Darkness enveloped the valley and oil lamps were lit one by one in wooden houses. Stars dotted the sky, twinkling in the night sky and dancing soundlessly like fairies in the dark. It was quiet all around except for Szlamy’s house. A large group of women surrounded her wooden house, at the door, at the windows and behind the house.

The women peeked through the cracks in the door, the walls and wormholes, pushing and shoving each other. It was a lively and hilarious scene, and sounds came continuously from the house they surrounded. Szlamy’s voice and the sound of leather slapping on a backside rang out. Szlamy’s noises were erratic - sometimes praising, sometimes begging for mercy, sometimes encouraging, sometimes gibberish and sometimes letting out a cat-like yowl…

“Amazing!” A young tribes-woman had a shocked look on her face. “It’s been an hour and it’s not finished yet!”

“Szlamy must be so blissful. I have five husbands but none can compare to her man.” A middle-aged woman had a look on envy on her face.

“Didn’t Chieftain say that that Chinese guy’s a respected guest? That we can’t touch him? How come Szlamy dragged him to her house?”

“Szlamy’s got a good figure and a pretty baby-face. Men like that. It’s not strange that that Chinese punk has been seduced to bed with Szlamy,” explained a woman.

“So how do I seduce men?”

“Shoo, you’re still young and you don’t understand…”

The group of women chatted, laughed and discussed things freely; they did not seem embarrassed at all.

The situation outside and in was very different.

Xia Lei hid under Szlamy’s mosquito net and watched the situation outside the house vigilantly. He could see all the women outside clearly - those mouths, those eyes… He was very worried that they would break down the door and charge in at any moment, then push him to the floor and touch everything of his that they could touch…

‘Did Xuanzang also experience what I am going through now?’ a strange thought came into Xia Lei’s head.

Opposite him, Szlamy hit her thighs rhythmically, making slapping flesh-on-flesh noises as she said some gibberish and let out excited, lust-inducing moans. She stared straight at Xia Lei as she did this, her eyes full of dissatisfaction and disappointment. She’d spanked her own thighs till they were red and he was still sitting there indifferently like a statue!

“Ah…!” Szlamy let out a loud cry and stopped spanking. It was quiet under the mosquito net.

Xia Lei smiled and said quietly, “Wasn’t that overboard? It was like I was killing you.”

Szlamy glared at Xia Lei. “Would those people outside leave if I don’t make a sound like that?”

Xia Lei scanned the outside area again - the women were starting to disperse. They joked and chatted and discussed what they’d witnessed, like they were walking off after watching a movie. What a bunch of nosey women!

The women outside left and Xia Lei got ready to get out from under Szlamy’s mosquito net and go back.

Szlamy grabbed his arm before he could get out and he grew nervous immediately. “What are you doing? They’ve already left. I have to go back. We are to set out tomorrow, so you should get some rest too.”

“I feel like you’re cheating me.” Szlamy pursed her peachy little lips like a child who’d had her lollipop swindled away by a strange uncle.

Xia Lei smiled wryly. “What did I cheat you out of?”

“You don’t like me and you’re lying to me about dating.”

Xia Lei forced himself to say, “No… I like you. Really. I’m not lying.”

“You’re lying again. If you really liked me then you and I should have done the real thing earlier, not just me pretending and hitting my thighs. Look, my thighs are red.” Szlamy lifted her skirt to expose the red areas, as well as a section of white cotton underwear.

Her underwear was obviously not from any underwear brand and had been hand-sewn by herself. It was simple, rough and the seams were not tight at all. Bits of special scenery peeked from those small gaps in her underwear, partially obscured, unclear, yet wholly tempting.

Xia Lei hurriedly looked away. He had been tortured enough by over an hour of her cries and to have this sort of stimulation now… He was a normal man, so he worried that he would lose control if this kept on.

Szlamy released the hem of her short skirt but crawled over to Xia Lei, drawing close aggressively. She used her hands and kneecaps to hold Xia Lei down and her H-cup breasts swung vertically to hang before Xia Lei’s eyes, her round neckline exposing a big area of soft, pale white flesh, with a groove between them so deep it could drown a man. *

“Humph! You’re actually only here for the metal dish, aren’t you?” Szlamy stared straight at Xia Lei, her face almost touching his.

Xia Lei let out an internal groan but there was no change at all on the surface as he said, “What are you talking about? I really do like you.”

This was Xia Lei’s first time lying to a woman like this and he was not comfortable with it at all. However, this tasteless act still had to be done, even if he ended up hurting her.

“Then kiss me. Kiss me if you like me.” Szlamy’s nose touched Xia Lei’s nose.

