Chapter 2: The Allure of the Wolf's Lair

  Ten Toyota PVs sped up the mountain road, in the fifth car's passenger compartment, where two rows of seats had been removed, a large space was occupied by only one sofa covered with tiger skin. Behind the driver's seat, a wheelchair was fixed on a movable platform. On the sofa sat a fat man, his eyes half-closed and reclining, his hands crossed and stuck to his bulging belly, his thumbs rotating in circles, five clockwise and five counterclockwise, like a monk in meditation.

  Zhou Xihu sat in the passenger seat, his expression as if he was unwilling to be restrained by the seatbelt.

  "Xī Hǔ, still hasn't escaped from the shadow of his previous failure?"

  The man in the wheelchair suddenly spoke up.

  "BOSS, that kid is really despicable!" Zhou Xihuo said indignantly. "The joints on my body are still aching secretly, it's really hateful! If he hadn't been so cunning, I would have definitely knocked him down, and you wouldn't have had to take action yourself."

  "Facts are facts! A warrior who can't even accept defeat is no different from a woman who complains about heaven and earth!"

  "Boss, I..."

  "Don't you think he's a top-notch martial artist?" The man in the wheelchair suddenly opened his eyes, "The skyscraper is so tall and majestic because of its solid foundation; humans can stand upright and walk because of their muscles and strong bones, if the joints are injured, they cannot support the body..."

  "Boss, who is this person?!" Zhou Xihou suddenly felt a cold sweat on his forehead.

  "The dragon of the deep sea, the dragon and phoenix among men!"

  "Boss, your words have dampened his enthusiasm."

  "As a fellow warrior, what's your evaluation of him?"

  "This...," Zhou Xihu scratched his head, "...looking at how he easily solved the twelve brothers, his methods were skilled and ruthless, absolutely an experienced old hand. Later I went to check the house he was guarding, only then did I realize that this person's thoughts were extremely meticulous and beyond ordinary people's reach. He first used heavy firepower to attract the soldiers outside the courtyard, creating a false impression of weak defense, making the soldiers guarding the back house think they had an opportunity to make a move, and they prepared to sneak in through the back window, but were discovered and three of them died. Without any worries, he then launched a surprise attack and annihilated all the brothers outside the courtyard. Under the feet of the soldiers who fell down with gunshot wounds inside the house was a pile of broken old wooden boxes, he used these broken old wooden boxes placed under each back window to set up an alarm, shooting and killing the sneaking soldiers one by one. Such a cunning and sinister special agent is absolutely not comparable to those soldiers from Guo Tong Hui..."

  "You don't think much of him, do you?"

  "I didn't mean to flatter him, I just think he's too cunning!"

  "What you see from different angles is not the same, what you think is cunning in your eyes may be excellent in others. A good fighter who can't see the strengths of his opponent will not have the chance to see his own tomorrow..."

  "Haha, boss, you're talking too profoundly, Xi Hu is a rough person, it's hard for him to understand and grasp for the time being."

  "This is indeed embarrassing, if you don't understand it, just forget about it."

  The man in the wheelchair finished speaking and closed his eyes again.

  "Boss, why are we rushing to the 'Air Defense Warning Radar Base'?"

  "Because I want to interrogate him."

  "Why don't we return to our main base?"

  "Time is pressing, I will review it overnight."

  "Boss, isn't this person from the National Unity Party?"

  "Wrong! He's not from this island..."

  "He... he's from the mainland?!" Zhou Xihu stared with wide eyes.

  ……

  The fleet arrived at a military base on the top of the mountain before long. A stout colonel was already waiting at the entrance of the base. When the fifth car door opened, the colonel hurried over to salute, beaming with smile and said: "Captain Zhou, how have you been lately? You look radiant, are you going to get promoted again?" Zhou Xihu stretched his waist and legs, saying irritably: "What promotion? We're fighting day and night in the midst of gunfire, not like you who just moves your lips and hands out tickets!"

