The mutant goats had an official Eastern Theater Command designation: Golden Fleece Goats. Hide, fur, meat, and bone were all valuable resources. The Activity cores were naturally the most precious component of all.

Shen Cong kept the cores. Totem engine fuel stock.

While the group was skinning the Golden Fleece Goats, Big Bear fired a signal flare into the sky.

Shen Cong's hand was around Big Bear's throat before he'd consciously decided to move. He stopped himself through considerable effort. "What are you doing."

Big Bear explained quickly: "Internal signal flare — Tempest company use only. We have a cargo vehicle waiting on the Jinhu branch expressway. Just calling them up."

It was exactly as he said. Within minutes, a large improvised vehicle appeared on the road.

Wooden frame for the body. A tractor-style cab unit pulling it from the front.

"Everything's rusted to nothing out there." Big Bear shook his head. "We had to start cutting timber and building these cart rigs. The cab unit needs to go back to the camp every couple of days for an iron person to recharge and service it. Just keeping one vehicle running is a serious burden." Despite being nicknamed Big Bear, the man was on the lean side — nothing like the animated character.

Chen Qiang had similarly inherited his nickname by pure contrast: Bald had a full head of neatly center-parted black hair and carried himself with a bookish air. "If we hadn't run into Brother Wu today, we'd have lost a lot more. Little Bear included. Mao, Gundzi, Caicai — three of them gone just like that. How do we explain this to their wives."

Ruan Chao hunched his shoulders. "It's my fault. I thought the three Golden Fleece Goats were spread apart. I was wrong."

"Don't do that to yourself." Lu Xiaofei clapped him on the back. "Hunting was never going to be smooth sailing every time. The day we walked out and started this company, we all accepted that life and death were up to fate. You don't want to be managed, you learn to manage risk…