A tall, fat man sat on a chair next to the boxing ring. He had been napping and suddenly opened his eyes when Xia Lei and Long Bing entered to roar in Korean, “Who are you? How did you get in?”

Xia Lei and Long Bing did not speak. They strode quickly towards him.

“Fuck, bastards!” The fat man snatched up a large hammer from the floor and stomped towards them. He scowled fiercely and his aggressive manner showed that he did not think much of Xia Lei and Long Bing.

Just then, Lu Sheng opened his eyes and a word escaped his lips. “Run…”

Sadly, his voice was weak and it was instantly drowned out by the angry roar of the fat man.

The fat man swung the hammer at Xia Lei’s head. He was aiming to take his life, no quarter given!

Xia Lei did not even dodge. He reached out and grabbed the fat man’s wrist, then pulled his hairy arm forward as he swept at his feet. The fat man crashed to the floor with his hammer.

“Sibal gaesekki!,” cursed the fat man. This was a bit of cursing which meant ‘Bastard! Die!’.

The curse had just left his mouth when Long Bing kicked the hammer up lightly to her hand. She swung. The hammer cut a smooth arc through the air and smashed viciously between the fat man’s legs.

The fat man’s mouth opened so wide in that instant that a fist could go in. His eyebrows went up so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. Just kicking a man in that place hurt like hell - that vicious hammer blow was so much worse. Before the fat man could scream, however, Long Bing kicked him in his Taiyang acupressure point. A robust Korean man as big as a bear fainted in two blinks, just like that. Liquid dribbled from the crotch of his trousers, giving off a terrible smell.

Xia Lei looked at Long Bing, thunderstruck. He felt his own balls shrink.

Long Bing spoke nonchalantly, “What are you blanking out for? Go rescue him.”

Xia Lei snapped to attention. He smiled wryly and climbed into the boxing ring.

“Leave, hurry…” said Lu Sheng weakly.

Xia Lei heard him this time and Lu Sheng’s voice made his heart heavy. “What do you want to say?” He did not stop moving as he spoke, and used a combat knife to cut the ropes holding Lu Sheng.

“This is… a…” Lu Sheng collapsed as soon as the roped were loosened.

Xia Lei caught him by the waist. “Tell me.”

“Trap…” Lu Sheng was in bad shape. Saying those words had been like a marathon race for him. He sagged weakly over Xia Lei’s shoulder.

Long Bing reacted quickly. She drew her gun immediately and pointed it at the lift door.

The lift made no signs of moving. The display still read ‘-3’.

Xia Lei activated the power of his left eye and scanned the underground area. There was no one else other than them and the fat man Long Bing had knocked out. There were no cameras on the walls either, or doors or other entrances.

“Let’s leave this place.” Xia Lei stopped using his eye. He had a bad feeling.

Long Bing nodded and went to the lift, gun at the ready as she said, “Xiao Wu, how is it up there?”

Xiao Wu did not respond but a male voice came over the receiver a few seconds later. “Haha, you guys sure are naive. What do you think this place is? Think you can come and go as you please?”

It was Ahn Suhyeong’s voice.

Ice flashed in Long Bing’s eyes. “You sure are bold, Ahn Suhyeong. This is China. You should think about the consequences!”

“Don’t you try to scare me with that! I, Ahn Suhyeong, am not going to be fooled!” Ahn Suhyeong sneered, “This is my turf, and your fates are in my hands. Xia Lei, I told you that one day you’ll have to kneel and apologise to me. The day has come.”

“Sure, I can kneel and apologise to you. Where are you? I’ll go to you right away. You can come down too if you want,” said Xia Lei.

“Heh heh heh… You want to come up? You won’t be able to,” said Ahn Suhyeong.

Long Bing went quickly to the lift and pressed the button but there was no response from the lift.

This was the only means of coming and going from this place and Xia Lei and Long Bing were trapped if the lift could not move. This was a worse situation for Lu Sheng because he needed medical attention urgently.

Long Bing gave the lift door a violent kick. A boom sounded but the door held fast, and stood firm.

Xia Lei placed Lu Sheng carefully on the floor and bounded towards the lift door in a flying kick. A dent appeared in the door this time.

With the door open, they would be able to get up on top of the lift through the maintenance hatch and into the lift shaft. Long Bing and Xia Lei had thought of the same idea and acted upon it without needing to consult each other.

Xia Lei moved a few steps back and charged aggressively at the lift door; he was like a rocket.

Boom!

Long Bing took out her mobile phone to call for backup but her heart sank when she say the phone display - there was no signal here.

