They arrive within sight of Hong Kong. Its skyscrapers tower over the landscape.
"It is there that we will meet up with our next contact," the Izunami girl said. "For this mission, we will have to split up into two groups."
"Why?" Jason asked.
"In case of capture," the Izunami girl answered. "That way the other group will still be able to meet up with the contact. The first group will be Reito-san, Elisa-san, Maria-san, and Sui-chan: I will be in the second group along with Akane-san, Mahiru-chan, and you, Jeeson-san."
"So if Reito's group gets caught?" Jason asked, trailing off.
"Then you become our backup," the Izunami girl quipped.
"Backup . . . ? Oh, ah!" Jason echoed, only to understand what that means as his eyes widen slightly and his irises shrink as a sweatdrop rolls down the side of his face.
"Oh come on, Jeeson-kun, you know you would love it," Akane teased with a smirk. "A dozen different women having their way with you every day."
"A few dozen," the Izunami girl corrected dryly.
"A few dozen?!" Akane echoed comically. "Whoa! Not a moment's rest for you, Jeeson-kun! You would be milked dry!"
"Come on, Akane-san, focus," Reito stated. "Now then . . . We simply cannot trust anyone approaching us because they could simply claim that they are our contact but secretly be with the UW. So if we are ever approached by somebody we do not know, we need to use a code word."
"Good idea, but what?" the Izunami girl said.
"Something that we could easily understand?" Jason suggested.
"Th-Th-That sounds like a meeting place," Maria said.
"Yeah, a code word based on a meeting place," Reito said. "But what?"
"How about, Victoria Peak?" Elisa suggested. "It is a place in Hong Kong."
"Yes, that is it!" Reito said with epiphany. "Victoria Peak will be our code word if we are ever approached by unknown parties."
"And then what?" Jason asked. "Do we go to this Victoria Peak?"
"No, we simply follow the unknown party from a distance and reveal our selves," Reito said. "Now does everyone understand the plan?"
Everyone verifies that they do.
"I still think we got away from the UW much too easily," Jason said. "I smell a set-up in all this."
"If that is the case, then they should have caught up with us ever before we reached Hong Kong," Akane said.
"But what if whatever they have in mind for us does not include our recapture?" Jason countered.
"We don't know what is going on," Reito said. "All we do know is what we have to do next."
"Yeah," Jason sighed.
Upon docking, they go into action.
"Follow me," the Izunami girl said to Jason, Mahiru, and Akane. "I got our ride over there. And in case you are wondering, we are going to visit the lao ban."
"The low bane?" Jason inquired.
"It means, old boss, in Chinese," the Izunami girl explained. "Now let's go."
They arrive at another SUV.
"Do you have a thing for sports utility vehicles?" Jason asked the Izunami girl.
"In my line of work, there might be a lot of people that need shuttling about."
They get in and the Izunami girl drives them to their next location.
"Here we are," the Izunami girl answered as she stops the SUV.
They all get out and stand in an alleyway.
"The entrance is just over there," the Izunami girl said.
They follow the Izunami girl up to a simple wooden door. The Izunami girl knocks and an old woman is heard speaking in Chinese over a commlink, of which the Izunami girl answers in Chinese. The door is heard clicking.
"Come on," the Izunami girl said as she opens the door and enters, with the others following right behind.
Inside, is a small room with various odds and ends, but looking more like a clerk's office. At a small table is a crystal ball and seated behind it is an old Chinese woman with lively eyes and wearing a conservative dress.
"This is the lao ban of the region," the Izunami girl explained as she walks up to the old woman in question.
"Ah, yes, yes," the old woman suddenly intoned in English, clearly for Jason's benefit, as she looks into her crystal ball. "I could see that you were all coming here. And as for the foreign man, I can see that you were trapped in Japan when the Grim Reaper swung his scythe across the world, cutting down the male half of humanity. I see the Reaper's scythe passing harmlessly through you and the other four males. I see you hiding out in Japan's wilderness in the form of a demon, until the male Mizuhara Reito arrived with his ladies and forced you back into your true form."
