Ji Mingchen took Ning Chen out to an open piece of ground behind the offices.

Ning Chen had a look around, made sure there was nobody around, then took out a grenade, pulled the safety pin, and yanked the ring. Smoke began to spread.

As a precaution, Ning Chen had designed a safety pin into it.

Ning Chen threw the grenade fast.

It was the first time the thing had been used and there was no telling how stable it was, so getting it out of his hand early was the better plan.

The grenade landed on the ground, hissing smoke.

Ji Mingchen craned his neck, puzzled. That's it?

In all honesty, he thought a rock would be more use.

Meanwhile Ning Chen had quietly covered his ears.

Boom!!!

The grenade went off.

The sound was a thunderclap, and the powder smoke went up.

It blew a great pit straight into the ground and threw the earth ten-odd meters into the air.

The blast set Ji Mingchen's ears ringing. He went white, beads of sweat the size of peas stood out on his forehead, and he was struck dumb, and a long time coming back to himself.

Ning Chen wore a dirty grin, looking at Ji Mingchen frozen stiff. "Lord Ji. Are you all right?"

Something moved in Ji Mingchen's blank eyes, and he swallowed in spite of himself.

His gaze went to the pit not far off, and his whole face was still shaken... If a thing like that landed at a man's feet, would it not blow him to pieces on the instant?

In fact, with both the grenades and the cannon, Ning Chen had kept something back.

There were no steel balls packed inside the grenades.

No explosive shells had been made for the cannon. They were all solid shot.

Whatever you did, you kept something back. You could not give freely of everything you had, the way he did with women.

Ji Mingchen looked at Ning Chen and felt the cold go down his back.

"My lord marquis, how did you come up with these things?"