“I knew you would ask me that.” Li Youdun shifted his position nonchalantly. “I can answer you that. It wasn’t me, nor was it Qing Caiyue.”

Xia Lei’s brows were immediately scrunched. “It wasn’t you?”

“I know you would suspect me. Trust me, it’s only natural to assume that but I’ve got nothing personal against you or your women. Why would I do something so unnecessary?”

“The FA Organization had plans to attack the Thunder Horse headquarters. Would a CIA ace like you not provide them with some valuable information?”

Li Youdun chuckled. “You’ve already learnt of FA’s plane hijacking terrorism plan and equipped the entire Thunder Horse headquarters with air defence missiles. Just think about, was there a chance for success? Any person with normal intelligence would know that the success rate of the plan would be close to zero. Do you think the American government and the CIA would risk my exposure for a failing plan?”

It was Xia Lei’s turn to fall silent.

Li Youdun was speaking the truth. It made no sense for the American government and CIA to sacrifice their best spy who painstakingly made it into Thunder Horse’s higher management level for a flimsy terrorist attack plan. The one who had brought Long Bing danger was not Li Youdun, it was someone else.

But who could that be?

Unsure of why, as Xia Lei began to put some thought into the question, the man was immediately reminded of Tang Yuyan and her family. The possibility made him feel awful. It was a probable situation that he couldn’t bear to even believe.

“It’s my turn to ask.” Li Youdun interrupted Xia Lei’s thought. “How did you solve the new material issue? I’m actually not an expert in this field but I’ve got support from a team of America’s best material scientists. Even they were not able to synthesize a probable solution. They commented that this was a difficulty that no one in this world could possibly fix. Yet, you managed to overcome it. How did you do it?”

“It’s because of this.” Xia Lei pointed to his head.

Li Youdun scowled at the salient answer. The response was far too simple than he thought and it certainly was extremely unexpected.

“How did you kill Qing Caiyue?” Before Li Youdun could say another word, Xia Lei asked another question.

“I ‘drugged’ her last night. She would have died after a certain time period,” answered Li Youdun. There was a brief moment of silence before Li Youdun proceeded with his second question. “My next question. Has Thunder Horse started their research on drones?”

Without warning, Xia Lei whipped a kick towards Li Youdun. The surprise attack made him look more like a leopard than human. His speed and strength were out of this world!

Li Youdun did not see this coming. Caught off-guard, he frantically took a step back and used his firm arms to shield his body from Xia Lei’s weighted attack.

Li Youdun’s stance was a typical defence form in boxing. As the CIA’s ace agent and assassin, Li Youdun had full confidence that he would be able to withstand Mike Tyson’s punches at his peak. However…

Thud!

With a muted sound, the huge impact sent Li Youdun flying away from the ground. In that split second, his body flew a couple of metres before his back finally collided with the wall. He felt as if his arms were crushed by heavy hammers. The merciless shock he experienced all about his being was similar to that of falling off from the second floor. Everything was so overwhelming, Li Youdun was close to passing out!

Without allowing Li Youdun to recover, Xia Lei lunged forward. His right clenched fist was thrown like a bomb towards Li Youdun’s chest.

Crack!

The sound of ribs cracking echoed throughout the room.

Li Youdun made no noise, but his expression had contorted into absolute agony. Using that vulnerability, Xia Lei landed a violent chop against the length of Li Youdun’s neck.

The spy wheezed and fell unconscious, his body slumping down from the wall unceremoniously.

There was no more movement coming from him.

To exchange answers and questions was not the point. Xia Lei had only one thing to confirm. If Li Youdun was behind the leaking of Long Bing’s mission. Once the man had obtained his answer, it was a closed case. His second question was muttered out of pure curiosity, it didn’t matter if Xia Lei got an answer to it or not. On the other hand, the thought of Xia Lei answering Li Youduns' questions genuinely had not crossed the man’s mind.

“This is not a school class, bastard! Q and A session? Damn you!” Xia Lei kicked hard at Li Youdun’s lower abdomen.

This one was for Qing Caiyue, that poor woman who was met with an untimely death.

Xia Lei didn’t need to ask how Li Youdun managed to convince Qing Caiyue into siding him. It wasn’t important but the man could guess it already. Some women were very attracted to the ideal luxurious life that could be offered through the guise of an American Green Card. Added with some sugar-coated words, the concept of danger and possible risks would escape their minds almost instantly. Qing Caiyue was the type of woman who would fall for such schemes.

Truthfully, Qing Caiyue’s death was a pity. If they had continued to roll between the sheets that night in France, she would’ve become his lover and Li Youdun would have no chance of tricking her into his pretty lies.

Making sure that Li Youdun was fully subdued, Xia Lei flipped his office upside down. The outcome was not surprising. The spy was skilful enough to not leave any trace behind.

“He must have a communication channel with the CIA? Is it his phone or his computer? Or does he relay messages through an informant?” Xia Lei continued to stress his mind over the concern.

At this point, he could phone Tang Yuyan to move Li Youdun to Bureau 101. However, Xia Lei decided not to do that as a new plan began to take form in his brain.

Ending his fruitless search, Xia Lei tossed Li Youdun into a big wooden box. The man then hammered down the lid with nails before calling Lu Sheng over. It only took about a few minutes for Lu Sheng to appear with extra manpower.

“Please bring this box to my house. You can place it in my study,” instructed Xia Lei.

The few security guards lifted the heavy box onto a trolley and brought it away. Xia Lei trailed behind them carefully.

