0200 hrs.

Venezuela, La Guaira Port.

A military container truck trundled out of a port warehouse under the cover of night, heading towards the nearest military base. The truck had just left the port when a girl on a skateboard suddenly shot out from the side, almost colliding with the truck.

“Bitch!” The truck driver cursed in Spanish. “You blind?”

The girl didn’t even look back. She brushed past the truck and back, disappearing from the driver’s sight in the blink of an eye.

“Shit!” muttered the driver, “Almost ran her over. It’s fucking two in the morning! Skateboarding? Must be some restless student sneaking out at night to meet with her boyfriend.”

The soldier in uniform in the passenger seat laughed. “That bitch had a good body. Would be great if I could fuck her. Haha!”

The driver smiled a vulgar smile too. “Stop fucking dreaming. Let’s get this shipment of firearms from China to the base then have a drink or two at the club. We could get lucky there.”

As the two Venezuelan soldiers chatted about women, the skateboarding girl was at the door to the container. In just ten seconds, she had the lock to the container open and she entered.

The container truck carried light weapons imported from China, and most were rifles, grenade launchers and some other rocket-type weapons from Hanwu Weapons. There were also five XL2500 sniper rifles purchased from Thunder Horse Military Factory.

The skateboarding girl quickly found those five sniper rifles; they were in a very large wooden crate. Each XL2500 was in a plastic engineering box.

A small smile appeared in the corners of the skateboarding girl’s mouth. She picked up a box containing the XL2500 from the crate.

She was Liang Siyao.

The director of CIA Asia, Ramsbigg, had given her the mission of getting her hands on an XL2500 sniper rifle for the military to study. She couldn’t go to China to complete this task so she had turned her sights to the overseas clients who had purchased the XL2500. This was why she had turned up here.

‘It really is limited. The Venezuelan military only managed to buy five.’ Xia Lei’s face surfaced in Liang Siyao’s head and her thoughts ran deeper. ‘What changes have AE brought to him? I shouldn’t have used condoms back then when we were having sex. I lived together with him for a period of time... I could get pregnant with his child if we hadn’t used protection, and give birth to a miracle baby... If that happened then my baby might inherit some of his incredible genes, won’t it?’

These were very interesting thoughts.

Liang Siyao came to the door of the container truck and pulled it open, prepared to jump off. However, she froze the instant the door opened.

A motorcycle was close behind the truck, tailgating. The rider of the motorcycle was a woman and her passenger was a man. The man had a handgun pointed at her and his other hand was turned upwards towards her, his fingers in a V.

V for victory?

This looked like a bit of sarcasm directed at her. Several countermeasures flashed in her head in that instant. She thought of closing the door but that would give the Venezuelan military a chance to catch her, the thief. She thought of jumping but she would surely be captured by these two.

What was she to do?

Liang Siyao’s head was a mess and she did not dare make a decision.

At that moment, the man on the motorcycle removed his helmet, revealing his face.

“Xia... Changhe!” Liang Siyao was stunned.

Xia Changhe waved at Liang Siyao, then pointed at the box in her hand and made a V with his fingers again.

Liang Siyao then understood what he meant. This was no V for victory - it meant two. Xia Changhe meant for her to throw him two XL2500 sniper rifles. And him showing his face meant that he meant her no harm, and wouldn’t shoot at her. His aim was just to get the XL2500 sniper rifles.

Liang Siyao nodded and tossed the box in her hands to them.

Yelena reached out and grabbed that box, then handed it to Xia Changhe behind her.

Liang Siyao then went back in and took two more boxes. She did not throw anything to Yelena this time but closed the door and jumped down.

The container truck was not going fast so she rolled just twice and stopped. She was skilled enough that this sort of manoeuvre did not injure her.

The truck continued on its route. The soldiers on it were still talking about women, one bragging that he could go on for two hours and the other bragging that he could satisfy three horny women at once, and that he often did so.

The motorcycle came to a halt scant centimetres from Liang Siyao’s shoulder.

“Hand over the gun.” Yelena’s voice was cold.

Liang Siyao handed a box to Xia Changhe. She took no notice of Yelena and was not interested in her at all. Only Xia Changhe was of interest to her. This was a legendary man, alive and well after so many years of being chased by the CIA. He was a living legend worthy of great study among agents.

“One more,” said Yelena coldly.

Liang Siyao spoke evenly, “You guys have got to leave one for me to complete my mission. If we fight here then neither of us will get the XL2500. We might even all end up in Venezuelan prison.”

Yelena moved to snatch the gun away but Xia Changhe pressed her hand down.