  "Captain Zhou laughed, this colonel position of mine is just a boring nominal title. Unfortunately, my boss doesn't think highly of my abilities, otherwise I'd like to switch roles with Captain Zhou and experience the thrill of roaming freely!"

  Zhou Xihu patted the slightly protruding belly of the senior military officer: "It's said that those with fat reserves have a silver tongue, and indeed they do... go see the BOSS!"

  The senior military officer put away his smile, walked to the open car door and bowed deeply: "Boss..."

  The man in the wheelchair opened his eyes, leaned forward slightly and said: "Are you ready?"

  "Everything has been arranged according to your requirements."

  "Didn't you let your clever deputy know?"

  The senior military officer glanced at the man in a wheelchair and then lowered his head and said: "It was secretly arranged by subordinates, she won't know."

  The man in the wheelchair lay down again, "I heard you've been hanging out with that Jamison from the Pentagon all day..."

  "Boss, this is completely slanderous!"

  "Remember this! As an organization's informant, don't forget your mission. That Jamison from the Pentagon is just a womanizer, and getting mixed up with him has no future."

  "Yes, yes, yes! I will remember BOSS's teachings!"

  The senior military officer felt a chill on his back and involuntarily wiped away the sweat from his forehead.

  "Let's go as soon as we're ready!"

  "Yes!"

  Under the guidance of the colonel, the convoy entered the base gate in a single file. After the convoy stopped in an open area, the colonel quickly opened the door of the car where the man in the wheelchair was sitting, and two soldiers carefully lifted the man in the wheelchair and placed him on the wheelchair. The driving soldier pressed a button on the control panel, and the moving platform smoothly sent the man in the wheelchair out of the vehicle. "BOSS, I have prepared the rest area and dinner for the brothers, would you like to dine first..."

  "I'm in no hurry. Xi Hu, arrange for the soldiers to take turns resting and eating in two shifts."

  "Yes!"

  "Go to the interrogation room."

  The senior military officer led the man in a wheelchair into the interrogation room, and Yang Wenfeng was brought in with a hood over his head. The man in the wheelchair said to the senior military officer: "Tell your people to stay away from the interrogation room. Those who do not listen will be killed without mercy!"

  "Understood. I'll have a bowl of bird's nest lotus seed porridge sent over for you later."

  "Uh-huh, you go first."

  After the hood was removed, Yang Wenfeng slowly opened his eyes to adapt to the strong light in the room. "Sit down..." The man in the wheelchair gestured to Yang Wenfeng. Yang Wenfeng sat down immediately, because he knew that this was neither a restaurant serving delicious food nor a guest of the man in the wheelchair. Since he wasn't a guest, he didn't need to be polite. "Is there anything uncomfortable?" The man in the wheelchair asked with a smile.

  "What about you?" Yang Wenfeng retorted, "Can't say that being someone else's underling is a good taste?"

  "Are you discontented?"

  "You're wrong! I won't dwell on past things and put them in my heart, instead I'd rather calm down and wait for the impending storm."

  "Good! You've got guts, you've got style! If we weren't on opposite sides, I'd have made friends with you. How about a deal? Be my double agent..."

  "There's one thing you're very clear about, since you're a DTA person, there's no way we can have any deal to discuss!"

  "You refuse? You are very clear about the consequences of refusal..."

  ……

  "BOSS, you're already lucky to be trading with me, what are you hesitating about?!" Zhou Xihu, who had been itching for a fight, punched Yang Wenfeng repeatedly on the body. "What's your identity? What's your purpose? Who is the superior on the island? Answer me! Tell me!!" Yang Wenfeng remained silent.

  "Your will is strong, but this is just the prelude to the storm. It's still possible to compromise now." The man in the wheelchair sneered, "No matter how strong a person's will is, he cannot challenge his own physical limits. Face reality!"

