The Six-Horned Dragon sale: net proceeds of two hundred and fifty thousand greenbacks.

The Activity fruit sale: one hundred and twenty-eight thousand greenbacks.

Combined: three hundred and seventy-eight thousand. At current Eastern Theater Command price levels, that was a comfortable reserve for a considerable stretch of time.

He paid Guo Shanni her commission. One percent of one hundred and twenty-eight thousand: twelve hundred and eighty greenbacks. He'd expected her to refuse — she had the manner of someone thoroughly ideologically committed, the kind of person who'd find accepting payment for this sort of task complicated. If she refused, the money bought more bone-gold rounds.

He paid her because it was the correct thing to do. She'd performed a service. Services were compensated. His principles didn't bend based on whether the other party was likely to accept.

To his mild surprise, she took it. After a moment of visible internal conflict, she took it.

A small revision to his understanding of people: money moved things. Even principled people.

Guo Shanni went to contact the Eastern Theater Command. Round trip estimated at six hours. Meeting confirmed for five o'clock.

Shen Cong drove Great Vajra north, the Four-Legged Dragon following at road speed. Xinyang Expressway to Changshen Expressway, then rural connecting road into Guiwu Town — the base he'd been using before the New Hefei operation. He wasn't here to rest.

He didn't need to rest, particularly. What he had was something closer to a direction problem. Ahead of him was fog he couldn't read.

The skeletal metallic transition was proceeding on its own schedule. The function curve said: January 9th, full transition complete, next phase begins. But what came after skeletal transition was unknown. The Lv1 era didn't work like the Lv0 era — you couldn't deliberately run a field-force storm or eat a specific fruit to push a specific stat. The process ran its own logic and he was a passenger on it.

He could acquire information, plan strategically, position himself near the resources and research that would matter when the next phase arrived. That was the sum of what he…