The Ford E450 stopped next to the stone temple. The sound of the engine and the headlights woke up some Tibetan mastiffs in the homes of the residents close by, and the dogs barked angrily, like they were posturing for the intruder. Xia Lei turned off the engine and the lights and the Tibetan mastiffs slowly quieted down.

  There were no lamplights in the small town, and it was very quiet. It gave one the impression that it was an empty town. There was some light in the stone temple but it was not an electrical light but the eternal flame dedicated to the gods, and the wish lanterns lit by followers.

  “Where is the target?” asked Xia Lei.

  “Come with me.” Tang Yuyan got up and walked towards the body of the car.

  Xia Lei left the driving cab too and followed her in. He thought that she would stop in the living room but she went straight to that small bedroom.

  Xia Lei hesitated, and he stood close to the door, not sure if he should go in or not.

  Tang Yuyan poked her head out. “What are you doing? Afraid that I’ll eat you? Don’t worry, I’m not the sort that would pull your trousers off because I want to be with you.”


  Xia Lei laughed dryly but still didn’t move. Experience told him that Tang Yuyan’s words were only believable two times out of ten.

  Tang Yuyan’s mouth curled into a contemptuous smile. “Are you afraid that you won’t be able to hold back? You’re dating several women at once, so don’t you play around? You must have great restraint. So, what are you worried about?”


  “I’m not the playboy you think I am. I’m also not the sort of man who’ll want to fuck any pretty girl he sees.” Xia Lei walked in.

  Long Bing and him had gone through life and death situations together.

  He had grown up with Jiang Ruyi, and she’d waited for him for over 20 years. This was their feelings as childhood friends.

  Tang Yuyan said that he was playing, and this made him feel uncomfortable. Wasn’t he just staying in the room? Why did she have to put it in such an ugly way? Fine, go in then. She wouldn’t eat him up anyway.

  A faint smile appeared in the corners of Tang Yuan’s mouth. She took off her shoes, climbed onto the bed, and turned on the LCD TV on the wall.

  It wasn’t actually an LCD TV, but a large display screen. A video surveillance feed appeared when it was activated.

  Xia Lei did not get on the bed but sat next to it instead and looked at the screen.

  The feed was of a small building on the west side of the town. It had stone walls, flower windows, and prayer flags hanging from the top of the roof; a typical Tibetan style house. The doors and windows of the building were tightly shut and there was no light, and no activity inside.

  “You’re only showing me this?” Xia Lei couldn’t see what was wrong. It was just a normal building.

  Tang Yuyan crawled to under the screen and reached out to take a remote control. She pressed a green button on the remote control and said, “You guys show yourselves for a bit.”


  Soon, there was movement on the screen in a few places. Xia Lei saw a sniper in camouflage on the hill behind the building. The camouflage he had on helped his body blend with his surroundings and made him difficult to spot. He had an XL2500 sniper rifle in his hands. The Thunder Horse Group’s weapons had become Bureau 101’s weapons of choice.

  Opposite the sniper, on either sides of the walls of the small building, were two pairs of agents with Gust assault rifles. They were quite obviously playing the role of attackers.

  Across the main door, in an alley, were two more agents with Gust assault rifles.

  Seven agents surrounded the small building, sealing off the escape routes of the terrorists. With the firepower of the XL2500 and six Gust assault rifles, they were equipped to take on an American marines operations team, much less a few terrorists.

  The seven agents went back into concealment after showing themselves for a bit.

  They were following Tang Yuyan’s commands, so they were all her subordinates.

  Xia Lei smiled wryly. “This place, and the terrorists hiding inside have been locked down. What am I here for?”


  It was true. They only needed a simple command from Tang Yuyan, and the seven agents would finish the job. Xia Lei had hurried from Jingdu to this place, and the only thing he could probably do was to look at the screen while those agents finished the mission.

  Tang Yuyan crawled over to Xia Lei, a bit at a time; she moved very slowly.

  “What do you want?” Xia Lei couldn’t help asking when Tang Yuyan got to his side. He edged his butt to the side.

  Tang Yuyan held the remote control out to him. “Take it. Issue the command at any time that you want to end the mission.”


  “What are we waiting for, then?” Xia Lei reached for the remote control.