  ……

  "Tie him up! Tie him up!!" Zhou Xihu eagerly tied Yang Wenfeng firmly to the cross-shaped wooden stake, "Go get my tools!"

  Zhou Xihu's face lit up with excitement as he shouted, "I'll get it!" After a while, a device with four wheels on the bottom was pushed in by Zhou Xihu. He took two iron cuffs with wires from the device and locked them onto Yang Wenfeng's wrists. "No one has ever survived the BOSS's electric shock for a minute, hope you're an exception!"

  The man in the wheelchair said, "Human civilization began with lightning. Lightning caused a forest fire, and the hominids smelled the aroma of roasted animal corpses and tried to eat one. This attempt made the hominids understand how to take fire from lightning, and thus humans began to dominate the earth." It is said that the energy released by a single lightning bolt is equivalent to the annual power generation of all nuclear power plants in the world. How amazing is that... So I created this device, which provides a continuous supply of 10 million volts of electricity. You know what it's like to be electrocuted, but that was only 100,000 volts. If you don't cooperate with me, then taste my ultimate torture device! The man in the wheelchair turned the knob, and Yang Wenfeng was struck by a strong electric current, his pain expressed through screams of agony. "Are you from the National Security Bureau? What did that person say to you before he died? Where is the meeting point after completing this task?" No matter how much he tortured him, he didn't get any answers. "In Texas, death row inmates are executed by electric chair, but once a death row inmate was electrocuted for over ten minutes before dying, causing public outrage and condemnation of the inhumanity of the electric chair. Texas abolished the electric chair due to public pressure. That death row inmate survived for ten minutes; can you?" When the man in the wheelchair slowly turned the knob to its highest position, he still didn't get any answers.

  A bucket of cold water poured over his head woke Yang Wenfeng up, "Tell me how much longer you can hold on?" Yang Wenfeng opened his eyes and looked at the man in the wheelchair, struggling to spit out a sentence: "No matter how long I hold on, I won't say I'm a pitiful person; nor will I compromise and ask for help. Hehe... Hahaha..."

  "You still don't know who I am, do you? Those familiar with me call me Hades from the underworld. You won't take the path to heaven, but instead enter the gates of hell, and you'll get what you wish for! You... will... uh..." Suddenly, the man in the wheelchair's face contorted in agony, "Medicine... medicine... medicine..."

  Zhou Xihu put the hood on Yang Wenfeng's head, then skillfully found the medicine bottle from the wheelchair man and fed him a pill. "Legs, legs hurt!" The wheelchair man gasped.

  "Boss, leg cramps again?" The man in a wheelchair nodded, "The storm is coming again..."

  "BOOS, you go rest first, I'll handle the interrogation of this bandit."

  "He wouldn't confess under my electric torture, and you won't be able to make him talk either. Since he's so stubborn, he must have a big background, it's useful to keep him."

  "Is he really that cheap?"

  "This is just the beginning, as long as he doesn't confess for a day, I'll make him taste all kinds of torture!"

  "Boss, you look tired, why don't you go rest first."

  "After a good rest tonight, we'll rush back to headquarters early tomorrow morning. Tell the soldiers to keep a close eye on him for me tonight!"

  "I'll be staying tonight."

  "It's no use." The man in the wheelchair waved his hand. "There is nothing more secure on this island than the base defense."

  "Listen up, all of you! Tonight, no one is allowed to slack off, keep a good watch." Zhou Xī Hǔ ordered his subordinates, "BOOS, I'll send you to rest first."

  "Hmm..."

