The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Everyone was frozen in shock, except Xia Lei.
This pause lasted for less than one second.
“You…” The black soldier opened his mouth to speak, but only spoke one word before he crashed to the ground.
Long Bing wrenched, and an arc of blood lanced through the air.
The white soldier who could speak j.a.panese snapped back to his senses. He said in angry surprise, “Kill them!” He backed away quickly as he spoke, reaching for the handgun at his waist.
Unfortunately for him, Xia Lei gave him no chance to use it. He stepped forward, having antic.i.p.ated the move, and reached to grab the hand that was going for the gun.
The white soldier hurriedly tried to block with his other hand, but it was useless. Xia Lei’s right hand swished through the air and across the man’s neck. An indentation of about three inches suddenly appeared on the man’s neck. His carotid artery was cut, and blood spurted out like from a fountain, shooting several metres up into the air.
At almost the same instant, the combat knife in Long Bing’s hand completed its movement through the air, ending up in another soldier’s neck. The knife was ripped out, blood flowed, and the body thudded to the ground.
There were two soldiers left. One took out his gun, and one turned to run away.
The soldier who had taken his gun out aimed at Xia Lei, but the knife in Xia Lei’s hand came swoos.h.i.+ng over first, and stabbed into his heart with a schick! The man’s life ended in that moment, holding a gun but lacking the power to squeeze the trigger. He crashed to the ground.
Swoos.h.!.+ The knife in Long Bing’s hand flew again, and pierced the back of the last fleeing soldier.
The soldier fell, but he got to his feet again, and staggered towards the beach.
Xia Lei tore his knife from the corpse, and threw it. The knife flew like a bullet from his hand, and went in an almost-straight line, strangely fast, and almost imperceptible to the eye. When the knife stopped, it was in the back of the fleeing soldier’s head.
The last soldier fell to the ground.
The forest quieted, and the smell of blood filled the air.
Long Bing shrugged and broke the sinister silence. “You learnt that knife-throwing technique from Tang Yuyan, didn’t you?”
Xia Lei nodded. “Tang Yuyan did teach me. The Tang hidden weapons techniques are quite powerful. I’ve read about it in those martial arts novels, but it’s not as exaggerated in real life.”
“I’ve asked her to teach me many times but she’s never taught me,” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei paused, and felt a headache coming on. “What are you getting at?”
“You know what I’m getting at.”
Xia Lei gave a laugh. “I didn’t learn it without paying a price. She taught me Tang techniques, and I taught her Wing Chun. It was an exchange. If you do want to learn, I can teach you. Wing Chun, Tang hidden weapons… oh, and Tang Qinggong and so on.”
Long Bing pursed her lips. “I’ll come looking for you when I want to learn, but you can’t let Tang Yuyan know about it, nor let her know about our relations.h.i.+p.”
“No problem.”
“And you’d better not get into any relations.h.i.+p with her. I know she likes you but let me tell you that she wants way more from you than Shentu Tianyin, and you can’t give it to her.”
Xia Lei gave a dry laugh. “There’s nothing between us.”
“Do I need to care if you do have some sort of relations.h.i.+p with her? You have no lack of women. Do you need me to spell everything out for you?”
Xia Lei was speechless.
He was more or less aware now. The two women of Bureau 101, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, were very different indeed. Long Bing was patriotic and full of conviction that she should give her body to the nation. She was not one bit interested in having children to continue the family line. What she needed was a man who could stay with her and love her tenderly, to have a nondescript couples’ life. Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, had a family legacy to carry on, and anyone who ended up with her would need to give her status, children, join the Tang clan and continue contributing to the honour of the Tang clan.
Compared to that, Long Bing seemed to want nothing of Xia Lei except a bit of time to spend with her. Tang Yuyan was different. She would need much more than Shentu Tianyin. One simple example was that Long Bing did not mind about Xia Lei’s relations.h.i.+ps with Jiang Ruyi or whoever else, but if Tang Yuyan were his wife, she would not let him have any other women on the side.
“Okay.” Long Bing patted Xia Lei’s shoulder. “I know you’re a big mess when it comes to things like this so I won’t give you more trouble. Get rid of the corpses. We have to leave this place as soon as we can.”
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He didn’t want to talk about his love life anymore because it was indeed a huge mess.
They had no metal tools, so it was not realistic to bury the bodies of five adults. Xia Lei and Long Bing conferred for a bit, then dragged the five bodies to the beach close to the forest under the cover of night. They dug a huge pit in the sand, and covered the bodies up in it.
The waves frothed at the edge of the beach, so it would cover up some of the smell from the bodies. This would also delay the discovery of the bodies. By the time the military people from the Naha military base discovered the bodies, Xia Lei and Long Bing would be long gone from Okinawa, and back in China.
