The nations kept their word. As Sobek had predicted, as long as they didn't know more about the mysterious new enemy, they would keep the peace. This was enough for the spinosaurus: the time the humans gave them would allow Sobek to rally his followers, and moreover the humans would help him by delivering all the dinosaurs in their possession!

In a way, thinking about it with a clear head, Sobek had agreed that this solution had several advantages. First, it allowed him to exponentially increase the size of his pack, and secondly, it would take away possible hostages from humans.

Furthermore, Sobek had in mind to use that time to further evolve. Thanks to his recent actions, his fame points had risen at a breakneck speed; he had far exceeded the billion he needed. This would have granted him not only new abilities, but would have allowed him to unlock the [Anti-aircraft system].

Since the humans would use the time available to them to upgrade their arsenal, Sobek was in no doubt that it wouldn't take long to convert the superb technology they already possess into weaponry. Ballistic or thermobaric missiles, or even napalm, would soon appear on Eden. An air defense would have been useful for Sobek.

He did not have to worry about how to unlock the various slots of the [Anti-aircraft system] or the cost of the various weapons: thanks to the bird intelligence network he had created in the human world, which was now administered by Rambo, he could have obtained images of the various missiles as soon as humans built them thanks to the mind-sharing ability of [Contract]. Humans wouldn't even know they were being spied on.

As for the cost, however, his bonus money had gone up a lot after he made the peace treaty. By now his capital, if it could be defined as such, exceeded forty million. More than enough to create a powerful anti-aircraft, he always admitted that the costs of the missiles would not be too prohibitive.

However, before evolving, he at least wanted to have proof that humans would comply with their side of the bargain.

The dinosaurs had already shown that they had their word: within days they had collected any barrel of oil, any lump of coal, any gas can, any piece of plastic and any other resource left in the colony and deposited everything on the border. The humans had come to pick them up shortly after. As a result, the dinosaurs had proven to be true to the covenants.

Now it was the humans' turn. Fortunately, they too didn't wait.

Thanks to Blue and his hacking skills, Sobek learned that nations around the world had begun to seize all dinosaurs held in farms and zoos. Hunting trips had also begun in the few nature reserves. Someone had tried to catch birds too, but thanks to Sobek the birds now had [Ambush] and moved in large flocks of several species, which made it impossible to catch them.

Even though the situation looked promising, Sobek had begun to worry. That situation could in fact have an unpleasant side: if all farms were deprived of dinosaurs, it was likely that the black market would try to hold some dinosaurs to review their parts at a high price. After all, the law of the market dictated that the rarer something was, the more it had value: if the dinosaurs disappeared, then everything that was produced thanks to them would become more expensive than a diamond.

If his fears were fulfilled and the black market took a monopoly on the dinosaur trade, Sobek would have to take appropriate countermeasures.

However, this was not the time to think about it. After a two-week wait, long enough for the cargo ships to cross the sea, Apache reported that a fleet had been spotted in the distance.

"Go intercept them" Sobek said. "Make sure they carry our brothers, and then tell them how much meat we owe them"

Sobek had certainly not forgotten his part of the deal: as much meat as each returned dinosaur weighed, and one prisoner for every forty dinosaurs. He didn't want to let humans stay too long on his territory, so he preferred to know right away how much meat he had to accumulate. In the past few days he had placed several feeders at the port, but he preferred that once the humans arrived he could immediately deliver what was agreed.

Apache obeyed and together with a group of pterosaurs flew to the ships. They were still several tens of kilometers from the coast, but for a bird the size of a plane that distance wasn't a long way to go. Very soon he arrived near the fleet.

The fleet consisted of four cargo ships and two military ships, which were clearly there as escorts. As soon as they spotted them, the military ships aimed their guns at them, but did not fire a single shot. Apache ignored them; his job wasn't to worry about guns. Trying to appear as less aggressive as possible, he descended from the sky and alighted on the deck of the nearest ship. "Hello, humans" he said. "Who can I talk to?"

