Chapter 58: Good News

The tenth day of their journey through the wasteland dragged on, long and desolate. Outside the window, the scenery remained almost exactly the same, broken only by the occasional cactus rising three stories high.

The camouflage Jeep, a dark solar panel strapped to its roof and its body caked in dust, crawled through the endless wilderness like a gray turtle.

Sophia’s Jeep was actually a hybrid. It came with its own solar panel, allowing it to recharge under the sun.

Over the past few days, she had quietly taken longer detours, stretching the route to delay their arrival at Black Mountain. Only then could she create more chances to act—touching Finn and using the hypnotic substance secreted from her skin to make him fall unconscious.

She couldn’t keep circling forever. The Jeep’s fuel reserves were already running low. If they kept wandering off course, this lone vehicle would be lost in the wasteland forever.

Sophia knew her time was running out.

Finn lay back in the reclined seat, eyes closed, chest rising and falling with steady breaths, as if he had fallen asleep. Sophia shot him a sidelong glance and slowly brought the Jeep to a stop.

She quietly unbuckled her seatbelt, then reached out with both hands—coated in the hypnotic substance like a pair of claws—and began rubbing them back and forth across Finn’s shoulders and neck.

“What are you doing?” Finn’s eyes snapped open. His face was cold and expressionless, yet he made no move to stop her.

“You must be tired from sleeping so much. Let me give you a massage.”

Sophia forced an awkward smile. Her hands kept kneading and pressing into his shoulders without the slightest pause, terrified he might see through her.

Finn let out a long yawn and lay back in the seat with his eyes closed, enjoying the blonde beauty’s gentle caresses.

After half an hour of Sophia’s attentive service, Finn waved a hand to stop her. “All right, I’m not tired anymore. Go drive.”

Sophia withdrew her hands. Her expression darkened, but she didn’t dare let Finn see it. Anger and anxiety churned inside her. She had already spent ten straight days behind the wheel, yet the mission to retrieve the Cool Prophet data hadn’t made the slightest progress.

For the past ten days, the word Finn had said to her most often was simply “drive.”

Drive. Drive. Just keep driving. That was Sophia’s only role now. She felt as if Finn were treating her as free labor, squeezing every last bit of use out of her without mercy.

Although mutants had far better physical constitutions than ordinary people, even she was worn out by this nonstop driver duty. For one thing, her rear end had started to ache from sitting in the driver’s seat for so long.

Sophia had never endured this kind of humiliation before. She had been born from a genetic experiment at the Ironatom base, the product of the fifth generation of test-tube babies. Most of the previous four generations had died young, while the survivors grew into deformed monsters or children with cerebral palsy.

The researchers at Ironatom had raised her like a precious treasure. Among them, the high-ranking Minister of Technology Marian Kirk treated Sophia as if she were her own daughter.

After growing up, Sophia became an underground intelligence operative. She relied on her extraordinary feminine charm, her fiery and seductive figure, and a hypnotic ability that even Tier 4 Vanguards couldn’t resist. Her missions had never failed.

Until today. It seemed her perfect record was about to suffer a serious defeat against Finn—this stubbornly difficult target.

“Hurry up and fall asleep~ Hurry up and fall asleep…” Sophia gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, driving as she prayed silently.

To her frustration, Finn was brimming with energy. Three hours had already passed, and he was still fiddling with the electronic display device in his hands—the high-energy detector—without showing even a trace of sleepiness.

“Beep! Fuel insufficient. Please replenish promptly.” The Jeep’s warning chime sounded. The energy reserve bar was nearly empty, glowing a dangerous deep red.

Thud! Sophia’s head dropped onto the steering wheel. Her smooth golden hair cascaded down, hiding her eyes, which still burned with fighting spirit.

Beneath the waterfall of golden hair, Sophia’s expression suddenly turned cold and resolute. Her pale hands clenched the steering wheel hard, tendons standing out.

In her heart, she made a ruthless decision. “I’ll risk it all!”

……

Black Mountain. Although the electricity shortage crisis still weighed on everyone’s minds, the city had finally regained a long-lost peace.

The Demon Gang and Sandhawk Raiders had been wiped out one after another. Their stockpiled supplies had naturally been seized and added to the city’s stores, greatly enriching Refuge City.

No one knew exactly when or where it started, but among Black Mountain’s young people, a dance called “Popping” had suddenly become popular, along with other strange dances like “Ghost Step Dance.”

