Three warhorses crossed the mountain at the end of the valley when the sun hung right above in the sky. Xia Lei sat on horseback and looked back at the valley. He could not see the White Hun Tribe anymore. Behind him was a swath of primitive forest and barren mountain terrain lay before him, going on without end. The valley in the midst of mountains really was a paradise which should not be disturbed.
“Let’s go,” said Dayetia, “Our road is still long and we have to get out of this valley before nightfall.”
Xia Lei turned back and looked ahead of them. “It’s all mountains - can we get out? I need to know your route.”
Szlamy looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. “We’re going through the Wakhan Corridor, then into new territory. The ancient Silk Road. You should know about it.”
“I thought we would go to Pakistan and get on a flight to China,” said Xia Lei.
“Your suggestion seems safe and it is the fastest, but it is the most dangerous. We have already been marked by the American military. If we go to Peshawar, we will have to deal with the Islamic militants on top of the US military.”
“And the armed tribal forces along the way,” added Szlamy.
“All right, let’s travel via the Wakhan Corridor,” said Xia Lei, “But how long will it take to get through it and into the new territory?”
“A fortnight, if there are no complications,” said Dayetia.
“A fortnight…” Xia Lei couldn’t help laughing dryly. It was undoubtedly going to be a long and arduous journey.
“Hah!” Dayetia let out a sharp cry and slammed her long legs onto her horse’s sides. The white steed below her charged downhill.
Szlamy followed close, urging her horse into a canter. Her bouncy bottom jiggled in the saddle, making beautiful ripples.
Images of what they had done under the mosquito net last night surfaced in Xia Lei’s head. They had just done a little bit but he couldn’t help recalling it all and getting an itch in his heart. The so-called bottom line for morals was blown away by the big-breasted lolita Szlamy.
Xia Lei looked back again and urged his horse onward. After he caught up with the two women, he had a strange feeling - he imagined himself as James Bond of the British MI5, the world famous 007. Mr Bond was never without beauties when going on missions, and his situation now…
If he thought about it like that, this trip through the ancient Silk Road wasn’t actually so bad.
They came to a big mountain at nightfall. The path had disappeared from under their feet - it seemed there used to be some sort of road which went between the mountains but it was now gone, destroyed.
“We have to climb past this mountain, then camp in the mountains.” Dayetia hopped down from her horse to lead it up the mountain.
Szlamy and Xia Lei got off their horses too and led their horses up.
“Lei, can you buy clothes for me when we get to China?” Szlamy chatted with Xia Lei as they climbed, “I heard that clothes in China are very cheap. I want to buy lots and lots of clothes but I have no money.”
Xia Lei grinned as he said, “Won’t you have money if you sell your goats?”
Szlamy glared at Xia Lei. “Miser!” She added, “I’ll sell you when we get to China, then go buy clothes!”
Xia Lei was speechless.
The women of the White Hun Tribe would never be able to change their ways and even the man they truly loved would have no real equal standing in their eyes. However, the younger White Hun women like Szlamy were better in this regard. She would just talk about selling him but wouldn’t actually do it. She had also been willing to give Xia Lei a bath and wait on him last night too. The older generation of White Hun women would never do that.
“Will you run away when we get to China?” Szlamy looked back at Xia Lei. Her foot suddenly slipped, and her body tilted backwards, looking like she would fall all the way down.
Xia Lei quickly supported her hips with his hands, pus.h.i.+ng her up again. All he felt throughout this process was firm bounciness and more bounciness. He knew several languages but could not find anything to describe that marvellous bounce.
The danger over, Szlamy looked back again and smiled. “Thanks. I thought you’d just let me fall.”
“Why would I? I’m right behind you; I’ll protect you,” said Xia Lei with a smile.
Szlamy winked roguishly at Xia Lei, as if hinting at something.
A doll-like, childish face, cute, beautiful, and a smoking hot succubus body… Xia Lei’s boundaries were getting increasingly blurred to the point of not having any. A thought sprang into his head, ‘We live in the now, so why live with all these rules and regulations? If I don’t live a little then my youth would be wasted. Even if the fiction of our relations.h.i.+p turns into truth, it would be a sort of joy for me to remember this tribal girl when I’m old, won’t it? Heh heh…’
Indeed, he did not have an official girlfriend or anything and he was still single. Why couldn’t he use Szlamy and play with her since she was doing the same to him now? Why should he hold himself to strict moral codes before marriage and before having his own children?
Xia Lei grew even more relaxed after he thought about it, and became more open. When Szlamy winked at him, he reached out and smacked her moderately on the top of her luscious hump.