  It was unclear whether it was fatigue or absolute confidence in the base's security that led to a loss of vigilance, but the soldiers in the interrogation room were all listlessly closing their eyes for a short rest. They failed to notice a faint white smoke drifting into the room through the air conditioning vent. About a minute later, the air conditioner grille was opened and a woman with a slender figure jumped down. She removed her gas mask, glanced at the soldiers lying on the ground, and then her attention was drawn to the prisoner tied to the wooden stake. She took out a disposable syringe from her small bag and injected an unknown substance into Yang Wenfeng's body. She tidied up her hair and muttered to herself, "I should really change my curious nature... it just so happens that I saw that big devil... what happened to the leader? When I tell him that the big devil is holding someone hostage and orders us to rescue the person at all costs. Alas, it's truly exhausting..." The woman kicked the unconscious soldiers a few times in anger, "You bunch of wolves and foxes, making me crouch in that narrow passageway for so long... you're simply detestable!" She was again drawn to the electric torture device and couldn't help but take a deep breath, looking at Yang Wenfeng with sympathy, "The big devil is indeed formidable... using such terrifying instruments of torture... who are you, anyway? It's unthinkable that you didn't yield under the big devil's brutal torture!"

  The woman was attracted to a pile of things on the table, she picked up a steel-plated necklace, with an eagle carved in relief, striking a pose as if it were proud and free. She also picked up the CD-5 military knife, trying out a few slashing motions, "Using such a domineering weapon, what a role that requires great strength!" The woman's innate curiosity urgently made her want to see what the man under the mask looked like, when she was about to use the knife to lift the mask, she heard Yang Wenfeng hum softly, the woman smiled, "After using the antidote, it's time to wake up." At the moment of action, the sound of the sentry changing shifts came from outside the door, her face changed, and she quickly used the knife to cut off the ropes binding Yang Wenfeng's hands and feet, then put the knife back on the table, but kept the necklace. After turning off the lights in the interrogation room, she said to Yang Wenfeng, who was still unconscious, "Good luck!" After finishing speaking, she opened her small flashlight and entered the air conditioning ventilation duct...

  Four soldiers rushed into the interrogation room, shouting: "Shift change! Shift change! You actually dare to turn off the lights, do you think this is a suite where you're doing push-ups with Ping Xiushi?"

  ……

  "The atmosphere is not right, has something happened?"

  "Whoa, who's blocking the way? Almost made me trip... It's, it's Four Eyes Li Zijian!!"

  "This is actually Ah Koon's son!!"

  "Then, did the spy escape?"

  "Don't panic, the spy is just one person. Brothers, as long as we work together, it's best to catch him and report back to BOSS. Otherwise, think about BOSS's severe punishment!"

  "Alright, alright! Don't scare our brothers and distract them."

  The soldiers carefully searched in alternate cover formations... "Spy here!" a soldier exclaimed excitedly, and the soldiers immediately surrounded Yang Wenfeng. "Fortunately, the spy's physical strength has not recovered yet, he is now at the end of his tether."

  "Look, without sharp teeth and claws, even the most ferocious beast is now just a weak little sick cat."

  "Seriously, search him!"

  "He didn't have a weapon."

  "Being tortured like this and still being able to subdue four brothers with bare hands, he's indeed a formidable character!"

  Yang Wenfeng suddenly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth slightly curled up, as if mocking something with words. "What are you looking at?! You're still so arrogant even when death is imminent, provoking me, I'll dig out your thieving eyes!" Yang Wenfeng smiled faintly and said: "I just wanted to correct you all, the one who fell down wasn't killed by my hand, look... the ropes on my hands and feet were cut off."

  "Ah-ha! The rope was indeed cut with a sharp blade!"

  "You, you, you're saying there's someone else in this house besides you?" The four soldiers nervously held their guns and looked around with flashlights. Taking advantage of the soldiers' distraction, Yang Wenfeng easily knocked out the four soldiers. The two sentries outside were startled by the sound of fighting inside and when they stumbled in to investigate, Yang Wenfeng took them down as well.

  Yang Wenfeng put his belongings back into his backpack, took a short rest, rummaged through the fallen soldier's things to find some snacks to replenish his energy, then shouldering his backpack, disappeared into the vast night...