The mission in Siberia came to an end.

The training camp in Siberia was thoroughly demolished. Dark Mona had met her fate as well. To Xia Lei, his goal was met. Not only did he avenge Amanda, Park Taeyong, Bagu and Marcus, he also weakened the FA’s forces along with the Knight Hospitaller’s. All in all, it was a win for him.

An IL-76 flew across the skies of Siberia towards the direction of Jingdu, China.

The mercenaries and armed forces who had survived the ordeal were not on this plane. They weren’t willing to return to China. To them, China was a forbidden piece of land. They didn’t want to offer their lives in exchange for money. After all, how would one spend their money if they were dead? They found their own ways to leave Siberia and Xia Lei was counting on that. He didn’t want to have more contact with those people. This time, if Dark Mona wasn’t in Siberia and he wanted to extract more intel from Arthur, he wouldn’t have chosen to come to this forsaken place.

“There’s no way Arthur would’ve lied to me in a situation like that. It seems like the armour really exists and is hidden away in the Sacred Palace on the Hill of Crosses on Malta Island. Not all of the Knight Hospitaller members are aware of its secret. They had always taken it merely as the Red Rider’s armour. Now that I found out where it was, how am I going to steal it away from the Sacred Palace?” The question tormented Xia Lei silently. He averted his gaze to look at the Russo and Grey sisters who were sitting opposite him from the corner of his eye.

Just possessing Arthur’s copy of the access card wasn’t enough to get him to Malta Island. He needed assistance. He needed someone who could help him sneak into the Sacred Palace. But other than the two sets of identical twins, who else would be a better fit for the job?

The four ladies stared intently at Xia Lei. Each of them was silent with their own thoughts.

“How should I get these four to serve me loyally? I need to have them work for me and not for the Knight Hospitallers.” Xia Lei’s mind was bombarded with thoughts. He decided to just stare at them face on.

Stella frowned at the action, instinctively closing her legs. She was worried that she had exposed the scenery beneath her skirt. The four of them had changed from their Siberian battle attire into air stewardess uniforms offered by the Russians. This was what they were worried about. Xia Lei was like an eagle. Eagles could detect hares hidden in the bushes from about a few hundred metres above the ground. If that was the case, how could Xia Lei miss her concealed bush under her skirt?

Prevention was a must!

Her protection was working well but she couldn’t understand his random mumbling. “1, 2, 58... Wait, that doesn’t count. 58... Why is this so difficult? This is as difficult as Gu Kewen!”

“What are you mumbling about?” Stella was a little suspicious.

“I was thinking about something.” Xia Lei flashed her a smile but didn’t explain himself.

“What were you thinking about?” asked Giovanna.

“How much does the Knight Hospitaller pay you per month?” pried Xia Lei.

“We don’t get paid. We fight for our belief,” said Stella with a straight face.

“Really? You don’t get paid?” Xia Lei was very surprised.

The other three shook their heads.

“Then how do you afford clothes and cosmetics?”

“That’s none of your concern!” Stella was irritated.

Suddenly, a wry smile played on Xia Lei’s lips. “Alright, I assume that you receive them as donations. But what about menstrual products? The followers can’t be donating those to you, right? If there’s no donation and you have no pay, how do you solve your monthly woes?”

The four ladies blushed.

A grown man discussing menstrual products with them?! What the hell was wrong with him?

“Die!” Stella had enough, standing up from her seat to attack Xia Lei.

The other three quickly stopped her.

“How about this? I’ll pay you all one hundred thousand USD per month. That way, you can use the money to get the most in-fashion clothes and the best cosmetics. You should treat yourself well while you’re young and alive,” said Xia Lei.

Giovanna declined. “We have our own faith. You can’t be serious about trying to buy us over with money.”

Xia Lei calmly retorted, “But you’re now my knights. Technically, I’m your new boss. Giving you all salaries is a must, is there anything wrong with it?”

The four ladies fell silent. Truthfully, getting paid one hundred thousand USD per month sounded too good to be true. Who wasn’t a fan of money in this world? It would be a total lie to say that you weren’t. In this place, there were monks who would scam people for money. Everything had a price, including faith and loyalty.

Knowing that his offer was working, Xia Lei went on to convince them. “You’re all so young. Don’t you want to drive the best luxury sports car, sip on the best alcohol and afford a staycation at a beachfront villa? You can even...”

“That’s enough!” Giovanna interrupted Xia Lei. “We don’t want your money, don’t you try to get us over to your side with money. We are different from those mercenaries, you can hire them for a fee but not us.”

“Yes, please stop humiliating us with your money,” said Theresa.

