Chapter Summaries

Song Ning attended the Central Primary School’s ceremony honoring Tian Yingxue, then discussed a free clinic with township officials. Han Xiao told her that their communications and road access had been cut, warning that hostile forces were after the supplies and the pigment box, and that Song Ning could be targeted as a hostage.

• Song Ning joined Director Cai and Zhou Yuanhang at the school ceremony, where Tian Mingfeng offered wishes on behalf of Tian Yingxue's Family and Zhou Yuanhang pledged five hundred Chinese Dollars.
• Director Cai explained that the school served children from scattered villages through a boarding system, and Song Ning learned how difficult it was to keep the school running.
• Song Ning met with school administrators and Township Government officials to discuss holding a free clinic, while Zhou Yuanhang stayed to listen.
• The principal and township head arranged lodging for the visitors because the school had limited beds and bedding.
• Han Xiao told Song Ning that the telephone line was cut, a landslide blocked the road to Laiyuan County, and their men had stopped reporting in.
• Han Xiao warned that hostile forces were targeting the supplies, especially the pigment box, and told Song Ning to stay beside him while Chen Liang searched for the supplies.

Song Ning and the others attended a meal hosted by the township officials, then settled into a local family's cramped home after learning that a road collapse would delay their departure. Han Xiao warned Song Ning to stay alert while they investigated what had happened to the donated art supplies.

• The township officials hosted Song Ning, Tian Mingfeng, Zhou Yuanhang, and their companions for dinner and arranged lodging in Dagui's and Erzhu's homes.
• The township head told the group that a road out of the mountains had been buried, and Chen Liang later learned it would take at least three days to reopen.
• Song Ning shared a room with Tian Mingfeng at Dagui's house and saw how poor the family's living conditions were.
• Han Xiao told Song Ning that students had received the donated stationery and art supplies at random, with no distribution records to show who got the paints.
• Han Xiao pressed a dagger into Song Ning's hand and said that he and Chen Liang would take turns watching her room's back window.

Song Ning and Han Xiao rushed to the school after the dormitories caught fire, where children and Qingbei students were trapped inside. As rescuers entered the burning building, Song Ning suspected the fire was meant to reveal whether the black jadeite sample was hidden among the donated supplies, and the chapter ended as someone dragged her away from a collapsing wall.

• Song Ning spent the night suspecting Han Xiao and Tian Mingfeng, and expected the newcomers to target students who had received donations.
• Zhou Yuanhang woke Song Ning and Tian Mingfeng to report a fire at the school, while Han Xiao said Chen Liang had headed there.
• Villagers revealed that the fire had engulfed the dormitories where schoolchildren and Qingbei students were sleeping, so Song Ning and Han Xiao ran to help.
• Chen Liang rescued a child and returned to the flames, and Han Xiao joined other villagers in trying to save those still trapped.
• Song Ning suspected the fire was set to find the black jadeite sample or test its heat resistance, and she searched the crowd for Zhou Yuanhang and Tian Mingfeng.
• As the wall began to collapse, someone grabbed Song Ning by both arms and pulled her away.

During the school fire, Song Ning stayed alert amid the evacuation and went with Yousheng to examine children suffering after being rescued. When she entered the room where they were supposedly gathered, she immediately sensed something was wrong.

• Song Ning realized the men dragging her were clearing people away from the collapsing school wall, then kept watch by the gate as officials directed the evacuation.
• The principal found Song Ning and asked her to examine rescued children who might have inhaled smoke, and she agreed.
• Song Ning told the nearby students to alert Chen Liang and Han Xiao if they came looking for her, then left with the principal.
• Parents rushed the principal to ask about their children, so he sent Yousheng to take Song Ning to Director Cai.
• Yousheng led Song Ning to a room in the Township Government, where she saw university students, children, and two burly local men and sensed something was wrong.

Song Ning was captured after refusing to let her captors harm their hostages, then held blindfolded and bound with several college students. After learning from Kong Jianming that a silent leader called “Master” was involved, she was marched out with the others, leaving her uncertain where they were being taken.

• Song Ning subdued Yousheng, but an accomplice threatened the hostages, forcing her to surrender and let the captors blindfold her before knocking her unconscious with a needle.
• Song Ning woke bound and blindfolded in a hay-filled place, drank water from one captor, and demanded to meet the person behind the kidnapping.
• Song Ning found Kong Jianming among the captives, and he told her that three students were being held, the group had been captive for hours, and their masked leader had not spoken.
• The captors returned, pulled Song Ning and the other students to their feet, and marched them away until several prisoners stumbled.
• A captor asked whether they should remove the blindfolds, addressing the silent leader as “Master,” and Song Ning recognized the title.

