Xia Lei came out of the kitchen with a bottle of kerosene. He splashed the kerosene on the sofa, the carpet and on some plastic items, then used a lighter to set the sofa alight. The sofa and carpet quickly burned up with the help of the kerosene, and the leather and plastic, as well as the stuffing of the sofa, produced thick smoke. The smoke soon filled up the s.p.a.ce in the car, and spread rapidly outwards.

Xia Lei’s plan was to obstruct the sniper’s sights with the thick smoke and escape from the car.

The enemy, however, guessed what Xia Lei wanted to do, and a bullet came flying into the car before the thick smoke could completely block his vision. It wasn’t just a sniper rifle bullet but a.s.sault rifle bullets too. Compared to earlier, the suppressing fire to stop them from getting out was thicker.

“I know a way out. Come with me!” Tang Yuyan ran towards the toilet.

Xia Lei followed closely behind her.

Tang Yuyan used the b.u.t.t of the Gust a.s.sault rifle to break the toilet bowl and the plastic sewage storage tank. A hole which could barely let them through appeared in front of them. It was a little dirty, but there was no time to be fussy.

Tang Yuyan squatted at the hole and looked at it, then said, “You go out first.”

Xia Lei pushed her b.u.t.tocks instead. “Hurry up. Why are you still a.s.signing turns at a time like this?”

Tang Yuyan looked back and glared at him. She’d told him to go first because she wanted him to get out of danger earlier, but Xia Lei had obviously not understood her intentions. Now, however, was not the time to settle scores. She threw the XL2500 out first, then crawled through the hole.

Xia Lei also crawled through the hole.

The ground beneath the car was gra.s.sy, and the thick wild gra.s.s provided a natural cover. Both their bodies were hidden in the gra.s.s and people far away could not spot them.

The two of them quickly crawled out from under the car. Xia Lei quickly scanned the surrounding area, then crawled towards the right. In that direction, about 500 metres away, was a thick forest. He and Tang Yuyan would be safe if they managed to get there.

Tang Yuyan followed Xia Lei, to the forest on the right. She crawled on her hands and feet, and was fast. With all those things out of her head, she was the old Tang Yuyan again, calm and cool-headed.

Behind them, the Ford E450 burned. The fire lit up a large area. Thick smoke reached up into the sky, moving with the wind towards the town. Gunshots sounded still, but there was much less of it now. The people firing were only shooting to keep the door of the Ford E450 closed, and not give Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan a chance to escape.

Xia Lei glanced back, but he could not see how close the enemy’s backup support had come when he dared not poke his head out.

“Is it the CIA?” Tang Yuyan asked in a small voice as they crawled. She had dismissed the possibility of their enemy being terrorists in the exchange of fire earlier, when she had seen their military training.

“They shouldn’t be.” Xia Lei recalled what he had observed when he’d shot the four gunmen. “Those four men were all Asian, and there are few Asians in the CIA.”

“Asian? West Asia?”

“They had paint on their faces so I can’t tell for sure,” said Xia Lei.

“I didn’t even see what they looked like, but you could actually see that they had paint on their faces?” Tang Yuyan thought of something, and she was shocked.

“The XL2500 has a scope, okay? Don’t make such a fuss. Enough chatter. We have to hurry,” said Xia Lei.

Tang Yuyan thought about it and accepted it. The XL2500 did have a scope. If Xia Lei had not seen the target through the scope, then how could he have shot those four gunmen? She didn’t ask any more questions, and increased her pace as she followed right behind Xia Lei.

The gra.s.s grew thicker the closer they got to the hill. Some of the gra.s.s was so tall it reached knee-height. This gave Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan even better cover. The two of them stopped crawling and walked, crouched over in the gra.s.s.

Boom!

The fuel tank of the Ford E450 exploded. The boom of the explosion sounded through the air, and the shock wave of the explosion rippled far and wide. Even Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan felt it.

Xia Lei, who was crouched over, stopped and looked back. In the firelight, eight gunmen in full combat gear appeared around the Ford E450. All of them were carrying not just the TAR-21 a.s.sault rifles, but the Barrett M8A21 sniper rifles over their shoulders too. The effective range of this sniper rifle was 1850 metres, and one shot from this rifle could destroy a car engine. The range and power of this rifle was amazing, and it was second only to the Thunder Horse Group’s XL2500 sniper rifle.

Them being able to equip weapons like these meant that they were definitely not some random terrorists.

Xia Lei’s gaze went to the man in the monk robes. He was the one who had killed the Bureau 101 agent with a razor blade. His face was covered by a black cloth, but this time, Xia Lei’s X-ray vision let him see through that cloth and see the man’s face.

It was an Asian face, young and quite handsome.

For some reason, though, Xia Lei had a sense of familiarity when he saw this face. This feeling confused him. ‘This face… I feel like I’ve seen it before somewhere. Just who is he?’

At that moment, when Xia Lei saw the face of the man in the monk robes, the man seemed to have sensed something and he pointed at the right side of the forest.

“Oh c.r.a.p! He discovered us! Run!” Xia Lei stopped looking and ran towards the forest, bent over.

Tang Yuyan sped up too.

Bang bang bang…

The sound of gunshots came from behind them. Bullet after bullet whizzed past the top of their heads. The sound of the bullets whistling through the air was nerve-wracking.

