Ning Chen swept the room by moonlight, on his guard.

The room was simply furnished, and nothing in it suggested anyone was being kept hidden.

He took out a fire striker and lit the oil lamp.

Then he crouched down and looked carefully.

The floor was packed earth, and there were shallow footprints on it.

The footprints led to a cabinet against the wall.

Ning Chen went to the cabinet and noticed a thin cord on top of it. He reached up and gave it a pull... Nothing happened.

He opened the cabinet doors, and his eyes narrowed to points.

The wooden panel behind the cabinet was swinging slowly open, and an entrance appeared.

Ning Chen gripped the dagger hard and went in.

Behind the wall, of all things, was a sealed room.

Ning Chen moved all at once, like something out of a nightmare.

Because there were two men in the sealed room, in close-fitting black, with masks on.

The two of them saw Ning Chen walk in and were plainly stunned.

THUCK!!!

One of them had not come back to himself before Ning Chen took the blade across his throat.

The other man in black snapped out of it.

But he did not attack Ning Chen. He threw himself at the person tied to the bed.

Ning Chen snapped his hand out.

WHIP!!!

The dagger turned into a streak of cold light and flew.

The man in black's step faltered, the dagger went by grazing his chest, and it drove straight into the wall opposite.

And in that little space of time, Ning Chen had reached him.

BANG!!!

One heavy punch went into the man in black's face, and that snarling mask deformed on the spot, with an ear-splitting crack of bone.

Ning Chen's fist had shattered the bones of his face.

Ning Chen rushed over, pulled the dagger out of the wall, and flung it offhand.

There was a thuck!

The dagger went clean through the man in black's neck.

Ning Chen went forward, drew the dagger out, and wiped the blood off on the body.

Then…