THE DOOR TO HIS QUARTERS was slightly ajar. He silently made his way to the door, ready for anything. He peered in and to his utter and complete astonishment, it had been thoroughly ransacked. Nothing appeared to be damaged, but the entire contents of the room were upturned or disrupted in some way. Liao could not begin to imagine who might have done this, or what purpose this invasion of his privacy might have served.
A further careful examination indicated that nothing was missing, so the mystery grew even deeper. He had brought nothing of real value with him, except for his Dao, and that was exactly where he left it. Whoever had been here didn’t seem to have even touched the most important item in the room. Still, given the considerable disarray of the rest of the quarters, that the Da
