In the dead of the night.

Xia Lei sat quietly on the sofa in his room. His vision was locked on the floor beneath his feet. The floor and concrete slabs were nonexistent in Xia Lei’s left vision — Ling Han was in the room right under his feet.

Ling Han was packing his belongings. His luggage was quite simple. It consisted of a suitcase, a laptop, a spare suit set, a few pairs of underwear, and multiple pairs of socks.

After he finished organising his things, Ling Han sat on the sofa and made a call.

“Boss, I’ve settled into Thunder Horse Military Factory.” Ling Han spoke in a low voice, but Xia Lei still “listened in” by reading his lips.

This call was to Zongzheng Wukui.

Although Xia Lei couldn’t hear Zongzheng Wukui’s voice, he was able to guess that it was him from Ling Han’s expression and the way he spoke.

Since Ling Han had chosen to call Zongzheng Wukui at this time, it was easy to see that Ling Han had a better relationship with Zongzheng Wukui than Fan Fan.

“Yes, Boss. Please rest assured. I will complete the mission.” Ling Han said, “Xia Lei seemed to be still a little dissatisfied with me, but he won’t have the guts to act impudently in front of me. He did give Song Baicheng a bad attitude though... Of course I won’t care about such trivial things. I’ll let him be arrogant for now... Yes, I will contact you whenever something new comes up. Goodbye.”

Ling Han didn’t put down his phone after the call. Instead, he continued to make calls. He made two domestic calls and two international calls. All the calls were to Korea.

The four calls to Korea were related to the current situation. The people who picked up the phone calls were no simple folk. From the way Ling Han had addressed them, Xia Lei guessed that they were probably congressmen and important members from the Opposition Party of Korea.

Xia Lei’s heart thumped. ‘It looks like Ling Han still hasn’t given up on the matters in Korea. He is such a hardworking person. If I don’t help Fan Fan, I will still be the winner in the power struggle of Bureau ZN, but...’

The corners of Xia Lei’s lips curved in a smirk.

The relationship between him, Ling Han, and Fan Fan could be perfectly described using an idiom: the sandpiper fights with the clam, and the fisherman benefits by catching both. Ling Han was the sandpiper, Fan Fan was the clam, and he was the fisherman. The fisherman in the idiom was merely a fisherman, but in this situation, he was a fisherman who had a relationship with the clam. So, he was a fisherman who got all the profits.

Ling Han went to the bathroom after he finished making the last call. Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision.

Xia Lei also took out his phone and dialled a phone number that he had not called in a long time.

“Who is this?” The voice on the other end of the phone belonged Ahn Geungan and it was filled with suspicion and wariness.

“Did you forget about me, old friend?” Xia Lei replied with a laugh.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while before Ahn Geungan spoke. “Mr Xia. Why are you calling me so late in the night?”

“To chat about the good old days. Is that okay?”

“Stop joking around. We are not friends.”

“How can you say that? I’m calling you out of sincerity.”

“Sincerity from you? Hah!” Ahn Geungan snorted. “When I hear your voice, I’m reminded of my son, Suhyeong. You probably forgot about him, right? Did you think that I would forget about his death?”

“Mr Ahn, of course I didn’t forget, and I won’t forget. But what I remembered was that he had brought a lot of hitmen with him, intending to kill me. From your perspective, you lost your son. But from my perspective, am I just going to forfeit my life and wait for him to kill me? If there’s a cause, then there’s an effect. That’s karma. Accept reality.”

“I don’t want to talk nonsense with you. If there’s anything you have to say, then just say it.”

“Okay, then I’ll be frank. I guess you’ve already forgotten about what I have in my hands?”

“What do you want?” Ahn Geungan’s voice was filled with anger.

“Don’t take me the wrong way. I know your election situation is not optimistic, but I’m not here to hit you when you’re down. Instead, I’m here to help you.”

“You kept those things because you want to threaten me to reach your goal. How can I believe that you want to help me?”

“I have my own goal, of course. I can’t just help you and not get anything in return, right?”

“Tell me, then. What’s your goal?”

“I want to make some changes in the free trade zone agreement and some targeted policies. That’s my only request. It’s as simple as that.”

“Who do you think I am? Do you think I’m the president of Korea? Even if I am, your request is over the top. Do you think I’m going to agree to it?”

“Do you think you can refuse?” Xia Lei’s tone was calm, but his words carried menace.

If you refuse, I’ll just destroy you!

“You should know well that it’ll be useless even if I agreed to it. Your request is beyond my capability to grant it, so it’s no use even if you threaten me.”

