s features cautiously, afraid that the other man would attack and kill him when he least expected it.
“This is also my sincerity. You’re free to leave this place now. But I’d like to know how you are going to explain yourself after this.” Xia Lei shot him a question.
Li Youdun replied, “There’s no need to worry about that. I’ve got my ways around it.”
“You’ll steal the CIA’s intel and give them to me. Contact me once a month.”
“That’s not an issue, I can do that.” Li Youdun nodded curtly.
“Last question, has the CIA researched and implemented a system with Artificial Intelligence?” Xia Lei watched Li Youdun. He was different from the others. Others would stare into the eyes to gauge the truth but all Xia Lei had focused on was Li Youdun’s beating heart.
“No. How is that even possible? The best and most matured AI technology in the world would have to come from Japan and that is a feat that Japan had yet to accomplish. How was it possible for America to obtain something like that?” responded Li Youdun.
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Xia Lei peeled his eyes away and flashed him a smile. “Go, be careful on your way. Inform me when you reach America.”
Li Youdun nodded and off he went.
Xia Lei’s gaze landed on the laptop that sat silently atop the counter. A reminder interface popped out. The simulation transfer was successful.
Sigh.
That was the only response Xia Lei’s heart had produced. When Li Youdun had told him about the Artificial Intelligence system earlier, his pulse rate had picked up and turned irregular. The man was lying.
Li Youdun made it out of the underground chamber and found himself in the backyard of the Peace Mansion. The backyard was delicately adorned with lush plants and the moonlight was veiled by the healthy crown of a tree. It also shielded him away from the lights of the front yard. Everything was pitch black.
Li Youdun turned around to spare a glance at the humble vintage-styled bungalow behind him. He sneered coldly. “Money? Do you really think I’m after the money? That’s where you’re wrong. I’m after power. Williams’ position is mine and you can’t provide me such authority. So…”
So what? The moment his mind had paused at that second, a petite woman came plummeting from the roof. Like an eagle after its prey, her movements were feral but silent. And just before she landed, a three-stab steel fork was sheathed into Li Youdun’s skull vehemently.
Li Youdun went limp.
He was dead. He was free from the pain of his suffering.
If he had been honest with Xia Lei and worked as his double agent, Xia Lei would have spared him because Li Youdun held value. However, he had dared to lie even under such circumstances to hide away information on the CIA’s AI system. What he didn’t know was that Xia Lei already had an exchange with the system. It wasn’t that Xia Lei was ruthless, it was Li Youdun’s greed that brought him his demise. Xia Lei could’ve flooded him with more money but the agent wasn’t satisfied with just that. He wanted bigger power. Humans were often driven by their desires. Soon or later, they would find themselves trashing against the net weaved by their many lusts and perish.
Tsukino Kyoko did not remove the weapon lodged into Li Youdun’s head. She effortlessly hauled him over her shoulder and entered the room behind them.
Tsukino Kyoko made it into the underground dungeon and noticed that Xia Lei was still fiddling with his laptop. She threw the body down onto the ground with a huff and came to his side. “Boss, how should I dispose of his body?”
“Any method is fine. Just don’t leave any traces, that’s all I’m asking for,” said Xia Lei.
“Alright then.”
Xia Lei’s eyes had not once left the laptop screen. His device was in the middle of extracting confidential information from Xiao Qian. While it was just a singular file, it would be more than enough to make the CIA panic!
It took one minute and fifty-nine seconds for the document to arrive in his system. At the two minute mark, the CIA Tenshin system had noticed the breach and began to launch an attack on Xiao Qian while pinpointing Xia Lei’s location. But before it could reap the efforts it had sown, Xia Lei tapped the enter key and sent out a command. Xiao Qian self-destructed within the CIA information database.
To destroy Xiao Qian and erase traces was undoubtedly a wise choice. If he had allowed the Tenshin system to take out Xiao Qian, they would have found out about Xiao Xian’s secret. It was hard to guarantee that the secrets would stop Tenshin from obtaining more truths from within. Destroying Xiao Qian at his own means would render Tenshin unable to find out anything, it wouldn’t even know what they had stolen from the CIA’s database. One of Xiao Qian’s features includes ‘document reading’, where it would start writing its copy after accessing the file. This had left behind zero traces of replication.
Xia Lei withdrew from the CIA Tenshin system and shut down his laptop.
“Alright, all done.” Xia Lei couldn’t suppress the joy in his heart. There was so much pent up rage that he had accumulated from his time in Israel and the Mediterranean. Not to mention, his return was welcomed by an assassin trying to harm his women. He was fuming and this had served as a stress relief mechanism.
“Boss, what’s going on? You look delighted.” Tsukino Kyoko gazed at Xia Lei curiously.
Xia Lei chuckled. “Let me enlighten you with it. I just got ahold of a list of spies planted by the CIA in China. Among them are important spies that had been here for tens of years. They’ve already become high ranking government officials, businessmen and even soldiers. With this list, it’ll be equivalent to them operating beneath our eyelids. We can capture them at any given moment. We could even use them to relay wrong information back to the CIA and fool them.”
“I’m not interested in those,” mumbled Tsukino Kyoko. Her fingers reached for Xia Lei’s face.
Xia Lei reflectively withdrew from it. Yet, he was unable to dodge her reach. Her fingers caressed the side of his face, her touch light as a wisp of a breeze.
“Kyoko, we…” Xia Lei wanted to provide more explanation about the events that transpired that fateful night on the deserted island.
A soft smile manifested itself on Tsukino’s face. “There’s some blood on your cheek, I removed it for you. Alright, I better head off and take care of the body.”
A gentle and graceful smile was all it took for Xia Lei to swallow his explanation.
“Are we launching the operation tonight?” Tsukino Kyoko picked up an axe from the counter and waved it in the air to gauge its weight.
Xia Lei thought for a brief moment. “No. We need to prepare ourselves for it. Make it tomorrow night instead.”
“Alright, tomorrow night it is.” Tsukino Kyoko turned around and went towards Li Youdun’s body.
Abruptly, Xia Lei said, “Nevermind, just drag him to the back mountains and bury him there. There’s no need for such treatment now that he’s dead.”
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently.
Later that night, Xia Lei left the underground chamber and returned to his room. He could already see the four women waiting for him inside. Long Bing and Liang Siyao were sitting with their guns in their hands. On the other side, Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan were knitting sweaters for their children. He really had the best of both worlds.