Chapter 138: A Closely Guarded Secret

“What you need always seems to arrive just when you need it.”

Liu Jingye spoke with smug satisfaction. A dagger, a cane gun—those things were certainly useful, but what he needed most at the moment was money.

“For a member of the largest assassins’ organization in all Asia, carrying only three thousand yuan when he goes out is pretty pathetic.” He counted the bills as he spoke. “If you had to make a getaway by car in an emergency and the police impounded it, this wouldn’t even cover the fine.”

“But this cane gun is excellent. The workmanship is exquisite. Unless you look closely, you’d never notice it. It can fire only one shot, but that’s enough to save your life at a critical moment.” Studying the cane, Liu Jingye muttered, “The trouble is that it’s too unusual. An ordinary person carrying a cane would only arouse suspicion. If I could modify it a little, it would make a good self-defense weapon for Chen Yuxin.”

He could not help thinking of Li Yan, that voluptuous, seductive older woman who was also an expert gunsmith of the highest caliber.

But Li Yan was in the prime of her sensual years, blazing like a ball of fire. Liu Jingye generally did not dare provoke her.

Still, Chen Yuxin’s crisis had not yet passed. She had returned to work at the television station and would need to continue carrying a weapon for protection. Since such a fine opportunity had presented itself, Liu Jingye had no choice but to swallow his nerves and go find Li Yan.

It was the same inconspicuous residential compound. Quite a few elderly men and women were dancing in the garden by the entrance. The surroundings were ordinary, and most of the residents were old people.

On the first floor, outside Li Yan’s apartment, Liu Jingye was just about to knock when he noticed a sheet of paper pasted to the door.

“Help wanted. Requirements: Male, under thirty, strong and vigorous, possessing special skills, honest, hardworking, and highly enduring!”

Liu Jingye felt a headache coming on the moment he read it. What kind of ridiculous job advertisement was this?

A mature, alluring woman in her thirties lived inside, yet she had posted such a notice on her door. It looked less like a legitimate advertisement and more like an illicit brothel openly soliciting customers. It was practically the same as those advertisements for paid female companionship pasted on telephone poles.

“Could she be unable to bear the loneliness and planning to go into the oldest profession?” Liu Jingye said with a bitter smile before knocking nervously.

“Who is it?” Li Yan’s sweet, syrupy voice came from inside.

“I’m here to apply,” Liu Jingye replied with a grin.

The door opened at once. When Li Yan saw him, she immediately broke into a charming smile. Leaning against the doorframe, she struck an impossibly seductive pose, and Liu Jingye stared in a daze.

The older woman was wearing a bright red silk nightdress. Two slender straps rested on her shoulders, leaving her snow-white shoulders bare, while her ample bosom threatened to spill free, its alluring contours impossible to miss.

The hem fell to her knees. Her pale, straight calves and exquisite jade-like feet peeking from her slippers radiated sensual temptation. Liu Jingye swallowed repeatedly, struggling to keep his emotions under control.

“Oh, it’s you, little Liu. You’ve come to apply for a job with your big sister?” Seeing his embarrassed expression, Li Yan giggled coquettishly. She reached out and took him by the arm. “Come in. Let’s see what you can do first!”

“See what I can do?” Liu Jingye was covered in awkward disbelief. “Why does that sound so familiar?”

In a daze, he was dragged into the room. The instant he crossed the threshold, an icy chill swept over him. Every pore on his body seemed to close at once—the body’s instinctive reaction to danger.

Liu Jingye stared at the room in astonishment. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur. Looking down, he saw a row of small cannons—the sort of ceremonial firework launchers commonly seen at weddings. Seven or eight of them stood in a line, all aimed directly at the entrance.

He looked up and saw several strings of firecrackers hanging by the window of the opposite balcony, their brilliant red color almost festive. On the living-room floor sat a large metal barrel, its open mouth pointing straight toward the door. Liu Jingye turned his head toward the bedroom and saw three flintlock guns hanging on the door.

“Big sister, what exactly are you planning to do?” he asked in a trembling voice.

Li Yan shrugged indifferently. “Start my own business, of course. Didn’t you see the job advertisement on my door? I want to make some special fireworks and firecrackers at home, then sell them to wedding companies for a little extra money.”

“Really?” The corner of Liu Jingye’s eye twitched. His face was full of disbelief. “If you sold the things in this room to the Middle East or Africa, you’d probably make far more money!”

“Ordinary people might not be able to tell, but you can’t fool me. Every one of these things may look like toys or antique curiosities, but they’re all genuine. And although the sulfur in the air is heavy, it can’t conceal that familiar scent of flame and gunpowder.”

Liu Jingye’s voice turned cold. “Big sister, what are you making all these weapons for?”

“Heh. You really are my dear little brother—you understand me so well.”

Li Yan immediately flashed a seductive smile. Like a beautiful serpent, she wound herself around him. Liu Jingye tried to push her away, but could not. One smooth leg hooked tightly around his own, while her body pressed firmly against him.

“Big sister, can’t we just talk this over?” Liu Jingye said awkwardly. He could clearly feel the changes taking place in her body.

With the alluring air of a fox and the tenderness of flowing water, Li Yan fixed him with her luminous eyes. “You heartless man. Does talking to you ever do any good? You never care about me. Every time you come, you rush in and rush out. Do you think my place is a public toilet?”