Xia Lei could only scold them in his heart. “Fucking idiots.”

To him, money wasn’t an issue. But if it was the opposite, then that would mean huge trouble.

“You pledged your loyalty to me and became my knights. If you’re not going to work for me, how can you still be considered knights?” questioned Xia Lei.

“I can hang your laundry,” said Theresa

“I can pour you a glass of water,” answered Rosa.

“I can make you breakfast,” chimed Giovanna.

Only Stella had her lips shut, not willing to provide an answer. She was reluctant to help Xia Lei out even in the slightest bit.

Of course, Xia Lei wasn’t going to let her pass just like that. He smiled at her, “Stella, the three of them have found jobs. What about you? How about you warm my bed for me every night?”

“You...” Stella’s anger had her speechless.

Xia Lei was secretly angry. He thought to himself, “You’ve already sworn to become my knights. But all you’re willing to do was to hang my laundry, pour some water and make me breakfast? God damn it, are you trying to piss me off? Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll play along with your silly games!”

Suddenly, pilot Ivankov’s voice rang through the plane’s announcement system. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now entered the Chinese airspace.”

The four ladies exchanged looks. It was obvious from their expressions that they weren’t willing to return to China.

Xia Lei picked up the communicator hanging on the wall of the plane to reply in Russian. “Mister Ivankov, thank you. Please land us at Jingdu International Airport as planned.”

“No problem, Mister Xia. If you ever need flight service again, please do reach out to me. My crew and I are only one call away,” said Ivankov.

“Hehe, of course,” replied Xia Lei with a smile.

“Oh, right. Mister Xia, you may now turn on your electronic devices. This is a military plane. Your telecommunication signals will not affect our flight system.”

“Alright, got it.” Xia Lei then returned the device to its original spot. He then took out both his phone devices to turn them on.

The number he used for daily life had a few missed calls. A majority of it was Wei Guanyi’s number.

Wei Guanyi was Ning Jing’s attending physician.

Xia Lei couldn’t help but call Wei Guanyi’s number back.

“Hello? Is this Doctor Wei? I’m Xia Lei.”

“Oh, hello. Mister Xia, I’ve been trying to reach you but your phone was turned off.” Wei Guanyi’s voice rang through the speaker.

“What’s the matter?”

“I have some good news for you.”

Xia Lei was nervous. “Is Ning Jing...”

“Yes, yes, it’s about Doctor Ning.” Wei Guanyi smiled. “This morning, she suddenly woke up like a regular human being.”

Without waiting for Wei Guanyi to utter another word, Xia Lei interrupted him. “Did she draw something new?”

“No, no, no. She hasn’t drawn anything. What I’m trying to say is that she has recovered!” Wei Guanyi let out a laugh.

“She recovered?” It was great news but Xia Lei’s surprise had overshadowed his glee.

If Ning Jing was truly well, she would be the first to recover after coming in contact with the ancient alloy.

What indication would this bring?

“Yes, she’s recovered.” Wei Guanyi continued. “The nurse was the first to find out. She woke up and told them that she was hungry before asking to borrow the nurse’s phone. Sadly, according to our protocol here, she and that team of experts were not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. So the nurse didn’t pass it to her. After that, the nurse did inform me of this and I went to talk to her. I ran a couple of tests and it came back normal.”

“What about the other experts? How are they doing?”

“The others are still in critical condition. One of them even...”

“What about him?”

“Based on his condition, I suspect that he would have a week at most.”

Xia Lei’s mind was clouded with confusion.

“Oh, that reminds me. Doctor Ning said she wants to meet you.”

Xia Lei took a glance at his wristwatch. “I’ll be there in another three hours.”

“Alright. See you soon, Mister Xia.”

“See you soon.” Xia Lei hung up. His mind spiralling down into a sea of thoughts.

He was fully aware of Ning Jing’s condition. Wei Guanyi had told him before that there was literally no chance of recovery for her case. It was the same for the other experts that went insane too. While the others were deteriorating fast, why was she the only one getting better?

There was something nagging the back of his mind. It couldn’t be this simple, could it?

“Ning Jing is such a pitiful lady. I must see what I can help with when I see her later,” thought Xia Lei to himself.

The Russo and Grey sisters had their eyes glued to Xia Lei, their stares filled with curiosity. Sadly, they couldn’t understand a single thing from Xia Lei’s phone call.

“Mister Xia, who was that on the phone?” Giovanna asked in Italian.

Xia Lei stared at the four of them. “That’s none of your business.”

The four ladies fell silent.

It sure did feel shitty when Xia Lei ignored them.