As night fell upon the region, Jerusalem was well lit as the city dwellers readied themselves for a bustling night. Traditional and contemporary elements of the city blended impeccably with one another, shaping an undeniably joyous atmosphere.

Just a couple of miles away however, the settlements were serene and ready for slumber.

Haimer and his wife Mina prepared dinner. It was a traditional Israeli feast, consisting of hummus and pita bread, sardine spread and red wine. Tsukino Kyoko was still rather frail so she skipped the meal.

Xia Lei, after dining with the Jewish couple, went back to the ‘lovers’ room with a plate of food.

He gently cracked open the door, only to find Kyoko with her hands tucked into her blankets, albeit with a fruit knife in her grasp.

“Lower your guard.”

Tsukino Kyoko, relieved to find that her visitor was none other than Xia Lei, crawled out of her bed and placed the fruit knife on the table.

Xia Lei then brought himself closer. “Here, have some food. Your body is still really weak, so eat some and get some rest. I’m sure you’ll feel much better tomorrow. We’ll leave at dawn.”

Tsukino Kyoko appeared to be in pain as she pleaded. “But you still gotta treat this wound for me right? It looks like there's inflammation. There might even be pus building up.”

Xia Lei was rattled by her request, yet swallowed his emotions as he replied. “You have some of this. I’ll go over to Dr Haimer’s medicine trove to grab some antiseptics and some gauze.”

“Mm, alright,” Kyoko retrieved the tray from the food over.

Haimer and Mina had both returned to their rooms, so Xia Lei didn’t have to greet them along the way towards the consultation room.

Searching through the medicine cabinet, Xia Lei gathered some Amoxicillin, Aspirin and Hydrogen peroxide. He also grabbed a couple of bandages and rolls of gauze

When he returned to the room, Tsukino Kyoko had already eaten some of the sardine spread, with some pita bread left. She however only ate a little while plating the rest and placed them by the bedside shelf.

“Why didn’t you eat more?” Xia Lei strode towards her.

“I wasn’t feeling it.”

Xia Lei bent down towards the bedside, handed her a glass of water, along with the Amoxicillin and Aspirin tablets that he prepared for her. “Here, take these.”

Kyoko swallowed the pills before promptly turning over to her back. Xia Lei at that point had not done anything yet, but her face was already slightly flushed from anticipation.

“Time to treat the wounds at that part again I guess...huh.”

Xia Lei sighed internally as he resisted his discomfort and reached to loosen her trousers, and gradually pulled it down.

After unbuckling her trousers, he inevitably stopped at her thighs, which looked especially firm and voluptuous under the light.

Her legs held tight with one another with no gap in between, yet unable to hide the beguiling charm from within.

Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t lying when she said her wound was in bad shape. The blood seeped through the bandage that coagulated into a moist patch of bloodstains. White pus oozes through the thin layer of bandage, albeit not too much to handle.

Xia Lei tried to peel it off but the bandage was practically glued to her wound. He, however, did cause her to frown as an outcome of his action. “Eek...ow.”

“Do you even feel pain?” Xia Lei finds it baffling that a headstrong woman like Kyoko would be shaken by a minor wound like this. She was able to take on gunshots and still fight. But now, she was whining from an old wound like a sulking teenager.

“Of course I do, I’m also a woman too,” Kyoko replied before she added. “Just a woman.”

Her intentional repetition seemed to be hinting towards something else.

“I’m going to cut it off, are you okay with that?”

Tsukino Kyoko nodded. “It’s fine. Do whatever you want, you don’t need my permission.”

Xia Lei lifted the pair of medical use scissors and began snipping through the used bandages and gradually shifted course downwards.

Her fair, supple buttcheeks were gradually exposed into the light, resembling pre-baked dough. Nevertheless, there was still grime in the form of her triangular wound, oozing with blood and pus that had tainted the otherwise alluring sight.

Xia Lei shifted his gaze towards the gauze as he carefully snipped and ripped it off. He tried not to overthink the process as it reminded him of the male protagonist in a melodrama.

After the used bandage was fully detached from her body, he reactively threw it on the ground. He then forced his gaze towards the filth. <i>How am I going to do anything if I’m gonna act like this?<i/>

There were things in life that just couldn’t be avoided.

“Can’t avoid the patient. I’m a doctor.” Xia Lei attempted to recalibrate his thoughts before he lifted the hydrogen peroxide spray and began disinfecting her wound.