The sailors did not seem at all comfortable; indeed, it could be said that they were very afraid of him. They could not be blamed: a quetzalcoatlus was as tall as a giraffe, to them it was like having a giant in front of them. And the fact that he knew how to speak certainly did not help their poor souls. However, in the end someone came forward: he had a different uniform from the others and his gaze was much more serious and calm. "You can talk to me, sir" he said saluting. "Admiral Isoruki Yamamoto, at your service"

Apache obviously did not understand the meaning of the gesture, but from the way in which the man had posed himself it was clear that it was a form of greeting, so he bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect and he imitated the admiral: "Air commander Apache, at your service"

The man was confused by his title, but he still seemed more comfortable than him. "Air commander Apache, we are here to comply with the peace treaty signed between our two peoples"

"I imagined. I'm here because the pack leader wants to know how many dinosaurs transported and how much the total weighs, so that he can comply with his part of the agreement"

"I'm glad of it. This ship and the three behind me carry a total of 166 dinosaurs, including 120 sauropods, 19 stegosaurids, 25 ceratopsids and 2 theropods. Of these 120 sauropods, 80 are from the titanosauridae family with an average weight of 60 tons, while 40 are diplodocids with an average weight of 40 tons. The stegosaurids have an average weight of 5 tons and the ceratopsids of 10. Finally, the two theropods are two tarbosaurs of 4 tons each. The total weight, accurately measured, is 6,753 tons"

"Thank you, admiral. We will make sure to let you find the agreed price as soon as you disembark"

"It is I the one who have to thank you, Air commander Apache"

Apache didn't understand why humans cared so much about constantly emphasizing someone's title or position, but he speculated it was some form of respect. Having had his answer, he turned around and came back.

As soon as Sobek learned the necessary quantity, he immediately put the dinosaurs to work so that they continually extracted meat from the harbor troughs. To avoid making mistakes, he had previously weighed pieces of meat supplied by the mangers using industrial scales found in Cartago, and had ascertained that the mangers always supplied pieces with the exact weight of one hundred and fifty kilos. At the rate of one piece of meat per second (the time it took for the manger to create a new one) it would take about twelve hours to get all the 6,753 tons he needed, but since he had installed ten feeders in the port, the time necessary was reduced to just over an hour. To get that immense amount of meat, just a group of thirty dinosaurs were enough, three for each manger: just enough so that they could divide the tasks and change from time to time. To be safe, Sobek sent fifty to get the job done.

As the dinosaurs hoarded the meat, Sobek sent Old Li to comply with the second part of the deal: one human for every 40 dinosaurs. Since there were 166 dinosaurs, Sobek had to supply only four humans.

Old Li proved to be very efficient: to avoid separating people (and therefore inevitably run into problems, both for the prisoners and for the freed individuals) he had established that this time they would only free a family of exactly four people. By doing so, he had also eliminated a good chunk of prisoners. All the families of four were thus reunited and then Old Li cast lots. The lucky ones were taken to the port, while the others were brought back to their area.

When the humans arrived, about six or seven hours later, they found all their belongings already carefully stored on the dock. This in a sense was also appreciated by humans: no one wanted to stay too long in dinosaur territory, or at least not simple sailors.

The exchange happened very quickly: the ships landed, the sailors disembarked all the dinosaurs who were led away by the rest of the pack, collected all the meat, transported it to their cold rooms, brought on board the freed prisoners, and then resumed the wide. Sobek just exchanged a few words with the captains and the admiral to thank them, and then each went their own way.

Apache watched the ships for a while, then after having ascertained that they were actually heading to the other continent and that they weren't preparing left-handed shots, he went back and reassured Sobek. The spinosaurus could be satisfied: the transaction was successful. With a little luck in the future he wouldn't even have to attend anymore: Apache and Old Li would have been enough to do all the work.

However, there was something Sobek could not have avoided attending: welcoming the new dinosaurs into the pack.