At first, Black Mountain’s police thought it was a sacrificial dance from the Radiant Path, symbolizing the evil idea of offering one’s soul and life to Holy Radiance. They wanted to ban it outright.

But later they realized the dance had no meaning at all—it was just people randomly twisting their bodies while waving their hands wildly and showily above their heads. If any Radiant Path followers ever danced like that, Holy Radiance would be furious enough to die on the spot.

So the Black Mountain authorities stopped interfering with the popular dance. Officials also noticed something else: when hot-blooded young men got into conflicts now, they no longer let their tempers explode into brutal fights that left people bloodied and broken—or even dead.

Instead, they settled things with dance battles, competing over whose moves were flashier and whose style was cooler. Only the better dancer earned the right to win the girl and everyone’s respect.

“Don’t live your life so violently. Just be yourself. If you really have to compete, then compete with Popping!”

That became the go-to slogan among the youth. Their restless energy found an outlet through dance, and for a time, the number of bloody incidents in Black Mountain dropped by nearly half.

As the morning sun rose, Darius pushed open the window on the top floor of a towering building and looked down over Refuge City bathed in dawn light. People were already up early and heading to work. The city’s future looked bright, and everything pulsed with vitality.

The only thing that spoiled the peace was the deafening music that shattered the morning quiet and sent flocks of pigeons scattering into the sky.

On the rooftop of a three-story building, a group of young men were rehearsing a dance. The one directing them was a young man named Jimmy.

Watching their spirited moves, Darius couldn’t help rubbing his eyes and shaking his head with a wry smile. Had he really gotten that old?

The communicator chimed sharply, pulling Darius out of his memories.

He grabbed the receiver. Before he could speak, an excited subordinate reported, “City Lord! The Wilderness Rhino armed merchant caravan has arrived at our Refuge City. They brought something valuable with them!”

……

Deep in the night, the wilderness lay black as ink. Between heaven and earth, only boundless silence remained.

A camouflage Jeep leaned against a cluster of rugged rocks, the giant stones forming a natural windbreak.

On the sand, a campfire danced low, spitting fierce orange-red flames. Heat waves rolled outward, driving away the night insects and leaving only a warm, wild glow.

Finn spread out his sleeping bag, took off his shirt, and lay down bare-chested, gazing up at the night sky where the star river stretched silently overhead.

For the past ten days or so, Finn had voluntarily given up the Jeep’s spare space and slept outside, letting Sophia sleep in the safer confines of the vehicle.

A soft click broke the stillness. The Jeep door swung open.

Finn’s head snapped toward the sound. Sophia had already leaped down, wearing nothing but a pair of slippers. 

Color bloomed across her cheeks. She stood completely bare, her skin luminous and pale as moonlight, golden hair tumbling in loose waves over her bare shoulders. In the mingled glow of stars and campfire, she looked at once innocent and dangerously tempting.

Finn bolted upright. Sophia rushed forward like a creature of instinct and threw herself into his arms. He caught her easily, powerful arms banding around her narrow waist. In one fluid motion he lifted her—and the next instant she was on her back atop the Jeep’s hood, the move firm, controlled, and utterly irresistible.

Sophia lay back across the cool metal, one hand instinctively cupping a heavy breast while the other rested above her head. Her cheeks burned, eyes dark with naked hunger. The cold steel pressed against her spine, a sharp contrast to the heat radiating from her skin. 

She spread her long legs wide, thighs trembling slightly under the starlight, golden hair fanning out across the hood like liquid sunlight stirred by the night wind.

Finn’s hands dropped to his belt. The buckle gave way, and his cock sprang free—thick, heavy, already flushed dark at the head. The musky scent of his arousal cut through the cool night air.

Sophia’s breath hitched. Her lips parted on a soft, desperate sound. “Finn… please… I need you.”

He caught her hips, fingers sinking into soft flesh, and drove forward in one smooth, powerful thrust. His cock sank deep into her slick, clenching heat, stretching her walls and filling her to the hilt in a single stroke.

Sophia cried out, back arching sharply off the hood. The sound tore through the wasteland night.

Her breasts bounced with every impact, heavy and unrestrained under the starlight. The Jeep’s suspension groaned in protest as Finn drove into her again and again, the entire vehicle rocking forward with each powerful thrust before jolting back. 

The wet, rhythmic slap of skin against skin echoed across the empty wasteland, mingling with her increasingly shameless cries.

The night wind swept across the wasteland as the river of stars flowed silently overhead, bathing the desolate post-apocalyptic land in ethereal light—where their mating was both tenderly romantic and fiercely primal.