Great Vajra in the Lv1 era was a fundamentally different vehicle from what it had been before. The liquid Activity had fully converted to solid state, and continued absorption had driven structural changes deeper into the metal itself — subtle shifts in material architecture that translated directly into dramatically increased strength.

Put the pre-Lv1 Great Vajra against the current version in a direct collision and the current version would absorb some damage and leave the old version a write-off.

Shen Cong had gone from twenty-bull to thirty-bull strength. Great Vajra had at minimum doubled its structural integrity. Both were still improving, though the changes were harder to track than they'd been before the transition — no clean thresholds to cross, no Activity Value ticks to count. Just a gradual awareness that things had shifted, that the metal was continuing to change in ways that resisted precise quantification.

The daily nail trimming and haircuts were evidence enough.

His body weight was incrementally increasing, too. A metal skeleton was heavier than the bone it replaced.

The practical result on the road: Shen Cong drove with the confidence of someone who no longer needed to be cautious about most obstacles. Stone blocks across the road — the V-shaped dozer blade knocked them aside without slowing. At 1.5 meters of ground clearance, minor obstacles weren't obstacles. The speed held.

The pace broke down past Zhanlong Ridge, where the road surface gave out — this was the stretch the death-eater factions had excavated on their way through. The convoy detoured onto rural connecting roads and took the rougher route, bouncing forward toward the south.

"All stop. Reconnaissance." Shen Cong keyed the vehicle radio.

The DJI Phantom 8 went up. A larger military drone launched from one of the armored vehicles behind him. Both swept the route ahead, confirmed clear, and the column moved again.

Shortly after, the familiar territory around Jishan Forest Farm came into view. Shen Cong called another halt and sent the drone over the lake-peninsula banyan grove. No movement. No trace of the four-legged snake. He watched the feed in silence, put…