Jason gapes and blinks in astonishment over what that old woman had said. Usually so-called fortune-tellers make generalizations when doing this divination, but all that hit home.
"Ah, yeah, what you said," Jason instead sighed. "So what can you tell us about the others who came with us?"
"Mizuhara and the other four ladies will be here soon," the old woman answered.
"Four? But there are only three," Jason said with a wince.
"They just met up with someone dear to me and she will be very helpful to you all, to Mizuhara Reito especially," the old woman clarified. "And they will be here very soon."
The door opens and Jason darts a look back to see a group of people walk in and realizes that it is Reito and the other women, but they are being led by a pretty Chinese girl wearing a qipang and her hair done up in a pair of white bun caps but her bang left hanging. The Chinese girl does a double take at Jason.
"Ooh, the foreign man," the Chinese girl stated in English with delight as she walks up to Jason, showing to be a head shorter than him, then casually reaches out and clasps his groin, causing him to react like before. "Whoa! That could damage lots of Asian vaginas!"
The old woman harrumphs loudly, causing the Chinese girl to stop fondling Jason and walk over to the old woman.
"I am Lu Bingbing and this is Lu Da Ren, or her Excellency Lu," the Chinese girl said, then rests her chin onto the old woman's shoulder. "She is also my grandmother."
"Rei-nii," Mahiru said to Reito. "This old woman's fortune telling is amazing! You should hear it!"
"Yes, yes, I see it," Lu said while gazing into her crystal ball once again. "The events shaping this world."
And she goes on to speak in that prophetic manner of all that has or is transpiring, using Chinese philosophy regarding the elements to describe the immune men. Then concluding with a question of choosing a path of fulfillment or a path of destruction for Reito.
"I choose to create the MK vaccine and save mankind," Reito answered pointedly.
"Then what of the man of metal?" Lu asked while staring up at Jason.
"What?" Jason asked.
"You are of the element of metal," Lu answered. "Metal aids water."
"Well," Jason began with uncertainty and with a shrug, "it's not like I have any other choice in the matter. So yeah, I'll help Reito."
Lu reaches under the table and lifts to reveal a metal briefcase. "In here is the crystallized MK Virus."
"S-S-So China really did crystallize the MK Virus!" Maria stammered.
"What's so important about that?" Jason asked.
"Crystallizing a virus is a way to preserve a virus and work on it to create a vaccine," Reito explained. "Some viruses are harder to crystallize than others and it was believed to have been impossible to crystallize the MK Virus. Until now."
"And I will allow my granddaughter to travel and observe you," Lu added.
"Since we have what we need we can be on our way to our next destination," the Izunami girl said.
"Where's that?" Jason asked.
"You should know by now, Jeeson-san, that such information is only revealed when halfway to our destination in order to prevent the possibility of leakage," the Izunami girl answered.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense," Jason said.
"Now let's go," the Izunami girl said as all of them leave.
The group are shuttled to an airport where a plane awaits them.
"Is that a jet passenger plane?!" Jason marveled. "Those things are posh!"
"Yes it is," the Izunami girl answered. "But this is where we part ways. I have another mission to do, but I will meet up with you all sometime."
"Very well," Reito said.
Everyone exchanges goodbyes with the Izunami girl, then board the jet.
The interior has a first class look, complete with a sofa and they get seated and belted in until after takeoff. The jet begins its movement and taxis down the runway. Soon, they are airborne and climbing ever higher by the second. Once the plane is level and movement is green-lighted, Mahiru and Sui undo their seatbelts and dash over to that sofa.
"Whoa, how luxurious!" Mahiru squealed as she flops herself onto that sofa with Sui alongside her.
"This is great!" Sui agreed.
Reito, Jason, Maria, and Akane are seated, two facing the other two. Bingbing gets up and walks into another room and Elisa follows. The briefcase with the crystallized MK Virus is belted into its own seat.
"I bet if we got a hammer and smashed that open, we would not need the China girl," Akane said after taking a slug from her flask.
