The Siphon pang hit without warning.

Shen Cong's attention snapped toward it instantly. He looked left at the cave wall ahead — the pull was radiating from there, and it was strong.

Siphon urges had become rare for him at this point.

Since crossing into the Lv1 era, his control over his own Activity radiation had become near-total. He could rein it in at will, keep it contained. The underlying principle was simple: Siphon urges, pressure auras, perceptual links — all of these were forms of unknown, thought-influencing interference between Activity fields. Learn to manage your own radiation frequency, and you could manage the interference.

A bit of practice was all it took.

The iron people of the Eastern Theater Command had all mastered this discipline as well. Otherwise, a squad of iron people sharing a workspace would spend all day broadcasting I want to consume you and I want to consume you at one another, and no work would ever get done.

But right now, the Siphon urge was surging back — strong and insistent.

Shen Cong immediately tightened his stance and moved closer to the Four-Legged Dragon. He swept his headlamp across the cave wall and studied it carefully. His vision was exceptional — light sensitivity far beyond human baseline — and in the dark river's gloom, he could see it with perfect clarity.

The cave wall had a metallic sheen.

Metal? He fished a smooth river stone from the water and snapped it at the wall.

Thwack.

The stone shattered. The wall didn't react.

He approached with deliberate caution, and with each step the Siphon pull intensified — more precisely, it was coming from one specific patch of the wall.

That patch was radiating Activity fluctuations.

These fluctuations feel so familiar... He recognized them immediately. The same signature as my Half-Activated Armor. A kind of 'unliving' Activity. The connection clicked into place. This was the same type of thing he wore. A failed metallic lifeform.

Right here. This exact spot.

Shen Cong drew the Condor Spade and went to work. He was going to dig that failed…