Strange toad-like creatures. A black-yellow fog that rotted skin on contact. The route from Quanjiao County to Nanjing's Pukou District was impassable — and with it, the Mingfa Camp's relocation plans were finished.

The Research Institute's specialists theorized that the black-yellow fog was most likely connected to the nuclear detonations — probably a manifestation of nuclear fallout dust. That would explain the skin necrosis affecting both evolved people and evolved beasts within the fog's reach: radiation-induced damage to skin cell DNA structure.

With Nanjing locked inside that fog, it was difficult to imagine the Eastern Theater Command forces still holding position there. They'd likely already withdrawn.

After a nuclear strike, contamination spread across a wide radius. Even a small-yield warhead — perhaps a fifteen-kiloton thermonuclear device — left its surrounding area uninhabitable for humans and animals alike.

"We hold the Mingfa Camp." Zhao Weiliang announced his conclusion after extended deliberation, throwing his support behind Zhu Li's position at last. What followed was a session of practical planning: trenches to dig, walls to raise, defensive preparations against evolved beast incursion.

Shen Cong left the meeting and returned to Vajra with a cloud over his thoughts.

It was the same pattern repeating. When he'd been in Juchao District, Hefei had seemed full of promise — the place where Activity's secrets might be unlocked. He'd arrived and found only partial answers. Then the Eastern Theater Command in Nanjing had become the new hope. Now Nanjing was a radioactive dead zone.

One horizon after another dissolving as he approached it.

If the Eastern Theater Command evacuated Nanjing, where would they go?

He studied the map quietly.

Nanjing sat at the center of four prefecture-level cities: Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Ma'anshan, and Chuzhou. Any of them could be a viable retreat destination. Chuzhou in particular — the Nanjing Military Region had maintained a long-term presence there.

A shame Fu Ran's team bypassed Chuzhou and went straight for Nanjing. Chuzhou's situation is still completely unknown.

The decision to bypass wasn't unreasonable. Quanjiao County had been shelled extensively — evidence of a major engagement, suggesting Chuzhou was dangerous enough…