Shen Cong had left the particle-grade four-legged dragon and Yellow Great-Immortal, at the peak of nuclear-grade, at the Lianghua Town Raised Fire River to guard the dual-brain Firestarter Spirit, whose Superbrain was slowly collapsing.

Brother Dao slept as they drove, and the Vajra-Ant shouted its slogans.

The Vajra raced north towing the Train Convoy's three cars. On the way from Heyuan toward Meizhou, as it passed Xingning County, Shen Cong abruptly changed course. He drove across mountains and ridges to Jieyang and, without stopping, kept going toward Shantou.

He had come to see the sea.

Or, more precisely, to see the lay of the land.

The third great earthquake had created the Great Tanlu Rift and a great many raised fire rivers on the North China Plain.

China's southeast coast sat on the edge of the Eurasian Plate, where it ground and pushed against the Pacific Plate. That had produced the southeast coastal seismic belt. From Quanzhou in Fujian to Shantou in Guangdong was the belt's most active stretch. Along this coast the land had perhaps been turned upside down.

From the moment he entered Jieyang City, Shen Cong could see that the environment really had changed enormously.

Volcano stood almost shoulder to shoulder with volcano. Some had solidified completely into dead volcanoes; in other craters lava still churned, some of them even forming volcanic lakes.

Raised fire rivers, too, ran side by side, long and short, winding on without end.

This had probably once been a great forest. Now the ground was strewn with the remains of plants, and the wood-copper and wood-gold were almost eaten away by Firestarter energy. The forest was gone, but a new crop of seedlings had already pushed up out of the ground, lush and green, especially around the craters and raised fire rivers.

The air all around was thick with Firestarter energy and Activity.

Evolved beasts large and small frolicked here, and some, showing off, jumped straight into the lava for a bath. At the sight of the Vajra and its Train Convoy, the timid ones scrambled to hide, while the bolder ones…