New Hefei's evening was warm and loud — a genuine celebration for the visitors from the Eastern Theater Command.

The former Colonel Hu, Commander Hu, Comrade Hu Ge did not attend. Great Vajra sat on the familiar elevated platform, still standing, undemolished. Shen Cong watched the lights flickering in the distant buildings and cooked his own dinner alone.

In the afternoon, a number of people who knew him had come to find him one by one — Wang Yingying, Li Aiping, Zhang Youhai, Zhu Haifeng, others. Shen Cong had received each of them with the same steady coldness they remembered, which had the effect of reassuring them. He was still himself. Nothing about him had changed.

Perhaps in Shen Cong's internal world, the concept of friendship had never really existed. Only himself — past, present, and future.

The distant buildings hummed with noise. His hearing was good enough to pick up the jokes, even the bad ones. None of it reached him. He ate his food and remained undisturbed by the absence of whatever that scene represented.

After dinner, Li Aiping came back with a message: "Colonel — Commander Zhao says there's a meeting at eight-thirty tonight, joint with Political Commissar Zhou. He's asking you to attend. It's about the Huoshan Oasis."

He had no particular interest in meetings. But Huoshan Oasis was different. He nodded.

Li Aiping lingered for a moment after delivering the message, looking at Great Vajra's closed door. Then she shook her head and walked away.

She had grieved when he'd left without a word. Now that he was back, she found the feeling had faded. Time diminished everything, particularly connections that had never been fully formed in the first place.

An hour to eight-thirty. Shen Cong spent it on the totem engine.

The Six-Horned Dragon's six gill-plume horns were the best cores he'd ever acquired — theoretically sufficient to drive a complete power system upgrade for Great Vajra. But each horn ran two meters and thirty-five centimeters in full length, and using them as totems required keeping them intact. Which meant the engine housing needed…