  Tang Yuyan released her hold all of a sudden and the remote control dropped from the hand. It fell onto the part between Xia Lei’s legs rather innocuously.

  “Oh my, I’m sorry. That wasn’t on purpose.” Tang Yuyan hurriedly reached for the remote control.

  Xia Lei did not fall for that. He made the first move and grabbed, raising his elbow at the same time, and sealed off Tang Yuyan’s advance.

  Tang Yuyan’s other hand suddenly came from Xia Lei’s unguarded side, aiming to grab his collar.

  Xia Lei’s other hand cut across and he grabbed Tang Yuyan’s wrist.

  Tang Yuyan abruptly moved her upper body to get out of Xia Lei’s grappling move, and the long leg she had folded on the bed was raised, sweeping towards Xia Lei’s shoulder. Xia Lei leaned back, and fell onto the bed. That long leg of hers had swept very closely past his face.

  “Hmph!” Tang Yuyan pushed off the bed with both hands, and her body lifted off the bed so she “flew” across the bed like an eagle after prey at Xia Lei, and pressed him below her.

  Xia Lei could have kicked up, and it was a simple way to counter this move, but could he do something like this, as a man? And this hesitation of milliseconds let Tang Yuyan land bodily on him. Soft and heavy, wonderful yet painful. He felt conflicted, complicated, in that instant.

  Tang Yuyan did not miss this chance. Her legs circled Xia Lei’s waist, and her hands went around his arms to lock behind his neck. A move like this was called a cross lock in UFC cage fighting, and combatants locked down by this move could slap the ring to surrender.

  The Wingchun versus Tang Sect martial arts fight had concluded. The atmosphere in the bedroom became heavy and ambiguous. They looked at each other, and didn’t speak for at least 30 seconds.

  “Uh…… what are you doing?” Xia Lei couldn’t keep quiet anymore at the thirty-first second and he broke the silence.

  Tang Yuyan had a faint smile on her lips. “We’ve never really had a real fight, right? How about a round?”


  “Sure. We can get out of the car and fight outside. Let go of me,” said Xia Lei.

  “In your dreams.”


  Xia Lei was speechless.

  “Tell me, how did that girl Long Bing seduce you? How did you end up sleeping with her?”


  “Pfft. We are just friends and colleagues.”


  “Hah! You admitted to it earlier!”


  “When did I admit to it? Do you have a recording? Play it for me so I can hear it.”


  “Shameless man.” Tang Yuyan bit her lip. “Then how did Shentu Tianyin seduce you? How did you two end up sleeping together?”


  “Are you sick in the head? Why are you asking these sort of questions?”


  “Was it like this?” Tang Yuyan pressed her body against Xia Lei.

  She had him locked under her, so this pressing became a full-body squeeze. This move of hers made it difficult for Xia Lei to breathe.

  “Release me or you’ll regret it,” said Xia Lei.

  “No I won’t. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to me?” said Tang Yuyan in challenge.

  Xia Lei suddenly lifted his leg and smacked Tang Yuyan’s buttock with his thigh. Tang Yuyan made a small gasp, and she fell forward. Xia Lei regained mobility in his upper body as soon as he was released from the cross lock. He pushed with both hands and Tang Yuyan was pushed back to fall on the bed. In that instant, he pressed her beneath him.

  “Marry me. Let’s get married.”


  Xia Lei stared blankly. Tang Yuyan had made things very very clear. She was willing to forgive all of his past flings, but he wouldn’t be allowed to be entangled with other women after marrying her. What she wanted was a man who could stay steadfast. She wanted a husband, not a lover.

  Actually, she also had an intention she did not voice – she wanted a pillar for the Tang clan.

  Was he going to get strapped to the yoke for a lifetime because of a moment of folly?

  Xia Lei felt like he was being tortured here.

  Tang Yuyan stared at Xia Lei. She was nervous, so nervous that she almost forgot to breathe.

  Right at that moment, a man in black robes appeared on the screen.

  The man was very tall and his body was strong too. However, there was a black gauze material under the hood of his robe, and his face could not be seen at all.

  An agent’s voice suddenly came from over the communications channel. “Boss, an unknown target has appeared. How should we handle it? What do we do?”