The factory was not finished yet and production had not yet begun, so there were no defensive guards. Annina called Long Bing and then the police. The first to arrive were, of course, the town’s police. They were one old and one young and they carried old handguns.

Annina rushed up the mountain with the two policemen but the policemen refused to go further when they reached the forest.

“Come with me!” Annina’s Chinese had improved by leaps and bounds. “It’s right ahead! Up there!”

The two policemen looked at each other but both were unwilling to take one step further.

“What are you doing?” Annina was anxious. “Up, up! Sniper! Very dangerous!”

The old policeman gave her a sour face. “A sniper, miss? Is there any use in us going up? We just have our little handguns. We could be killed without even seeing the perpetrator. I’m retiring in two years - don’t make me die!”

The young policeman was scared too. “I, I haven’t even found a girlfriend yet. Let’s just wait for back-up.”

Humans had hearts which feared death and policemen were human too.

“You! Cowards! I’ll go myself!” Annina turned and stomped off, up the mountain.

She’d not gone a few steps when she stopped and cried in joy, “Lukas, you’re alive! You’re not dead!”

Xia Lei let out a breath of relief too upon seeing Annina’s spritely state. He smiled. “It’s okay, no need to worry.”

Xia Lei carried Danny in his arms. He had already used his silver needles on him and bandaged his wounds with strips of cloth. Danny would survive if he received treatment in time. It was easy to kill Danny but a living Danny was more useful than a dead Danny.

The policemen drew close too and saw a bloodstained Xia Lei and the sniper rifle slung over his back. The old policeman yelled, “Put the gun down!”

“I’m not a bad guy. Don’t be nervous and don’t point the gun at me; careful not to let it go off,” said Xia Lei.

The old policeman did not put the gun down. He spoke nervously, “Y, you put the gun down first.”

Annina got angry. “What’s wrong with you? You refused to go up earlier and wanted to hide here, and now you’re pointing a gun at my boyfriend!”

“Don’t argue with him, Annina. I’ll put the gun down. This person needs medical attention in a hospital. Please call for an ambulance.”

Xia Leu put Danny down, then put the sniper rifle down.

The old policeman stepped forward and took Xia Lei’s sniper rifle while the young policeman used his phone to call the ambulance.

Xia Lei summarised the situation for the policeman, then went down the mountain towards the factory grounds while carrying Danny. The policemen relaxed some after learning that Xia Lei was the owner of the military factory land and followed him and Annina to the factory grounds.

The town ambulance was first on the scene. It arrived in the blink of an eye since it was just a kilometre or two away.

The town doctor and nurse lifted Danny into the ambulance. Xia Lei was worried that some other accident might occur so he got into the ambulance as well.

Danny was pushed into the emergency operating room once he arrived at the hospital. The town hospital facilities were simple but they still had the necessary emergency supplies like blood and respirators.

Xia Lei and Annina sat outside the operating room on benches, waiting.

The two policemen were also in the corridor, sneaking glances at Xia Lei and Annina.

“What’s this person’s ident.i.ty? He’s building a military factory and also shot someone with a sniper rifle,” said the young policeman in a low voice.

“Must be someone with backing. Maybe even a military man,” said the old policeman.

“What about the Western girl?” The young policeman glanced hotly at Annina, who was sitting on Xia Lei’s lap. She was electrifying and it made him nervous.

“Where are you looking?” The old policeman slapped the young one upside his head. “Be serious! We’re on a case!”

The young policeman gave the old one a glare of dissatisfaction, then looked again at Annina. A s.e.xy Western woman was just too attractive for a young unmarried man like him to look away…

Long Bing arrived at the town hospital after half an hour. After she got details of the situation, she sent two agents up the mountain to take care of the bodies. Long Bing brought Xia Lei to a doctor’s office to talk to him.

“Gu Ding-Shan must really want you dead. One Danny is not enough - he actually hired two more foreign killers. No wonder we couldn’t find Danny during this time. He’d gone overseas.” Long Bing’s eyes were cold.

“Danny is in our hands now. I had a chance to kill him but I feel it’s more useful to keep him alive,” said Xia Lei.

“You did well. Killing Danny would have helped Gu Ding-Shan. One dead Danny is just another dead dog to Gu Ding-Shan.”

“Yeah, I thought so too. Didn’t you want me to think of a way to deal with Gu Ding-Shan? This Danny is very good bait. I believe Gu Ding-Shan will not stay still if we have Danny in our hands,” said Xia Lei.

“I know we can’t get any secrets out of Danny. People like him have undergone professional training. From my experience, it would be difficult to dig out any weaknesses of Gu Ding-Shan’s from him.”

Xia Lei laughed. “I think it’s very easy.”

Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. “You have a way to make him talk?”

Xia Lei leaned in to Long Bing’s ear. “I have a plan…”

Long Bing and Xia Lei walked out of the doctor’s office a few minutes later. Annina, who had been waiting outside the door, wanted to hold Xia Lei’s arm but the sight of Long Bing’s icy face made her behave like a good girl.

