“No! No! No!” Hattori Mei screamed with her arms around her head. 

The helicopter was her only hope to escape this horrid place. If it was gone, she would have lost her very last hope.

What would happen if she fell prey to Xia Lei? That was something she wasn’t keen on thinking about. There was no time to ponder about it. 

As the cartridge came near the helicopter, a bullet collided with it. With a deafening sound, an explosion erupted beneath the helicopter’s body. The burst of energy shook the helicopter, but it hadn’t crashed. The shocked pilot quickly pulled on the lever to reverse out of the area. 

Hattori Mei finally remembered something. She quickly retrieved the transmitter from the pockets of her coat and screamed, “Help me! Help me!” As her shrill screams for help resumed, she continued to tumble down the mountain. 

The battle on Bone Mountain was still in action, though it was approaching its end. 

Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were scattered at six different assault points. The charging Indian counterterrorist elites were under the attack of XL2500 sniper rifles and gust assault rifles from various directions. Without the aerial support from the helicopter, they were vulnerable. Within a few minutes, the path towards the peak had accumulated more and more bodies. 

“Why did the helicopter leave?!” The Indian commander directed his rage towards Hattori Geppa. “Call them back! Now!”

Hattori Geppa took cover behind a nearby boulder and spoke into his transmitter. “Why did you retreat? We need to support the Indian soldiers!” 

“It was Hattori Mei who instructed us to retreat.” The reply came back. 

“That fucking bitch! Fucking moron!” Hattori Geppa saw red. “She’s not in danger. Come back to aid the operation now!” 

“Sorry… Hattori Mei instructed us to ignore your orders.” The transmitter relayed another reply. The helicopter could be seen travelling to a blind spot at the base of the mountain. 

Hattori Geppa’s expression was terrifying. Between gritted teeth, he uttered, “I’m going to kill you all!” 

Abruptly, the Indian commander scurried over and held him at gunpoint. “I’m going to give you three seconds to order them back or else I’ll kill you!” 

“I was betrayed by that bitch too!” Hattori Geppa fumed. 

“That’s none of my concern! Get the helicopter back now!” 

Weirdly, Hattori Geppa tilted his head. 

The Indian commander was about to point his gun against the man’s head but froze. He lowered his gaze to look at his chest before falling onto the ground. 

There was a combat knife in his chest. 

No one had noticed what happened there. Hattori Geppa lifted his head to look towards the peak. He immediately stood up and made a mad dash towards the base. In that split second, a bullet was fired, mercilessly hitting his coccyx. He lost control of both his legs and slumped onto the ground, the steep terrain tossed his body around unceremoniously until his head collided against a rock. The harsh impact robbed him of his consciousness. 

“Ha, there’s no point running. You’ve run out of luck.” Xia Lei smirked coldly. The gust assault rifle in his hands was still smoking. 

After a few minutes, the surviving Special Forces ceased fire. Their leader raised his sniper rifle from behind a boulder with a white cloth was tied to its barrel. Where did they even manage to find a white cloth? 

Under the leader’s influence, the Special Forces quickly did the same too. They raised their weapons and began to come out of their hiding spots. They have given up on the battle. 

“Gosh, they actually surrendered. Boss, what do we do about this?” Alessio’s voice rang out. 

Xia Lei fell silent. He then muttered his reply into the transmitter, “What do you think we should do?”

As soon as he was done speaking, Tsukino Kyoko pulled the trigger to kill one of them. Almost in the same instance, the other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members did the same. 

In a blink of the eye, the surviving Special Forces were reduced to nothing but motionless corpses. 

Xia Lei was taken aback. “I meant for there to be a discussion..”

Tsukino Kyoko answered him. “The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team does not take captives.”

Truthfully, he had wanted to kill off all of the remaining Indian Special Forces. It’d be asking for trouble if he were to let anyone live to tell the tale. Though so, his conscience made him hesitate. Thankfully, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had no reserve for the matter and helped him finish the dirty job. 

“Too bad we let one slip, along with the Hattori clan’s elite fighters,” said Tsukino Kyoko. 

Xia Lei stood up from his position behind a boulder. He tried to look ahead for where the helicopter had landed, which unfortunately was a blind spot. His left eye couldn’t make past the mountain body blocking his sight. “I don’t think the Hattori clan’s elite fighters were a part of this operation. Those who were involved today weren’t on the same level.” 

That was certainly a good sign, it was an indication that he had successfully crippled the Hattori clan’s power.

“Perhaps they’d be a little more humble next time. I’m going to check for any survivors.” Tsukino Kyoko too left her hiding spot to make her way down the mountain with her gust assault rifle. 

Everyone else did the same. Though they hadn’t suffered from gun wounds, all of them had some form of injury. Alessio’s arm, Yelena’s forehead, E’er Demutu’s thigh, Tsukino Kyoko’s behind, Sa’im’s chest and Anjum Khan’s face were unfortunate victims. Xia Lei wasn’t excluded from the list, his thigh and back still had a few rock shards embedded in him. The back of his clothes was drenched with blood. 

