Oshino Hakkai, in the pool of a hot-springs hotel.

Gu Kewen sat on a flat rock. Warm water rose from the cracks in the stone, washing over her skin. The water was clear, and the pool faced beautiful scenery. Outside the window was a snowy landscape, while inside was steamy, hot and lush; it looked like two different seasons.

A satellite phone sat next to the pool. She had just used this phone to talk to Xia Lei and tell him to come to Oshino Hakkai.

“Come. Hurry here. Let me kill you.” A smile appeared in the corners of Gu Kewen’s mouth as she talked to herself. “You’ll be the first, then Liang Siyao is next. That bitch actually tried to have me killed. Humph. Am I that easy to kill? In your dreams!”

Liang Siyao had worked with Xia Changhe in Jerusalem, betraying her fellow CIA agent Gu Kewen. She’d told her to go to an abandoned construction site so that Xia Changhe could kill her off. However, Gu Kewen had been smart. She’d seduced a fellow CIA agent who’d been sentenced to die, and escaped.

Liang Siyao’s betrayal, being pursued, and the things which happened during her escape from death had changed Gu Kewen. She had survived, but she was not her old self any longer.

“Xia Lei. I’ll kill you, and Liang Siyao. I’ll go personally to Shentu Tianyin and make her cough up all the Gu assets she’d taken, and then I’ll destroy her. Heh heh heh…” Gu Kewen talked to herself and laughed, but her eyes were those of a wolf, feral and without humaneness.

She’d mentioned Xia Lei, mentioned Liang Siyao, mentioned Shentu Tianyin, but she had not mentioned the person she should be most concerned about – Gu Kewu.

Just then, a sliding door next to the pool was pushed open, and a naked woman walked in.

This woman was almost 190 centimetres tall. She was long-legged, and her body was plump and well-proportioned. She was very sexy. This woman had a huge tattoo of a death god holding a scythe on her upper body. The death god peeked from between her breasts, and the scythe curved out on her left breast. Her white skin and the black-red of the bloody scythe made for a unique visual contrast.

This woman was also very beautiful. She had the exquisite features of an Eastern beauty, and the sexy blue eyes and lips of a South American. Her blue eyes were difficult to meet, however. Demons seemed to lurk in her eyes, and she looked ready to attack at any time, to take one’s soul away.

She seemed to be a mix of Indian and South American, and features of her ancestry could be observed. It was quite apparent with her plump buttocks, full and firm and so very absolutely sexy. Her long legs were mesmerising too, because there didn’t seem to be a gap between them when she put them together. She did not need to use any body language to arouse men. She could just stand still, and the men would go crazy over her, lusting to do thing to her.

Sexy, beautiful, enchanting, and dark summarised what she was. She looked so very different from the masses, and was unforgettable.

“Has he contacted you?” The mixed-blood woman came to the side of the pool and spoke in Chinese. Her Chinese was excellent.

She was fluent in not just Chinese but English, German, French and Spanish. She could also converse in Arabic and Hebrew.

A professional killer worked internationally, and languages were a basic skill set.

Gu Kewen stood. She nodded slightly, not daring to meet the woman’s eyes. Her voice became humble too. “I was contacted by him earlier. He was in Tokyo, and he’s likely making his way here now.”

“Is he alone, or with a colleague?” The mixed-blood woman stepped elegantly into the hot-springs pool. Her long legs soaked in the pool like ivory; they were flawless.

“I don’t know about that,” said Gu Kewen, “but I’ll find out in the next phone call. If he does have a colleague, then I’ll get him to come alone.”

“No. Don’t alert him to more danger. The result will be the same no matter how many he brings.” The woman walked towards Gu Kewen. The water in the pool went up to Gu Kewen’s waist, but only reached the woman’s thighs. Gu Kewen looked very small in deed when the woman stood next to her.

The mixed-blood woman sat on the rock which Gu Kewen had just vacated, and Gu Kewen stood behind her without further instruction, reaching out to massage her neck for her.

The woman accepted the massage, and her voice was soft. “Xia Lei will be here soon. Are you nervous?”

Gu Kewen shook her head. “I’m not nervous. He’s impressive, I admit, but I know that he is no match for you. I’m very happy that you’re going to take care of him personally. I’d love if I could see him die right now.”

“You will. I swore to you when I saved you in Jerusalem, and I will keep my promise. However, the time and place are for me to decide. You understand me?”

“I do. I just want results, and I don’t mind waiting longer.”

“Very good. I’ve heard the story of you and Xia Lei, but I’d like to ask you about someone else now.”

“Who do you want to ask about?”

“Xia Changhe, Xia Lei’s father. What do you know about this person?”

