The moment the four-legged snake disappeared from the radar, Shen Cong was out through the roof hatch and scanning visually. Nothing in range. He launched the drone.

The feed found it quickly — about four kilometers out near Zhangshan Township, its passage through the deep snow throwing up wave after wave of white. Moving away.

"Based on its heading, the four-legged snake went into the hills along Provincial Route 312." He ran the mental map comparison. "Probably heading into the Ershi Li Long Mountain range in the Jianghuai watershed."

The terrain north of Laian County became progressively hillier and more mountainous — the Jianghuai watershed divide, where the south slope drained to the Yangtze River basin and the north slope to the Huai River basin. The climate difference between the two sides was noticeable to anyone passing through.

His planned route ran exactly along Provincial 312, through Ershi Li Long Mountain, from Laian County's Banta Town across into Changhe Town in Tianchang City, then onto the Changshen Expressway.

He frowned. "This creature could be a significant problem for the route."

Some powerful and massive evolved beasts ranged freely rather than anchoring to Oasis territory — the Golden Jiao had been one, operating across barren and abundant zones alike. The Command's Xuanwu and the death-eaters' Great Earth Dragon were Nuclear-Weight class, two full tiers above the Golden Jiao, and still operating in barren zone territory. The question of how creatures that large originated — whether they were tied to meteorite fragment exposure or not — remained genuinely unclear.

With the four-legged snake located, he swung the drone in a full perimeter survey.

White in every direction. A featureless snowfield, the surface of the world erased. Aside from the creature's gradually diminishing displacement in the distance, nothing else alive was visible — just occasional flakes still drifting down, and ground-level snow particles lifted by the wind into something resembling fog.

"Threat cleared."

He contacted the jeep.

Old Wei, Zhao Zilong, and the others emerged from the snow cave immediately. Old Wei was his usual self — moved straight toward Shen Cong with…