Bureau 101
Xia Lei felt the pressure lessen immediately after Shi Bo-Ren left.
Long Bing turned to look at Xia Lei, her gaze that of puzzlement, “You couldn’t even beat me when we first met but you can exchange blows with Boss Shi now. I know about you going to learn Wing Chun at that school but this is too quick, isn’t it? You pick up things so quickly. Why?”
Xia Lei held both his hands out, an innocent look on his face, “I want to know why too. Look, I don’t have three heads and six arms – I’m a normal human being. But Boss Shi did say earlier that maybe it’s because my IQ is very high.”
Long Bing wrinkled her brows, “Leonardo da Vinci was recognised as the person with the highest IQ in the world but he didn’t learn things as monstrously fast as you did. Is your IQ higher than Leonardo da Vinci’s?”
Xia Lei changed the topic, “Let’s talk about this department of yours. You had cause not to tell me before but I’m your consultant now and can be considered one of you guys. How can I call myself one of you if I don’t even know what our department is called?”
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she said, “Bureau 101.”
“Bureau 101?” Xia Lei had never heard of it. It was a strange name.
“National Day is on October first. Bureau 101 takes its name from this auspicious date. Its mission is to defend the country – security, anti-terrorism, anti-spy operations, intelligence gathering, counter-intelligence action and so on. If any individual is marked as a threat to this country, we will assess and assign a threat level. Once the individual reaches a certain level, we will take action and eliminate the target, no matter what status he holds or which country he belongs to. We have a special title – Fixers. To sum it up, we are protecting this country around the clock. Anyone who undermines its development is the enemy. Our job is to identify the enemy and eliminate the enemy,” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei’s expression grew serious; he felt under a lot of pressure.
Long Bing smirked, “Scared?”
Xia Lei smiled wryly, “I’m just a regular guy. Boss Shi suddenly making me a consultant for a department like yours … I don’t think I’m cut out for it.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t need you to be on cases most of the time. Even when we do, we will protect you well,” said Long Bing.
“China is so big and talent can be found everywhere. Why pick me?”
“There are indeed many talents in China but it’s the first time we’ve seen someone like you. You spotted a sniper hundreds of metres away in a dimly lit environment and saved me the first time we met. This proves that your eyesight is way beyond a normal person’s. After that, you found evidence in the vacuum cleaner and helped Jiang Ru-Yi crack the case. The police technicians had swept the whole crime scene for evidence and come up empty before you got there, so this shows that you not only have very good eyesight but a meticulous mind. Additionally, you also know several foreign languages. You can communicate verbally with foreigners and even translate fairly technical foreign documents. Just this skill alone leaves most other people in the dust. Most importantly, you can process high-precision parts and repair important precision instruments, which can solve a lot of difficult problems for us. The high-precision parts you processed for China Industrial Group is an example. So, tell me, would Boss Shi just let a talent like yourself walk away from him?”
“So you asked me to bring the information in person with the intention of making me your consultant?”
“This was Boss Shi’s intention. His word is law and I follow,” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei shrugged, “Okay. Things seem fated to be since the day I met you in Macau. I’ll resign to my fate. Do I have some sort of identification document?”
Long Bing shook her head, “No. We will not give you any.”
“What sort of consultant am I without documents?”
“You want to have some sort of impressive document on hand to flash around when you get into trouble and scare people, don’t you?” said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly but he did think that earlier. If he had documents from Bureau 101, Xu Zheng-Wen wouldn’t dare to shout so nastily at him if he showed him the documents in the great hall of East Wind Heavy Industries, would he?
“That’s a stupid thing to do. Somebody will see your document when you show it and it’s the age of information now. If anyone takes note of your document and the information gets into the hands of the enemy, you identity will be revealed. It’ll become very dangerous for you.”
Xia Lei listened – this seemed to be from experience.
“Plus, you’re very important to us. We will not let you simply join our missions. This is also for your protection. Do not tell anyone of what happened tonight either. You understand what I mean?”
Xia Lei nodded, “Okay, I remember. I’ll take it as it never happened.”
“I’ll bring you to your room. Let me know if you need anything. You can treat this place as your own.” Long Bing patted Xia Lei on the shoulder and walked towards the stairs.
The conversation was over. Xia Lei followed her and his gaze went unavoidably to her snugly jeans-shorts-wrapped ass and the pair of beautiful pale legs. The great scene he’d witnessed at the dining table earlier surfaced in his mind again. Those firm, snowy peaks, those bright, dainty gems…
Xia Lei looked away and stared at the ceiling above his head. He knew that if he didn’t he would definitely see Long Bing’s bum, and her naked bum at that.