Out of curiosity, Lu Sheng questioned, “Director Xia, where is Li Youdun?”

Xia Lei replied, “Oh, he already went home. He said he left a very important material back home and had to retrieve it.”

“Ah, jeez. He’s such a busy man. Oh, right…” Lu Sheng probed, “Is he problematic?”

Xia Lei answered, “I ran some searches and found that he’s innocent. It was all done by Qing Caiyue. I treated her well and yet this is how she decided to repay my kindness.”

“I knew it was her! What a bitch!” fumed Lu Sheng.

Xia Lei could only sigh faintly. Her death was already her payment to all her sins. Whether she was really a bitch or not, Xia Lei preferred to refrain himself from thinking about it.

“Have you cleaned up all of Qing Caiyue’s belongings?” Xia Lei switched the topic.

“We’re still working on it. I’ll send them all over when we’re done. Actually, do we send it to your office?” asked Lu Sheng.

“Just bring it to my house,” said Xia Lei.

“Alright, I’ll go do it now.” With that, Lu Sheng left to work.

The security guards placed the wooden box in the middle of Xia Lei’s study and excused themselves. A few moments after their departure, Xia Lei brought the box to one of the Peace Mansion’s underground laboratories. His initial intention behind these facilities was to serve as an interrogation room. Li Youdun would be its first ‘customer’.

Xia Lei broke the lid open and carried Li Youdun out. He settled the limp man down and restrained his limbs with metal chains. After that was done with, Xia Lei splashed a bucket of water on Li Youdun’s face.

Li Youdun’s eyes shot open. Immediately, his pupils went into a flurry. Li Youdun’s sharp eyes scanned and mapped his surroundings, which included Xia Lei, in less than a second.

Xia Lei brought a chair over and sat in front of Li Youdun. In a hollow tone, Xia Lei uttered, “You’re going to stay here for a while.”

“You wish to imprison me?” There was no fear in Li Youdun’s eyes, what had glimmered inside was only confusion and cautiousness.

“Yes, I’ll be holding you in here until the day I decide to free you.” Xia Lei continued, “You better not try anything funny. I personally designed this prison myself. Unless you’re able to pick all the locks in one go, your metal chain will act as a conductor and electrocute you. But of course, the electric shock is not sufficient to kill you. It would only be able to provide you with the most excruciating pain in your life.”

“Why are you doing this?” Li Youdun thought he would find himself in Bureau 101’s interrogation room. Never had he imagined to be restrained in Xia Lei’s private little prison.

“Since you’re so smart, can you guess why?” The smile curled on Xia Lei’s lips were eerie.

“You’re… You’re planning to use my identity and my communication channel to send the CIA a message? That, or you wish to confirm something.”

“As expected, you’re really intelligent.”

“Hahaha…” Li Youdun cackled. “Even if you can become my successful importer, you won’t be able to find my channel. Even if you managed to find it, you won’t be able to achieve your intended outcome. Your plan might sound marvellous but it’s destined to fail.”

“Then what do you think I’m trying to achieve?”

Li Youdun paused to ponder but shook his head in the end. “You’re unpredictable.”

“You don’t even know what I’m trying to execute and yet you’re so determined of my failure? I can guarantee you some decent results.” Xia Lei left his seat for the door.

Just before Xia Lei disappears out of sight, Li Youdun roared to his retreating back. “You should’ve sent me to Bureau 101. You’ve got no right to restrain me!”

“Right?” Xia Lei glanced back at Li Youdun. “My fists are all the right I need. For now, just shut up and enjoy your stay.”

“How am I supposed to use the washroom all tied up?”

“Oh crap, I almost forgot about that.” Xia Lei strode towards a corner of the wall and kicked an empty bucket over to Li Youdun. “Sorry, but you would need to make do with this.”

It took a while for Xia Lei to emerge from the underground chamber. He had only arrived at his study for a short while when Lu Sheng appeared with a huge box of items.

“Director Xia, these are things I’ve gathered from Qing Caiyue’s office and pantry. Please take a look.” The muscular man placed the box down on Xia Lei’s desk.

“Thank you, my brother. You’re free to leave now, I’ll handle the rest from here,” dismissed Xia Lei.

“There’s no need to be so courteous with me. We’re fellow disciples for crying out loud.” Lu Sheng grinned, showing his pearly whites. With that, the man left Xia Lei to his privacy.

Xia Lei began to pull everything out from the box. There were cosmetic products, books, notebooks, stationeries and an Apple laptop.

His search had taken less time than anticipated. Other than the laptop, Qing Caiyue’s other belongings were normal and had no spying device. Xia Lei averted his gaze on to the unassuming laptop. If there were to be anything, it’d probably be in her personal laptop.

But before he could even move to boot her laptop, his phone began to ring.

The satellite phone was ringing and the caller was Long Bing.

“I’m already back in China, I’ll be flying to Jingdu tonight.” Long Bing’s voice was audibly strained from exhaustion, but her hint of joy was unmasked.

“I’m glad you’re back. I’ll prepare you something to eat to welcome you home.” Xia Lei’s spirits were immediately lifted.

“Sure, I’m going to hang up now.” And she did.

Xia Lei smiled fondly. Long Bing was still as untalkative as ever. Despite that, Xia Lei always had a hard time dealing with a warmed up Long Bing. Her coldness, her passion, her wildness. Everything about Long Bing was so intoxicating and Xia Lei was high on her love.