In the room.

“Hello? Why are you quiet?” Gu Kewen held on to the satellite phone and her face filled with wariness. 

A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei’s mouth. His put right index finger on the trigger on the trigger, and squeezed it. 

At the exact instant of combustion, the mixed-blood woman next to Gu Kewen dived, pulling Gu Kewen to the ground with her. 

Ping! A bullet went through the tile of the room’s roof and struck the spot where Gu Kewen had stood. The wooden floor splintered, sending fragments up. If the woman had been half a second slower, Gu Kewen’s head would have been torn open by this bullet!

Xia Lei was stunned too, in that instant. This woman… Whether it was experience or capability, she was miles better than that so-called king of killers named Hyena! 

This woman was more powerful than the king of killers. Who was she? 

Xia Lei still couldn’t figure out this woman’s identity but he was not slow to react either. He had fired for the second time when the mixed-blood woman pulled Gu Kewen to roll across the floor.

Ping! Another tile on the roof was shattered. 

The second shot hit Gu Kewen in the back! 

No one had ever escaped his sniping once his left eye had locked on! Besides, there was just 70 to 80 metres between him and the two women. He could even use a handgun like a sniper rifle at this distance!

“He’s behind the hotel. Two ‘o clock! 80 metres out!” yelled the mixed-blood woman at the walkie-talkie which had dropped to the floor. 

Xia Lei could not hear her, but he knew what angry shouting meant. 

Sure enough, a light shone from the snowy top of another hill at his ten o’clock before he could fire a third time. Out of a combination of pure instinct and experience, Xia Lei threw himself to the snow behind the rock as soon as he caught that light out of the corner of his eye. 

Pew! There was a dull sound as a sniper rifle bullet hit the stone before him. 

The rock shook and sparks flew. Small shards of rock flew past his head, and a piece ricocheted and hit him in the neck. Warm blood came from the wound. Fortunately, the piece had not hit hard, and it had just scratched his skin without cutting any major blood vessels. 

Pew! There was another dull sound, and several cracks suddenly appeared in the rock in front of him! 

His enemy was using something powerful, something like an armour-piercing bullet! 

This sniping spot was compromised. Xia Lei hugged his XL2500 and rolled, heading for the other side. 

Snow plumed on the snow-blanketed ground. 

This was the enemy’s third shot. This guy’s gunmanship seemed to be on par with Hyena’s! 

Xia Lei, however, did not give him the chance to shoot for a fourth time. He had rolled out of his enemy’s sights. The enemy has fired thrice, and Xia Lei had calculated his position. However, the hill and thick forest made it difficult for the enemy to aim at him, and he could not fire. 

Long Bing’s voice came from over the communications device. “Are you okay? Talk!” 

“I’m fine.” Xia Lei lowered his voice. “Stay low. The enemy has a sniper. He’s on the left of my old position, ten o’ clock from the hotel.” 

“Leave that hill as soon as you can. I saw many gunmen going to your location.” Long Bing’s voice was filled with worry.

Xia Lei had seen it already. It wasn’t just the thugs in Gu Kewen’s employ – there were even gunmen he had not spotted before. Some were white, some were black, and they came out of buildings under construction, holding guns and converging on his location. These gunmen seemed well-versed in fighting, and could even be more powerful than American Special Forces soldiers! 

Who the hell were these people? 

This question nagged at Xia Lei, but he knew that this was not the time to ponder it. He raised the XL2500 sniper rifle and dashed out of the forest, running towards the ten o’clock position on the left. 

The enemy sniper was a target he had to eliminate! 

There were no roads in the forest and thick snow covered the ground. It would’ve been very difficult for a person to walk about on this ground under normal circumstances, but Xia Lei was practically flying over the ground. He was quick, and his movements nimble, like he was a wolf which inhabited this forest. This was his domain! 

Darkness, snow and thick forest. None of these could stop Xia Lei’s charge. Kill or be killed. He was putting all his efforts into living, and his body like like a well-oiled battle machine! 

Three minutes later, Xia Lei moved through the forest and appeared on the dividing line of the hill. He hid behind a patch of snow-covered shrub, and used his X-ray vision to see through the shrub and observe his surroundings. His current position allowed him to keep an eye on what was happening on the left of the hill. 

The hill on the left was quiet. There was snow, trees, and brown rocks. In the darkness filled with dancing snow, not even a squirrel could be seen, much less a man. However, Xia Lei was sure that there was someone hidden somewhere. He had this assumption because he was sure that the enemy did not have anyone who could run over snow 30 centimetres deep and great speed. Not everyone could learn Tang Qinggong from Tang Yuyan. 

Bang bang bang… 

Loud gunshots suddenly came from the village of Oshino Hakkai.  