Long Bing called the two policemen over and said icily. “Say nothing if anyone asks. Got that?”

The two policemen did not know where Long Bing was from but she led a team of gun-wielding agents and had an imposing aura. They lacked the courage to refuse her and they nodded obediently as they said, “Rest a.s.sured, we won’t say anything.”

“If someone asks, wait for the person to go away and call this number right away.” Long Bing handed a piece of paper to the old policeman. Just a phone number was written on it and nothing else.

“Don’t worry, Leader. We will do as you’ve instructed.” The old policeman affixed the t.i.tle of ‘Leader’ to Long Bing arbitrarily.

“This doesn’t concern you any longer. You’re dismissed,” said Long Bing.

“Yes, yes, we’ll leave.” The old policeman took the young policeman with him.

“Uncle.” Xia Lei chased after them. “Can I trouble you to give me my gun back?”

The old policeman then remembered the sniper rifle he had taken from Xia Lei on his back. He laughed sheepishly and quickly took it off his back to return it to Xia Lei. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t know the situation.”

Xia Lei smiled and said, “You did nothing wrong, Uncle. Come to my factory another day - I’ll treat you to a drink.”

“Of course, heh heh, goodbye.” The old policeman left with a smile.

It was good to get to know some people in the area when building a factory. He was a local policeman too, so he would surely need to interact with him often.

Not long after, Long Bing’s subordinates brought the corpses of Cain and Tiger down the mountain and put them in the hospital morgue.

The chilly morgue and battered corpses made Xia Lei a little sick and he almost vomited. He had killed Tiger and Cain on the mountain but he had not felt the impact of having killed someone then, since they were over a thousand metres away. Seeing Cain with his chest cavity blasted open up close, and Tiger’s half-missing head sickened Xia Lei upon the sudden definition of himself as a killer.

No matter who it was or how much that person deserved death, he or she was still the same species. Killing another of the same species was uncommon in the animal kingdom, much less fairly conscious beings like humans.

“Feel bad?” Long Bing had a smile on her face as she said mockingly, “It’s okay. You’ll be fine after you experience it a few more times.”

“Experience it a few more times?” Xia Lei laughed bitterly. “I don’t want to experience it ever again.”

“I… Eurgh….” Annina, who had entered the morgue with them, couldn’t hold it back anymore and covered her mouth as she ran out.

Long Bing walked to Cain’s corpse and started to search the body.

Xia Lei forced himself to go to Tiger’s body and search his.

The two killers had no identification doc.u.ments on them, just some foreign coins, mobile phones and communication devices. Both phones were powered-off. This was normal, since they would not have their phones on when they were on a job as snipers.

Long Bing and Xia Lei turned the phones on, hoping to find a contact list but both phones had just one contact - Danny.

“These snipers were experienced. We won’t get anything.” Long Bing wrinkled her brows.

“I didn’t take Danny’s phone. He’s still in the operating room; his phone should have something,” said Xia Lei.

Long Bing shook her head. “I would take only a disposable phone with me on a mission like this if I were him.”

Xia Lei shrugged. “Then let’s proceed as you’d planned.”

Long Bing nodded. “Our doctors should be here soon. I’ll take Danny. You coming with me?”

“I’ll take care of things on my end. I’ll keep in contact,” said Xia Lei.

So Bureau 101 had its own medical team too - Xia Lei didn’t know that. Long Bing’s a.s.sessment was correct and an armoured, anti-riot ambulance used for military medical emergencies arrived at the town hospital when they left the morgue. Long Bing talked briefly with the doctor and he led some medical staff into the operating room.

Danny was quickly moved to the ambulance and it went off in the direction of the city.

Long Bing took her men away and the agents also put Cain and Tiger’s corpses in body bags and took them away.

Xia Lei found Annina in a female toilet. She was hugging a sink and vomiting into it.

He walked over to her and rubbed her back gently as he said comfortingly, “It’s okay now; the bodies have been taken away.”

“Too much…” Annina rinsed her mouth under the faucet. She did not want Xia Lei to smell her after she had vomited.

For some inexplicable reason, the image of Tiger with half his head missing appeared in Xia Lei’s mind and his stomach turned. He pushed Annina aside and grasped the sink as he threw up.

“Haha!” Annina laughed, “So you’re like me too.”

Xia Lei waved his hand and slapped her across her b.u.t.tocks. “You’re one to talk. Remember the situation earlier? We would’ve been dead if we'd dallied for longer!”

It was true. Annina and Xia Lei were still busy a few minutes before Danny and the other two snipers had turned up, and killing them then would have been very easy.

Even thinking about that made one break out in cold sweat!

Annina giggled. “No, we won’t. I know my ability. I have the ability to make you finish earlier.”

Xia Lei was speechless.