Mysterious murder at the Southern Calm Hotel in Hong Kong. The corpse of a major Chinese businessman Fu Shu was discovered in a room locked from the inside. Student Yang Le-hsiang, an assistant investigator, finds out that the murder is connected with a recently organized expedition to search for Pocketmen, micropygmies, who, according to travelers, live in the mountains of Southern China. However, the mythical Pocketmen, as well as the secret society “Horned Dragons”, which protects these creatures, are of interest not only to scientists, but also to Chinese counterintelligence officers. The investigation continues in Malaysia and in the monasteries of Yunnan province. Read an action-packed “exotic” detective story from the period of Soviet-Chinese friendship.