Chapter 54: The Very Clever Sophia

Finn stood atop the hillside, gazing toward the line where sky and earth met. Wind howled in from far beyond the horizon, sweeping through the wasteland.

He sat down cross-legged and took the astronomical observation data, Cool Prophet’s diary, and the miniaturized anti-gravity levitation technology out of his storage space. Then he scanned them page by page, saving the information to his phone.

For the astronomical observation data, he only scanned the conclusions—the statistical and computational sections. The raw records were casually tossed back into his storage space.

He opened the three-dimensional map projection on his phone and marked out a route, deciding to take a broad arc toward Black Mountain.

That way, he could avoid retracing his steps and continue using the high-energy detector to search for traces of the World Nucleus along the journey.

Suddenly, a dark gray object streaked across the sky and plunged into the clouds. Finn caught it from the corner of his eye. It had a pair of wings, but it did not look like a bird. In the blink of an eye, it was gone without a trace.

“Was that a drone?” Suspicion stirred in Finn’s mind. He had almost fired a nuclear rocket into the sky, but after thinking it over, he decided there was no need to use a nuke to swat a fly.

Besides, if it really was a drone, showing too much firepower would only scare off whoever was controlling it. He needed to appear weak, lure the enemy straight to him, and then kill them when they came.

Finn stood on the hilltop, mounted his mountain bike, lowered his body, and shot down the steep slope. With riding skills no worse than a professional extreme cyclist’s, he wove through the gravel-strewn incline, his figure swift and agile as the wind.

After crossing hills and leaping over ravines, he rode for who knew how long before a camouflage-painted jeep came rumbling into view in the distance. Its engine roared as it tore through the wind and sand, then stopped directly in Finn’s path.

The door sprang open. A toned, straight, long leg extended from the car, and a brown knee-high leather boot stepped onto the gravel. Then the owner of that leg climbed out—a blonde woman wearing sunglasses.

Behind the dark lenses, her nose was high and straight, and her lips were a fiery rose red. A white shirt stretched tightly over her eye-catching, ample breasts, and black leather gloves covered both hands. With a swaying gait, she walked straight toward Finn.

Finn recognized the blonde woman. At Ironatom’s city exit, she had been beaten by a burly man. Finn had watched her take the hits for quite a while before finally stepping in and knocking the big man down with a single punch.

“Thank you for saving my life back at the city exit!” the woman said, her voice full of sincerity.

She took off her sunglasses, revealing emerald-green eyes like jade. Her right hand lightly brushed her golden hair aside. For a moment, she seemed to overflow with charm, adding a vivid splash of color to the desolate land around her. Finn, however, only sat on his mountain bike with his arms crossed, his expression unchanged.

“You tracked me down just to thank me?” Finn asked coldly.

In this godforsaken wasteland, Finn had even taken a curved route, yet he had still somehow run into another person—and a sexy beauty at that. With luck like this, he might as well go buy a lottery ticket or bet on the Chinese national team winning the World Cup.

“Sorry. I wanted to find a reliable companion for the road, and this was the only method I could think of.” The blonde woman gave him an apologetic smile.

She turned back to the jeep and pulled out a dark gray rotor drone, admitting that she had used it to follow Finn.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Sophia Gerard. I’m a smuggler.” The blonde woman straightened her posture, pushing out her full chest. Then she removed her leather gloves and openly extended a hand toward Finn.

The plan was working.

The corner of Sophia’s mouth curved up slightly as secret delight filled her heart. For the past several dozen minutes, her hands had been secreting a hypnotic substance inside her leather gloves. In other words, her palms were absolutely drenched in “sweat”—except this sweat happened to be colorless, odorless, transparent, and able to knock people out.

The “sweat” accumulated over those dozens of minutes was enough to send a full-grown elephant into a deep sleep.

According to Radiant Path’s bounty information, one of Finn’s special abilities was creating a shield that could resist bullets. But if he was caught off guard, Sophia was confident that bringing down this notorious Tier 5 Vanguard would be as easy as turning over her hand.

Finn looked at Sophia’s pale, clean palm and remained unmoved. He had no intention of shaking her hand.

“I accept your thanks. Goodbye.” Finn twisted the handlebars of his mountain bike and prepared to leave.

“Wait!” Sophia cried.

For the first time, she began to doubt her own charm. What was going on? Was she not seductive enough? Or was this Tier 5 Vanguard gay?

“What do you actually want?” Finn calmly sized up the beautiful woman in front of him.

Sophia blinked her bright, watery eyes and said in a sweet, coquettish voice, “I bought a crate of depleted uranium alloy from Ironatom, and I need to smuggle it to Black Mountain. The desert road is long, and mutated beasts show up all the time. Traveling alone is dangerous... and lonely. Would you keep me company for a while?”

Finn sneered inwardly. What a clumsy excuse. What a flimsy story. There were holes everywhere. But he did want to see what this woman was trying to pull—and where the person directing her little performance was hiding.

Seeing no reaction from Finn, Sophia hurriedly added, “Riding a bike must be tiring, right? You can ride in my jeep. I’ll drive.”

She knew her performance was already full of flaws, but in order to force her way into traveling with Finn and complete the mission of retrieving the data, she had no choice but to keep acting.

Finn thought it over. A free ride did sound comfortable. Biking across the desert was not physically tiring, but the endless, monotonous scenery was unbearably boring.

He might as well see what tricks this free female driver had up her sleeve. Finn gave a small smile and agreed.

Sophia put her leather gloves back on and helped secure Finn’s mountain bike to the rear of the jeep. Then they both climbed into the cabin, with Finn taking the passenger seat.

On the surface, Sophia forced herself to stay calm. Inside, she was overjoyed. 

Once you’re in my car, you’re not getting away.

She quietly removed both leather gloves. Her palms, now coated in the hypnotic substance, suddenly reached out and grabbed Finn’s left hand. Pretending it was a handshake, she rubbed and shook it with all her might.

“Hello. What should I call you?”

Finn answered without missing a beat. “Jimmy.”

“Mr. Jimmy, from now on, we’re companions on the same road!” Sophia smiled while secretly rubbing every part of Finn’s hand—back, palm, and fingers.

Finn pulled his hand back. “Alright. Drive.”

Sophia reluctantly withdrew her hands. She leaned back against the seat, did not touch the steering wheel, closed her eyes, and silently counted down in her mind.

　　5,

　　4,

　　3,

　　2,

　　1.

“Drop!”

Sophia snapped her fingers with a crisp pop, opened her eyes triumphantly, and turned to look at Finn.

Only to find Finn staring at her as if she were an idiot.

“Drop what? If you’re not driving, I’ll drive,” Finn said impatiently.

“Sorry.” Sophia awkwardly put her leather gloves back on and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

She clicked her tongue inwardly in surprise. Tier 5 Vanguards really were something. It seemed her hypnotic sweat needed a little more time to take effect.

Thud, thud, thud.

Sophia stomped hard on the accelerator, but the car refused to start.

“Damn it, why won’t it start? Is it broken? I was driving it just fine a moment ago!” Sophia said in a panic.

She stomped a few more times, but the jeep still gave no response.

Finn pointed at her long leg.

Sophia looked down along her thigh and saw that she was stepping on the brake pedal.

“Cough.” Sophia cleared her throat softly, her face flushing red. Quietly, she moved her foot over to the accelerator and started the jeep.