At three in the afternoon, Shen Cong—the Bug Warrior factions now committed thoroughly to memory—convened a leadership meeting.

By his earlier reasoning, leaving the Eastern Theater Command meant relinquishing his former illustrious status, no longer having any entanglement with the ETC—even though he'd never cast himself in the role of that illustrious status to begin with.

But Han Shoucheng and the others actually still intended to acknowledge his identity, and Shen Cong figured he could make use of them to get some things done.

Five super iron people, fifty battle-hardened jin people, a small stock of hot-weapon missiles—a force like that, the prepared reckoning against the unprepared, was enough to wipe out any single Bug Warrior faction.

And it happened that Shen Cong had a mind to wipe out all the Bug Warriors; the ETC's forces could serve as cannon fodder.

He still needed to stay in the Ji-Mou-Dai region a while longer. For one, to finish the Great Vajra's metal-iron-into-metal-steel evolution—a process that might take twenty days. For another, he wanted to wait and see whether the dragon-claw pagoda tree and the Snail Traveler would react again, and find out the mysterious thing that had drawn them here.

Two weeks had slipped by just like that, and the dragon-claw pagoda tree and the Snail Traveler had stayed quiet and still, without the slightest reaction.

It genuinely left Shen Cong somewhat anxious—no telling whether the mysterious thing had already vanished, or whether it was some other reason.

"Once I've finished the full metal-steel conversion and Vajra's blood no longer has any effect, if the mysterious thing still hasn't drawn the dragon-claw pagoda tree and the Snail Traveler again, I'll leave this place. And for now—wipe out the Bug Warriors, and build a habitable environment!"

The meeting was held in a small cabin not far from the mercury lake.

Fifteen people in all, each seated on a wood-gold stool.

Shen Cong sat high in the head seat.

To his left were the military's representatives: general commander Han Shoucheng, the five iron people, and jin-person elite squad captain Lao Erjiang—seven in all.…