After leaving the six lymph-laggards behind, Shen Cong pointed Great Vajra toward Taishan Town — close enough to get a clear view of the Baguazhou nuclear detonation site without entering the contaminated zone. From there, the drone could cover the island directly, and binoculars from the roof would probably manage it too. A radiation suit, a brief stop, no meaningful exposure risk.

He’d barely cleared the Mingfa City Plaza ruins when the radar flagged something.

The roof cameras confirmed it: tall figures in the distance, moving through the rubble on stilts — two meters high, adjusting their gait around the debris with practiced ease. Standard equipment for a rat-catching unit.

With all iron people evacuated by the Eastern Theater Command, the death-eater organizations had been forced to improvise mobility solutions. Stilts had turned out to be the practical answer. Death-eaters had the physical capability to move quickly on them, and the height gave them a meaningful surveillance advantage — scanning ruins for concealed lymph-laggards and brainless from above the debris line.

“Stilts. Actually a solid design.” He found himself genuinely interested. His own coordination was considerably beyond theirs. If he trained on two or three-meter stilts, he could push his ground speed further and gain even better sightlines. Useful in shallow water too, avoiding aquatic evolved beast contact.

“Worth trying sometime. For now — deal with the rat-catching unit. One, two, three… seven total.”

Seven rat-catchers. Seven death-eaters. Equivalent to seven reasonably evolved jin people.

His plan: kill five, knock two unconscious, interrogate them separately. Verify what the lymph-laggards had told him. Fill in the gaps.

But first — assess their weapons.

The rubble terrain was rough, Great Vajra’s maneuverability limited in this environment. Speed wasn’t available. He’d already suited up in the Half-Activated Armor. When the moment came, it would come down to him.

The rat-catchers had spotted Great Vajra at the same moment he’d spotted them. All seven had dismounted their stilts and taken cover in the ruins, weapons ready.

Their equipment: what the Eastern Theater Command called radiation core armaments — jin-core weapons, the local equivalent of bone-gold. Their outer garments were leather armor called sharkskin — made from the hide of a dolphin-like evolved creature called the Jin-Skin Dolphin, found in the Yangtze. The Jin-Skin Dolphin’s Activity core was its external hide — soft, pliable, and after tanning, exceptionally effective as protective gear.

Armed death-eaters with core weapons and core armor. Not negligible.

Great Vajra stopped among the ruins. Shen Cong went to combat readiness. No sharkskin, but he had Half-Activated Armor — superior defensive properties to any bone-gold equivalent.

Silence.

A standoff. Then one of them leaned around cover and called out toward the vehicle. “Hey, friend. Where are you from? Haven’t seen you before.”

Shen Cong narrowed his eyes and used the external speakers. “Who are you?”

“Shouldn’t you answer our question first?”

“Survivor from Xuancheng City. Saw the nuclear detonation here from a distance, came looking for an organized group. Didn’t find one.” He let the pause land, then returned it. “You?”

“Xuancheng, Anhui Province — you’ve had a long road.” The man’s voice warmed noticeably. He stepped out from cover and walked forward slowly — just one of them, apparently a leader. “We’re the Eastern Theater Command’s external search team. I’m Yuan Changjiang, Third Group leader. We haven’t gotten to Xuancheng yet in our sweep. Didn’t expect you to come find us yourself.”

Shen Cong let skepticism show. “Eastern Theater Command search team? You don’t look it. No vehicles. How do you conduct searches without vehicles?”

“Ha — iron person, right? Metal corrosion is severe everywhere. The Command’s vehicles are reserved for combat units. Below that level, search teams use stilts.” Yuan Changjiang continued walking closer, relaxed, conversational. “What’s your name? Just you? What’s the situation like in Xuancheng?”

“Iron person? I’m Chen Kun. Just me.”

“Come on — a vehicle that size, you didn’t build that alone. The Command itself doesn’t have resources to outfit something like that.”

Shen Cong let his voice drop slightly. “I used to work at a vehicle modification shop. A few of us survived together at the start. On the road to Nanjing we ran into problems. Too many evolved beasts. Now it’s just me.”

“I see.” Yuan Changjiang nodded, appearing to accept this. “No need to worry anymore. The Command has relocated the survivors to Gaoyou City. There’s a temporary search team base in Nanjing’s Liuhe District — we can take you there.”

“That’s — thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Brother Chen Kun. Ha, you share a name with that actor from a few years back.” A brief, practiced smile. “After everything humanity has been through, we have to stand together. Face the jin beast crisis as one.”

“Jin beasts? And iron people — what are those?” Shen Cong committed fully to the performance.

“Jin beasts — those creatures out there, what we call metal radiation beasts, jin beasts for short. Iron people — people like you, bonded with a vehicle.” Yuan Changjiang seemed to be looking for a window into the cab. “Chen Kun, come down and meet us in person. You can give us a ride to Liuhe District — save us the walk. Haven’t been in a vehicle in ages.”

The other six moved forward as well now, clustering around, calling out compliments about iron people and their vehicles.

“You’re really the Command’s search team?” Shen Cong made a show of lingering doubt.

One of them pulled back his sharkskin to reveal the uniform beneath. “Brother — see this? PLA Army issue. The Command distributed these to us.”

Shen Cong watched them through the camera feeds.

He tucked the Pepper Water vials into his armor, picked up the Ape King Long Blade, and climbed carefully down from the vehicle.

He was lying. They were lying.

The difference was that he knew they were lying, and they didn’t know he was.

He hadn’t taken the six lymph-laggards’ word unquestioningly. But the exchanges just now had settled it. A genuine search team would have asked more questions before offering a ride — not immediately pivoted to getting him away from his vehicle and toward an unfamiliar location. Their behavior didn’t fit the role they were playing.

His own performance hadn’t been especially convincing either. He’d missed several things an ordinary survivor would naturally do or say. Both sides had been playing amateur hour.

The distinction was only who was playing the knowing party and who was playing the fool.

He dropped to the ground in the Half-Activated Armor.

“Damn, Chen Kun — that equipment is something else. You iron people are incredible, work with metal like it’s clay.”

Yuan Changjiang moved toward him with open, friendly energy.

His right hand was drifting quietly toward his waist, where the sharkskin concealed a weapon underneath.

(End of Chapter 222)