Yuan Long galloped off.

Ning Chen's voice was low. "Pull back!"

Pan Yucheng, Feng Qizheng and the others stared at him in surprise.

"We're not catching Kang Xiao?"

Ning Chen smiled. "We are. Just a different way.

Let's go. Yuan Long can handle this. We're going after Zhang Tianlun."

Ning Chen quietly withdrew with his men.

Two hours later, with Yunniang leading the way, Ning Chen reached the southern part of the city.

The group came out into an open stretch of ground.

This had once been the market quarter, always bustling.

Now it was deserted.

Ning Chen covered his nose. The place stank to high heaven.

Just ahead stood the market quarter's huge latrine, the kind that was nothing but a pit.

With the city in chaos these past days, nobody had cleaned it.

So the whole market quarter was thick with a foul stink.

Ning Chen turned to Yunniang. "Don't tell me Zhang Tianlun is hiding here."

Yunniang nodded.

Feng Qizheng sneered, "Zhang Tianlun and Kang Xiao sure know how to bend when they have to. One's hiding by a latrine, the other's in a pile of beggars."

The corner of Ning Chen's mouth twitched. "Next to your life, none of that matters."

He turned to Yunniang. "Lead the way!"

Yunniang took Ning Chen to a shop that looked ready to fall down.

It had once been a butcher's shop. The long table and chopping blocks out front had soaked up so much animal blood they'd turned a blackish red.

Ning Chen covered his mouth and nose. The smell was so sharp it made his eyes water.

This was the market quarter. On top of the latrine, it reeked of blood and every kind of rot.

Yunniang held her hand over her mouth and nose. "Zhang Tianlun's hiding inside," she said, her voice muffled.

Feng Qizheng stepped up and kicked in the shop's already sagging door.

Crash!

The door came down.

Then Feng Qizheng clapped a hand over his nose and stumbled back several steps.

A stench thick enough to choke on rolled out of the shop.

Ning…