Chapter Summaries

Song Ning arranged to buy the Wu family’s gold and plaque while coordinating with Gu Zheng and Han Xiao to avoid alerting others. On her ride home, a truck followed her, and she fled after roadblocks punctured her bicycle tire, but it was already too late.

• Song Ning persuaded Wu Tao Ying to sell her four remaining gold bars and a gold plaque to Song Ning for eighty percent of the market price, with the transaction set for the next morning.
• Song Ning told Han Xiao what Wu Tao Ying had revealed, and Gu Zheng decided that Chen Liang and Han Xiao would accompany Song Ning to the transaction while others continued watching Songnian Alley.
• Song Ning scolded Gu Zheng for leaving his hospital bed, and he teased her about the yacht she had promised him.
• Song Ning rode home late at night and noticed two men beside a box truck, then relaxed after they appeared not to follow her.
• Roadblocks punctured Song Ning’s bicycle tire, and she saw the truck had followed her before she ran from it.

Song Ning fought off two men who tried to abduct her, then borrowed Huang Yongfu’s car and chased their truck with A Qing. She marked the route and continued after them, hoping to discover where their group was hiding.

• Song Ning cut through the sack, fought the two attackers, and shouted for help until they fled in their truck.
• Huang Yongfu recognized Song Ning and helped her up, and she borrowed his car to pursue the attackers.
• Song Ning told A Qing to report the attempted abduction and give Public Security the truck’s description and license plate.
• A Qing joined Song Ning in the car, and they followed the truck southeast through the deserted streets.
• Song Ning stopped at an intersection so A Qing could tie red silk to a tree as a marker, then resumed the chase.

Song Ning and A Qing followed the kidnappers to an abandoned factory, where they found Wu Tao Ying and Kong Jianming held captive over the Wu Family’s discoveries in Songnian Alley. They watched a cloaked Master arrive and question Wu Tao Ying about what she had dug up, leaving Song Ning poised to learn who he was and what he wanted.

• Song Ning and A Qing followed the White Panel Truck into the Old Factory District and secretly entered the factory where it stopped.
• Song Ning and A Qing saw Wu Tao Ying and Kong Jianming captive inside a lit building, and Song Ning realized the kidnapping was probably connected to the Wu Family’s finds in Songnian Alley.
• The kidnappers said they had recovered all the gold bars and the gold medal and were preparing them for the Master.
• Three Black-Clad Men arrived with their cloaked Master, who sat down and quietly asked Wu Tao Ying what she had dug up.

Song Ning followed the cloaked Master from the factory where Wu Tao Ying and Kong Jianming were being interrogated, hoping to discover whether he was Lin Xiaoming. At a research building, she spotted a scientist who looked like an older A Pu and saw him examining the Wu Family’s gold bar, then moved to another window to get a better view.

• The cloaked Master ordered Wu Tao Ying and Kong Jianming whipped while his men brought in more captives.
• Song Ning left A Qing behind and secretly followed the Master’s four black-clad men toward another factory building.
• Song Ning found a gap in the laboratory curtains and saw a middle-aged scientist who looked like an older A Pu examining a sample.
• Song Ning noticed a slender hand offer the scientist the Wu Family’s gold bar, then moved along the building to another window.
• Song Ning peered through the corner window, saw most of the room, and gasped at what was inside.

Song Ning witnessed Lin Xiaojun with the Ding Family’s men as they melted down the gold, then followed them when they fled. Lin Xiaoming and Lin Xiaojun ambushed and captured her, leaving her restrained in a gatehouse with the two cousins.

• Song Ning watched the men melt the gold bars and medal, then recognized Lin Xiaojun and confirmed the Lin cousins were with the Ding Family.
• After a gunshot prompted the men to evacuate, Song Ning followed eight men through a hidden opening and saw them escape in two cars.
• As Song Ning turned back, Lin Xiaoming and Lin Xiaojun ambushed her; Lin Xiaojun subdued her and the cousins took her away.
• Lin Xiaoming persuaded an elderly gatekeeper to let them rest in the gatehouse by claiming Song Ning was his sick sister-in-law.
• Lin Xiaoming left Song Ning in the inner room while Lin Xiaojun blocked the door, and the cousins settled in for the night.

Song Ning realized Lin Xiaoming and Lin Xiaojun were the two undercover brothers behind the Buddha Lord’s operations, and they took her hostage while evading the search. As the brothers left the gatehouse with her concealed in a cargo vehicle, Han Xiao and Chen Liang joined the mobilized search after learning she had pursued the kidnappers.

