Shen Cong's skill being what it was, it was over before either man could react. He clamped a hand over one soldier's mouth, tied him up, blindfolded him and gagged him. Then he was on the second soldier, the same move again, and carried him off too.

Straight back to the Vajra Fortress.

He put the two soldiers in the reception room, apart from each other.

The Superbrain drove the Vajra Fortress back the way they had come while Shen Cong began questioning one of the soldiers alone.

Shen Cong undid the bindings, and the man could see and speak again. The moment he opened his eyes he found his hands, feet and waist clamped in metal, and himself on a metal stool.

He was in a small metal room, metal on every side, with what looked like no door at all, and a single lamp.

And across from him sat a figure in savage-looking battle armor. Whether it was a man or a ghost he had no idea, until it spoke and he knew it for a human.

"Sorry to bring you in this way. I'll send some supplies along afterward to make up for it. Don't worry, I mean you no harm. I only want to trade for some information. Let me introduce myself — you can call me Boss Huang. I'm a merchant."

Shen Cong ran through his opening speech quickly. He had the routine down by now.

The man wasn't buying it. He reined in the nerves on his face and got his composure back. "Who exactly are you, and why did you take me?"

"I already told you. Boss Huang, merchant. Your turn. What's your name, and who are you?"

"You grabbed me, and you don't even know who I am?" The soldier caught up fast. "So this isn't aimed at the Central Military Commission. Then you're not with the rebels, or the false emperor, or the evil art?"

"No." Shen Cong frowned. Things around Beijing sounded complicated — rebels, a false emperor, an evil art. "Tell me who you are. Then tell me how…