The Old Pearl Mussel had provided Shen Cong with his first real data on the Lv1 era: Activity core metallic transformation completing, then propagating into surrounding body tissue.

That said, it was ultimately the evolutionary pathway of evolved beasts and mutants. Its relevance to iron people was limited. No great loss in killing it — and he couldn't keep it alive aboard the vehicle regardless. It wasn't a pet. The only way it was getting on Great Vajra was as a carcass.

Two hours later, the Old Pearl Mussel had become a cargo rack hanging off the rear of the vehicle, packed full of the lower-grade Activity cores Shen Cong had accumulated during the excavation.

As for the flesh-gold — the portions with lighter metallic invasion, which were still slowly leaking Activity — those went to the Antgod as food. The portions with deeper metallic transformation went to a different purpose: shielding the meteorite fragment.

The fragment's Activity radiation was far too penetrating. Left unshielded, it would alter the local environment and advertise his position. Bone-gold and flesh-gold, he'd confirmed, could actually block Activity radiation — unlike lead, which handled conventional radiation but let Activity radiation through.

So he wrapped the fragment in flesh-gold, sealed it inside a basketball-sized pearl mussel shell, and placed it in the lead bucket. The lead bucket went inside a fish-tank-sized mussel shell. That shell went inside a bathtub-sized mussel shell. The whole assembly was wedged into the corner of the laboratory.

No radiation leaking out. Not a trace.

For now, he had no idea how to use the fragment beyond keeping it safe. Keeping it safe was enough.

He spread the paper map across the table and studied his options.

He'd already retraced his route back to the Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway from Fuxing Township. Quanjiao County was still a dozen or so kilometers ahead. From there, the question was direction: south toward Nanjing's Pukou District, or north toward Chuzhou's Langya District.

It didn't take long to decide. He'd check Langya first, then head to Nanjing.

Chuzhou was shaped something like an egg — Langya District…