Prince Rui's pleased laughter was cut off by a scream of terror.

He and Ni Tianxing looked back. A man with a devil's head and a toad's eyes, built like a stunted winter melon, had a woman by the throat and was squeezing hard.

The woman fought for her life.

The fight went out of her fast, and he choked the life out of her where she stood.

"Filthy bitch. You dare bite me?"

The stunted melon looked at the toothmarks on his arm and went wild. He grabbed the body, dragged it to the door and flung it out into the courtyard.

The man's name was Zhouji Daisuke, and he was the highest-ranking commander of the twenty thousand-odd Zhaohe.

Prince Rui looked at the body lying in the rain and said with a chuckle, "There's no need to be angry, General Daisuke. There's no shortage of women here. Don't let a worthless whore spoil your mood."

Zhouji Daisuke split his toad's mouth in a grin. He picked out another of the women and came at her, leering.

Just then a Zhaohe soldier came bolting in through the gate, frantic.

He was in such a state that he caught his foot on the threshold and went down flat on his face.

But he had no time to yell about the pain. He came scrambling over on all fours. "General, something terrible — something terrible has happened... The enemy is inside the city!"

The color drained out of all three of them.

Prince Rui found his voice first. "Is it Ning Chen's men?"

"Yes, the Ning'an Army!"

All three of their faces changed.

"How is that possible? How could Ning Chen's men get into the city?"

Prince Rui's voice was shaking.

He knew perfectly well that these twenty thousand-odd Zhaohe could not hold Ning Chen at all.

And if he fell into Ning Chen's hands, he would end up dead with nowhere left to bury him.

Ni Tianxing burst out, "Did Ning Chen use the thunder for cover and blow the gate open?"

Prince Rui was white. "How would he dare?…