Back at the beachfront hotel, Xia Lei borrowed the hotel’s computer and searched for boats for rent. Okinawa was a popular tourist destination so there were several places which did rent out boats. Xia Lei quickly picked a place, a little rental company in a town not far from the hotel. They rented out speedboats and little boats, and even a small yacht if one could afford it.
After deciding on the rental company, Xia Lei used the hotel phone to call the contact number provided.
“h.e.l.lo Sir, how may I help you?” It was a female voice.
“I’d like to rent a boat. Could I ask when is the earliest I can rent one?” asked Xia Lei.
“The first boat will be available for rent tomorrow morning. What type of boat would you like to rent?”
“A yacht,” said Xia Lei.
“A yacht? Oh, in that case, Sir, you’ll need to put down a deposit of 10,000,000 yen. Additionally, the rent per day for the yacht is 20,000 yen.”
“Money is no object. I can put down the deposit.”
“That’s great! We will give you the best service. Thank you for choosing our company, Sir. Oh, yes, how long will you be renting the yacht?”
“Two weeks. My lover and I just got married. We want to have our honeymoon on the sea.”
“Congratulations, Sir. Please send my best wishes to your lovely half.”
“Oh, right, I also want to rent diving equipment. Could you prepare that for us?”
“No problem, Sir. We will have it all arranged for you when you come tomorrow morning.”
“Well, you see, my darling is quite anxious. How about I come over to get the yacht now, you guys prepare everything for me, and I’ll pay an extra rush fee. If you can’t do it, then I’ll go to another company.”
“Oh. No, no, no, Sir, please come over. I will get someone to prepare all that you need right now.”
“All right, I’ll be right there.” Xia Lei hung up.
Xia Lei would not be in such a rush if the incident earlier had not happened. Five soldiers missing from the Naha base would surely prompt an investigation. Once the Naha military base confirmed that the five soldiers had gone missing, the military would make their move too, and Xia Lei and Long Bing’s mission would be affected too. There would be several unknown dangers, so it was better if they would get things done as quickly as possible.
Long Bing suddenly bent behind Xia Lei, and put her arms around his neck. Her soft, full b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed warmly on his back.
Xia Lei grew a little nervous sitting at the computer table. “We’re going off soon. What is this for?”
“You said I was your lover earlier. So… what’s Shentu Tianyin?” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Things were already at this stage, and she was still in the mood to joke around with him like this.
“Never mind, it’s been quite tiring for you these days. I’ll let you off this time. Let’s go get the boat.” Long Bing released Xia Lei.
Xia Lei let out a silent sigh of relief. Long Bing and himself had barely had a break on this trip to j.a.pan, and they were going at it whenever there was an opportunity. The chambers of his gun were empty as it were, and he could not fire.
Half an hour later, the two of them came to the town and found that boat rental company. It was not a big company, just a family-run rental. They had some speedboats, dozens of little boats, and two small yachts, the ordinary kind. The yachts were very different from the luxury yachts one usually pictures.
The woman who had spoken on the phone with Xia Lei was the lady-boss of the company, and she welcomed Xia Lei and Long Bing warmly.
After a short chat, Xia Lei paid the deposit and part of the rental fee via bank transfer. An employee led them to the yacht at the jetty and they boarded.
The lady-boss was quite thoughtful. She had not only arranged diving equipment for two, but also two weeks’ supply of food and drink. Additionally, she had very nicely given them cake in celebration of their marriage, and a bottle of red wine. These little thoughtful touches didn’t cost very much, but the service was great. Of course, these extra touches were not without consideration of Xia Lei being willing to pay double the rental fee.
There was not much difference between driving a yacht and driving a speedboat. Xia Lei could do it easily. He did not dally about either, and he moved the boat out to sea after the employee had disembarked, out and in the direction the compa.s.s pointed.
In the cabin, Long Bing looked at the wedding cake and couldn’t help smiling. “Does the j.a.panese words on the cake mean ‘Happy Marriage’ or something?”
Xia Lei glanced back and said, “It says ‘Have a baby soon’.”
“Huh?” Long Bing paused, then said, “Right. We didn’t use a condom at all these past few days. What if I do get pregnant?”
Xia Lei stared blankly too. His head had been full of pleasure and bliss when they were having s.e.x, and he had not thought about what to do if she got pregnant at all. Now that this question had popped up all of a sudden, he was at a loss too. That’s right. What was he going to do if Long Bing got pregnant?
Long Bing started to go through the things the lady-boss had given them.
“What are you looking for?”
“Condoms, or contraceptive pills. d.a.m.n it, she didn’t prepare any of these! What a strange woman.”
Xia Lei was speechless.
‘You’re the one who’s strange. Why would the lady-boss prepare these things for us?’ he thought.