People delivered to camp, convoy refueled and serviced, then out again to Bagong Mountain to collect the second group with Ding Yucai.

There had been a complication. A hundred-plus people had declined to go. Most of them were former Big-Fly Brother supporters who feared arriving in Hefei and facing consequences for what they'd been part of.

"The road is each person's choice. I hope they've chosen correctly." Ding Yucai was a temperate man by nature. He left supplies for those staying behind.

"That's not quite right, City Lord — if they chose correctly, doesn't that mean we chose wrong?" one of his mutants said.

"Then wish them an early death and a better next life," another replied. "Turns out Big-Fly had a whole other side nobody saw. We were blind."

"You know faces, not hearts. Let's hope the Provincial Garrison leadership is better than what we knew."

"Worry about what? If they're bad, we push back. The Pacific Ocean hasn't been capped off. Jinggangshan's still standing. We can go anywhere we want."

Ding Yucai put an end to it. "Enough. When we get to Hefei, follow the rules. Military organization isn't Coal City — they won't be indulging anyone. You all saw Colonel Hu. That kind of person — we don't pick fights with him, not yet. Stay quiet and see how things develop."

People's thinking was endlessly varied.

Shen Cong understood this well, which was precisely why he avoided getting entangled in crowd dynamics. He sat in Great Vajra's cab and waited for the convoy to organize itself. The priority cargo had already been sent back to Hefei; there was nothing left that needed to go in his hold.

On the return run, Great Vajra maintained its usual position — trailing the convoy at a comfortable distance.

When the convoy reached Tushan Township, the junction where the Bengbu-Hefei Expressway crossed the Hefei-Huai Road — within reasonable distance of the Mingfa Camp — Shen Cong radioed Liu Qihang.

"You're almost home. Take them in. I have something else to do."

He swung Great Vajra off the expressway and onto the…