Song Ning and the university students were taken blindfolded through a tunnel and into the Taihang Mountains, where their captors locked them in a remote hut. Song Ning suspected Zhou Yuanhang and Tian Mingfeng were using the operation to obtain the “sample” and escape, but she did not know whether they had found it.

• Song Ning reasoned that Zhou Yuanhang and Tian Mingfeng knew the “black jadeite” was in Dongtuanbao and had a fallback route or base in the Taihang Mountains.
• After several captives stumbled from exhaustion, their captors let Song Ning rest briefly but kept their blindfolds on and threatened them.
• Song Ning worried that the captors might have found the “sample” and taken hostages as bargaining pieces or shields.
• The captors moved Song Ning and the three university students to a hut in the mountains and locked them inside under guard.
• Song Ning urged the frightened captives to conserve their strength, while Kong Jianming asked whether anyone would come to save them.

Song Ning restrained the three Qingbei students from making a reckless escape while she assessed the armed K members holding them in the mountain forest. At dawn, the captors moved the hostages toward another group, and Song Ning recognized a faintly familiar scent ahead.

• Kong Jianming and the other two students proposed escaping, but Song Ning warned them to stay quiet because they were unarmed and the guards had guns and daggers.
• After a guard threatened to kill someone if they made another sound, Song Ning watched the black-cloaked guards and considered how many people Zhou Yuanhang and Tian Mingfeng might have at their disposal.
• A messenger signaled the guards, and at five fifty the black-cloaked men woke Song Ning and the students and ordered them to move.
• Song Ning counted six armed captors, including the man they called Master, as the group marched through the forest before dawn.
• After they crossed a hill, Song Ning saw more black-cloaked people waiting ahead and caught a faintly familiar scent in the breeze.

Song Ning recognized Tian Mingfeng and suspected that the group’s leader was Zhou Yuanhang before the captors locked her and the others in an abandoned mine. After searching for an exit, she found three old nitroglycerin detonators beneath rubble, giving them a possible way out.

• Song Ning recognized Tian Mingfeng by her scent and suspected the Master was Zhou Yuanhang.
• The captors blindfolded Song Ning and the others, tied them up, and locked them inside a cavern.
• Song Ning freed herself and the others with a hidden dagger, then identified the cavern as an abandoned mine where their captors planned to hold them for an exchange.
• Song Ning sent Yang Fei and He Lin to search for a way out while Kong Jianming stayed near the entrance to warn them.
• Song Ning and the others found the mine passages blocked by a cave-in, and Song Ning discovered three old detonators beneath the rubble.

Song Ning used fire, smoke, and detonators to signal rescuers, then prepared to defend the cave entrance with Yang Fei, He Lin, and Kong Jianming. When their captors came to investigate, she killed three men and seized their weapons, leaving the group braced for more attackers.

• Song Ning gathered dry moss and pit props, lit them with a steel rod, and set detonators among the rubble to create smoke and an explosion as a signal.
• Song Ning led Yang Fei, He Lin, and Kong Jianming back to the iron gate and assigned them positions to defend the narrow entrance.
• After the explosion shook the cave, two armed men entered to investigate, and Song Ning killed them, took their guns, and shut the gate.
• Song Ning gave Yang Fei her dagger, checked her ammunition, and shot a third black-clad man as he approached the gate.

Song Ning treated Kong Jianming’s severe leg wound and led He Lin and Yang Fei out of the cave to seek help. After spotting two armed figures ahead, she prepared to shoot the tall one, whom she suspected was Zhou Yuanhang.

• Song Ning locked the cave gate and took the key, then discovered Kong Jianming unconscious from heavy blood loss.
• Song Ning dressed Kong Jianming’s deep thigh wound and warned that he needed a hospital urgently.
• Yang Fei and He Lin agreed to leave the cave, and He Lin carried Kong Jianming while Song Ning armed the group and led them out.
• Song Ning guided the group through the mountain terrain and spotted two black-clad figures talking on a rocky outcropping.
• Song Ning signaled He Lin and Yang Fei to move Kong Jianming around the rocks, then aimed at the tall figure she suspected was Zhou Yuanhang.

Song Ning fought off one Black Cloak member, then found He Lin, Yang Fei, and Kong Jianming captured or wounded by the remaining enemies. She surrendered to buy time, but the woman she suspected was Tian Mingfeng ordered the others killed, and Song Ning tried to stop the guard from shooting Kong Jianming.

