Dawn lifted its curtains slowly. The warm golden rays of the morning sun shone amongst the seams of white cottony clouds, sprinkling radiant gold flecks on every corner. Everything was luxuriously golden.
The world was only capable of looking like heaven at sunrise.
An ethereal man gently removed himself from a web of entangled female limbs. He clambered off bed gently and clothed himself.
Truth to be told, Long Bing and Liang Siyao were awake when Xia Lei started to stir. It was just that they hadn’t bothered to move another muscle, merely sparing him a glance before resuming their slumber. The child in their womb exhausted them and their need for resources greatly. Among it had included oxygen, which was why they constantly felt lethargic and in a need for a good nap.
Xia Lei tidied himself up and returned to the bedside. The sight before him was marvellous. Pale snowy peaks and curves had proved to give him wobbly knees and a pained waist. Nonetheless, it reignited the fire of his l.u.s.t. Xia Lei could only smile bitterly at the scenery before reaching over for a duvet and tuck them in.
This was just like the dynamics shared between an ox and the field. Has anyone had a field that was thoroughly destroyed by the ox? No, but there were more instances of exhausted oxes who have tirelessly plowed a field.
Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi slept through everything like a log. They were not trained in both situational awareness and fighting. Their alertness could not be compared to that of Liang Siyao and Long Bing.
Xia Lei raised a mischievous palm and gave Jiang Ruyi’s pale b.u.t.tocks a slap.
Jiang Ruyi twisted her waist slightly and mumbled drowsily, “Leave me alone, go play with the others instead.”
Liang Siyao’s eyes blinked open once again, quickly directing a sleepy wink at Xia Lei. She hummed, “Hey babe, wanna play with me instead?”
Sharp pain in the waist reminded Xia Lei that he better not delay his departure. He turned around quickly and escaped.
“Don’t you dare think that pregnant women are easy targets. I’m not afraid of you.” Liang Siyao’s giggle came ringing from behind him. Her laugh was light and chimed like wonderful bells, but Xia Lei did not even dare to spare her a look.
Ten minutes later, Xia Lei was out of the Peace Mansion. As he walked to the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters, the reporters that had been waiting outside the mansion began rus.h.i.+ng over. The Special Forces members were starting to get overwhelmed. They were armed but they couldn’t just grace the reporters with violence, not to mention fire a warning shot.
Exaggeratingly long camera lenses and shorter ones birthed blinding flashes that clouded everyone’s vision and offered shapes in the back of their eyelids. A load of questions tided over ruthlessly towards Xia Lei.
“Director Xia, aren’t you supposed to be dead? Can you tell me what is going on?”
“Director Xia, did you fake your death to avoid a.s.sa.s.sinations from opposing forces?”
“Director Xia, can you please answer me this? Is Liang Siyao carrying your child?”
Xia Lei halted his footsteps and stared at the last reporter hard. “Yeah, that’s true. And what about it?”
“Uh… Sorry, Director Xia.” The reporter started to feel nervous.
What kind of person was Xia Lei?
Well, he was the one who carried the country’s military industry with one shoulder and brought them into a great acceleration. He was the national hero of China! While he wasn’t a government official, his contributions exceeded that of ordinary officials. How would a measly reporter even have the courage to offend him?
“You better not behave yourself or I’ll come to give your bosses a stern talk.” Xia Lei hissed a cold threat.
“Director Xia, I’m terribly sorry. I will not write anything inappropriate.” The reporter’s heart was pulsating frantically. “May I switch the question?”
“Sure. What is it?” Xia Lei was still staring at him.
“Director Xia, why did you fake your death? Everyone in the country is curious about your rationale, could you please enlighten us with it?”
Xia Lei chuckled. “I know everyone’s eagerness to obtain the answer. If I continue to keep it away from you all, everyone would continue to wait outside my house for longer. I’m sure some of you have a family to return to. I don’t have the heart to see this go on anymore. If this goes on, your family will probably come and yell at me.”
That earned some lighthearted laughs and applause from the reporters. Xia Lei’s words were dripping with concern that melted their hearts.
“Please be quiet for a moment,” said Xia Lei.
The noisy chattering died down to pin-drop silence.
Xia Lei’s eye scanned through the sea of unfamiliar faces, including the Special Force guards that stood at the outer ring with their Gust a.s.sault rifles. He quickly completed his survey. There was no one suspicious among the crowd this time.
“This was my rationale.” Xia Lei began, “I received intel that someone was planning an a.s.sa.s.sination to take me out and put a stop to my new material and unmanned aircraft research projects. For the sake of time efficiency and a safer work environment, I decided to fake my death to lay low. In that time being, I have managed to complete both projects. I’m proud to announce that our country’s new aviation material and new generation drone will be birthed on Children’s Day, first of June. That fateful date will too become Thunder Horse’s official entry into the aviation battle arena. Under my leaders.h.i.+p, the Thunder Horse Organization is going to stir up a red tornado in the air. Here, I’d like to borrow your pens to relay a message to those eager for my death. None of you can stop Thunder Horse from advancing!”
“Yeah!”
“That’s right!”
“This is great! So inspiring!”
Clap clap clap!
A round of crisp applause erupted.
“Alright. Now that I have answered it, please go home and quit waiting outside my gate. If I see you here again tomorrow morning, I’m going to release the dogs on you,” teased Xia Lei with a smile.
