Chapter 117

“A great river, with wide waves. The wind blows through the rice flowers, filling both banks with fragrance. My home is right on the bank. I’m used to hearing the boatmen’s chants and seeing the white sails on the boats… When friends come, there’s good wine; but if wolves arrive, what meets them are shotguns.”
The beautiful melody of “My Motherland” filled the hall of the villa in the suburbs.
Xie Wendong had just taken a bath, with a few drops of water still on the ends of his hair. Wearing a white shirt, he sat alone on the sofa in the hall, eyes closed, listening to his favorite melody. He particularly liked this song—not only for its beautiful tune but also for its lyrics. As he listened, he gently tapped his thigh, feeling every cell in his body relax with the rhythmic music, a sense of comfort arising naturally.
Xie Wendong cherished this feeling of relaxation, but someone decided to ruin it.
Russell gently pushed the door open and entered the hall, approaching Xie Wendong, who was resting with his eyes closed. He bowed respectfully and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry, Brother Dong. The men from Black Belt have arrived outside the villa. Should we invite them in?”
After a while, Xie Wendong exhaled slowly and said, “They’re all acquaintances. Why invite them in?! Let Vladimir come in.”
Russell was surprised and asked, “Brother Dong, how did you know they sent Vladimir again?”
“Hehe!” Xie Wendong opened his eyes and replied calmly, “I’ve talked to Black Belt three times. The first two times ended badly. But I had a successful conversation with his deputy leader, and we reached an agreement. This time, our strength is greater than before. To show their respect, they’ll naturally send someone important. Vladimir, who has a good relationship with me, is the perfect choice.”
Russell gave a thumbs up in admiration. “Brother Dong is truly exceptional—always seeing what others can’t and thinking what others can’t think. I must learn more from you in the future…”
Xie Wendong sighed inwardly and interrupted him with a smile, “Enough! It seems you’ve learned nothing else but how to flatter people. Go and invite Vladimir in quickly. Don’t keep our guests waiting!”
“Ah! Brother Dong, look at my mouth—it opens and never shuts. I…” Russell tried to say more, but at Xie Wendong’s glare, he shrank back in fear and rushed out. Xie Wendong sat on the sofa, chuckled to himself, and said, “What a headache!”

After a while, Dong Xinlei, Wen Zi, Jin Yan, and the other five, along with Russell, entered accompanied by two-meter-tall Vladimir and two unfamiliar Russians. Xie Wendong and Vladimir exchanged smiles and hugged each other warmly. Vladimir patted Xie Wendong’s shoulder and joked in a Russian accent, “It’s been months since we last saw each other, but you still haven’t grown taller! Haha!” The Russian who came with Vladimir explained it to Xie Wendong in Chinese.

Xie Wendong chuckled and replied pointedly, “For someone like me who lives a dangerous life in the underworld, being too tall can easily lead to more holes in the head.” After hearing the translation, Vladimir instinctively touched his head and said awkwardly with a smile, “Brother, you really know how to joke, haha!” (Translations omitted thereafter.)

Xie Wendong smiled without saying anything and asked Vladimir to sit down. He casually asked, “Mr. Vladimir, have you heard this song?” After listening for a while, Vladimir shook his head and said, “I haven’t heard it, but the melody is nice. Music is universal after all!”

“Mm!” Xie Wendong nodded, leaned closer to Vladimir, and smiled narrowed-eyed, “Exactly! The song is called ‘My Motherland.’ Actually, I prefer its lyrics, especially this line: ‘When friends come, there’s good wine; but if wolves come, what awaits them are shotguns!’ It’s quite meaningful, isn’t it? Haha, what do you think, Mr. Vladimir?”

Vladimir’s expression stiffened for a moment before returning to normal. He said seriously, “Xie, I’ve always regarded you as my good friend. Please believe that. We of Black Belt will never be the wolves that threaten you! You, me, Black Belt, and Wendong will always be friends, brothers!” Vladimir paused briefly before adding, “I just wonder if this good wine is very sweet?”

“Whether it’s sweet depends on the depth of our friendship!” Xie Wendong said with a smile, his gaze fixed on Vladimir, who stared back at him. The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. The two stared at each other for a long time before bursting into laughter, startling those around them. Vladimir stretched out his hand and said, “I hope our cooperation can continue for a long time!”

Xie Wendong shook his hand and smiled, “I hope so too. I also wish for you, Black Belt, to defeat War Axe soon and dominate Russia!”

“Thank you!” Vladimir nodded in gratitude.

“Snap!” Vladimir snapped his fingers, and a Russian behind him placed a black leather bag on the table before stepping back. Vladimir opened the bag and took out two boxes, one large and one small, pushing them in front of Xie Wendong. He said politely, “This is a gift from our boss for you, as well as a fulfillment of the promise we made back when we were in the Black Belt group.”

