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…