The eight gunman fanned out as instructed by the man in the robes, firing blindly as they ran quickly. A camouflaged sniper was among these eight gunmen, and he was obviously the sniper from earlier, who had sealed off their movements on the left.

The enemy had a total of 13 men, and Xia Lei had killed four. They still had nine people left. There were eight men behind him, so there must, of course, be one sniper hiding in the right side of the forest. Xia Lei knew this well, and he and Tang Yuyan were advancing upon the location of that sniper.

Sniper ahead, and pursuers behind — danger all around. But he and Tang Yuyan had no choice. Their enemies were closing in from both sides, so he had to give up on the very tempting idea of killing those eight pursuers.

Xia Lei’s gaze was fixed on the forest before him as he ran. He used the full power of his eye, and a large swath of forest was all visible to him — he could see everything so clearly that even the movement of a leaf did not escape his notice.

Bullets flew everywhere.

The forest was right in front of him.

Movement suddenly came from a bunch of gra.s.s on the hill in front of him.

That part of the hill was in Xia Lei’s field of observation too, and Xia Lei reacted to the movement the instant he saw it. He dove, and dragged Tang Yuyan down with him. One second after that, gra.s.s broke and was sent flying, and dirt sprayed up. A sniper rifle bullet had plowed into the gra.s.s.

Xia Lei had no time to roll off of Tang Yuyan. He pressed her down and quickly raised his gun. His elbow pressed firmly into her breast, turning that soft, innocent place of hers into a part of a gun stand.

Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei in astonishment. She knew that Xia Lei and herself had just dodged the sniper’s attack, but she did not dare believe that Xia Lei had chosen to counterattack in this way.

The world’s best sniper rifle, and the Tang Sect’s best b.r.e.a.s.t.s — wasn’t this the most powerful combination?

Bang!

When Xia Lei’s elbow steadied again on Tang Yuyan’s soft breast, the XL2500 had let out a roar. A bullet shot from the muzzle of the rifle, heading straight to the patch of “gra.s.s” on the hill opposite.

It was not a patch of gra.s.s, of course, but camouflage of the sniper hidden there.

One second later, the bullet which had shot from the XL2500 plunged into the “gra.s.s”, and blood, flesh, and brain matter splattered. Just one second before that, the sniper had not even sensed that Xia Lei had discovered his position. And he had been preparing to aim at Xia Lei to shoot at him again too.

He had made the right call. A person would not be able to see movement a thousand metres away, much less see through a sniper’s camouflage in the darkness of night. However, he had been wrong, because his opponent was Xia Lei.

“Over there!” shouted someone from behind.

The man was speaking in j.a.panese!

Tang Yuyan did not wait for Xia Lei to get off of her. She raised the Gust a.s.sault rifle in her hand, tilted the muzzle 25 degrees, and fired in the direction of where the sounds had come from.

Bang bang bang!

A burst of bullets sent gra.s.s and leaves flying.

Tang Yuyan moved the muzzle. Her softness moved too, with the movement of her arm. To Xia Lei, it felt like he was lying on jelly and feeling it jiggle; it was weird but strangely arousing.

After the burst of bullets, Xia Lei hurriedly rolled off Tang Yuyan. “Move!”

Tang Yuyan crawled to her feet too. She nagged as she fired blindly, “I’ll settle the score with you after we kill those guys!”

Xia Lei smiled wryly and dashed into the forest.

Crack crack…

The bullets coming from behind him smashed into trees. Some branches were broken, and some shattered. Sharp wooden splinters flew about the forest. These wooden bits pierced Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan’s bodies, bringing a fiery pain.

The two of them did not dare linger. They quickly moved from the edge of the forest, running deeper in.

“I heard one of them shout in j.a.panese.” Tang Yuyan looked surprised. “Why is it the j.a.panese?”

Xia Lei had actually heard it too. He’d even guessed the ident.i.ty of the leader in the monk robes. That man should be related to the Hattori family. His facial features were quite similar to that of Hattori Masao. This was probably why he had the feeling that he found the young man’s face familiar when he had first seen him.

“How could the j.a.panese dare to make a move against us in a place like this? What is their aim?” Tang Yuyan needed an answer.

“Their aim is probably me,” said Xia Lei.

“You? How’s that possible? When did you anger the j.a.panese?” Tang Yuyan abruptly remembered something. “Is it related to the mission last time? The one you and Long Bing went on?”

Xia Lei had been worrying about how he’d explain the grudge between himself and the Hattori family, but what Tang Yuyan said helped solve the trouble for him. He said, “That’s right. I’m guessing that that’s the reason too.”

“They’re asking to die!” said Tang Yuyan fiercely. Her eyes were full of violent murder.

The most dangerous period had pa.s.sed. This forest was to be their new battleground.

Xia Lei ran towards higher ground, to the hill. He needed a vantage sniping point. Once he found it, not one of those eight gunmen would be able to escape him!

As he ran, he pondered, ‘Is Hattori Masao so bold? He dares to send so many gunmen to deal with me? And he also attracted the attention of Bureau 101 first. Isn’t he afraid that he would incite military conflict when this is revealed? Looks like I’ll need to leave one alive…’