Feng Ping, Central European Review reporter

It was about 700 years ago in China, the time when Emperor Zhu established the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It was a time when coercion and terrorism were rampant in China. The emperor set up secret police run by eunuchs, the East and West Factories. In the late Ming dynasty, the East Factory held more power than the emperor, which disrupted the rule of the imperial court. The rigorous laws and terroristic policies made it impossible for common people to live. The dynasty was in chaos.

Among civilians, some upright people set up kong fu gangs for the purpose of establishing justice. They saved many innocent civilians’ lives from merciless executioners, punished the wicked and rewarded the right. This caused more troubles for the government; it shook the dynasty. The East Factory would do anything to uproot these gangs.

At the same time, the East Factory continued persecuting honest officials who were still loyal to the emperor and were concerned about the people’s livelihood. These royal officials were mercilessly killed; their family members were also punished. Blood flowed everywhere throughout the city. The dynasty was full of horror. The society turned backwards, and the world was turned upside down.

The secret kong fu gangs did their best to kill these evil eunuchs and save more innocent people’s lives. One gang had the highest reputation in the country: Conscientious Camp. This camp was on the top list of kong fu gangs that should be exterminated totally from the East Factory.

The head eunuch of the East Factory was Wang Han, who was merciless and greedy. Wang enjoyed torturing people and causing other people suffering because his own mind and body were greatly distorted. The eunuch sought pleasure in money and power. It was him who controlled the emperor and ruled the country in reality. Other officials were figureheads with no real function. In these days, pretending to be ignorant was the best way to survive.

Eunuch Wang enjoyed two pleasures in life. One was to kill people, because he hated beauty and enjoyed suffering; the other was to collect money. It was rumored that he built a golden room for himself and lied in the room facing the golden cell the whole day. In order to reach his purpose, he had trained a killer, who was a very beautiful young woman, Cold Rose. She was raised by the eunuch as an orphan. She was trained in martial arts since from childhood, making her swift in movements and unexpectedly tactful when fighting. In a blink of an eye, she could give her opponent a fatal hit. Moreover, she was marvelously beautiful and intelligent. What scared people was that, as her name told, she was cold-blooded. She was born to be a killer. Her principle of life was to follow the command of the court eunuch and kill according to his orders.