Chapter 59: Wilderness

The night sky was dark and fathomless, scattered with points of starlight. The campfire had burned down to glowing embers, still giving off a faint warmth and light.

A soft cashmere sleeping bag lay spread across the ground. Finn lay sprawled on it in a star shape, eyes closed in sound sleep, his breathing long and even. Sophia nestled in his arms, her blonde hair tousled, sleeping sweetly.

Her eyelashes fluttered. Her heavy eyelids opened just a crack. Once she was certain Finn had fallen asleep, she slowly pushed herself up and dragged her exhausted body toward his tactical backpack.

My hypnotic ability finally worked! she thought with quiet delight. It hadn’t been for nothing that she’d offered herself so willingly, using the closest possible contact—skin against skin, as intimate as two people could get—to rub the hypnotic substances secreted from every inch of her body all over him.

Her legs were still unsteady, but she moved carefully all the same, tiptoeing over as she gently pulled open the metal zipper and began searching inside.

Finn kept his eyes half-closed, watching her from the corner of his eye.

If he couldn’t even notice a little movement right beside him, then there would be no point in cultivating at all.

His divine sense had already reached a transcendent level. Even if his mind had sunk into deep sleep, a sniper rifle firing at him from thousands of miles away would wake him in an instant, giving him time to catch the bullet.

But Finn usually couldn’t be bothered. He would simply keep sleeping. Bullets couldn’t hurt him anyway. It was no different from an ant trying to disturb a resting lion—it wouldn’t even make him turn over.

Sophia turned the tactical backpack completely inside out, but disappointment quickly overtook her. Cool Prophet’s three documents weren’t inside at all.

She searched every compartment and scattered the contents across the ground, yet Cool Prophet’s things were nowhere to be found.

Shock and disappointment tangled in her chest. More than ten days of effort had come to nothing. Her soaring expectations crashed to the ground, like a bungee jumper leaping from a cliff only to realize there was no cord tied to her waist.

She dropped to her knees and slumped onto the ground, her hands still mechanically rummaging through the backpack as she muttered, “How could this be? How could this be? Where are Cool Prophet’s documents? The astronomical data, the logs… Did he throw them away?!…”

Finn tilted his head slightly and caught her soft whispers. He more or less understood now.

So the pretty girl had been clinging to him relentlessly all this time just to steal Cool Prophet’s documents.

Considering that no outsiders knew he had opened the black iron box except for Ironatom’s upper ranks, she had to be an official agent from Ironatom.

The one thing he couldn’t figure out was what a delicate, beautiful woman like her was relying on to dare carry out a theft mission alone. Fortunately for her, Finn wasn’t particularly interested in women. If it had been anyone else, they would have already taken full advantage of her and left nothing behind.

It was a shame that he had already stored Cool Prophet’s astronomical data, anti-gravity levitation technology, and diary inside his storage space. The tactical backpack had only been for show, so of course Sophia had found nothing.

She was still futilely shaking the backpack when a sudden rustling sound came from behind her. She whipped her head around and instantly froze. A chill shot up from the base of her spine straight to the top of her head. Her blood ran cold.

At some point, Finn had already stood up. He now stood before her in the calm, imposing pose of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen.

“That… I…” Her hands trembled as she hurriedly stuffed the scattered items back into the backpack.

Caught red-handed with irrefutable evidence, she had no way to defend herself.

“You did something wrong, so you’ll have to take your punishment.” Finn leaned down and met her emerald eyes, his expression dark and terrifying.

The night was deep and vast. The starlight was sharp and clear, the moonlight cold and solitary.

On the boundless, empty wilderness, Finn wrapped an arm around Sophia’s waist, lifted her up, and threw her onto the hood of the jeep. He began a new round of merciless ravaging…

……

The camouflage jeep continued its trek across the wasteland, though Finn was now the one behind the wheel.

The passenger seat had been folded flat. Sophia lay curled up on the leather seat, snoring softly. After last night’s intense struggle, she still hadn’t recovered and was catching up on sleep.

The jeep jolted over a few rocks. The blanket draped over her slipped down, exposing her rounded shoulders and delicate collarbones.

Finn kept one hand on the steering wheel while using the other to gently pull the blanket back over her shoulders, tucking it in around her.

A ray of morning sunlight slanted through the window. He turned the wheel and headed toward Black Mountain. At their current speed, he estimated they would arrive in another two or three days.

He wondered how Jimmy was doing. This chaotic, violent wasteland didn’t play by anyone’s rules. Finn was a little worried the kid might get himself beaten to death.

If Jimmy died, then his “carrying newbies on quests” mission would fail. Those precious 100 Contribution Points would vanish, and Finn would only receive 70 Contribution Points.

So he still hoped Jimmy would stay alive. That way he could earn an extra 30 Contribution Points. Contribution Points had plenty of uses in the Spacetime Destruction Bureau. They could be exchanged for all sorts of useful and useless things.

Other members of the Spacetime Destruction Bureau traveled through the Endless Worlds and gathered all kinds of benefits. Afterward, they would dump whatever they didn’t need into the base storage center. Anyone who wanted those items could redeem them with Contribution Points.

Sunlight streamed through the window and fell across Sophia’s fair face. She woke quietly. After a good sleep, her energy had mostly returned.