“What if I can help you win the election?” said Xia Lei.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Why would I joke with you? Tell me, what do you need help with?”

Ahn Geungan hesitated. “I know you have a skilled thief. I want to borrow him. Also, my finances are being monitored, so I can’t use it in the election. I will need some clean money.”

“I can lend you the person, but you have to guarantee his safety.”

“It’s just stealing some things. There won’t be any problem. I can guarantee his safety.”

“How much money do you need?”

“100 million USD,” said Ahn Geungan.

“I have no problem giving you the money and the person.” Xia Lei said coldly, “But remember, if you don’t do what you promised me, you know what the consequences are.”

“I won’t promise a 100% of it, but I will try my best to satisfy you.”

“Deal. I will personally bring the money and the person to Korea, but you have to keep my whereabouts a secret. Will that be a problem?”

“Okay, no problem. I look forward to our successful cooperation.” Ahn Geungan hung up.

Xia Lei put his phone down and a figure appeared in his mind. It was Gu Kewen. She was also in Korea, and the CIA and the FA Organisation were coming up with plans to target him. Instead of waiting for Gu Kewen, the CIA, and the FA Organisation to chase him down, he might as well chase them down while they were off guard in Korea, while they were all gathered together!

Park Sukjin was Ahn Geungan’s main competitor. Between the two of them, one of them would become the next president of South Korea. People around the world were optimistic about Park Sukjin winning the election. Park Sukjin had a higher popularity rating than Ahn Geungan, and she was also supported by the United States. Ahn Geungan, on the other hand, was someone who had been abandoned. He was isolated and helpless. Providing him with assistance right now was like giving him charcoal amidst the cold snowy winter. This meant that the Ahn Geungan now would definitely not betray him!

Once he got Ahn Geungan as an ally, it would be so much easier for him to move about in Korea!

Kill Gu Kewen!

This thought thrummed in Xia Lei’s head. His desire to kill her was very strong!

Knock knock knocking came from the door.

Xia Lei put away his thoughts and looked over to see Sylvia standing outside the door.

Sylvia wore a set of white pyjamas. The light from the hallway illuminated her vivid beauty.

What did she want to do dressed like that, and knocking at his door at this hour?

Knock knock knock...

Sylvia knocked on the door again.

Xia Lei wanted to pretend that he was asleep, but when he saw how persistent Sylvia was, he braced himself and opened the door.

“Miss Sylvia, uh... Do you need something?” said Xia Lei. He couldn’t help himself; his eyes went to her chest.

“Mr Xia, can I use your bathroom?” Sylvia looked at Xia Lei with wide eyes and she blushed shyly.

“Is there a problem with your bathroom?” Xia Lei looked curious.

Sylvia nodded earnestly. “Yes, there isn’t any hot water.”

“I’ll go check it out for you,” said Xia Lei.

“There’s no need. Inside my bathroom... There’s no hot water, and there are also cockroaches. I don’t want to shower in there, so can I use your bathroom? May I?” Sylvia put up a finger. “Only ten minutes.”

Xia Lei was speechless.

He eventually moved aside and allowed Sylvia to come in. Whether or not Sylvia’s room had hot water or cockroaches, it was hard for him to refuse her request since he was the owner of the villa. Besides, he needed Sylvia to do him a favor. So, even though he knew her purpose wasn’t just to shower, he still had to pretend that he didn’t know anything.

Sylvia entered Xia Lei’s room and went into the bathroom.

An idea popped into Xia Lei’s mind. “Did she really come here to take a shower?” For some reason, he felt a little disappointed.

After a few minutes, Sylvia’s voice suddenly came from the bathroom. “Mr Xia, I forgot to bring a bath towel. Can I borrow yours?”

She was not here to shower, as expected.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“No problem.” The corners of Xia Lei’s lips curved in a smirk. He found his towel and brought it to the bathroom door, then knocked.

Sylvia suddenly opened the door. She didn’t open the door just a little bit, but pushed it completely open.

Xia Lei pretended to be shocked. “Miss Sylvia, you...”

“I’ve wanted to have sex with you since we were in Germany. Annina told me that there’s an 80% chance that you won’t reject me if I try to seduce you. Is that true?”

Xia Lei was speechless.

Annina, you terrible woman!

Knock knock knocking suddenly came from the door, followed by Yelena’s voice. “Director Xia, there’s an important matter that you need to tend to.”

The two entangled beings were petrified on the spot.

Knock knock knock. Yelena knocked on the door three more times.

“Coming!” said Xia Lei anxiously.