The fog at Bayiji Town was thick, vast, and white — a blanketing whiteness so total that a hand held at arm's length disappeared into it, leaving nothing ahead but the pale void of nothing.

The 007 Battalion soldiers advanced with ropes tied around their waists, feeling their way forward along the highway centimeter by centimeter.

Probing for whatever the fog was hiding.

Reports came back to Shen Cong quickly.

"Camp Hu — we've found the 12th Army's track, but it looks like they deviated from the highway, drifting north. When people get into heavy fog their sense of direction goes wrong fast. Our lead personnel have nearly walked off the highway several times — first north, then south, one time they nearly turned back the way we came."

"The magnetic field inside the fog seems severely distorted. Our compasses aren't functioning. And, Camp Hu — have you noticed? The fog around us is getting thicker. We're — zzzt — Camp Hu — zzzt —"

At that moment Shen Cong registered that the communications signal from barely twenty meters away had cut out entirely.

Every radar unit on Great Vajra went dead simultaneously. The scan displays showed no feedback, no signal — nothing.

The exterior cameras showed only white.

The Four-Legged Dragon, right beside the vehicle, made a distressed sound. Their perceptual link had begun cutting in and out, faltering in and out of range as though she'd suddenly moved far away.

This—

Something cold and sharp moved through Shen Cong's chest.

He acted immediately, while the perceptual link still held: "Little Four. Stay still. Don't move. I'm coming to you."

"Come fast — come fast — scared—" Her response came back. She had a timid heart.

He grabbed rope, tied it around himself, set a simple hourglass in the corridor, and turned to Blackhead, who had ridden along. "Blackhead — when the sand in this hourglass reaches here — understand? When it's all down here — pull the rope back. You understand?"

Blackhead nodded carefully. "Know... pull... sand... here..."

"Right." He ruffled her head, then opened the roof hatch…