“Oh?” Xie Wendong picked up the small black box, weighed it in his hand, and found it quite heavy. Curious, he opened it to find a finely crafted watch in black metallic color, with a subtle glow within the black surface. After playing with it for a while and seeing nothing special, he asked, “Is this a watch?” His question sounded naive, as he found it hard to believe that the leader of the Black Belt group would send a deputy just to give him an expensive watch.

Vladimir chuckled and explained, “It is indeed a watch, but not an ordinary one. It can’t be bought on the market, and even our country’s agents (KGB) don’t use it. It has special purposes.”

Xie Wendong looked at it again but still couldn’t figure out its other uses. Helplessly, he handed it back to Vladimir and shook his head, saying, “I can’t see any other uses for it!”

Vladimir took the watch, glanced around, and his eyes landed on the teacup. He smiled and said, “Then I’ll use this teacup for an experiment!”

Xie Wendong nodded, watching to see what tricks he could pull with the watch. Vladimir pushed the teacup away, gently grasped the watch with his thumb and index finger, applied slight pressure, and suddenly a beam of white light shot out from the front and side of the watch. There was no sound, but it was extremely fast—before even a blink, the white light had completely disappeared into the teacup. Shocked, Xie Wendong quickly looked down at the cup and saw a tiny hole in it, with tea seeping out continuously.

He carefully poured out all the water from the cup and found a silver needle about an inch long inside. He was amazed at the power of the watch—its ability to pierce such a tiny needle through the teacup showed just how remarkable it was. Just as he reached out to pick up the needle, Vladimir quickly pulled his hand back and shook his head, saying, “Brother Xie, this needle is poisonous. Don’t touch it lightly. It could cause serious trouble if it cuts your finger!”

Xie Wendong quickly withdrew his hand and asked, “What exactly is going on here?”

Seeing that Xie Wendong was interested, Vladimir stopped keeping things mysterious and explained in detail the functions of the watch.

It turned out this watch was a newly developed spy weapon by Russia. Its main purpose was assassination. As it resembled a watch, it was easy to hide and carry. Moreover, the silver needles fired silently, allowing a person to die without any warning or pain, which is why it was named “Heart of the Assassin.” It contained six silver needles, each coated with a highly toxic substance with strong anesthetic effects. Once these needles pierced the body, the poison quickly spread through the blood to the heart, paralyzing it and causing it to stop beating. The victim would die within two minutes due to cardiac arrest, with no antidote available, and it would be difficult to detect traces afterward, appearing as if they died of a sudden heart attack.

Victor, the boss of the Black Belt gang, obtained this watch through his connections. Although he liked it, he sacrificed it to win over Xie Wendong and gave it to him.

After hearing the translation, Xie Wendong remained silent for a while, thinking that Victor wouldn’t give him such a valuable gift for free—there must be something he wanted in return. Without saying either yes or no, he picked up another larger box and changed the subject, saying, “I guess what’s in this box is also something special, right?! What’s inside?”

“It’s a self-defense garment. It’s not very precious, but it’s very practical,” Vladimir said as he opened the box. It was a gray, elastic, form-fitting garment similar to underwear. Xie Wendong held it in his hand; it felt high-quality and highly elastic, not much different from ordinary underwear. He asked with a smile, “Can this garment protect me?”

“That’s right!” Vladimir replied. “Brother Xie, if you don’t believe it, you can give it a try. This is a gift from the American mafia to our boss.”

There’s also a mafia in the United States? Xie Wendong was puzzled. In his mind, the mafia should be Italian. Though he thought this, he didn’t dare to ask. He handed the garment to Dong Xinlei beside him and winked, saying, “Old Lei, check out what’s special about this foreign product. Let’s broaden our horizons too!”

“Sure!” Dong Xinlei replied, took the garment, and shook his head secretly. If this garment could stop bullets, that would be strange! He reached into his pocket, pulled out a pistol, and fired three shots at the garment—bang, bang, bang! The room fell silent as everyone curiously focused on the garment, just like Dong Xinlei, not believing that a garment as thin as thread could stop bullets.

“Ding, ding, ding!” After hitting the garment, the three bullets fell to the ground, emitting clear sounds. Everyone widened their eyes in disbelief as they stared at the garment in Dong Xinlei’s hands, thinking to themselves that today was truly an eye-opening experience—such an ordinary garment could actually stop bullets. Jiang Sen still couldn’t believe it. Coming from a military background, he knew quite a bit about various types of bulletproof vests, but he had never heard of one like this; it simply didn’t conform to the principles of bulletproof vests. Jiang Sen pulled out a dagger, grabbed the garment from Dong Xinlei’s hands, and stabbed at it repeatedly, yet not a single scratch appeared. Shaking his head, he handed it back to Xie Wendong, his face showing slight disappointment. He thought to himself that he might really be outdated, having lost face in front of those old Russians!