Chapter 776: The Bird Watches As The Mantis Stalks The Cicada

Losing their territory was the biggest blow for the Knight Hospitaller. Back in the Middle Ages, where religion controlled everything, it was only natural for them to believe that there would be some horseman who would help rebuild their sacred kingdom. But things were different now that technology and science has come a long way. Perhaps the Knight Hospitaller had stopped believing in the existence of a red horse riding horseman, right?

Tossing aside the possibility of their desire to return the red rider his armour to rebuild the sacred kingdom, or in other words, this daydream of theirs, why was the Knight Hospitaller so desperate to retrieve this tiny piece of metal?

There must be a reason for it.

After thinking about it, Xia Lei leaned in to whisper into Stella's ear. He asked, "Is the silver armour with the Knight Hospitaller?"

"I... don't know," she answered.

Xia Lei then switched over to whisper into Giovanna's ear. "Do you know where the silver armour is?"

"I don't know," replied Giovanna.

Xia Lei wasn't surprised by their answers. After all, Giovanna and Stella were intended as gifts to him. To the organization, they were more like assets and were deemed unworthy of the knowledge of such confidential information.

"Who is the true leader of the Knight Hospitaller?" asked Xia Lei to Giovanna.

"Angelo," she answered.

"Why is that so?"

"All the knights heed his orders, he is God's fist," said Giovanna.

Xia Lei came closer to Stella's ear to repeat the question. "Who is the true leader of the Knight Hospitaller?"

"Angelo," she had answered the same.

"Why?"

"He reigns control over our military power."

Though the sister's answer had differed from the other, it had the same underlying meaning.

"How many knights are there in the organisation?"

"I don't know. Aside from knights, there are also soldiers who have not been granted their knighthood."

"Are you a knight or an ungranted soldier?"

"I'm a knight," answered Stella.

Xia Lei decided to not repeat the question to Giovanna. He had intended to extract some information from the dazed sisters but he hadn't gotten much out of them due to their hierarchical position in the organization. He needed to extract information from someone higher up in the hierarchy.

He finally gave up. He opened the windows and turned on the ventilator to clean the air. Then, he replaced the wooden cork back into the mouth of the perfume bottle. The wet spot on his shirt that was formed by 'Mary's Desire' was also washed under running tap water.

As he was about to return to the bed, he heard footsteps. He frantically scrambled to lie on the bed in between Giovanna and Stella. His eyes turned to glance at the door, to which had disappeared in his left vision to reveal an approaching Arthur.

Arthur's gaze was locked on to the door/ He then approached the door with his ear placed parallel to it.

Xia Lei suddenly thought of an idea. He abruptly tossed Giovanna around to have her behind face the ceiling. Then he raised his hand to spank her ass, emitting a loud clap in the process while faint ripples appeared on her soft flesh.

"Oh," a muffled moan came rolling out of Giovanna's throat.

Xia Lei then continued to spank her. The sound of flesh-slapping-flesh echoed in the room. He didn't forget to observe Arthur while his palm was busy.

The slapping sounds that came from the room had Arthur furrowed his brows, but his face had a smirk plastered on it. He may not like the indication of such odd sounds but it had meant that his plan was working smoothly.

"I knew it. The best weapon to use against a male is not a gun but women," mumbled Arthur to no one. His gaze was filled with disgust and disdain for the supposed actions within the room.

On the other side of the wooden door, Xia Lei had also turned Stella over and spanked her behind.

The slap was loud, forming ripples from the impact.

The Russo sisters appeared in Xia Lei's vision too. Their eyes were gleaming with excitement.

"You got it done?" Arthur lowered his voice.

"Yeah," answered Rosa.

"Give it to me!" Arthur said impatiently.

Theresa passed the fabric in her palm to Arthur.

The man peeled the layers open and sure enough, the silver metal was visible inside. He held up the metal to observe it. He then ran his fingers over it and exclaimed, "This is it! It really is it!"

"What do we do now?" It was Theresa's turn to ask.

"We leave immediately" Arthur quickly wrapped the silver metal, then clasped his fingers around it tightly.

"But what about the Grey sisters?" questioned Rosa.

"There's no need to worry about them. This was God's plan for them. I'm sure they'll understand. To sacrifice their purities in the name of God should be an honour," said Arthur before turning around to leave.

The Russo sisters looked at each other. They paused ever so slightly before turning around to leave with Arthur.

Xia Lei leapt off the bed and got dressed quickly. He then left the room.