• Song Ning recognized Lin Xiaoming as Night Owl and concluded that Lin Xiaojun had repeatedly provided his brother with an alibi.
• Lin Xiaoming taped Song Ning’s mouth and shut her in the inner room while Lin Xiaojun fooled Public Security officers outside by disguising his appearance and voice.
• After the officers left, the brothers waited at the gatehouse, then covered Song Ning’s head and hid her beneath cotton batting in a locked cargo compartment.
• Song Wang went to the Police Station before the agreed two hours had passed, prompting Wei Jinjun to contact the hospital.
• Han Xiao and Chen Liang drove toward Qingbei, encountered Huang Yongfu on the road, and joined Public Security and the military in mobilizing after learning Song Ning had pursued the kidnappers.

Han Xiao and Chen Liang captured most of the operatives and hostages but could not find Song Ning, who had been taken out of the city by Lin Xiaoming’s men. Song Ning identified her captors as mercenaries tied to Ghost and deduced that she was near Baoding or Shizhuang, while remaining in their temporary hideout.

• Wu Tao Ying spotted A Qing outside the factory and shouted for help, alerting the operatives and prompting Han Xiao and Chen Liang to storm the building.
• Han Xiao and Chen Liang’s reinforcements arrested nearly all the operatives, but Song Ning was missing; searches later intercepted two vehicles carrying melted gold and hidden firearms without finding her.
• Xiong Gang reported that Lin Xiaoming and Lin Xiaojun were missing and that Song Ning had been seen resting at a gatehouse near a chemical plant before dawn.
• Chen Liang and Xiong Gang sent Han Xiao back to keep the recovering boss from leaving the hospital and reminded him that Suzanna might be a target.
• Song Ning was taken to a locked room in a rural hideout, where she saw armed foreign mercenaries and recognized that Lin Xiaoming was using Ghost’s forces.
• Song Ning ate the buns and pickled vegetables, hid the porridge, and used the local food and travel time to estimate that she was near Baoding or Shizhuang.

Held captive, Song Ning pieced together how Lin Xiaoming had manipulated people around the Zhou Family and reconsidered her suspicions of Zhou Yuanhang. Lin Xiaoming returned to her room wearing the Black Cloak as the real “Night Owl.”

• Song Ning reviewed Lin Xiaoming’s past encounters with Chen Yuting, Lu Changqing, Zhou Xiaotang, Tan Min, and Wu Tao Ying, concluding that he had used them to pursue a hidden object beneath a storeroom.
• Song Ning judged Lin Xiaoming likely to have attacked Zhou Yunzhi and noted that Zhou Xiaotang and Zhou Weide had also become victims.
• Song Ning left question marks beside Lu Changqing and Tan Min’s names because their loyalties and roles remained uncertain.
• Song Ning reconsidered Zhou Yuanhang, recognizing that her suspicions had driven him to distance himself despite his having saved her from being run over.
• Lin Xiaoming entered Song Ning’s room wearing the Black Cloak as the true “Night Owl.”

Song Ning learned that Lin Xiaoming had sent a convincing, bomb-laden impostor to exchange for Suzanna, hoping to kill Gu Zheng or Lei Ming. With both men at the exchange site, Song Ning tried to steady herself and find a way to stop the attack.

• Lin Xiaoming told Song Ning that he planned to trade her for Suzanna after Lei Ming’s forces raided his bases.
• Lin Xiaoming revealed that he had sent a hooded woman disguised as Song Ning to the exchange with explosives strapped to her.
• Lin Xiaoming explained that the woman had a terminal illness and had agreed to detonate the bomb, intending to kill Gu Zheng or Lei Ming.
• A messenger reported that both Lei Ming and Gu Zheng had arrived at the exchange, delighting Lin Xiaoming.
• Song Ning controlled her anger and tried to think of a way to prevent the impostor from detonating the explosives.

Lin Xiaoming interrogated Song Ning about the belongings her grandfather left behind, seeking something beyond her medical records. After she accused him of arranging her car accident, he brought in Uncle Sheng and gave him permission to do whatever he wanted to Song Ning as long as she stayed alive.

• Lin Xiaoming questioned Song Ning about her family and the box she had received from her grandfather.
• Song Ning explained that the box contained her medical records and concluded that Lin Xiaoming had arranged her car accident to verify her hereditary condition.
• Lin Xiaoming demanded to know whether the box contained anything else and threatened Gu Zheng and Lei Ming when Song Ning said she did not have what he wanted.
• A subordinate summoned Lin Xiaoming, who ordered the escaped man resembling A Pu to be brought in.
• Lin Xiaoming introduced the man as Uncle Sheng and told him he could do whatever he wanted to Song Ning as long as he left her breathing.

