Chapter 57: Wasteland Journey

The light-brown waters of the Brown Water River rushed through the wasteland. Darius stood on the riverbank, his expression grim. A dozen officers in black uniforms stood beside him, their faces no less dark.

The dam across the Brown Water River, once solid and intact, now had a gaping breach. Murky water gushed from the opening, churning up brown waves across the river’s surface.

Black Mountain had taken the dam. As for the surviving Sandhawk Raiders, those who surrendered were allowed to live. Those who fought to the end were shot and dumped into the Brown Water River.

But the Sandhawk Raiders had gone completely mad. Rather than let Black Mountain gain anything from it, they had blasted a massive hole in the dam and destroyed the hydroelectric station.

“Can it be repaired?” Darius asked the engineer beside him, a man wearing a yellow hard hat.

“It can definitely be repaired. It’ll just take time…” The engineer looked troubled. “We’ll need a large amount of construction materials. We’ll also have to import bituminous waterproofing membrane rolls from Hod Refuge City, along with iron-based bonding agents. The round trip for transport alone will probably take two months…”

“Get it done as quickly as possible,” Darius said with a sigh. “The nuclear fission battery is almost out of power.”

The energy crisis still loomed over Black Mountain, impossible to shake.

…

The wasteland stretched endlessly in every direction. From time to time, herds of mutated bison appeared on the horizon. These creatures were enormous, roughly the size of rhinos, with massive skulls, thick hides, and long, sturdy horns that ended in sharp points.

Finn had heard the stories. These bison were extremely aggressive and deadly in a fight. One of them had once skewered three men on a single horn in one charge—a “glorious” record that made them creatures best left alone.

There were also packs of hyenas drinking along the riverbanks. Their eyes glowed green even in broad daylight. From a distance, they looked like clusters of floating green lights, an unnerving sight.

A camouflage-painted jeep traveled across the wasteland. Sophia was driving, while Finn sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, pretending to rest.

The past few days had been peaceful between them. Sophia seemed to have put away whatever schemes she had been nursing and had stopped trying to cause trouble.

That said, she took every chance she got to touch him. When no opportunity presented itself, she created one. She kept stroking Finn’s wrist and palm, to the point that Finn almost wondered if she was some kind of perverted hand-fetish freak.

Fortunately, she did not have anything like Killer Queen’s Stand, and she was a little too slow-witted besides. Otherwise, Finn would have cut her down with one swing of his sword.

The windshield wipers slid back and forth, sweeping dust off the glass. On the barren land, a rare patch of green grass had appeared. A herd of mutated bison was strolling across it, grazing on half-person-high winter fur grass and sawtooth grass.

Hearing the jeep’s engine, the bison stopped eating. They shifted their heavy bodies and turned their heads toward the vehicle, like a group of horned rhinos glaring them down.

“Ah! A herd of bison is blocking the road! I’m sooo scared!” Sophia hit the brakes. Her lips parted as she put on an exaggerated look of terror.

She leaned toward the passenger side, her lively emerald eyes looking pitiful and charming. Both hands wrapped tightly around Finn’s wrist, while her ample chest pressed against his arm.

“If they’re blocking the road, just go around them,” Finn said, giving her the kind of look one gave a hopeless idiot. Then he elbowed her back into the driver’s seat.

“Hmph!” Sophia pouted, restarted the engine, and obediently drove around the bison herd.

How could this be? Sophia was completely baffled. She couldn’t help wondering if something was wrong with her charm.

In her past experience, all she had to do was put on a helpless, pitiful look, and a crowd of men would leap forward, eager to grant her every request. They were like roosters in mating season, ready to peck one another to death just to show off their masculine appeal.

But now, no matter how wildly she flirted, how cutely she acted, how pitiful she looked, or how openly seductive she became, Finn remained completely unmoved. He treated her as nothing more than a free chauffeur and cheap labor.

The more Sophia thought about it, the more frustrated she became. She wanted to scream in a voice crackling with a thousand kilovolts of high-voltage current: “Finn, I hate you! You’re like a damn rock!”

Unfortunately, her mission was not finished yet, so she could only swallow her anger and keep driving obediently.

It would have been one thing if her charm had failed. What was worse was discovering that her hypnosis ability, which had never failed her before as a Tier 2 Vanguard mutant, had absolutely no effect on Finn.

Over the past several days of the wasteland journey, Sophia had used every excuse to touch every inch of Finn’s exposed skin, yet he showed not the slightest sign of drowsiness.

Sophia clenched her teeth and gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white and the tendons stood out. She stared straight ahead, her eyes stubborn and combative. Inwardly, she made up her mind to increase the intensity of her efforts from now on. She would make Finn fall asleep and retrieve the Cool Prophet data!

…

The journey was long and lonely. With nothing else to do, Finn suddenly remembered that he still had a cultivation technique he could practice. He took the Source-Devouring Technique out of his storage space and began studying it with full concentration.

As an ambitious cultivator always seeking to improve, Finn did not only practice the Fire Profound Divine Art. That was his main technique; everything else was auxiliary.

To use a slightly imperfect analogy, the Fire Profound Divine Art was like a computer’s operating system, while the other techniques were like software programs installed on it.

The Source-Devouring Technique was something Finn had bought on the Myriad Realms Network. It had been created by an eternal great emperor of the human race. After observing how the World-Devouring Star Beast refined energy, the emperor was inspired and integrated those insights into a new technique.

The World-Devouring Star Beast was an ancient colossal creature, so immense it stretched for millions of light years. It drifted through the vast sea of stars, feeding on entire galaxies and especially fond of devouring stars.

Because of its enormous size, intelligent life had emerged inside its body and eventually developed into advanced civilizations.

These intelligent beings had once naively believed they were the only intelligent life in existence. Only when their technology reached a certain level did they discover the truth: they were nothing more than “bacteria” living inside the stomach of a super giant beast.

Normally, when Finn wanted to refine energy for his own use, he had to calm his mind, circulate Profound Energy throughout his body, construct Profound Energy circuits, and only then could he begin the process.

After cultivating the Source-Devouring Technique, however, he could directly absorb energy, store it inside his body, and refine it at his leisure.

It was like how before, he still needed a charger to recharge a battery. Now that he had mastered the Source-Devouring Technique, he could channel the energy straight into the battery.

After studying it for quite some time, Finn had roughly grasped the beginner level of the Source-Devouring Technique. Since the technique had been created after observing the World-Devouring Star Beast, it mainly relied on the mouth to work.

Finn took out a Relic Marrow Bullet. It was special ammunition from the Radiant Path, said to be forged from the bones of saints and capable of piercing anything. The translucent deep-blue bullet head contained mysterious floating energy that could be used for cultivation.

No matter how little it was, energy was still energy. Finn brought the Relic Marrow Bullet to his lips and gave it a gentle suck. Wisps of energy flowed into his stomach and were refined into droplets of Profound Energy. The deep-blue bullet head also dimmed noticeably.

After finishing one, Finn pulled out an entire large bag of Relic Marrow Bullets. These were spoils from wiping out the Demon Gang.

With nothing else to do anyway, Finn casually picked up a bullet every now and then and took a light sip, absorbing the energy inside as if he were snacking on sunflower seeds.

Sophia, sitting beside him, was completely stunned. Her eyes widened, both hands still on the steering wheel, and she did not even notice the jeep drifting off course. Tier 5 Vanguard quirks really were something else.