The three Knight Hospitaller members were in such a hurry that they decided to abandon their luggage. The main entrance to the Peace Mansion had no security guards stationed, the coast was clear. The three exited smoothly and headed towards Bailu Town.

"We need to search for transport as soon as we reach the town ahead. Rosa, you're in charge of it," instructed Arthur.

"Leave that to me," acknowledged Rosa.

Theresa spared one last glance at the Peace Mansion. She seemed to have something to say but decided against it. The fate of the Grey sisters was unimaginable. Xia Lei would be enraged to find out that they had stolen the metal away from him. She and Rosa were safe but at the expense of Giovanna and Stella's safety. Was this really God's plan?

Arthur slid his phone out to make a call. "Sir Angelo, we've got it. The sacred relic is now in my hands. Please arrange transport back for us. We need to leave China via a special channel."

"What? How did you manage it?" A man's voice came through the phone, his voice was gruff and stern.

"It's all thanks to the Requiem candles and women. We lost the Grey sisters but they had sacrificed themselves for the sake of our plans," explained Arthur.

"Very well, I'll have someone over for you three as soon as possible. We'll keep in touch." He ended the call.

At this moment, in one of the rooms in the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei was on a phone call while flipping through Arthur's luggage. "Did you manage to get his location?"

Yelena's voice rang out, "Yeah, I got it. Angelo is at Malta island."

Xia Lei exhaled in relief. "Well done, now we leave the rest to E'er Demutu."

The Malta Palace located in Rome was merely a rented facility for the Knight Hospitaller's operations. There was no way their headquarters would be located there. Pinpointing where their headquarters was was key to solving the mysteries behind the silver metal.

If Amanda was still alive, her hacking ability would've allowed them to secure Angelo's location with Arthur's first call. Despite using the same equipment, Yelena was evidently less efficient.

Arthur's goal was to get the sacred relic with the least amount of damage while Xia Lei's current goal was to locate the Knight Hospitaller's real headquarters. This would naturally come with his desire to grasp more secrets on the organisation, which was why he was here searching through Arthur's luggage.

Arthur's belongings were all laid out on the bed.

He had brought a bible, a silver cross, a change of clothes, a card to a random hotel in Rome, the Knight Hospitaller's knight medal, and a golden card that bore the words 'Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum'. Surprisingly, Xia Lei turned the card around to find an embedded chip that was as big as an SD card.

Xia Lei's heart thumped. "Could this be the access card to their headquarters?"

Though uncertain, it might prove useful in the future.

Following that, he came to the Russo sisters' room. It didn't take too long for him to rummage through their belongings. There was nothing else worth noting aside from their change of clothes, underwear, cosmetics and some feminine products.

He stowed their items back into their bags before leaving the room.

At the entrance to Bailu Town, the three of them had arrived to find transport out of there.

Amidst their quick steps, Arthur, Rosa and Theresa caught sight of a van that was parked on the roadside. A Chinese man was leaning against the vehicle, scrolling through his phone.

"Hello!" Rosa quickly approached him. "Do you speak English?"

"Yeah," the man answered with a smile. "Do you need to rent a car?"

"Yeah! That's right!" exclaimed Rosa. She continued, "Please take us away from here."

Theresa interrupted her. "We'll pay you double your usual rate."

"Alright, hop on," The man stowed away his phone and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Nailed it." Rosa and Theresa smirked.

But Arthur couldn't help but find it suspicious. Why was there a van here at the dead of night? Their escape was going a little too smooth.

"Are you coming or not?" urged the man.

Rosa and Theresa turned around to look at Arthur.

Arthur whispered in Italian. "Be careful. Kill him if he does anything funny!"

The Russo sisters nodded in unison.

The three Knight Hospitaller members then entered the car. The man ignited its engine and started their journey. Oddly, the van was headed towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory instead of away from it.

"Who exactly are you?" Arthur finally noticed something.

Rosa abruptly left her seat to grasp the man's neck.

The man turned around suddenly, opened his mouth and out came a needle. It was tiny, but there was still a metal tube there nonetheless!

With the limited space in the van and an unexpected turn of events, Rosa couldn't react fast enough to avoid the flying needle that stabbed her neck.

Poof! Poof!

Another two needles were sent flying from the man's mouth in light's speed. One of it stabbed Theresa's neck while the other on Arthur's forehead.

"You... Xia..." Before he could even utter a full sentence, Arthur was gone, slumping onto his seat.

The Russo sisters were long unconscious before him.

The van came to a halt at the Peace Mansion's entrance. The large door was wide open and Xia Lei was standing there smiling smugly.

The bird watched as the mantis stalks the cicada. He was the master of said bird.