The Heavens had given him an extraordinary ability but not a girlfriend. He knew that looking at her more was only going to pain him and not Long Bing.
The second floor was a large suite with three bedrooms, a study and a home gym. The gym had actually been converted from a living room and several pieces of sports equipment like a treadmill and exercise bike were placed there.
Long Bring brought Xia Lei to one of the bedrooms and spoke a few words before leaving him.
The bedroom was simply furnished – a bed, a wardrobe, an old-style writing desk under the window and matching wooden chair. Xia Lei lay on the bed and mulled over some problems.
‘Somehow or other, I’ve become a consultant for Bureau 101. No documents, no salary… What do I get?’ Xia Lei smiled bitterly at that thought.
The price he paid was unimaginable but there was no return – this didn’t make sense. Even if one were patriotic, one had to eat, hadn’t he?
‘Hold on… It’s silly to measure this with monetary value. Who is Shi Bo-Ren? I do some job for him and he can just get me a purchase order or open up a path for me somewhere. That sort of payment would be difficult to calculate. Other people have to try very hard to get acquainted with the big fish and Shi Bo-Ren is that big fish. Knowing him is my greatest gain.’ Xia Lei quickly thought the matter through.
A hair-splitter was not one who would be doing big things and a man of great ambition does not bother with trifles.
At that moment, music came from beyond the door. It was fast-paced exercise music.
‘Why is music playing at this hour?’ Xia Lei was curious and he crawled out of bed, opened the door and walked out.
The music was coming from the home gym. Long Bing was doing sit-ups on one of the pieces of equipment.
She was wearing a sports bikini; skin-hugging shorts and a tightly hugging navel-exposing racer-back top. Perspiration wet her skin and the meagre pieces of cloth which covered her body. The black stretchy material was originally very thin and the wetness only made it cling closer to her skin, revealing the outlines of her body perfectly; big chest, full bum and slim waist. What was even more nosebleed-inducing was that that place was also fully outlined in mature mysteriousness. It seemed like the stretchy material was not material, but…
Xia Lei’s eye did not twitch this time. The sight before him – her in her sports bikini, was no different from her being naked.
Xia Lei stared blankly for a bit, then smiled and greeted, “Uh… Exercising?”
Asking obvious questions were sometimes a good way to ease an awkward atmosphere.
Long Bing pulled herself up on the exercise equipment. Her ample chest squeezed against her thighs and her round globes were squished flatter temporarily. She only glanced at Xia Lei, then let her body fall backwards again. Her legs were hooked around the exercise equipment and her movement made the shorts material between her legs stretch. The shape of that place became even more clearly outlined.
Holy shit!
Xia Lei’s breathing became short, and the tempting sight before him slowed his brain functions. It was hard for him to not think about her body.
At that moment, Long Bing suddenly pulled herself up, gun in hand. There was no communication nor warning. She pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Xia Lei had no chance to react at all. The gunshot rang out as soon as he saw the gun.
The gun had a silencer and the sound was small but the impact huge. Xia Lei was thrown backwards by the shot. Intense pain robbed him of breath and he looked fearfully at his chest, looking for the gun wound. However, his chest was whole and there was no blood. The material of his clothing was just a little torn. Xia Lei then spotted a rubber bullet on the ground next to him.
False alarm.
Xia Lei really thought that he was dead meat when the bullet had hit him. He swore to himself that he never wanted to feel like that ever again.
Long Bing got off the exercise equipment, holding the silenced gun. She walked leisurely to Xia Lei’s side and looked down at him.
Xia Lei caught his breath and looked up at the curvy, slender-legged Long Bing. “What the hell are you doing?” he said angrily.
“My figure’s not bad, isn’t it?” said Long Bing indifferently.
Xia Lei paused. What did she mean by that?
Long Bing continued, “Remember this. The prettier the woman, the greater the danger. When you meet a beautiful, unfamiliar woman in the future who uses her body to attract you, your mind should not be thinking about her body. Your mind should be thinking of where the weapon she’ll use to kill you is hidden.”
Xia Lei was speechless.
“This is just the first lesson,” said Long Bing, “Becoming a consultant for Bureau 101 is not a simple matter. I will train you when I train you. You must be mentally prepared.”
Xia Lei lay on the ground, looking at the mature, mysterious shape between her legs. His mind was a mess. What she’d said seemed easy but it would be very difficult to do.
Long Bing seemed to have discovered what Xia Lei was staring at. She saw his tented trousers. Her brows wrinkled and the muzzle of the gun in her hand suddenly moved to Xia Lei’s lower abdomen.
Bang!
Xia Lei screamed…