Chapter 56: Wasteland Rampage

The war had finally ended, but Darius Smith felt no relief.

The Sandhawk Raiders had once worshipped the God of Slaughter and Revelry. Under the Radiant Path’s infiltration, they had gradually changed their faith and begun worshipping the so-called Holy Radiance.

This time, the Sandhawk Raiders had broken their word. There was no conclusive evidence, but everyone believed the Radiant Path had been fanning the flames from behind the scenes.

The Radiant Path had long coveted Black Mountain’s territory. They hungered for the largest grain-producing region in this desert wasteland and had sent envoys again and again, trying to persuade Black Mountain to join their “Divine Kingdom on Earth” so its people could “bathe together in the light of the Holy Radiance.”

Black Mountain had naturally refused and had guarded itself with iron vigilance, shutting out every attempt at Radiant Path infiltration.

The setting sun slanted low. Crimson clouds burned along the horizon, casting their red glow over the blood-soaked earth below.

Darius Smith stood atop the charred wreckage of a car, gazing uneasily into the distance. That was the direction of the Sandhawk Raiders’ stronghold—an abandoned hydroelectric power station.

Including their leader, nearly all the Sandhawk Raiders’ men had died in the fighting. They had no custom of supporting the elderly, so no old people remained. Only the women and children were left, every bit as fanatical and deranged as the men who had fallen.

Darius couldn’t shake the fear that the descendants of these lunatics would one day do something truly horrifying.

An officer in a peaked cap and black military uniform jogged up to Darius Smith, his brow locked in a deep frown.

"City Lord, as I proposed before, we should establish blocking detachments! Anyone who dares run from the battlefield should be shot on the spot! Our recruits are uneven at best—plenty of them are undisciplined wasteland hunters and scavengers. Without harsh rules to hold them in line, many will desert the moment the battle turns against us!"

Darius lit a cigarette and shook his head. "Deserters will be sent before a military tribunal. But blocking detachments are out of the question. They go against what we believe in, and they could easily provoke a mutiny."

The officer pressed on urgently. "If another war breaks out, we can’t let you charge into danger again! Haven’t you always taught us to learn from the civilizations before the Cataclysm? The Columbian Imperium had blocking detachments!"

Darius exhaled a long stream of smoke. "And that is why they lost the global nuclear war to the Greater European Federation. In the end, they were forced to bury nuclear mines in their own homeland just to stop the enemy’s armored tide."

"I admit the Greater European Federation won..."

The officer still wanted to argue, but Darius raised a hand and cut him off. "There are no winners in nuclear war. They simply lost less. Tonight, organize a special operations team. Have a Tier 4 Vanguard lead them into the hydroelectric station and find out what’s going on."

"Yes, sir!" The officer snapped to attention and saluted.

BOOM!!

Suddenly, across the vast desert, a thunderous explosion erupted from the direction of the abandoned hydroelectric station. The sound shook the sky, and a thick plume of dark smoke rose slowly into the air.

……

In the boundless, desolate wilderness, a camouflaged Jeep made its solitary way.

Finn sat in the front passenger seat with his arms crossed, eyes closed as he dozed. His military-green field pack rested at his feet.

The journey had been unbearably dull. Finn had set the high-energy detector to automatic alarm mode and fixed it to the dashboard. The instant it picked up any high-energy reaction, the device would scream “High energy ahead!” while flashing a rainbow of running lights across its casing.

The detector came with several voice packs. One announced “Incoming fusion strike detected.” Another played the grating sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard. 

Following Finn’s orders, Sophia—the bargain driver—had agreed not to take a straight route. Instead she drove in a wide arc, letting the high-energy detector sweep a larger area in a thorough carpet search.

Finn’s lifespan had already reached thirty thousand years, and it kept growing as he cultivated. If he continued training, he believed he would one day surpass a certain elder who held power over time itself.

That was why he could afford to be patient. Even if he spent a full century on this wasteland continent, turning over every last inch of land, he would eventually find the World Nucleus.

If a hundred years still wasn’t enough, Finn would simply switch to a more efficient method.

He would contact his comrades at the Spacetime Destruction Bureau and have them send over a Star-Devouring class mining annihilator.

This colossal mining warship had been built for one purpose: extraction. It could open a steel “mouth” millions of kilometers wide, smash an entire planet apart, swallow it whole, and slowly “chew” through the debris, sorting out useful minerals and smelting them inside the ship itself.

The only problem was that such a massive operation would let word of the World Nucleus spread. In the Endless Worlds, more than a few people hungered for this kind of super energy storage body.

An ordinary man could still be doomed by the treasure he carried. Finn was no ordinary man, but even he had to keep his treasure hidden.

……

Sophia drove with grim focus. Her skills were embarrassingly bad, and she kept the speed low as the Jeep lurched and bumped across the wasteland.

Luckily the vehicle’s suspension was solid, and since Sophia didn’t dare go fast, the ride stayed reasonably comfortable.

The view outside was pleasant but monotonous. After a while it grew boring. The cabin rocked gently… like a baby’s cradle… coaxing passengers toward sleep.

Finn reclined in the lowered seatback, arms folded across his chest, eyes tightly shut. He looked like he had sunk into a deep sleep. His sturdy field pack rested quietly at his feet.

Sophia was secretly overjoyed. She had finally pulled it off! Sure enough, her hypnosis ability had never failed her. Even an epic-level Tier 5 Vanguard had fallen beneath her charm.

She was already picturing her glorious return to Ironatom: a promotion, a fat raise, praise pouring in from every side, and the City Lord personally pinning a medal on her chest.

“Heh heh.” Sophia couldn’t help but chuckle twice, her eyes curving into happy crescents.

She brought the Jeep to a slow stop. Once it had settled and Finn still showed no reaction, she unbuckled her seatbelt, rose carefully, leaned across, and stretched out her arm toward the backpack at Finn’s feet.

Sophia arched her lithe waist and slowly shifted her body, careful not to let her large breasts brush against Finn’s thigh.

Anything too big could be a problem, breasts included. Back when she had to pass the balance assessment, she’d sweated three times as hard as the flat-chested girls on the parallel bars and balance boards.

At least big breasts had one advantage — they doubled as built-in airbags when you face-planted.

Sophia’s head was now right in front of Finn’s chest. Her blonde hair spilled across his thigh as her slender arm strained toward the field pack.

She was just a finger’s width away from grabbing it…

“What are you doing?” Finn asked, looking down at her.

Sophia jolted in fright and ended up sprawled across Finn’s lap. She turned her head, forcing a smile as she met his eyes. “I… I… I was…”

Her brain spun wildly but came up blank. She couldn’t come up with a single explanation for why she had been driving one moment and was now lying halfway across Finn’s legs the next.

“Hmm?” Finn regarded her with a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Sophia swallowed hard. A thin layer of cold sweat broke out on her forehead. A Tier 5 Vanguard could crush a Tier 2 like her more easily than squashing an ant.

Without warning, Finn raised his knee sharply. It smashed into Sophia’s face. Two streams of blood immediately ran from her nostrils. She silently pushed herself up, wiped the blood away, and went back to driving without another word.