Chapter 297 - No Escape
The forest was caged in the inky darkness of night. Xia Lei pulled Tang Yu-Yan along with him in a run in the dark; he was practically her eyes. Spears, arrows and bullets whooshed crazily behind them.
Kabir’s three underlings had just found cover and were looking for targets. However, they’d become targets themselves before they managed to fix on any targets of their own - three arrows shot down from the tree canopy and pierced their heads.
The Bureau 101 agents were hardier. They went straight into combat-mode after hearing Xia Lei’s warning shot and dove into the closest bit of forest to hide behind the trees to return fire. Their shots were focused and they were used to battle. They were at a disadvantage but they did not appear flustered. The defence line they formed blocked the White Hun Tribe’s first wave of attack and killed less than ten of the warriors.
However, they were only able to block the first wave. Enemies came from both sides a minute later to tear them apart with AK47s and bows and arrows. Five Bureau 101 agents fell in pools of blood…
They had come to rescue people but had died in a strange land. Life is but once, and who was to judge whether their deaths were noble?
No one had the right to judge.
The only ones of the team to escape were Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan.
Tree after tree was left behind as they ran. There were no paths in the forest but both of them were practitioners of Tang Qinggong and the uneven ground was like flat ground to them; they ran like the wind.
Even the White Hun warriors who were familiar with the terrain could not catch up with Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan, thanks to Tang Qinggong and Xia Lei’s left eye. They had escaped their encirclement before it was complete, becoming fish which had escaped the net.
They did not know how long nor how far they ran, but they ran till they fell to the ground in exhaustion, panting and gasping. Tang Yu-Yan, in particular, was gasping like a fish out of water, her chest rising and falling very visibly.
It was all dark above and there was no sound of gunshots, no swishing of arrows through the air, no footsteps and shouts of female White Hun warriors - just the rustling of the wind through the trees. The whole world was abnormally silent except for this small sound. It was so frighteningly quiet.
Tang Yu-Yan suddenly got to her feet a minute later and started walking towards the campsite with fire in her eyes.
Xia Lei got to his feet as well and pulled Tang Yu-Yan to a stop. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to kill those women! Revenge for my men!” said Tang Yu-Yan angrily.
“Calm down!” Xia Lei had a heaviness in his voice. “There’s just the two of us and there are over a hundred of them. We’ll die for nothing if we go!”
Tang Yu-Yan shook Xia Lei’s hand off. “You’re a coward! A coward!”
Xia Lei didn’t mind her calling him a coward; he understood how she felt. Those agents who had died in battle were her subordinates and had been in countless life-and-death missions with her. They had deep camaraderie through their battles. Even he felt terrible about the injustice of their deaths, so what must Tang Yu-Yan feel?
“You’re not going? Then I will!” Tang Yu-Yan went back the way they came, fuming.
Xia Lei suddenly grabbed her by the waist and she thrust her elbow back to counterattack. They twisted, they fought, and they fell to the ground, rolling about on the forest floor. They wrestled for a bit before both calmed.
Tang Yu-Yan was not usually the sort of woman who would let her emotions get the better of her and she knew the consequences of her launching a counterattack - her fallen comrades would not come back to life and she would die herself. Who was going to complete the mission of rescuing the team of experts if she died?
“What are you still on top of me for?” Tang Yu-Yan calmed down. She was not angry about him doggedly trying to stop her. She would probably have done something very stupid if he had not stopped her when she was being impulsive.
Xia Lei stayed atop her, legs wrapped around hers with their lower bodies pressed together, not giving her an inch of space.
“I’m fine now. You can let me go.” Tang Yu-Yan was beginning to feel uncomfortable. It hadn’t been anything strange when she’d lost control and gotten entangled with Xia Lei while being pushed to the ground but she was calm now and Xia Lei was still pressing against her intimately; it was a different feeling.
“Don’t do anything reckless if I let you go. Promise me and I’ll release you,” said Xia Lei.
“I promise! Hurry up!” Tang Yu-Yan glared at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei relaxed his hold on Tang Yu-Yan but he still stayed near her, watching her warily. He was afraid that she would go to start a reckless counterattack out of revenge and he was prepared to wrap her with his arms and press her down again.
Tang Yu-Yan displayed no signs of recklessness. She got to her feet; she had forgotten to zip up her half-open jacket. She looked blankly in the direction of the campsite and two streams of tears came from the corners of her eyes. She made no sound but the sorrow she felt was the deepest.
Xia Lei let out a small sigh and said consolingly, “We will surely get a chance to avenge them. Don’t be too sad. They came here to complete a mission so the best way to respect their memory is to complete the mission.”
Tang Yu-Yan turned around abruptly and threw herself on Xia Lei’s shoulder, sobbing. Her crying was fairly controlled; she did not dare make too much noise. Her tears flowed in lines, wetting Xia Lei’s sweatshirt.
Xia Lei patted her lightly on her back and comforted her softly, “Cry, go ahead and cry. You’ll feel much better after crying it all out.”