Liu Jingye could only smile bitterly. He hurriedly changed the subject. “Big sister, where did you get all this stuff?”

“Online!” Li Yan laughed. “The Internet is so advanced now. You can buy practically anything. See those two flintlock guns? They’re sold as ornaments, but their internal structures are basically the same as real firearms. I made a few improvements, and now they’re no less powerful than any modern handgun.”

“Then why are you making so many weapons?” Liu Jingye asked, subtly shifting away from her.

Li Yan did not continue pestering him. Instead, a solemn expression suddenly appeared on her face, and even a trace of fear entered her eyes.

After a brief silence, she said quietly, “A few days ago, I went out and saw several Vietnamese men.”

Liu Jingye froze. Now he understood why she had made so many weapons. She was preparing to defend herself.

Years ago, Liu Jingye had rescued her in the jungles of Vietnam. She had been covered in wounds and fleeing for her life, pursued by a small unit. Thinking they were enemies, Liu Jingye had eliminated the entire group without mercy. Saving her had been an unintended consequence.

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yan slipped a hand into his coat, pulled out his cigarettes, and lit one. Her two fingers extended gracefully as they held the cigarette, the drifting smoke and crimson nails creating a different kind of sensuality.

In a low voice, she said, “You know that I used to work for them in the Golden Triangle. Later, because of certain things, I slipped away secretly. They hunted me down, and I only escaped because I met you. Otherwise, I would have died long ago in those vast mountains.”

“All right, sister. You don’t have to keep reminiscing about your suffering and triumphs. If you go on much longer, you’ll end up offering yourself to me again.”

Before he had finished speaking, Li Yan pounced on him like a hungry tiger, knocking him onto the sofa. Despite the domineering move, she turned around and pouted coquettishly.

“What do you mean by that? If I offer myself to you, you still don’t want me?”

Liu Jingye was mortified. This mature woman was countless times bolder than Yuan Xiaoying. Perhaps it was because of her age, or perhaps for some other reason he could not explain. Yuan Xiaoying’s passion pleased him—it was the flame of love. Li Yan’s passion, however, was like the fiercest of sacred fires, as though it might burn him to ashes.

“I’m only afraid I’m not good enough for you,” Liu Jingye said.

“You’re more than good enough.” Li Yan pointed toward the notice on the door. “Didn’t you see what it said? Strong and vigorous, possessing special skills, honest, hardworking, and highly enduring. You’re absolutely suitable.”

“Are you hiring an employee or looking for a man?”

“Either works!” Li Yan declared boldly. “Whether it’s working for me or lying with me, as long as he has special skills and plenty of endurance, I can accept him.”

“You’re ruthless,” Liu Jingye said with a bitter smile.

Li Yan was still sprawled on top of him. The neckline of her gauzy nightdress had been loose to begin with, and now that she had fallen forward, it had opened completely, revealing a breathtaking vista. Yet Liu Jingye had no courage to climb such a perilous peak.

The Buddha had subdued the Monkey King beneath Five-Elements Mountain. Li Yan had subdued Liu Jingye beneath Twin-Peaks Mountain.

“Wait!”

Liu Jingye suddenly remembered something. Taking advantage of the moment, he rolled over and rose, pushing Li Yan aside. He put on an almost solemn expression.

“Sister, it seems that ever since that day, you’ve never seriously answered me. Why did you flee the Golden Triangle in the first place? Every time I ask, you start wrestling with me. Not today. Whatever happens, you’re going to tell me properly.”

At his words, Li Yan cooled instantly, like a fire that had been doused. She looked at him and said, “The Vietnamese have already come looking for me. Even if you hadn’t come today, I was planning to ask you for help.”

“You’re certain those Vietnamese are here for you?” Liu Jingye asked in surprise. “They’ve chased you for thousands of miles. Don’t tell me you seduced their leader?”

“Get lost! Do I look like that kind of woman?”

Li Yan suddenly transformed into a virtuous, chaste matron, entirely unlike the woman who had just used her twin peaks to pin him down.

Liu Jingye raised both hands. “All right, I was wrong. Go on.”

Li Yan sat up and straightened her disheveled hair. Furrowing her brows, she said, “Back then, I fell in with the wrong people. A man tricked me into going to the Golden Triangle, where I made and modified weapons for them…”

“That wrong person was your man, wasn’t he?” Liu Jingye teased.

Li Yan clearly did not want to discuss the past any further. She ignored the remark and continued directly.

“At first, I resigned myself to working for them. I made quite a bit of money in American dollars, of course. But later, the whole world intensified its crackdown on drugs. The three countries surrounding the Golden Triangle, together with my own country, launched a joint campaign and attacked them relentlessly. Under unprecedented pressure, they were forced to develop new weapons.”

“New weapons?” Liu Jingye asked in shock. It was an extremely sensitive subject.

Li Yan nodded. “They were indeed new weapons, but they kept the whole matter very secret—even from me. Then, one day, the very ‘criminal’ who had tricked me into going to the Golden Triangle suddenly came to me, barely alive, and told me to run.”

It turned out that the new weapons they were developing were connected to chemical and biological warfare. They even involved poison gas. They had intended to use us as test subjects. If I had not escaped that very night, I would have been buried somewhere in those green mountains long ago.”