“I know Xia Lei had a father named Xia Changhe, but I heard that he went missing years ago. He’s still missing.” Gu Kewen thought of something and her hands stopped moving. “Why are you asking about his father? His father should’ve been just an ordinary worker.”

The woman looked back at Gu Kewen, her eyes cold. “I’ve told you not to ask questions, so don’t ask. Some questions can kill you.”

A chill danced across Gu Kewen’s heart. She avoided the woman’s gaze and resumed the massage. “I’m sorry. I’ll remember next time.”

The woman spoke softly. “Looks like it’s useless to ask you too. You’re just a newbie in the CIA, and the amount of information you can get is pitiful. I do admire your smarts and your enthusiasm. Being able to escape from Liang Siyao also takes skill. Once this is over, you’ll go back to the CIA. Your boss won’t be the White House anymore, but me. You got it?”

“You want me to go back to the CIA? I…” Gu Kewen wrinkled her brows. “You know that Liang Siyao wants to kill me. I would have been killed by her in Jerusalem if it hadn’t been for you. Can I still live if I go back to the CIA?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. According to my sources, Liang Siyao is in Japan now. Director of CIA Asia. I wonder who the next director will be,” said the woman.

This made Gu Kewen smile. She heard from the tone of the woman’s voice that she didn’t just want to kill Xia Lei, but Liang Siyao too. Gu Kewen got all prickly when she thought of that woman. She would be very happy if Liang Siyao died in front of her.

“Stop the massage. It takes less than hour to get here from Tokyo. Give Xia Lei a call now, and tell him to check in to the hot-springs hotel next door,” said the woman.

Gu Kewen was puzzled. “In the hotel next door? I don’t get why. Your people are in this hotel, ambushed everywhere. Why tell him to check in to the hotel next door?

The woman gave Gu Kewen a frosty look, and her eyes seemed to gleam with ice.

“I… I’ll call him right away.” Gu Kewen picked up the satellite phone she had placed next to the pool.

“Put it on speaker.” The woman spoke before the call connected.

Gu Kewen turned on the speaker phone and Xia Lei’s voice could be heard. “Gu Kewen, I’ll followed you instructions and come to Oshino Hakkai. You’d better not be playing any tricks or I’ll kill him.

Gu Kewen spoke flatly, “You’d better not do that, or you’ll regret it.”

“Humph! You know what I’ll do if you test my patience,” said Xia Lei.

“Whatever. I’m bored of hearing the same thing. It’s just a simple exchange, isn’t it? I’ll take my brother, and you’ll take what you want. We’ll never meet again.”

“That better be the case.”

“You didn’t take along someone else, did you? I’m alone here. How am I going to show myself and make the exchange if you’ve brought people from Bureau 101?”

“There is no third person next to me. Just your brother.”

“Good. Go check in to Taketa Hotel when you arrive at Oshino Hakkai, and wait for me to contact you.”

“All right, I’ll wait for your call.” Xia Lei hung up.

Gu Kewen put the satellite phone next to the pool and looked at the woman silently. Her only responsibility in this was to lure Xia Lei out. She was not allowed to interfere. However, Gu Kewen was responsible for the most important part, because it would be impossible to lure Xia Lei to Japan without the dirt she had on Shentu Tianyin, and her brother – the cover for their true goal.

The woman was silent for a bit before saying suddenly, “He has someone with him, and it’s definitely not your brother.”

“You… How do you know?”

“Breathing. That was the sound of a woman’s breath.”

Gu Kewen looked at the woman in surprise, in disbelief that she was able to tell that Xia Lei had a woman next to him based on the sound of breathing. She had had several phone calls with Xia Lei, and she had not discovered this!

“Amazing, isn’t it? I can train you. You will grow strong.”

“Thank you.” Gu Kewen was excited. Her ambition grew.

Meanwhile, in the Mitsubishi car.

Xia Lei put down the satellite phone in his hand. “Gu Kewen has a woman next to her.”

“A woman? How can you tell?” Long Bing was surprised.

“Breathing. Men and women breathe differently. I heard that woman’s breathing when I was talking to Gu Kewen.”

“How come I didn’t hear it?”

“You didn’t hear because you were too far away. That woman was standing next to Gu Kewen, probably listening to my call with Gu Kewen. I wouldn’t have heard her either if she wasn’t standing close to Gu Kewen.”

“A woman… Who can it be?”

Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. “We’re dealing with something shady here, but that woman could just stand there and listen. This means she isn’t some ordinary person.”

“Could it be someone from the CIA?”

Xia Lei shook his head. He did not know.

For some reason, he thought of Liang Siyao.

Where was she now? Was she doing well?