“It’s no use,” came Ahn Suhyeong’s voice. “I know what you two want to do. I’ve prepared for that already.”

Psss…

A white smoke suddenly came billowing out from the vents in the underground room, filling the area quickly.

It was not steam. Xia Lei and Long Bing quickly smelt a bitter, medicinal smell.

“Anaesthetic gas!” Long Bing grew anxious. She and Xia Lei would be fish on a chopping board if they were put under by this gas in this enclosed room!

“Resign yourself to your fate, Xia Lei. You’ll know what your fate is later. Hahaha!” Ahn Suhyeong was rather gleeful.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Long Bing shot at the lift door.

Holes appeared in the door of the lift but it did nothing to change their dire circumstances.

The white cloud approached. It did not touch them yet but their reactions were already starting to lag.

The first to succumb was Lu Sheng, who was already weak. The white smoke billowed over him as he lost consciousness.

Xia Lei was anxious too and a little afraid; there was no avoiding this. But just as his brain functions slowed, it suddenly and strangely heated up. It felt like a bolt of electricity had hit him. His brain then abruptly went into an unimaginably strange state!

Words could not describe this sudden change.

His brain was like a most precise instrument and his thought processes were at mach-speed. A normal person could only recall a short bit of text, a fragment of something or a face at best in a second but Xia Lei could recall everything that happened so far this month in that same second - everything, no matter how small the detail!

A counter-plan to his situation surfaced in his head without him even thinking of it, and his body reacted right away. He removed his shirt and tore the transceiver off the collar, throwing it far away. He then threw his shirt to the floor and unzipped his trousers to piss on his shirt.

“You…” Long Bing gaped at Xia Lei. His back was to her but she could still see the arc of liquid coming down from between his legs and she could tell what he was doing.

Xia Lei did not look back. “Quick, do the same!”

Long Bing flushed. Wetting her clothes with her own urine? She couldn’t do something like that!

“There’s no time! Quick!” called Xia Lei urgently.

Long Bing knew that this could counter the effects of the anaesthetic gas but she stopped after she threw her transceiver to one side and her clothes to the floor. “Can… Can you wet these?”

“You should have asked earlier. I’m empty.” Xia Lei had zipped himself up.

Long Bing felt like banging her head into the wall at that moment.

Xia Lei turned to look at her and he urged, “Hurry up! Do you want to die here? What’s there to be embarrassed about? What’s more important than your life?”

Long Bing gritted her teeth and turned around. She pulled her trousers down and squatted on the floor to wee on her clothes.

She was flustered and nervous, and didn’t think that she should have told Xia Lei to turn around, not her. The result was that she couldn’t see Xia Lei but he could see her pale buttocks.

Sss…

The fine line between life and death, the pale moon of a bottom and the clear trickle of liquid - what chaos these made when they all came together!

Long Bing suddenly thought of something after a few seconds and looked back, then let out a cry.

Xia Lei quickly looked away and picked up the clothing on the floor to hold it over his nose and mouth, then turned his back on her, pretending not to have seen anything.

“I’ll settle this with you when we’re out!” hissed Long Bing between her teeth. She stood, pulled her trousers up and put her wet clothing to her face.

It was her own, but the smell still made her frown.

The anaesthetic gas soon came billowing over, swallowing them both.

The white gas blocked out Long Bing’s sight and she could not see Xia Lei. She tried moving towards the lift but ended up bumping into Xia Lei and in his embrace. She was embarrassed to find that Xia Lei had had a reaction, and a raging one at that.

“Damn you, pervert!” Long Bing let loose with a punch.

Xia Lei caught her wrist. “Don’t talk.” Then he pulled her by the hand to the lift. They were both stuck in a white cloud of smoke but it did not affect his vision at all. It was impossible for Long Bing to teach him a lesson in this environment.

They came to the lift and waited quietly for the door to open.

Ahn Suhyeong’s voice came from the receiver in their ears. “Why aren’t you talking now, Xia Lei? Aren’t you an arrogant one? I’m giving you a chance to curse me.”

Xia Lei said nothing. He knew that Ahn Suhyeong was trying to confirm his and Long Bing’s condition and they would be exposed if he said anything. However, Ahn Suhyeong would not hear him even if he spoke since he had thrown his transceiver away so that Ahn Suhyeong could not hear his and Long Bing’s movements.

“We may be on opposing sides but I have to say that I do admire you. You’re smart, capable. But that’s useless because you’re up against me, Ahn Suhyeong!” His voice was mocking. “Well, then. Want to know what’s in store for you?”