Her bountiful bosom was squeezed against him and she was holding him lightly around the waist. His nose was filled with her scent too, but Xia Lei had no thoughts going in that direction, only heaviness. It was just him and Tang Yu-Yan left now and they were up against the entire White Hun Tribe. They still needed to rescue the trapped experts - was this possible?
He then thought of his father again.
The second note his father had left him said to lose Tang Yu-Yan after he got to the White Hun Tribe, and the Russian woman named Yelena would appear to meet him.
‘How am I to lose Tang Yu-Yan in this situation? She’s not emotionally stable right now. Besides, there are White Hun warriors in this forest. Dad won’t risk sending his assistant Yelena to meet me, will he? Best to wait for a bit and act when the time is ripe,’ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Just then, Tang Yu-Yan raised her head from his shoulder and wiped at her tears. “I’m fine now. Let’s go. They won’t give up on looking for us so we have to leave this place as quickly as we can.”
The familiar Tang Yu-Yan was back.
“No need to rush. We need to take inventory. I have all of my equipment, and some dry rations and water. Yours?” said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei’s equipment and food supplies were all in his rucksack and these things were naturally with him if he had his rucksack.
Tang Yu-Yan waved the gun in her hand at him, then pulled out a piece of electronic equipment from her clothing. The red signal belaying the location of the experts was still flashing quietly, glowing faintly red.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief when he saw the device. “Good that we still have that. It’ll be impossible to find the team of experts without it.”
“How many bullets do you have left?” Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei and the sniper rifle on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about that. I top the bullets up after the end of every battle, so I always have over a hundred sniper rifle bullets. I have less for the handgun; 30.”
“Give me the handgun bullets. You can keep the sniper rifle bullets. I didn’t have time to take my rucksack; my bullets are in it,” said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei handed the three magazines to Tang Yu-Yan. Those bullets were not important to him since he was not going to engage in close combat with those female White Hun warriors. He would slaughter them at over 3,000 metres next time!
Tang Yu-Yan put the 30 bullets away and glanced back in the direction of the campsite before leading Xia Lei in the direction indicated by the little red dot.
The White Hun warriors had not caught up. This was an indication of how quickly and how far Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan had run when fleeing for their lives.
“Do your best to step on the solid areas. Don’t leave tracks,” said Xia Lei to the leading Tang Yu-Yan.
“You sure are meticulous. No need for your reminder. You think I lack experience when compared to you?” Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. “Okay, treat it as if I’ve said nothing. But don’t blame me for not reminding you when the female warriors of the White Hun Tribe catch up to us by following our tracks.”
“Lei, did you ever think that we’d die here?”
“No,” said Xia Lei, “I am only thinking of how we’re going to live on.”
Tang Yu-Yan couldn’t help glancing at Xia Lei. She could not see clearly in the dark but she suddenly sensed a resilience that even she did not have from Xia Lei. He always had this confident air about him - he did not cave, no matter how nasty the environment. This him was very attractive.
She suddenly recalled the scene of her stitching Xia Lei’s buttock.
“Any useable plan for this sort of situation?” asked Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan laughed dryly. “What pre-prepared plan? We’ll plan as we go. First, we find them, then we plan our exit.”
“Woof, woof, woof... “ The sounds of dogs came from the forest.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan froze at the same time.
The female White Hun warriors would not let them off because they had killed their people.
“Woof, woof, woof…” The dogs were coming, and fast.
“What do we do?” Tang Yu-Yan spoke anxiously, “We have no way of outrunning four-legged hunters. The White Hun Tribe warriors will know where we are once the dogs catch up. There’s just us two - there’s no chance of us winning.”
Xia Lei suddenly looked up and at the canopy of the trees reaching skyward. “Up the trees. We’ll go by tree. Hunting dogs have good noses but they can’t smell our footsteps in the air.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Yu-Yan bent her legs and leapt. Her body left the ground and she had grabbed a tree branch metres in the air in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei Jumped up too but he was carrying more weight. The tree branch was high up too and he could not grab ahold of anything. He hurriedly grasped at Tang Yu-Yan’s legs.
“You…” Tang Yu-Yan’s body was pulled downward and she hurriedly tightened her grip on the tree branch.
“I’m carrying the rucksack. I can’t grab hold. Hold steady.” Xia Lei climbed up Tang Yu-Yan’s body. He climbed past her perky butt and the softness of it made him strangely nervous.
He got up on the branch and reached out a hand to pull Tang Yu-Yan up but was met with the sight of her rolling her eyes. “Shoo. I don’t need your help!”
Xia Lei shrugged and climbed higher. He went up to where the tree canopies touched and jumped to the next tree. Behind him, Tang Yu-Yan did the same and transferred herself easily to another branch.
The two of them moved from canopy to canopy, like monkeys in a forest.
On the ground, ten hunting dogs came rushing over but they stopped at the first tree. The dogs searched in all directions, but they did not find anything more…