Qing Caiyue put down her phone and came to Lu Sheng’s office door. She knocked twice.

“Come in.” She heard Lu Sheng’s voice from the inside of the office.

Qing Caiyue pushed the door open and walked in. Her footsteps were light and graceful. She also had a friendly, mesmerising smile on her face. These were signs of a good mood.

Lu Sheng got up and walked towards her. “Secretary Qing, what’s the matter?”

Qing Caiyue said, “Director Xia told me to come.” But she stopped speaking here, waiting for him to ask.

“Does Director Xia have a task for me?” Lu Sheng walked up to her. He was now standing parallel to her.

Qing Caiyue said, “Director Xia wants me to pass a message for you to protect Mister Fan Yiming. You should hurry, Mister Fan Yiming should still be at the car park.”

“Is that so?” Lu Sheng gave her a weird look, smirking.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you smiling?” The smile on her face disappeared when she saw him smile.

Lu Sheng said, “Secretary Qing, you look nervous. Why?”

“Do I? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve already passed Director Xia’s message. It’s up to you to decide if you’re going.” Qing Caiyue turned to leave.

Lu Sheng suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

She struggled with all her strength but his hand was as strong as a pair of metal pliers, she could not escape at all. She grew frantic. “What do you want? Let me go! You’re hurting me!”

“Why aren’t you calling for help?” said Lu Sheng.

“I…” Qing Caiyue did not dare call out.

“Follow me. I’ll bring you somewhere.” Lu Sheng pulled her towards the door

“Where are you bringing me?” Qing Caiyue’s face was pale as if she realised something. Her eyes were filled with fear.

“You’ll know soon,” said Lu Sheng.

Qing Caiyue immediately ripped her shirt off.

Lu Sheng was stunned. “What are you doing?”

“Brother Sheng, I’ve always liked you but never dared to confess my love to you. Please...please accept my confession! I cannot bear to keep missing you, I want you…”

“You really like me?” Lu Sheng looked shocked.

“Don’t speak, kiss me.” Qing Caiyue closed her eyes. “Brother Sheng, you can do whatever you want.”

Lu Sheng did not move.

At this moment, Qing Caiyue’s hand secretly moved towards her skirt. When she took her hand out, there was a pen-like syringe.

It was a weapon.

However, before Qing Caiyue could stab him with the pen, Lu Sheng punched her in the stomach. With a groan, she crouched over like a prawn. He chopped his palm down on her neck.

Qing Caiyue collapsed.

A few minutes later, Lu Sheng left his office and went to the materials laboratory. Xia Lei had given him two tasks. One, to capture Qing Caiyue, another to check on Li Youdun.

Within the materials lab, Li Youdun was typing his proposal in his office. He looked very focused on his work. He didn’t even look up when Lu Sheng appeared.

“Mister Li, you’re busy?” Lu Sheng said.

Li Youdun finally looked up. He smiled when he saw Lu Sheng. “Brother Lu, it’s you. How can I help you?”

“It’s fine, I’m here for a periodical safety check,” said Lu Sheng. “You know how it is. This is getting so frustrating. I’m doing more than ten checks every month.”

Li Youdun said, “Well, work can be like that sometimes. I’m like you, I’ve got to rush this proposal out too. Director Xia’s waiting for it.”

“You go ahead, I’m off to work.” Lu Sheng turned to leave without lingering. His task was to check on him, not catch Li Youdun.

After Lu Sheng left, Li Youdun continued burying his nose in work. He was still as focused as before.

On the other side, on the road to Jingdu, a goods truck suddenly turned. The several-tonne heavy truck brought with it immense momentum as it hurled itself towards the Hongqi car that Fan Yiming was driving.

Fan Yiming stepped hard on the brakes. Since he was driving slow, his car skidded to a stop very quickly.

The truck stopped too. They did not collide.

The door of the passenger seat opened. A person clad in black combat attire and bulletproof vest armed with an American-made M4 and an M203 grenade launcher charged at Fan Yiming’s car. Behind him, the storage compartment of the truck opened too. Four fully armed soldiers hopped off and surrounded the car. Their faces were covered but judging from their very large, muscular physiques, it was unlikely that they were Asian. They must be either tall whites or blacks.