• Song Ning ambushed a Black Cloak member, killed him with her dagger, and headed toward the gunfire after the other enemy failed to appear.
• Song Ning found He Lin and Yang Fei wounded, Kong Jianming barely alive and held at gunpoint, and one Black Cloak member dead.
• A woman on the ledge called Song Ning out, and Song Ning surrendered her gun while asking whether the woman was Researcher Tian.
• The woman ordered the guard to kill everyone, and Song Ning pleaded with him not to waste a bullet on the already dying Kong Jianming.
• Kong Jianming began to regain consciousness as the guard raised his gun again.

Song Ning recognized Night Owl as he tried to stop the attackers, but Zhou Yuanhang shot He Lin, drugged her, and escaped with her. She woke weak and unable to speak among soldiers, where an unfamiliar man called her Xiuying and claimed the military had rescued them.

• The woman ordered Fifth to kill Song Ning and the wounded hostages, but Night Owl intervened, and Song Ning recognized him from the earlier pursuit of Buddha Lord.
• Kong Jianming lunged at the woman; Night Owl shot him as Song Ning threw her dagger at the burly man, and Kong Jianming and the woman fell off the platform while the dagger struck its target.
• Zhou Yuanhang held Song Ning at gunpoint, shot He Lin in the leg, injected Song Ning in the neck, and carried her into the forest.
• A military squad arrived ten minutes later and rescued He Lin and Yang Fei.
• Song Ning woke weak and unable to speak beside soldiers, and an unfamiliar man called her Xiuying and said the military had rescued them.

Song Ning realized Zhou Yuanhang had disguised them as villagers and used a false tip to gain military protection while escaping toward Huangjue Village. He brought her into a courtyard there, and the gate shut before she could alert Li Gang or identify a familiar figure.

• Zhang Ming arrived with soldiers, praised Comrade Ma for revealing the hideout, and ordered Li Gang to escort Zhou Yuanhang and Song Ning toward Huangjue Village.
• Zhou Yuanhang refused Li Gang’s offer to carry Song Ning, but the soldiers took turns transporting her on a stretcher through the mountains.
• Song Ning recognized Huangjue Village as a likely escape route because the 108 National Highway passed nearby.
• At dusk, Zhou Yuanhang led Li Gang and the soldiers to a courtyard, where a man he called his brother helped carry Song Ning inside.
• Song Ning tried to signal Li Gang and thought she spotted someone familiar, but the courtyard gate shut before she could act.

Zhou Yuanhang revealed his identity to Song Ning and said he planned to take her away after drugging her. As the drug partly wore off, Song Ning asked whether he had killed Cheng Hui and what connected him to Voss, but he promised to answer only after she ate.

• Zhou Yuanhang told Chen Jiu that Tian Mingfeng had fallen from Tiger Head Cliff and confirmed that the plan to leave with Song Ning would continue the next day.
• Zhou Yuanhang admitted that Song Ning had repeatedly thwarted his plans, said she made his life interesting, and promised to take her away.
• Zhou Yuanhang carried Song Ning to the kitchen and tried to feed her, then injected her with a dose that partially counteracted the drug.
• Song Ning asked whether Zhou Yuanhang had killed Cheng Hui, and he confessed that he had because he found her annoying.
• Song Ning asked why the De Side's investigation had led to Voss and what connection Zhou Yuanhang had to him, but Zhou Yuanhang told her to finish her porridge before he answered.

Song Ning learned that Zhou Yuanhang had followed her investigation to locate the missing supplies and planned to use her to force Gu Zheng to trade for them. As Zhou Yuanhang drugged her and disguised her as a sick woman during a military search, Gu Zheng arrived at her bedside.

• Song Ning questioned Zhou Yuanhang about framing Cheng Hui and finding the supplies, and he revealed that he had followed her movements to reach them first.
• Zhou Yuanhang threatened to exchange Song Ning for the supplies, then choked her when she insisted that Gu Zheng would put the motherland before her.
• Chen Jiu stopped Zhou Yuanhang and warned him that troops were searching nearby houses, so Zhou Yuanhang injected Song Ning with a drug that left her unable to speak or move.
• Zhou Yuanhang hid a box of syringes in the kitchen, carried Song Ning to bed, and pretended she was ill when Han Xiao and the troops inspected the house.
• Gu Zheng entered Song Ning's room and asked about her illness, and Song Ning recognized his voice and began to cry.