The atmosphere inside the jeep was awkward. The two of them sat in silence, neither saying a word. Finn didn’t ask who had sent her. Sophia didn’t know whether he was aware of the background and secrets she knew.

The jeep kept driving toward Black Mountain.

……

Black Mountain, North District.

A large Wilderness Rhino armed merchant caravan had stopped on the asphalt road. Most of the men wore felt hats and stern expressions, the shadows beneath their hat brims hiding much of their faces.

Merchants moved back and forth, pulling small carts or carrying bundles on their shoulders. They sold specialties brought from other Refuge Cities and bought Black Mountain’s local grain and unique goods in return.

Inside one of the steel-plated cargo trucks, a bulletproof vehicle carried an enormous object that drew every eye.

The massive object was hemispherical, like an enormous inverted bowl. It was tightly wrapped in waterproof cloth and firmly secured to the truck with heavy steel cables. Seven or eight armed guards stood watch around it.

Outside the convoy, black-uniformed Refuge Security Force soldiers stood at attention. They surrounded the white-haired City Lord Darius Smith. Olivia squeezed in from the side, watching curiously.

The captain of the Wilderness Rhino armed caravan, a middle-aged man, raised his hand and pointed at the huge hemispherical object on the truck. He spoke to Darius with complete confidence.

“I’m here to make a major deal! You won’t turn me down!”

……

After two more days of traveling through the wilderness, Finn and Sophia’s jeep finally reached Black Mountain and entered the West 5 District.

Sophia was driving, her face sullen and her mind weighed down with worries. At the gas station, she filled the tank, then turned the wheel and drove back out of Black Mountain.

“Hey, this is where I get off.” Finn knocked on the window, signaling for her to stop.

She glumly stepped on the brake. He opened the door, untied the mountain bike strapped to the back of the jeep, and walked away.

Watching his figure grow smaller in the distance, a wave of bitterness suddenly surged up in Sophia’s chest. Tears welled up against her will. She let out a loud sob and collapsed onto the steering wheel, crying uncontrollably.

Her mission had failed, and failed completely. She had been used like cheap labor, driving for free for more than ten days, and ended up with nothing.

“Waaah...” Her pain and grievance burst forth like a river breaking through a dam, pouring out in a flood of tears.

She opened the remote communicator and contacted Ironatom’s intelligence department to report her failure and uselessness.

Coincidentally, the person on the other end was Minister of Technology Marian Kirk.

Marian had been worried about Sophia’s safety and whether she could successfully retrieve the documents, so she answered the call immediately.

Listening to Sophia’s bitter crying and the news of the mission’s failure, Marian’s mood darkened as well. She pushed up her round glasses and frowned deeply.

Only now did Marian fully understand—she had completely underestimated Finn. Her decision had backfired, and she had sent her pretty, beloved adopted daughter to serve as Finn’s driver and fuck buddy for more than ten days.

Sophia hadn’t only been forced to do hard labor. She had also been used to relieve his loneliness, essentially becoming a sex slave.

Now that things had come to this, Marian couldn’t bring herself to blame her. She spoke gently. “Stop crying. Come home. We’ll think of another way later…”

“Let me cry it out first! Then I’ll go home!” Sophia buried her face against the steering wheel, her sobs growing louder and louder as tears pattered down.

Thud!

Suddenly, a dull sound came from the engine hood, as if a thick book had been slapped onto the metal.

Sophia looked up. On the hood outside the window sat two thick stacks of documents and a dark yellow book.

Finn stood outside the car. He gave her a nod, then slipped his hands into his pockets and walked away.

The three items on the hood were, of course, the Cool Prophet documents he had left for her—including the astronomical data, anti-gravity levitation technology, and Cool Prophet’s diary.

He had already scanned the essential contents of these documents into his phone. The physical copies naturally held no value for him anymore.

Sophia quickly jumped out of the jeep. Without bothering to wipe her tears, she began flipping through the documents on the hood.

The thick stack of observation data was completely incomprehensible to her. It was probably astronomical observation records.

The thick book was filled with formulas and theories she couldn’t understand either. It had to be the anti-gravity levitation technology.

The final item was a yellowed notebook filled with unfamiliar text. Sophia couldn’t make out a single word. It was likely Cool Prophet’s diary.

She hugged the documents to her chest like a priceless treasure and carefully loaded them into the jeep.

……

The afternoon sunlight was bright and warm. Finn walked alone along the side of the asphalt road, relaxed and carefree.

A camouflage jeep suddenly sped over like the wind and came to a hard stop beside him, its brakes screeching loudly.

“Need something else?” Finn stopped and asked the person inside.

Sophia’s face was slightly flushed for some reason. She rolled down the window, rested her elbow and chin on the frame, and asked, “Stud, will you be going to Ironatom again in the future?”

Finn was silent for a moment before replying, “Maybe not.”

Sophia pouted. She sat up straight in the driver’s seat, gripped the steering wheel with both hands, and stared straight ahead.

“If you do go, let me know. When you have time, let’s sleep together.”

“Sure.” Finn smiled, then turned and walked away.

Sophia slammed her foot on the accelerator. The jeep shot forward and sped away from Black Mountain like lightning.