The reporters guffawed at it. Sending the group of reporters on their way, Xia Lei finally made it into his office. Before he could even take a seat, he made tens of calls in a row to inform the headquarter’s senior staff to attend a meeting in the multifunctional conference room. Xia Lei was back and it was time for the long prepared Alloy X project and drone project to begin officially.
In the past, menial tasks like meeting notifications were under Qing Caiyue’s responsibility. Sadly, Qing Caiyue was dead. While the next person in charge in Qing Caiyue’s absence was supposed to be Liang Siyao, the latter was still at home among the sheets at this hour. Who else was left to do the job if Xia Lei did not take it upon himself?
Pregnant ladies owned all the rights to slack off. He was the one who caused this after all. Xia Lei was more than eager to spoil the h.e.l.l out of his sister disciple.
Soon enough, all of Thunder Horse Organization’s senior staff were gathered in the multifunctional conference room. The only empty seat had belonged to Li Youdun.
“Where did Li Youdun disappear to recently? Why is he always out of sight?”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen him in a while too.”
“Did he return to his hometown?”
“Where is his hometown? I’ve never heard him mention anything about it before.”
“That’s unlikely. He is the person in charge of the new material laboratory. We’re in the middle of the new material workshop’s vital phase, how can he return home at such timing?”
Everyone was suddenly fixated on discussing Li Youdun’s whereabouts.
Xia Lei lifted a palm to restore silence. He uttered, “Li Youdun has been working in secret. Please do not make baseless a.s.sumptions. This is an important time for all of us. We have two tough battles ahead. Each of us must do our part well, do not waste your focus on things irrelevant to work.”
“Director Xia.” Huang Xuewen spoke, “The Artificial Intelligence department is ready for any task. The new material workshop and drone workshop will implement our in-house AI technology. We’ve successfully produced our own production line robots too, which will heighten our productivity greatly.”
“Well done.” Xia Lei was absolutely delighted.
On a monitor before them, it was Guan Lingshan’s turn to report. “Director Xia, according to your earlier arrangements, we’ve placed commissions for spare parts to foundries across the country and received our orders for further refinement. Currently, the Haizhu base has completed its production task. A batch of refined parts that weighs a total of five hundred tonnes is on its way to the Jingdu headquarters.”
A smile blossomed across Xia Lei’s features. “Amazing work, you’ve done an excellent job.”
On another monitor was Zhou Xiaohong. “Director Xia, our current progress is the same as the Haizhu base. We’ve completed our part refinements and have already sent a three hundred tonne batch for the Jingdu headquarters.”
“Well done.” Xia Lei nodded with a smile.
“Director Xia.” A senior staff member received Xia Lei’s attention. “I visited Hanwu Weapons yesterday. Director Ye has completed up to sixty per cent for the refinement of our parts. Director Ye can send us what they have completed for now.”
“The Haizhu and Shudi base have finished their tasks earlier than expected, yet Hanwu Weapons have only progressed to about sixty percent completion. They have the least amount of work to do too.” Someone remarked on the side.
Xia Lei defended, “You can’t blame Ye Kun for this. Hanwu Weapons is a country-owned enterprise. The employees clock in on time and leave work on time, their efficiency is comparatively regular. To accomplish this progress is already a feat. This is our own mission and we shouldn’t rely on others to get it done. Speaking of which, how is construction coming along?”
The senior staff responsible for that answered, “Director Xia, the construction company has completed the main structure. We can already move the parts in for a.s.sembly. Construction will be done once we’re done a.s.sembling too.”
Xia Lei replied, “Good. Then we will transport all the parts inside today and start both Thunder Dragon intelligent lathes for refinement.”
At this moment, Liang Siyao made her entrance with a doc.u.ment folder along with a cup of wolfberry juice in her hands. She gently laid the cup in front of Xia Lei and took the seat beside him casually. As her behind made contact with the seat, she extended an arm over to ma.s.sage her sore waist.
Xia Lei’s heart clenched at the sight. “Look at you. You should’ve skipped work if you’re in pain. Why did you even clock in? Go home and get some rest, okay?”
“How can I do that? This is a crucial period for both the new material and drone workshops. You’re going to be so overwhelmed with work, I can help shoulder your burden,” said Liang Siyao.
“Let me rub your back.” Xia Lei extended his arm over and rubbed at her waist. “Is this the spot.”
“Move your thumb to the left, ah, lower…” Liang Siyao was in bliss, clearly enjoying every moment of it.
The entire room trained their wide eyes at the blatant public display of affection. Everyone had much to say but no one dared to comment.
Liang Siyao was quick to snap out of it, cheeks glowing red at the realization. “Hey, what are you doing? Everyone’s watching. We’re in the middle of a meeting.”
Xia Lei abruptly placed his questioning gaze to everyone else in the room. “What are you still here for? You’re all dismissed. Go do what you’re supposed to do.”
A h.o.a.rd of staff members immediately stood from their seats and scrambled out of the closed s.p.a.ce with great urgency.
Now, Xia Lei and Liang Siyao were the only two left in this multifunctional conference room.
“This is your fault. I told you I can no longer be in that position anymore and yet you were too stubborn. Look, you sprained your own waist.”
“That’s not it, you were lying down the entire time. It’s not about the position, okay?!”
“Really? Why do I not remember anything about it?”
Xia Lei abruptly glared at the door. “Have you rascals heard enough?”
Swoos.h.!.+
Chaos erupted at the door as the eavesdropping youngsters ran for their lives.
Huang Xuewen dropped a shoe but was not brave enough to muster the courage to get it.