Xia Lei returned to check on the crater. Ning Jing was still lying peacefully on her stretcher bed without any obvious injuries. The only damage she received was some soil and rock shards littered on her body. Xia Lei sighed in relief and made his way down the mountain. 

Sporadic gunshots sounded on the steep terrain.

The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had shot every Indian Special Force who had not fully succumbed to death. Mercy was not an option. 

Xia Lei came to Hattori Geppa’s side. The moment the Japanese man had landed in India, Xia Lei had already made him his target. If Hattori Geppa hadn’t attempted to escape, Xia Lei would probably require more effort to get rid of him. Thankfully, he did try to escape. Fleeing one’s battle was equivalent to betraying their own backs to their enemy. Hattori Geppa was no amateur. He was aware of that but he was a victim to his own fear. The battle on Dawang’s snow mountain had robbed him of his confidence and courage. 

Hattori Geppa laid motionless on the floor as blood continued to pour out from his waist. The bottom half of his body was drenched in red. 

Xia Lei kicked away his TAR21 assault rifle then turned him around with his leg. 

Hattori Geppa remained unconscious. The trauma to his head and the gun wound on his coccyx had left him on the verge of death. 

Xia Lei kneeled down and pinched Geppa’s philtrum. 

Out of nowhere, a helicopter emerged from the mountain’s blind spot. It quickly fled the scene. 

“That woman escaped.” Tsukino Kyoko continued, “She’s such a savage, being able to betray her own brother like that.”

Xia Lei replied nonchalantly, “The aftermath is in her interest. Now that Hattori Geppa is dead, she’ll eventually become the heir to the Hattori’s family business. I think she’s the true winner of this battle.”

“Cough… cough…” Hattori Geppa finally stirred. An unfamiliar face appeared in his vision. Though a stranger, Hattori Geppa knew he was Xia Lei. Subconsciously, he reached for his weapon but all he could feel were rocks. He tried to pry a rock out from the soil to no avail for the tough mineral was deeply embedded in the substrate.

Tsukino Kyoko extended her leg over to step on Hattori Geppa’s hand, slowly grinding her sole against it. 

Hattori Geppa clenched his teeth, refusing to let a single sound escape. 

Xia Lei said, “Go treat your wounds, I can handle him.”

It was only then that the female ninja ceased her torment. 

The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members made their way back to the peak, mocking each other’s injuries as they climbed. 

“Oh shit, Yelena! You’re disfigured! How are you going to get married like that?”

“Fuck off. I think it’s better for you to save that concern for your penis, Indian Monkey. Your dick is already pea-sized. Now that you got it blasted off, there’s nothing left.” 

“Kyoko, do you need me to help with the wound on your butt?”

“Yeah sure, come over.”

“Hey, why are you holding up that knife? I’m just joking.”

Laughter echoed around the mountain. 

A smile appeared on Xia Lei’s face. He slid out his combat knife and pressed it against Hattori Geppa’s neck. He jeered in Japanese, “Back in Dawang, you killed a lot of my brothers from Bureau 101. So, I’m going to avenge them. I hope you won’t mind.” 

“Moron!” Geppa challenged. “Stop yapping if you’re going to kill me! Just do it!” 

“Did you know that your own sister betrayed you?”

“Don’t mention that bitch in front of me!” 

“Do you hate her?” Xia Lei smirked. “She’s not too bad. Her skin is so soft. Hmm, it’s truly some high-quality shit. Her sex skills are impressive too. I can tell that she’s been appeasing the opposite sex a lot.”

“Fuck! Just kill me already!” Hattori Geppa could no longer tolerate such humiliation. 

“I can make it fast but you must answer my question.” Xia Lei continued, “What relation does Hattori Mei share with the CIA?”

“Hmph!!” Hattori Geppa spat a mouthful of blood and saliva onto Xia Lei’s face.

Xia Lei raised his arm to wipe his face. “Or is she someone of high profile in Japan?”

“Why are you asking these questions?”

Xia Lei explained, “She’s the assistant to Lockheed Martin’s Madam Folsom. Her background is rather normal but raised some red flags. In France, she didn’t hesitate to sleep with me to extract intel and then plotted against me. Now, she’s here in India to plan this operation. No one in the right mind would see her as a normal civilian.”

Something glimmered in Hattori Geppa’s eye.

Xia Lei continued, “She has betrayed you. She’s obviously after the Hattori’s family business. Are you still going to protect her interest?”

“She’s part of the Hattori clan. Even if she betrayed me, I will not betray the interest of my own clan. Go to hell, you filthy Chinese pig!” Hattori Geppa opened his mouth, about to spit on Xia Lei again. 

At that moment, Xia Lei drove his combat knife into his mouth. The blade pierced through his tongue and stabbed through his throat. 

“How about you be a fish in your next life? Spitting is part of a fish’s natural behaviour.” With a roll of his wrist, Xia Lei drew back his knife. 

Blood began to pool in Geppa’s mouth. He gaped pitifully for air but all his efforts were in vain. In another few seconds, he remained motionless. 

Xia Lei turned around to leave, deeming Hattori Geppa unworthy of his attention.