The day after Zhao Weiliang arrived at the Eastern Theater Command, the Military Committee convened an expanded session and formally announced that New Hefei would be integrated into the Command's unified military management structure.

Zhao Weiliang was appointed Military Commander of the New Hefei settlement and elected to the standing committee, ranked eleventh. New Hefei's existing garrison forces were reorganized as the New Hefei Garrison Battalion, subordinate to the 1st Group Army, with Zhu Li appointed as battalion commander and enrolled as a committee member. Former Deputy Commander Shen Cong was reassigned as Xinyi City Camp Administrator and enrolled as a committee member.

With New Hefei's integration, Shen Cong was now officially part of the Eastern Theater Command.

And being officially part of it meant the Command's threat to him had dropped considerably.

"Unless every single person in the Eastern Theater Command wants me dead, the Four-Legged Dragon and I can handle whatever they throw at us." He scratched the Four-Legged Dragon under her enormous chin. "Right, Little Four? Remember — anyone who tries to hurt me, you eat them. And you know how to run. Once you're moving, missiles without a targeting lock can't touch you."

He took every opportunity he could to work on her training. Her intelligence was roughly on par with a four- or five-year-old girl's — she had real learning capacity.

With that physique, if she ever internalized the principles of hit-and-run combat, the Command would need to deploy heavy weapons just to have a chance at putting her down. Great Vajra was both fortress and anchor, always tethered to the road network. The Four-Legged Dragon had no such constraint. She could leave whenever she wanted — completely unencumbered.

When I meet with Liu Yiwu, I need to read his intentions. Gauge whether there's any scheme in play against me. If there isn't... I want to see what Huai'an City looks like these days. And I want to make a trip to Jianhu County's laboratory — get a proper measure of their research capability.

He'd collected scientific information in fragments over time, but it remained…