Earlston, Scotland, 02:50;

Xi Yuan was a light sleeper. It wasn't possible for the girl to slip out of the room without disrupting his slumber, and she was aware of it. So that night, she insisted on pulling an all-nighter with the book she'd been reading. The man didn't refuse her request straight away, since she'd slept for about three hours that noon. He, as usual, just offered to accompany her. But she'd turned him down, prompting him to get some rest as he'd been working and attending meetings all day long.

'You need to understand that your health is no less a matter of concern to me, Yuan', she'd told him, 'And since my ease of mind is necessary for the recovery, go to bed.' Left with no counter-argument, Xi Yuan had to give in to her demand.

Now, as she sat in the Willys jeep, staring at the 50 Desert Eagle in her hand, roughly twenty meters from this infamous Steven's temporary abode, the girl had but one motive in her mind. To make one of the most malignant killers in the world beg her for an easy death.

She didn't care about his confession, nor did she wish to know of the Russian Mastermind behind all of it. Xi Yuan would take care of it in his own ways, of that she was sure. That wasn't why she was here. She was here to unleash her rage onto a psychopath, and she didn't intend on backing out of it.

After she was done loading all the seven bullets into her gun, Rong Xinghe got off the vehicle, and with swift noiseless footsteps, she approached the shed-like house. Thankfully, not a single commoner lived nearby, else, it would've been too troublesome for her.

When she was fairly close to the remote place, she peeked inside the house through the open window, only to find the bed empty. And as if regulated by her reflexes, she turned around and with no hint of contemplation or hesitation in her gaze, pulled the trigger to her handgun.

"F*ck!", the man behind her yelled out in pain, his eyes bloodshot with fury. How did she even know that he was behind her?!

Rong Xinghe glanced at the M16A2 Assault rifle in the man's right hand, and the next second, another 300-grain bullet pierced through his right shoulder, the firearm in his hand falling to the ground, as a result.

"You bi*ch...", the light-complexioned man swore through his gritted teeth.

"Good point.", the woman chuckled coolly, "Let's take this conversation inside, shall we, little boy?" With that being said, she grabbed onto his collar and hauled him through the poorly supported doors of the house, shoving him over the bed, his blood ruining the fine setting of it.

"How did you..."

"Dry snow and human feet make noise together, you know?", the girl remarked with a smirk, "A crispy crumbling sound."

So that's how she figured it out. God! The woman was impressive, Steven thought. He regretted not targetting her earlier then. But just because she'd shot him in the left forearm and the right shoulder didn't mean he couldn't deal with her. He had a reputation to uphold in the underworld, for hell's sake. He couldn't be killed off by a woman, damn it!

However, Rong Xinghe had mastered the skill of reading through people's minds by now. She could tell what was going on in that cunning brain of her perp at the moment. She found the situation hilarious, honestly. How valorous of him to assume that he still had an escape out of it.

BANG! BANG!

As the tiny room filled with the man's painful cries, the girl inhaled sharply and grabbed a seat for herself on the wooden chair facing him. She fixed her eyes on both his legs, blood oozing down his trousers gradually. He shouldn't have delayed the kick he was about to launch at her, she thought. Sigh... poor soul.

Calmly, the girl tucked the gun into her overcoat's pocket before leaning back in the chair. She waited for his voice to go down before she raised her left foot and poked onto one of his wounds, making him bellow even more. It wasn't until she was satisfied by the man's screams that she finally stood up and knelt to the floor beside his bed, pulling out the blue Kerosene canister from underneath it.

"No, no, no!", Steven shook his head violently, his eyes wide open as the woman tossed away the container's cap and began pouring the oil down on him.

"Just shoot me in the head!", he begged her, "Or slit my neck, if you want. Anything... but this!"

But the girl wouldn't listen, for she knew he didn't deserve a painless death. He needed to suffer before it'd all come to an end. He'd killed hundreds of innocent people to date, just for the sake of money. People like them, she loathed the most. Did they even realize what they put their victims' families through? Did he, for once, think of how she would've suffered if something were to happen to her Yuan the day before? No! Then why would she show mercy to a monster like him?!

______________

Earlston, Scotland, 06:00;

Xi Yuan woke up to the sound of his phone ringing, exhausted. "Who is it?", he questioned sleepily into it.

The man listened to the person on the other end, and for a moment, he thought he was hallucinating or dreaming still, of the sorts. But when the girl's voice reached him through the device, he sat up straight on the bed, startled. He requested the man to repeat himself, hearing to him with much attention this time.

"What?!", he almost shouted by the time the other person was done, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

:::::::::::::::::::

Earlston Police Station, 06:12;

Xi Yuan stormed into the department's sanctuary, two well-dressed men following behind him.

"Where is she?", he asked one of the officers sitting in the corner, his tone anxious.

"Here...", Rong Xinghe answered instead from across the huge hallway, waving at her darling desperately. Xi Yuan turned to look at the girl sitting at the other side of the lock-up, rendered speechless by the mess she had gotten herself into.

He nodded at the two men beside him faintly, gesturing them to go ahead and take care of the paperwork, as he made his way to his woman. The girl too stood up and walked closer to the iron bars.

The man didn't reprimand or lecture her as he reached her, though. He simply cupped her face with both his hands and smiled worriedly, "Are you okay?", he questioned. That was the only thing that mattered to him, truth be told.

"Yeah.", Rong Xinghe smiled back.

"What happened?", the man laughed then, "Weren't you supposed to read tonight? Why the sudden change of plans then, Ma Jolie?"

"I assassinated Steven1984.", the girl whispered to the man, pulling him a little closer to herself.

"Good God...", the man raised his brows, taken aback, "But... the Police Inspector didn't--"

"No. They don't know.", Rong Xinghe shook her head, smiling cheekily, "That's not why I am here."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I was driving back home after that and stopped at a café for a cup of Espresso.", the girl resumed, "There, a customer dropped his wallet and I picked it up to give it to him. I was about to go over to him when Officer Hong called me. So I brought my hands to my pocket to turn off the phone, but-"

"The Inspector who was right next to you assumed you were stealing.", Xi Yuan finished the girl's sentence, "So you're in for theft. Lovely."

"That... and not having my passport.", Rong Xinghe said, smacking her forehead lightly, "Also, I refused to go to the station with him. I didn't know they could arrest you for that here. I thought they'd just put on a penalty of a few bucks."

"I gotta say this, Love.", the man grinned, barely suppressing her laughter, "Never in my life did I ever think that I would've to bail my to-be-wife out from a prison."

"..."