The snow kept building. Great Vajra stood over five meters tall and was now buried to nearly three meters depth.

Twenty meters away, the military jeep had completely disappeared under the snowline. Old Wei, Dahu, and Xiao Bei, with nothing useful to do, had started tunneling — carving out a snow cave large enough to drive the jeep inside. Their repeated shoveling had compressed the surrounding snow into something close to ice, and the cave walls were solid and stable. No risk of collapse. Surprisingly warm inside.

Shen Cong didn't bother. Great Vajra's exhaust vented from the roof, the entire hull was sealed waterproof, and being buried didn't concern it.

He spent the night running the Siphon.

He'd switched to the Bull Demon King Totem — lower field-force storm output. At that absorption rate, Great Vajra pulled in roughly 0.024H per hour. The Siphon trigger point was 0.013H above his own current level. Every 32 minutes and 30 seconds, a Siphon event occurred, transferring the excess to him.

Recovery from each event took roughly ten minutes. Then eating to replace the energy expenditure — another ten minutes. Rest to absorb — another ten. Thirty minutes between each event, which aligned almost exactly with the transfer interval.

He stopped fearing it and started using it. Snowbound, no threats nearby, nothing pulling at his attention. Perfect conditions.

7:15 PM — first Siphon.

7:45 PM — second Siphon.

BOOM.

He watched it carefully this time, full attention on the process. The Activity arrived the same way Exchange always did — not from outside, but as if it had welled up from inside his own body, spreading through him. The violence of it was real but bounded.

8:20 PM — third Siphon.

BOOM.

Activity Value: 2.437H. No organ damage beyond tolerance.

8:50 PM — fourth.

Activity Value: 2.45H. His stomach moved. Hunger, right on schedule. He ate — Activity fruit, a small vial of Bee Treasure, several cuts of evolved beast meat.

He felt it. The physical condition that had been sitting at the nineteen-bull ceiling, pressed to its limit, beginning to tip over…