Song Ning fought off Ding Yongsheng and used him to create a smoke signal while barricading herself in the room. When armed men broke in, she held Ding Yongsheng at knifepoint, but a foreign soldier raised his gun and aimed at her.

• Ding Yongsheng attacked Song Ning, but she tricked him into lowering his guard and paralyzed him with silver needles.
• Song Ning struck Ding Yongsheng with a chair, locked the door, and lit the quilt and other materials in the firebox to send thick smoke up the chimney.
• Song Ning barricaded the door and prepared to hold off the people outside while the smoke signal spread.
• As the men broke through, Song Ning held the bloodied Ding Yongsheng hostage with his dagger.
• A foreign soldier saw Song Ning holding Ding Yongsheng and aimed his gun straight at her.

Song Ning was captured by Lin Xiaojun’s men after using Ding Yongsheng as a hostage and stabbing both of his thighs. Hidden in a cellar as Night Owl prepared to exchange her for Suzanna, she heard Gu Zheng’s forces fighting into the village, and Lin Xiaojun suggested they had abandoned her.

• Lin Xiaojun stopped a soldier from shooting Song Ning and refused to let her leave, warning that she was still useful to Night Owl.
• Song Ning stabbed Ding Yongsheng in both thighs, but the men disarmed her and carried him away as they hurried to retreat.
• Lin Xiaojun’s men covered Song Ning’s head and dragged her to a village cellar, where he and four black-clad men guarded her.
• Song Ning reasoned that Night Owl had hidden her nearby to keep her available for a hostage exchange for Suzanna.
• Gunfire drew closer inside the village, and Lin Xiaojun’s men stood to guard the cellar opening as he told Song Ning that Gu Zheng’s side might not care whether she lived or died.

Song Ning was taken through a secret tunnel as K’s forces fled after Suzanna died by swallowing poison concealed in a tooth, forcing Gu Zheng and Lei Ming to abandon the planned exchange and attack the village. Gu Zheng went to investigate Suzanna’s unexplained death while Lei Ming continued the pursuit.

• Lin Xiaoming told Lin Xiaojun that Suzanna was dead and ordered an immediate retreat.
• Lin Xiaojun stayed behind to cover the escape while Lin Xiaoming and the Black-Clad Men led Song Ning through a hidden tunnel and into a vehicle.
• Suzanna died in hospital after secretly taking poison concealed in a hollow tooth, despite the convoy rushing her to emergency care.
• Gu Zheng and Lei Ming changed their plans, surrounded the village, and drove K’s forces to flee, capturing or killing most of them.
• Soldiers discovered a secret tunnel beneath the cellar, while Lei Ming took charge of the pursuit and told Gu Zheng to return to the hospital.
• Gu Zheng went to the hospital to investigate how Suzanna had concealed and taken the poison.

Gu Zheng discovered that Suzanna’s apparent death was a staged escape involving a disguised body and a hospital accomplice. Suzanna had fled the hospital, and Gu Zheng suspected an informant in the military as he turned his attention to finding out whether Lao Lei had news of Song Ning.

• Gu Zheng examined Suzanna’s body and noticed that the skin on her hand had mottled patches that rubbed away.
• Gu Zheng and Zhang Ming removed a lifelike rubber mask and discovered that the corpse was an unfamiliar woman from Hua Country.
• Gu Zheng ordered the hospital surrounded and concluded that Suzanna had used a fake death to escape during the resuscitation-room body swap.
• The two nurses said Dr. Wang had sent them out of the Resuscitation Room, leaving him alone with the body.
• Gu Zheng suspected a military informant had helped coordinate the escape, and Dr. Wang was found dead in a storage room.
• Gu Zheng left Zhang Ming in charge of the next operation and wondered whether Lao Lei had received news of Song Ning.

Lao Lei’s team discovered Lin Xiaojun’s death and pursued Lin Xiaoming, who was fleeing through the Taihang Mountains with Song Ning. Song Ning suspected the Lin brothers had been abandoned by Ghost and wondered whether a mole on Gu Zheng’s side had revealed Suzanna’s death; the group reached a mountain village and stopped at a stone house.

• Lao Lei’s team found the tunnel and killed the last Black-Clad Man, whom they identified as Lin Xiaojun, while Yang Qi’s troops joined the pursuit of Lin Xiaoming.
• Lin Xiaoming led Song Ning and three other men west into the Taihang Mountains, and Song Ning reasoned that Lin Xiaojun was probably dead and the organization’s remaining forces were nearly gone.
• Song Ning inferred that Suzanna’s death might have been faked and that Ghost could have abandoned the Lin brothers, while she also suspected someone had leaked the news from Gu Zheng’s side.
• The group crossed a ridge and saw lights below, then descended through worsening rain toward a remote mountain village.
• Lin Xiaoming and his men searched the village before stopping at a stone house that one of them identified as their destination.

