Snow came in the first half of the night.

It started small — tiny flakes that dissolved on contact, leaving no trace. Then it built, and built, until it was falling in thick drifts.

Shen Cong stepped out onto Great Vajra's roof and stood in it. The snow carried a surge of ambient Activity — rich, almost effervescent. The Eastern Theater Command called Activity "metal radiation." Standing here in this snowfall, he understood why that framing made sense.

His meteorite fragment research had revealed it: the fragments emitted a specific radiation, not Activity itself, but something that catalyzed a reaction in metal — corroding it, reducing its mass, causing the lost mass to escape outward as Activity. "Metal radiation" was actually a reasonable description. Activity was mass departing from metal in radiant form.

The Golden Jiao Totem's absorption efficiency climbed noticeably in the dense Activity of the snowfall. Great Vajra was pulling in ambient Activity at an elevated rate, and the enhancement feedback was coming through steadily — warm pulses of strengthening through the bond.

He pulled off his Jiao-hide gloves and held out a hand.

In darkness that blinded everyone else, he could see clearly. Snowflakes touched his palm and dissolved immediately — and then more, until his hand was wet. He closed his fist. Water pressed out between his fingers.

Winter. It's actually here.

Then, two hundred meters out, he caught movement. Figures on stilts, advancing carefully through the snow.

A sharp flash of alarm. He was back inside Great Vajra in moments, walkie-talkie in hand.

"Don't sleep. Death-eaters approaching. We've been found."

He checked the radar display. The snowfall was degrading the signal — the incoming figures hadn't registered at all.

Snow and rain compromise radar. Pay more attention in bad weather.

Zhao Zilong's group, not yet asleep, scrambled at the warning. Shen Cong armed up fully, instructed Blackhead and Black One to hold the nest, and slipped out of Great Vajra quietly.

The bouncing stilts required care on snow — the footing was unpredictable, the compacted contact surface uncertain. But there was an advantage too: fresh…