"N-N-N-No! You can't! That is very delicate!" Maria cried out.
"Hey Reito-kun, do you trust the China girl?" Akane asked.
"I trust Bingbing," Reito answered. "I think she is a good girl and is trying to help us."
"I think trust is irrelevant here," Jason added. "Because like Maria had fretted, the contents of that briefcase are fragile so we need Bingbing to open it for us. And besides, why would Bingbing go through all this trouble just to screw us over in the end?"
"You got a point there, Jeeson-kun," Akane said. "Fine . . . I'll trust the China girl if that is what you want."
A shout in Japanese from Elisa in the other room gets everybody's attention.
"What was that all about?!" Jason asked intently.
"Elisa shouted, that is not what you said, was it?" Reito answered as he undoes his seatbelt, and Jason does as well.
The two men head into that room. It is an elegant washroom, complete with a large mirror that Bingbing is currently looking into as she combs out her bangs.
"Listen to this!" Elisa exclaimed at Jason and Reito. "She said that she is not giving us the crystallized virus!"
"Why?!" Reito exclaimed at Bingbing.
"I want to know what sort of people you are," Bingbing answered as she stares back at them from the mirror's reflection, then turns to face them. "You Elisa are a part of that clan Izunami."
Elisa opens her blouse and peels something off.
"I only joined them to borrow their power," as she holds the peel aloft and drops it, prompting Jason to walk over and pick it up to study what looks like a flower with a wing.
"What's this?"
"The symbol of Izunami," Elisa answered. "The others had theirs branded into them, including the man they stole."
"That's pretty twisted," Jason sneered as he drops the symbol to let drift to the floor.
"But how do I know that you do not have another symbol branded onto your body?" Bingbing mused mischievously. "Would you like to strip and prove it?"
"Ah, we'll-" Reito began.
"No, wait. Stay, Reito-kun, Jeeson-san. If it will help me convince her of our intentions," Elisa stated as she begins taking off her clothes.
Reito is uneasy, but not as much as Jason as he continually glances around the place in order to avoid looking directly at an ever increasingly naked Elisa.
Elisa is soon stark naked with Bingbing looking her over. Reito has an uneasy look with sweatdrops while Jason is blushing with narrowed eyes of unease and a large sweatdrop as he gazes elsewhere.
"My, what flawless skin you have," Bingbing mused as she intently looks Elisa over with her face but inches away from her bare skin. "There is not a mark anywhere on you."
Bingbing kisses one of Elisa's nipples, causing a reaction from Reito as he wants to run forward and stop it, while Jason continues looking elsewhere.
"You have proven yourself to me," Bingbing said. "Fine, I'll let you have the crystallized MK Virus. We will be heading to Rosalia to create the vaccine."
"Rosalia," Jason said. "I've heard of that place. A country in Europe that was supposed to have the most advanced medical research."
"That is right, Jinshuyuan," Bingbing said.
"What did you just call me?" Jason asked.
"Jinshuyuan," Bingbing answered. "It means, metal source, in Chinese. Reito is Shuiyuan; which means, water source."
"Ah, okay," Jason mused. "But as for Rosalia, do you think they will be able to help us?"
"Its ruler, the Duchess Anastasia, should be able to," Bingbing said.
"I have heard that the Duchess is an eccentric girl," Elisa said while still dressing.
"Eccentric?" Jason inquired. "I don't like the sound of that. The words eccentric and ruler put together makes me think, mad woman."
"You have quite the imagination, Jinshuyuan," Bingbing mused.
The group leave the room.
"So what was that all about?" Akane asked after taking a nip from her flask.
"It was simply a matter of earning trust," Bingbing answered.
"And it took three people to help you with that?" Akane mused whimsically.
There is no immediate answer.
"Ooh, why was I not invited?" Akane said with mock envy.
"It wasn't like that, Akane-san!" Reito exclaimed humorously, then more serious. "But more importantly, we are heading to Rosalia. To visit its Duchess, Anastasia. There, we hope to secure the means of creating a vaccine for the MK Virus."