Fan Yiming was absolutely terrified. He did not even attempt to reverse his car. However, even if he did think of that, it would have been useless because the two people fired to puncture his two front wheels. There were no gunshots. All their weapons were silenced so there was almost no sound.

One of the men grabbed the Hongqi car door. In a second, a bullet flew from nowhere and pierced his head. Half of his brain split off!

Fresh blood and brain splattered on the car window as the body with half a head collapsed unto the car door. Fan Yiming had never seen anything like this in his life. When he witnessed this with his own eyes, he screamed shrilly and fainted.

Just as the person hit the ground, the other four guards deduced the sniper’s position and fired in that direction. One of the men tossed a smoke grenade to cover their position.

The truck driver turned his vehicle around instantly.

Crash! The truck window shattered. Another bullet flew from another direction. The bullet shot through the window and stopped only when it was lodged in the driver's brain.

In a flash, two out of the six men were dead. The rest of them hid behind Fan Yiming’s car. Under the cover of the smoke bomb, the snipers could not see their target. Even if they did, they would not dare fire easily because within the car was China’s head of the academy of sciences, Fan Yiming.

Fan Yiming was probably the only one powerful enough to bait them like this. However, bait like him had an inconvenience too. Once he was held hostage, it would be a huge problem.

“Drag the old man out!” ordered the commander of the armed men amidst the smoke. “And the box!”

One person started firing as a cover while the other two opened the car door, taking away the safe on the passenger seat while the other grabbed Fan Yiming’s arm and dragged him out.

After a round of bullets, the commander made a call on his satellite phone. “Password A120, code King Snake! We were ambushed. Prepare to escape into the mountains with the hostage. Please send reinforcements…”

A pickup truck suddenly appeared, charging from the direction of the Thunder Horse Group.

“There’s a car at six o’clock!” roared one of the men. “Destroy it!”

Before they could fire, the pickup truck stopped and there was a whiny noise from the car door. “Password A120, code King Snake! I’m the reinforcement! Don’t fire!”

“You’re one of us?” The commander was stunned. He had just asked for help and they had already arrived. The efficiency was unbelievable, it was suspicious.

“Open the box!” said the voice. “There’s a tracking device inside. They can track your location with it. Open the safe, take the things out and we’ll leave now!”

Although he was suspicious, the commander did not have time to think and analyse. He chose the simplest method, pointing his night vision equipment at the truck. “Stand up!”

A blonde-haired woman’s face peeked out, then retracted down. “Hurry! We don’t have time!”

“Open the safe, take the things out, bring the hostage!” The commander gave new orders. If the other person was Asian, he would be suspicious. However, this was a white woman. It was unlikely that she was an enemy.

One of the men pointed his gun at the lock and pulled the trigger. The lock of the safe popped off. He reached to open the safe.

Boom! A bright flash of light shot from the safe. A round of unbearable ringing and strong shockwaves.

There wasn’t just a secret document and pen drive inside, there was also a stun grenade!

All four men lost their ability to move and collapsed on the ground though they were still conscious.

In his double-vision and dizziness, the commander saw a blonde-haired woman appear in front of him like a ghost. That was his last memory. Then, his consciousness plunged into darkness and he lost all sensations.

The woman was Xia Lei.

He was disguised as Annina only to trick Qing Caiyue. He didn’t know it would play such a crucial role here.

The commander was the first one knocked unconscious. In three seconds, the other three were unconscious too. They were all knocked in the head by the back of an XL2500 sniper rifle.

Fan Yiming was also on the ground but he had been unconscious since the beginning.

Xia Lei took away all their weapons and then shot the two bodies several times with his XL2500 sniper rifle.

When he was done, he took out his satellite phone and said, “You should all leave. Don’t come back to the Thunder Horse Group for the moment.”

“Then I’ll go wedding dress shopping,” came Liang Siyao’s voice. “Also, I’m coming home tonight. I want the pan-seared salmon you make. It’s good for the baby.”

Xia Lei was speechless.

He was standing next to a pool of brain pulp. Did she have to talk about fish now?!