“Didn’t I say that we should first date…” Xia Lei tried his best to convince her.

“Hah! I don’t want your present anymore. I’ll give it back and you give me the metal plate back!” Szlamy removed the tactical watch from her wrist as she spoke.

Was this some sort of childish game? Taking presents back after giving them away?

Xia Lei quickly caught hold of her hand. “Don’t be like that, Szlamy. I really do like you. I can swear to the Heavens I do.”

“I don’t want any swearing.” Szlamy pressed herself close again, her nose on his nose. “You say you like me, so kiss me.”

“You vixen…”

“What did you say?” Szlamy glared at Xia Lei. “Are you cursing at me? Give me the metal plate back.”

Xia Lei suddenly kissed her on the lips. Szlamy froze, then pushed Xia Lei violently down on the bed…

For that ancient and mysterious smelting technique, for the secret of ‘AE’... this sacrifice was worth it. Xia Lei couldn’t think of any method other than this to not rouse the suspicions of Szlamy and Dayetia while taking the compass back. More importantly, he had to dig out the secret hidden here after getting the compass!

Come to think of it, what was this minor thing he was going to do compared to the agents who had paid with their lives on this journey?

After putting aside his reservations, Xia Lei relaxed and became more natural in his movements. He became more proactive after a short spell of passiveness. He was unable to stand the psychological attack and his restraints crumbled when faced with a lolita beauty like Szlamy. Just as Szlamy got all heated up and was as soft as putty in his hands*, and he pushed her below him, panting…

Whumpa-whumpa-whumpa-whumpa-whumpa...

Deafening sounds of a helicopter suddenly came from the sky. Gunshots and shouting immediately came from the tribe.

The two under the mosquito net froze for two seconds, then jumped out from under the net. Seeing the bare, amazing chest of Szlamy’s, Xia Lei was not sure if he should curse or praise his luck; his feelings were a mess.

“American troops! American troops!” shouted someone outside before firing at the sky.

Xia Lei and Szlamy rushed out of the wooden house and saw the two American Black Hawk helicopters in the sky right away. The helicopters were about 1,000 metres above ground and hovered above the tribe. Xia Lei saw the helicopter pilot and the machine gunners in the cabin, as well as the American soldiers in their seats.

This height meant that the two helicopters did not intend to land. Furthermore, this was the White Hun Tribe and it had thousands of people, and numerous warriors too. The soldiers on board the helicopters were just going to their deaths if they landed.

It was chaos on the ground and quite a few were shooting up at the helicopters, but their bullets could not reach a thousand metres up into the air and they fell to waste.

“Stop shooting!” A warhorse galloped on the ground; Dayetia was riding it.

The gunfire quickly stopped but more female warrior got on horseback, prepared to fight if things escalated.

“Take care of yourself! I’m going to go check on my friends!” Xia Lei yelled at Szlamy as he turned and ran to where Tang Yu-Yan’s room was.

Szlamy followed Xia Lei as she said, “I’m coming with you!”

They had not managed to go all the way but the two of them had obviously progressed beyond their previous level. Szlamy was worried about Xia Lei because his gun had been confiscated.

Dayetia rode over and came to an abrupt halt before the two of them before they could get to Tang Yu-Yan. Dayetia threw Xia Lei’s sniper rifle at him and said loudly, “Take it! Fight with us!”

Xia Lei grabbed hold of his sniper rifle and nodded without hesitation. “I will fight alongside you if they dare enter this area.”

Dayetia gave Szlamy a look. “Why are you still standing here? Get your horse. And get him one too.”

“Yes, right away.” Szlamy turned and ran towards her wooden house.

At that moment, one of the Black Hawks in the sky suddenly shot a rocket down. Flames flared and the rocket whistled before hitting the river. A great explosion boomed and the river water was thrown up in a big wave. The two helicopters turned in another direction and left after that.

This seemed to have been just a reconnaissance mission, and the rocket fired had been a demonstration. They had no plans to land and engage in battle.

The White Hun Tribe was an isolated tribe, not terrorists, and not European or American enemies. An unwarranted attack on this place would draw international flak, and this seemed to be the reason why the two helicopters had come and gone. If the White Hun Tribe was just a small village, it was possible that they would level the area and land to launch their ground operations.

The tribe gradually settled down into their usual calm after the departure of the two helicopters.

Xia Lei, on the other hand, still looked up at the sky with a grave expression on his face.

He could not see what flew up high in the sky but he was sure that unmanned reconnaissance planes were much, much higher up, patrolling the area. Maybe even the cameras of military satellites were looking here - the American military would not appear here for no reason. The long tentacles of the CIA had finally stretched over here!