Xia Changhe looked at Liang Siyao, his voice calm. “Ramsbigg ordered you to go to China to get the gun because America wants to study it, right?”

Liang Siyao nodded.

“Looks like you’ve been abandoned. You won’t be able to change your situation even if you complete your mission now. Why not leave the CIA? Joining it was a mistake in the first place. It’s not too late if you correct this mistake now,” said Xia Changhe.

“You don’t need to worry about me. If you wanted this gun then you could have just asked Xia Lei for it. Why come all the way to Venezuela to steal it?” said Liang Siyao.

“I didn’t want to trouble him, and I also didn’t want to get him in trouble,” said Xia Changhe.

Liang Siyao laughed dryly. “I get it.”

“I won’t make things difficult for you on Xia Lei’s account. You sort yourself out. Let’s go,” said Xia Changhe.

“Where are you going?” asked Liang Siyao.

Yelena had already turned around and she accelerated, zooming off. Xia Changhe did not answer her question either.

Liang Siyao had not expected to get an answer. She turned away from the road as Yelena and Xia Changhe went off, and entered the green belt.

Half an hour later, a fishing boat pulled out of La Guaira port, heading towards the darkness of the big sea.

In the cabin, Xia Changhe opened the two boxes and smiled when he saw the XL2500 sniper rifles in them. “We’ll have greater security out on jobs with these two guns.”

“Why didn’t you let me kill her earlier? She’s CIA,” said Yelena.

“Kill her? Not so easy. She is Liang Yichun’s daughter and a descendant of Wingchun. She’s better than average in martial arts. Besides, the CIA has abandoned her, just like you were abandoned by the Russian Intelligence Agency.”

Yelena was reminded of some past events and her voice grew soft. “Yevgenia and I were being pursued by our own comrades back then. If you hadn’t saved us...” A self-mocking smile appeared in the corners of her lips. “The grass next to our graves would reach the waist of a man, eh? And our families. If it hadn’t been for you they would probably not be on this Earth anymore.”

This was the reason why Yevgenia and Yelena were willing to follow Xia Changhe. They owed him too much.

Yevgenia had died at the hands of Liang Siyao and this was why Yelena wanted to kill her, but she would listen to Xia Changhe and not kill her because he wished it. Besides, after calming down, she became aware again of how Liang Siyao was not just another agent. She was the successor of Wingchun and had also undergone the CIA training system so she was not an ordinary person. How could there be no blood price to be paid if one killed Liang Siyao?

“All right, put your vengeance aside for now. Our task now takes priority.” Xia Changhe took out a map from his trouser pocket and spread it out on a small table.

Two places were circled in red on the map. One was China’s Yongle Palace and the other was the White Hun Tribe in Afghanistan. These two places were where the mysterious ancient alloy had been excavated.

Yelena put her feelings aside and drew close to the table to look at the map. “What’s our next destination?”

Xia Changhe lifted his pen and circled a point where Israel and Palestine met - Jerusalem. “We’re going here.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure,” said Xia Changhe. “A business delegation from China went to Israel and there was an archaeologist in that group. I suspect that this business delegation was actually a team that’s after the next treasure location, and that it is in Jerusalem.”

Yelena was quiet for a bit before she spoke. “We had a chance to get our hands on that alloy the last time, and those treasures in the princess’s tomb too but you gave it up. What are we going to do this time if the Chinese archaeologists finds the treasure? Let them take it back to China, or take it from them?”

“It’s too early to make this sort of decision now. We don’t know what’s hidden in the place the compass points to. Wait till we have confirmation on what is in the third treasure location before we decide,” said Xia Changhe. “If the third treasure location has no compass needle then that would indicate that there is no fourth treasure location and we will take everything. If there is a needle it would mean that there’s another location. We will do nothing and only act when we are sure of what they have excavated.”

Yelena wrinkled her brows. “Can’t we just take the compass? We can have both the compass and the needle and find the fourth treasure location ourselves.”

Xia Changhe shook his head. “This seems simple and also advantageous for us but have you thought about what if the fourth treasure location was in some country’s city where a building needs to be moved or an entrance needs to be dug? You and I are entirely unable to do that but the Chinese government can. Besides, even if they bring the loot back to China it’ll all just end up in my hands anyway.”

“All right, I’ll do as you say. Let’s go to Jerusalem,” said Yelena.

Night hung in the sky and there seemed no end to the sea. The rolling waves washed them forward, slapping against the sides of the boat with a ‘splash, splash’.

This sound seemed like an ancient language from ten thousand years ago.