Gu Zheng confirmed that the disguised, voiceless woman was Song Ning, whom Zhou Yuanhang had abducted, but he ordered his squad to watch the courtyard rather than attempt a rescue. Zhou Yuanhang hid Song Ning underground and revealed that explosives surrounded the courtyard, leaving Gu Zheng’s next move uncertain.

• Zhou Yuanhang claimed Song Ning could not speak and showed Gu Zheng a medical record while Gu Zheng questioned her during the inspection.
• After Gu Zheng and the others left, Zhou Yuanhang taunted Song Ning, saying he would kill Gu Zheng if he tried to rescue her.
• Chen Jiu led Zhou Yuanhang and Song Ning into a cellar, where Zhou Yuanhang said explosives had been buried around the courtyard.
• Gu Zheng told Chen Liang and Han Xiao that he recognized Song Ning by her eyes and believed drugs had restricted her movements.
• When Chen Liang asked why they would not rescue Song Ning immediately, Gu Zheng ordered more sentries to watch every side of the courtyard and report any movement.

Zhou Yuanhang used lookalike doubles to draw Gu Zheng’s watchers away from the village while preparing to escape with Song Ning. After removing their disguises, he revealed his obsessive fixation on her and trapped her in the cellar with him.

• Gu Zheng ordered Chen Liang and Han Xiao to search the village discreetly and keep the arriving vehicles outside it.
• Zhou Yuanhang told Song Ning he wanted to kill Gu Zheng and take her away, then learned from Chen Jiu that the escape plan was ready.
• Chen Jiu brought two lookalikes disguised as Zhou Yuanhang and Song Ning out through a hidden passage to lure the watchers away.
• Xiao Guang reported that the watchers had followed the doubles out of the village, and Zhou Yuanhang helped Song Ning eat as the drug wore off.
• Zhou Yuanhang removed his and Song Ning’s disguises, then stroked her face and forced her to look at him as he threatened that she would never escape.

Zhou Yuanhang disguised himself and smuggled the immobilized Song Ning through a secret passage and along secluded routes toward the highway. Their ox cart was stopped by soldiers and local militia, who began questioning them.

• Zhou Yuanhang disguised himself and Song Ning, took the syringe box, and carried her through a secret passage to another farmhouse.
• Zhou Yuanhang disguised their escape as a trip to Song Ning’s parents’ home and pulled her on a handcart to an old locust tree.
• Zhou Yuanhang transferred Song Ning and two sacks to an ox cart, then traveled toward the highway with an old driver.
• Two village women boarded the cart and chatted about explosions that had destroyed vehicles on the highway.
• Two soldiers and two red-armband villagers stopped the ox cart, and the soldiers asked Zhou Yuanhang and Song Ning who they were.

Zhou Yuanhang escaped the checkpoints with Song Ning and traveled deep into the Taihang Mountains in a truck driven by Chen Jiu, while Song Ning’s strength slowly returned. They reached a busy roadside restaurant near the Jin Province border, where Song Ning remained trapped beside Zhou Yuanhang.

• Zhou Yuanhang and Song Ning passed a checkpoint after Old Wu identified them as villagers from Yangjue Village.
• Zhou Yuanhang got Song Ning off the ox cart, and Chen Jiu and Xiao Guang picked them up in a truck.
• Song Ning recognized Chen Jiu by the scars on his hands and realized Xiao Guang was traveling in the cargo bed.
• As the truck drove for hours without being followed, Song Ning secretly waited for the drug’s effects to wear off.
• Chen Jiu drove them to the Mountain Pass Restaurant near the Jin Province border, where the proprietress told Song Ning not to block the doorway.

Chen Jiu, Zhou Yuanhang, Xiao Guang, and Song Ning kept their guard up in a crowded restaurant while Chen Jiu arranged food for Song Ning. The proprietress then began topping up their teapot with hot water, unaware that Chen Jiu had switched it from another table.

• Chen Jiu checked the backyard, switched his table's teapot with the neighboring truck drivers' pot, and reported that everything was normal.
• Xiao Guang checked the surroundings and told Zhou Yuanhang that everything was normal.
• Chen Jiu paid the truck drivers to let his group eat their food first, and he and Xiao Guang began eating while Zhou Yuanhang helped Song Ning eat.
• Song Ning pretended to struggle with her food, while Zhou Yuanhang carefully selected tender pieces for her.
• The truck drivers complained about their cold tea, and the proprietress poured hot water into their teapot before heading to the corner table.
• The proprietress lifted the corner table's teapot lid and started pouring in hot water without asking.