Xia Lei’s chest tightened in nervousness and he looked over. His left eye searched the dark, looking for the source of the sound. Two seconds later, he was surprised to find that Long Bing had run out of the forest providing her cover and started firing at the gunman heading towards the hill. 

She had appeared suddenly in an ambush from the back. Additionally, she had the excellent capabilities of the Gust assault rifle to count on. The unknown gunmen with their backs to Long Bing were gunned down by Long Bing. 

“What are you doing?! Don’t you want to live?” nagged Xia Lei over the communications device. Long Bing’s sudden actions had spoiled him plans but he was more concerned about her safety!

“Don’t care about me. GO!” said Long Bing. 

Xia Lei was filled with gratitude. He knew that Long Bing was only doing to to draw the enemy’s attention, and to ruin their plan of surrounding him. Her actions were undoubtedly a sacrifice on her part to buy some time for him to escape! 

How could he not be touched by such a gesture? 

However, she had forgotten one thing, and that was that Xia Lei was not going to be one to run from a fight on the battlefield! 

Just then, another bit of light flashed from the top of the hill opposite. It was the gleaming of the muzzle of a gun! 

This bit of light was extremely weak, and was only seen for zero-point-something seconds, but Xia Lei’s left eye could catch light weaker than this, and faster too! 

The enemy fired at Long Bing, but he exposed his own location too. 

Xia Lei did not raise his gun to shoot back at the sniper hidden in the snow right away. He looked instead at Long Bing and the situation she was in. Flames almost burst from his eyes at what he saw! 

Long Bing had fallen to the ground. There was a bit of blood on her face, and the Gust assault rifle had dropped to the ground too. She lay on the ground, motionless. 

Was she dead? 

Tears sprang from Xia Lei’s eyes instantly. He could not accept that this was true. NO!

She had still been in the hot-springs pool with him an hour earlier, and had sex with him on the bed. Her laughter, her ferociousness, her everything was so beautiful. He could not forget her. However, she was now lying on the snowy ground; she had gone to another world. 

Tears dripped noiselessly down from the corners of his eyes. His heart had been shattered. 

But at that moment, there came some new movements from the hill opposite. The hidden sniper emerged, and he was holding a high-powered night-vision scope in his hand. What he was observing was not Long Bing, however, but the hill where Xia Lei was hiding. He seemed very confident in his gunmanship, so he did not look at her after he decided that she was dead. 

“All of you must die!” A voice as cold as ice came from Xia Lei’s mouth. He stretched the XL2500 out from behind the shrub and aimed at that sniper. 

The sniper in the snow used his scope to look at the hill opposite him, and he stopped on the shrub Xia Lei was hiding behind about a second later. 

In that instant, a flash of fire bloomed in his vision. His pupils dilated and his brain went into a state of terror. 

Crack. The scope was shattered by a bullet, and that bullet went through the tube of the scope and into the sniper’s right eye, exiting out the back of his head. 

The sniper’s brain was blasted out of head head, and a fist-sized crater formed in the back of his skull. 

Xia Lei gripped the communications device in his hand, crying and choking. “Long Bing, I got revenge for you… Why were you so foolish? Why didn’t you listen to me, why… I’ve never told you that I loved you when you were with me. I’ll tell you now… I love you… I’ll never be able to return your feelings in this lifetime, but wait for our next lives. I’ll definitely return your feelings in our next lives together.” 

One of the saddest things of the human world was a forever goodbye. She had met him in Macau, and known him for over two years. She had given him a lot of help, taught him so much, and made a powerful agent out of an ordinary man. She had gone through life and death with him, braved the hail of gunfire with him. And tonight, she had finally become one with him, and given him the best of herself, but she had not had the luxury of having this love for a full day before she had gone on to another world. This was a tragedy! 

Xia Lei was truly heartbroken. Who knew how long he’d take to recover from this loss. 

As Xia Lei cried his eyes out, a familiar voice suddenly came from over the communications device. “Ahem. Uh… Those three words… Can you say them again?” 

Xia Lei stared blankly. That was Long Bing’s voice! 

“Say it. You said it just now, so why aren’t you saying it again?” Long Bing’s tone of voice seemed happy yet discontent at the same time.

Xia Lei then looked over to see Long Bing getting to her feet, looking in his direction and smiling. 

Her smile was like a light in the flurried snow. Her smile melted away the darkness in Xia Lei’s heart, and chased away the cold. 

Xia Lei laughed. “Heh heh heh…” 

“Not saying it, huh? You punk. You didn’t say it when I was alive. I have to be dead for you to say it? What’s this, huh?” 

“I…” Xia Lei opened his mouth. “I’ll say it tomorrow.” 

“I want you to say it a hundred times tomorrow,” said Long Bing. 

Xia Lei was speechless. 

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