Where was the distance, exactly?

Still a long way off. What mattered most was the here and now.

"All right, Yellow Great-Immortal, four-legged dragon, stop! Any more and you'll take apart Luo Shouhai's sheet-iron box!" Shen Cong pulled up the two dimwits just in time, both of them delighted with the demolition work.

Metal-iron material from the pyramid battle-truck lay scattered all over the ground.

The battle-truck had deactivated, which meant Luo Shouhai was going to die—though not right away. It might take two or three days.

The vehicle was dead, but the sheet-iron box fused with Luo Shouhai still held a certain amount of Activity.

It was a strange state. Shen Cong stood in front of the box, laid a hand on it, and felt the Activity inside. It was draining away and drawing more in at once, holding a balance. Given time, the thing might even come back to life.

"Fusing with the body itself seems to have caused a special mutation. Part of the iron core has taken on the body's own life force and can survive on its own."

Shen Cong thought it over.

He never missed a chance to study something along the way. For an evolved person there was still an endless amount to explain and to research.

Luo Shouhai was inside the sheet-iron box.

Through a faint Activity wave, he could still feel Shen Cong standing outside.

He spoke up weakly. "You win, Hu. Place a bet and you take the loss. I lost this one. Make it quick for me." Feeling his own vehicle dying, Luo Shouhai had given up hope of surviving, and after roaring at the sky for so long he had settled down.

"I'm not killing you yet. There's a lot I don't understand, and I intend to ask you about it."

"And you think I'll answer?" Luo Shouhai sneered.

"If you don't, you'll die in agony. I have plenty of methods I could use to make you wish you were dead. If you do, you'll still die, but you can go quickly. And if I find your answers…