“Ughh,” Tsukino Kyoko took a gasp of air from suppressing pain.

“Almost done,” Xia Lei comforted, while casually distracting her attention. “Right, what do you think they’re up to right now?”

Kyoko replied. “I wonder too. Hope they’re doing okay. They must've encountered some trouble along the way to force themselves into hiding. Once they’re back to safety I’m sure they’ll come looking for us.”

Xia Lei shared her thoughts. If Sa’im, Yelena and Anjum were not in grave danger, they couldn’t possibly have all left their designated positions.

Out of the blue, he was reminded of the man with the king cobra tattoo. <i>If he’s still alive, where will he be?</i>

Minutes later, after he was done mending her wounds, her voluptuous buttocks now had a supplementary patch. He adjusted her trousers and zipped it back into place. “Alright, there shouldn’t be much of an issue anymore. Upon leaving we should grab more Amoxicillin tablets. They’ll help with the inflammation.”

“Where are you going?” Tsukino Kyoko forced herself up into a sitting position as she held onto his hand.

Xia Lei was stunned in place. “I’m going out to sleep by the couch. We’re still at high risk of a potential threat after all. Somebody’s gotta keep watch.”

Kyoko tried her best to pull him over to the bed. Yet despite her best efforts she still was not physically able to. Less so as she had just escaped the claws of death. She pulled his arm to its full length but he did not even budge.

“Uh-hmm.” Xia Lei faked a cough. “Get some sleep, you need it.”

Tsukino Kyoko hesitated for a bit. She then let go of his hand, albeit sulking as she blurted. “But...you promised me.”

Xia Lei was left in an awkward position as he chuckled. “About that...we can talk about it again when you get better. You’re not in a condition to satisfy those urges now anyway.”

Tsukino Kyoko’s face blushed for a moment as she silently stared at him.

Xia Lei left the room, before letting out a long sigh of relief. Mumbling under his breath he said, “Shit, when did I promise to satisfy her lust...did I?”

A fun night away from the responsibilities was not much of a taboo for him. Yet for Xia Lei, he was not that kind of man. His jewels were a prized possession at this point.

Even if he agreed to fulfil her wishes in the spur of the moment, given the current circumstances his only solution was to delay it.

Haimer and Mina were already fast asleep, their rooms were dark for hours now.

Xia Lei sat by the couch in the living room momentarily before leaving the house. He weaved through the narrow alleyways out of the settlement and darted towards the hiding spot where he hid all their weapons and explosives. The next morning he would escort Tsukino Kyoko out of here, so it sure was reasonable for him to retrieve his weapons right now. Nevertheless, the top priority of it all was his prized possession, the crystal skull.

The situation early that day was unique, for his main plan was to take Tsukino Kyoko out to a hospital in Jerusalem for medical treatment. There was zero chance he could make it in with all the artillery and the crystal skull with him.

He quickly located the spot where they were buried, dug through the dirt and retrieved two bags of equipment. Tsukino Kyoko’s backpack was the one with the weaponry, while his had the crystal skull. He opened up to check if they were missing anything, and as expected, the crystal skull was still delicately placed deep in his backpack.

He took a good look around his surroundings, ensuring that his whereabouts were secure within a four-kilometre radius. Securing his logistics, he pulled out the crystal skull and held it in his palm.

Under the moonlight, it sparkled with a cold yet soft radiance of light. Nevertheless, Xia Lei was aware of that fact the moment he had his hands on the skull back in the pyramid, yet he never had the opportunity to slowly examine the magnificence of its creation.

He quickly picked out on astonishing details of the crystal skull. Despite its sturdy appearance, its actual weight might just be approximately half a kilogram.

An ordinary skull would probably weigh around a quarter of a kilogram, but this skull was double the weight of a regular skull. It couldn’t have been a crystal given the fact that most crystals of this size were much heavier!

If it was not crystal, then what can it be?

Could it actually be the skull of a living thing?

What species could bear a skull of this sort? If there really was a being that had a crystallized skull, where was the rest of its skeleton?

Those were questions he knew he had no answers to.

Xia Lei’s left brow twitched ever so slightly as he activated the X-ray vision. The X-ray penetrated into the right eye socket of the crystallized skull.

Right at that moment, Xia Lei’s head seemed to be shaken by a huge interference, akin to a prisoner chained to a pitch-black dungeon and now thrown into broad daylight! His eyes were blinded by white light and his mind went blank!

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