The smack echoed throughout the mountaintops and Szlamy turned back to roll her eyes at him, though it was more delight than annoyance and was really very attractive.
Xia Lei sighed to himself. What a little temptress.
In the lead, Dayetia glanced back at them just in time to see Xia Lei retract his hand from Szlamy’s b.u.t.tocks. She shook her head, a wry smile in the corners of her lips.
Xia Lei behaved himself. His impression of Dayetia was that she had no positive feelings towards men and he did not want to get on her bad side. He had to be on her good side before he could rescue Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts, and keep staying on her good side to get to the ‘treasure’.
The sun went below the horizon in the west and light in the valley disappeared first. It was better in the mountains, but it would be dark too in less than an hour.
“We have to hurry up,” said Dayetia as she looked back, “Keep going. Let’s do our best to get to the peak in an hour.”
Szlamy complained, “Chieftain, I’m hungry and my legs are weak too. Can we…”
A white shadow suddenly crossed the sky before Szlamy finished her sentence.
Xia Lei looked up immediately and locked his gaze on that white shadow. It was an unmanned Predator drone. Two air-to-ground missiles hung under its wings.
“Get down!” Xia Lei shouted. He let go of the reins and threw himself forward, pulling Szlamy to the ground with him.
Ahead of them, Dayetia had heard Xia Lei’s warning and she threw herself to the ground too.
A h.e.l.lfire missile hit a rock face on the mountain right after the trio threw themselves flat on the ground.
BOOM! A great explosion shattered the rock above them and pieces of rock came whistling down. The sound echoed all around and sparks flew everywhere.
The warhorses were spooked and screamed as they stamped their feet.
The black horse Xia Lei was riding got hit in the head by flying rock and it crashed to the ground.
Boom! The second h.e.l.lfire missile whistled downward and hit the rock face again. Rock shards rained down, and the flat slopes became difficult, rocky terrain.
Xia Lei released Szlamy from under him and swiftly went to retrieve his sniper rifle from the dead horse’s saddlebags. He knew well that the Predator’s attacks were just to block him off, otherwise it would not have chosen to hit the rock face above - kills would mean a ton of administrative work!
Sure enough, three Black Hawks came up from behind the mountains as Xia Lei retrieved his sniper rifle and rucksack. Rope ladders descended from the helicopters and special forces in full gear came sliding down, landing on top of the mountain.
Xia Lei suddenly stood and raised his gun. He aimed at the c.o.c.kpit of a Black Hawk. He pulled the trigger a second later and a bullet shot angrily from the muzzle, and through the gla.s.s of the c.o.c.kpit in the next second. A spiderweb of a crack appeared on the gla.s.s. The force of a bullet from a sniper rifle was enough to destroy its structure even though it was bulletproof gla.s.s.
This shot startled the pilot and he panicked. He increased the helicopter’s alt.i.tude, making the soldiers on the rope ladder panic too. Jump? Not jump?
Bang! Xia Lei squeezed the trigger again.
Crack! The sniper bullet got through the cracked bulletproof gla.s.s and went instantly into the pilot’s neck. Blood spurted out like a fountain and the pilotless Black Hawk fell downward into the valley immediately.
Boom! A great explosion came from behind the mountain and the rising flames stained the sky red.
The aim of the enemy was clear, so Xia Lei gave no quarter. He knew that if he did, Dayetia and Szlamy would be killed and he would be captured, sent to America and turned into a lab rat! What was worse was that if he were captured, Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts would all be killed!
This was a battlefield and being kind to the enemy was being cruel to yourself. Was there anyone who had pitied those Bureau 101 agents who had been ambushed and killed?
One of the Black Hawks was down, and the other two completed their unloading of infantry. A Black Hawk shot some rockets at where the three of them hid. The sound of explosions was never-ending and the whole mountain seemed to quake.
However, the two Black Hawks fired just a few rounds of rockets before they went up and away.
The firing of the rockets was just to suppress fire. Xia Lei knew that the enemy would not blast the entire area because he was here on this mountain. They wanted him alive, not dead.
“s.h.i.+t!” Szlamy wiped at her dusty face as she said angrily, “These American troops have never attacked us before. Why are they like this to us now? I’m going to kill them!”
Dayetia wriggled over to Xia Lei and Szlamy and glared at Xia Lei, her gaze frosty. “Who the h.e.l.l are you? We’ve never had trouble with the Americans all this while - why did they attack us after you appeared? Tell me!”
Xia Lei was expressionless. “Let’s survive this before we talk.”
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots came from the mountaintop and bullets rained down upon them.
Dayetia bit her cherry lip and threw herself to the ground at Xia Lei’s side.