Song Ning was taken to a mountain house and held as Lin Xiaoming’s hostage while she waited to learn what he intended to do. As Lin Xiaoming raged in another room, she ate, rested, and heard what sounded like a woman crying nearby.

• Li Er and Monkey brought Song Ning inside and followed Lin Xiaoming’s order to lock her in a side room.
• Song Ning changed into dry clothes, then let Li Er and Monkey tie her hands while refusing to have her feet bound.
• Li Er and Monkey left Song Ning under guard as Lin Xiaoming argued angrily in the opposite room and smashed dishes.
• Song Ning asked Monkey for food and water, ate two steamed buns, and returned to bed.
• As Song Ning lay listening to the rain, she faintly heard a woman crying nearby.

Song Ning discovered that Lin Xiaoming’s group had murdered the villagers sheltering them, then learned they had been abandoned by Ghost. A flash flood swept her away, but she survived the night on a piece of thatched roof and reached a riverbank, where she heard someone calling for help.

• Song Ning saw corpses beneath the backyard woodpile, and Lin Xiaoming threatened her after catching her at the window.
• Lin Xiaoming ordered Li Er to dispose of a wounded woman, and Song Ning heard the woman scream before falling silent.
• Song Ning overheard Li Er tell Monkey that the people meant to meet them had failed to arrive.
• When Li Er announced a flash flood, Song Ning tried to burn through her bindings, but the flood destroyed the house and swept her away on a piece of thatched roof.
• Song Ning woke at dawn lodged on a riverbank near a steep drop, climbed ashore, and heard someone calling her name for help.

Song Ning tried to save Lin Xiaoming from a flash flood while demanding answers about Suzanna and Ghost. After Lin Xiaoming revealed that Suzanna had died from poison and that the hospital supplied the news, Song Ning caught his hand as the current swept away the bamboo pole, leaving both of them at risk.

• Song Ning found Lin Xiaoming clinging to a splitting branch above a flash flood and offered him a bamboo pole in exchange for answers.
• Lin Xiaoming said the news about Suzanna came from someone at the hospital, who reported that Suzanna had taken poison and was dead when she arrived.
• Lin Xiaoming said he did not know why Suzanna took poison and that Ghost's remaining people might have gone overseas.
• A wave submerged Lin Xiaoming, and the branch snapped, but he caught the bamboo pole Song Ning thrust toward him.
• Song Ning entered the flood and hooked her feet around a submerged tree, then caught Lin Xiaoming's hand as his grip on the bamboo failed.
• Song Ning's injured hand tore as she held Lin Xiaoming against the current, and he urged her to let go.

Song Ning survived the flash flood, found Lin Xiaoming’s emergency backpack, and took shelter in a cave while recovering from the cold. As she reviewed the clues about the gold bars and the K organization, she remained troubled by Lin Xiaoming’s warning to stay away from Gu Zheng.

• Lin Xiaoming warned Song Ning to stay away from Gu Zheng before a log struck him and swept him underwater.
• Song Ning reached the bank, found Lin Xiaoming’s backpack, and climbed uphill to shelter in a cave.
• Song Ning discovered emergency supplies, false identity cards, and money in the backpack, then built a fire and treated her cold.
• Song Ning reasoned that Lin Xiaoming and the organization had been searching for something connected to Songnian Alley and the gold bars beneath its warehouse.
• Song Ning wondered whether Grandpa Song’s belongings held codes and why Lin Xiaoming had warned her about Gu Zheng.

Song Ning was reunited with Gu Zheng and his team after surviving the flood and escaping her captors. She learned that Lin Xiaoming and Lin Xiaojun were dead, while Suzanna had escaped, leaving Ghost as the remaining threat.

• Song Ning heard her pursuers approach the cave, recognized Han Xiao’s signal, and greeted Gu Zheng and his team.
• Gu Zheng embraced Song Ning in relief, checked her for injuries, and explained that he had left the hospital despite his unhealed wound to search for her.
• Song Ning told Gu Zheng that Lin Xiaoming had died in the flood and that the others had been swept away.
• Han Xiao explained that the team had searched the mountains after rescuing villagers and had spotted Song Ning’s fire.
• Song Ning learned that Lin Xiaojun had been shot dead, Suzanna had faked her death and escaped, and Gu Zheng said Ghost remained a threat.