Chen Xiuni had nothing worth hiding.

She told it all straight.

When Shen Cong had heard her out, he studied her hard for a moment or two. He couldn't quite bring himself to believe every word, but at least his killing intent now had a target it could vent against. "You're telling me this was all coincidence. Your scout drew White-Eye Bug in, you split into three groups to lure it off, you were supposed to fire your Mushroom Cannons in sequence — and then Li Bo's team caused a delay?"

"That's right. Though Li Bo's team drew White-Eye Bug off in the end, at the cost of sacrificing themselves. I'm truly sorry, though — none of us imagined that you, Commander, would suddenly appear." Chen Xiuni spoke frankly.

Just as she was speaking, Yellow Great-Immortal sidled over, stuck its nose right up to Chen Xiuni, and sniffed hard, again and again.

Chen Xiuni's body went instantly rigid, and she shot a glance at Shen Cong. "Commander, could you have this Yellow… Great-Immortal keep some distance from me?"

Another knot of hesitation in Shen Cong's heart.

He'd have quite liked to let Yellow Great-Immortal swallow Chen Xiuni in one bite — that would settle everything once and for all and put his mind at rest.

It was only because the situation had been so dire that he'd let Chen Xiuni drive. This was the first time the Great Vajra had taken on a passenger with no guard up at all — the driver's seat, no less. It left Shen Cong distinctly uncomfortable; a great many of the Great Vajra's secrets had already been laid bare to Chen Xiuni's eyes.

Though, strictly speaking, there weren't all that many secrets.

The cab's systems had all been designed for him afterward by professionals — no black-tech beyond this era existed anywhere in them. Shen Cong's edge over other people lay not in the technology of the old civilization, but in the several kinds of special Activity waves he'd mastered, plus his reinforced armor, the Vajra's blood, and the like.

At bottom, it still…