Xia Lei had always been vigilant towards Sylvia.

Inside the room, Sylvia was typing out something which looked like a document on her laptop.

Xia Lei looked closer and saw the content Sylvia was typing. It was not a document — it was an email.

“Mr Mark Armin, I have settled down in Thunder Horse Military Factory. Mr Xia did not try to make things difficult for me and Mr Philip. The atmosphere was quite pleasant when we talked. I will start my work tomorrow, and I hope to gain from it. I have not yet seen the Thunder Horse Military Factory’s Hellhound One-soldier Cannon but I hope to see it tomorrow. You told me to send you an email everyday to report to you about my work situation. This is the first email. But I hope you can reconsider this decision because I do not know what to write about when I don’t have work. All right, that will be it for today. Good morning, Mr Mark Armin.”

It was morning in Germany when it was night in China. There was nothing wrong with Sylvia writing ‘good morning’ to Mark Armin.

Xia Lei suddenly thought, ‘Mark Armin might be sitting in front of his desk right now reading Sylvia’s message. He might even reply and order Sylvia to do something.’

Sylvia yawned and stretched, then scratched her butt.

Ding. The crisp sound of a notification came from Sylvia’s laptop.

Xia Lei’s eyes moved to the top right corner of the screen. As expected, Sylvia’s mailbox had a new email notification.

“This fast? Geez, is he even more impatient than someone who is going to be a groom?” Sylvia grumbled. She stopped scratching her butt, moved the mouse and clicked to open the new mail.

Sure enough, the email was from Mark Armin.

“Miss Sylvia, I have read your email. I stand firm with my decision. Send me an email every day to report your circumstances. On the other hand, the Thunder Horse Military Factory’s Hellbound One-soldier Cannon has yet seen actual sales on the market, but according to our information, it is very outstanding. It could pose a threat to the sales of our artillery products. You must see it and collect information first-hand. You are not an agent or a spy, and I know that making you do this is a bit of a stretch, but our agents and spies were unable to get near Xia Lei and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. You must succeed at all costs. My personal suggestion to you is that Xia Lei likes beautiful women — that is his weakness. Do you understand what I mean? Think about your current situation. You are the person who destroyed our Thunder Dragon intelligent lathe. If you do not want anything to happen to you, you need to do something. That’s all. I wish for your success.”

Sylvia deleted the email. She stared off into space for a while, then shouted at the monitor, “You dirty pig! I am not a prostitute! Especially not one that you can order around!”

After venting out her anger, she suddenly turned and flopped onto the bed. She covered her head with a pillow.

Xia Lei stopped looking. A burning smoldered in his lower abdomen, but his mood was heavy.

Back then in Germany, he made a mask of Sylvia and sneaked into the Rheinmetall AG’s closed workshop to destroy the almost complete Thunder Dragon intelligent lathe and the production line of the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle. Sylvia had been used as his scapegoat. He had gotten away with it but Sylvia had undoubtably faced Germany’s intelligence department’s investigation and the Rheinmetall AG’s internal investigation.

Now, Sylvia had come with a mission, as Rheinmetall AG’s spy and perhaps also with orders from Germany’s intelligence department. Although he knew that she was no longer just a machinist, Xia Lei was still unable to hate her. Rather, he felt a little guilty.

‘I am sorry, Sylvia. I was not trying to hurt you. I did not have a choice then. You’ve come here this time, but I... still cannot let you complete your mission,’ thought Xia Lei. He thought about many things for the rest of the night before he finally slept.

The next morning, Xia Lei called Tang Tianlong and Shi Boren to ask to meet at Bureau 101. He had told Tang Tianlong that he would tell him his conditions in three days because he needed to find his father, Xia Changhe. Now that Xia Changhe had come, he no longer needed to wait another two days to state his conditions.

Xia Lei walked out the door once he was done with the calls. The moment he came out, he saw Sylvia standing in front of the door of her room. She had changed into the Rheinmetall

AG’s summer uniform — a blue short sleeve shirt and blue trousers, paired with a pair of leather shoes. Although she was dressed like this, it was still hard to hide her busty and elegant curves. She had a sexiness that belonged to blue-collar women.

She seemed to be waiting for him. When she saw him, she immediately came up to him.

“Mr Xia, do you have time today?” Sylvia had a smile on her face.

“Is there something you need?” said Xia Lei casually.

Sylvia spoke in a pleasing manner, “I want to look around your company but I am not too familiar with the environment. Could you show me around?”

Xia Lei said, “Sorry, I have something really important to take care of today...”

Sylvia suddenly reached out and grabbed Xia Lei’s elbow before he was done talking. “Mr Xia, just help me, please. You just need to bring me around. It will not take up much of your time.”

Xia Lei felt awkward. “Next time, Miss Sylvia. I need to go soon.”

“Mr Xia, can you just...” Sylvia hugged Xia Lei’s elbow, unwilling to let go.

Mark Armin had given her orders last night and implied that she use her beauty to her advantage; she began her act this morning.

But Xia Lei was no longer the type of man who would go weak in the knees just from seeing beauties.

“Ahem.” A woman’s cough came from behind them.

Sylvia let go of Xia Lei’s elbow. She turned, and saw Yelena standing in the doorway.

Yelena said, “Director Xia, you can go about your work. Leave her to me.”

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Xia Lei nodded. He took his briefcase and slipped away.

“Excuse me, what did you say?” Sylvia stared at Yelena and asked in English. She could not understand Yelena’s flavoured Chinese.

Yelena came walking towards Sylvia and stopped two steps before her.

Sylvia shrugged. “You can’t speak English?”

Yelena suddenly spread her legs and pulled her short skirt up to expose the military belt on her inner thigh to Sylvia. On the belt was a very sharp combat knife.

A woman’s leg and a sharp combat knife made for a very weird scene.

“You...” Sylvia suddenly tensed. The Yelena in front of her made her feel scared for some reason.

Yelena suddenly reached out and put a finger under Sylvia’s chin, tilting it up. She said coldly in English, “I really hate Germans. You better stay quiet and stay away from him. Don’t even think about stealing technologies, or else...”

Yelena released Sylvia’s chin but her palm softly swept over Sylvia’s neck.

Sylvia stood frozen in place. What kind of secretary was this?

Yelena walked past without a second glance at Sylvia.

Sylvia stood there for a long time without moving. A layer of moisture slowly rose in her large azure eyes.