Chapter 81: A Broadcast to the Radiant Path

Finn wasn’t much of a speaker. Facing the vast audience of Radiant Path believers, he focused on making one point:

The Radiant Path was a religion for the brain-dead, and everyone who believed in it was brain-dead.

Finn hammered home one other point: they needed to stop using suicide tactics against him. Those methods didn’t work on him, so they could stop sending Martyrs. It was all self-harm, with no damage to the enemy.

Actually, Finn wouldn’t have cared even if the Radiant Path sent over an entire reinforced company of Martyrs.

He was mainly worried that Olivia would get blown to pieces.

Olivia kept watch nearby. She activated her X-ray vision and scanned in every direction. Then she spotted the female broadcaster they had released earlier. She hadn’t escaped at all.

The woman was creeping along the base of the wall, slowly making her way toward the studio door. She slipped a hand beneath her skirt and pulled out a thick stick of blasting explosive and a windproof lighter. She was preparing to light the fuse and throw it into the studio.

Olivia ejected the magazine from her submachine gun and smoothly replaced it with one loaded with armor-piercing rounds. She raised the gun, aimed at the wall, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The armor-piercing bullet punched through the wall and punched a bloody hole clean through the broadcaster’s head.

Finn glanced at the bullet hole in the studio wall.

“And now, let’s hear from a victim of the Radiant Path.”

With that, Finn stepped aside and let Olivia take his place at the microphone.

Olivia leaned toward the square microphone, her voice suddenly solemn as she denounced the Radiant Path’s crimes against Black Mountain.

She laid out exactly what had happened: the Radiant Path had posed as a merchant caravan to gain entry to the nuclear reactor facility, then left behind a Martyr to detonate the reactor. The resulting explosion had destroyed Black Mountain and killed tens of thousands of people.

That bloody truth traveled with the radio waves, transmitted from the station’s towering broadcast antenna to every corner of the wasteland.

Whether the listeners believed it or not, the Radiant Path’s already tarnished name would only sink lower across the wasteland.

Not that Finn cared whether they believed it.

Olivia continued speaking into the microphone. She declared that she, too, possessed the ability to purify radiation, proving that it wasn’t a power unique to the Radiant Path.

She had originally wanted to use the native shamans as an example, but decided against it. She didn’t want to bring trouble down on them.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

A brass communicator rang inside a glass display case, its little bell clanging nonstop.

Finn smashed the glass, snatched up the receiver, and asked, “Who is this?”

“Finn, don’t get too full of yourself!” An old, furious voice came from the other end.

“You didn’t answer me. Who are you?”

“Idiot! I am Holy Pontiff Alistair Rupert! You godless sinner—you’re insufferably arrogant! Do you really think those pathetic mutant powers of yours can stand against Holy Radiance?!”

“How would I know unless I try? And where are you? Give me the address. I’ll come kill you.”

“You self-righteous maggot! The Radiant Path has simply been too busy to crush you. But we won’t need to lift a finger now. Holy Radiance is about to descend, and before it, you’re nothing!”

“Then where is Holy Radiance going to descend?”

Click!

The line went dead.

Olivia ran out from behind the control desk and asked in a low voice, “Master, I’ve said everything I needed to say. What now?”

Finn nodded. He walked behind the control desk, pulled the square microphone toward himself, and said:

“Radiant Path, listen carefully. I will purge you for your sins—and I will be the one to slay your god!”

…

The two of them left the radio station. Along the way, they encountered several groups of surviving soldiers from the Holy Army of Deliverance. The soldiers had hidden themselves in various nooks and crannies, hoping to ambush them.

Unfortunately, every carefully prepared ambush was completely exposed under Olivia’s X-ray vision. Not a single detail escaped her.

Finn raised a Profound Energy shield while Olivia took up her light machine gun and mowed them down one by one.

There was no denying that Olivia’s X-ray vision was absurdly powerful. It was practically the equivalent of having a battlefield prophet.

In this desolate, barren nuclear wasteland, Finn was very pleased with his capable new maid.

They were running low on gasoline, so they stopped to stock up.

At several fuel shops, the Radiant Path followers became remarkably warm and hospitable the instant they recognized Finn. They hurried to hand over their fuel without asking for a cent.

Their terrified hospitality almost made Finn feel guilty. He could barely bring himself to blow their brains out.

At one garage, Finn even found a brand-new off-road vehicle manufactured by Ironatom and later exported to Summit Refuge City. It was far superior to the camouflage SUV he had been riding before.

The vehicle’s owner was every bit as hospitable. Without a word, he offered up the keys with both hands and gave Finn the vehicle for free.

Surrounded by so many warm and helpful residents willing to assist him at any cost, Finn once again felt the love of the wasteland’s native people.

After filling the SUV’s tank and replenishing their fuel reserves, Finn took the passenger seat while Olivia drove. The vehicle climbed onto the winding mountain road and left Summit Refuge City behind.

The new SUV had more than twice the cabin space of the old one. Its body was a sober ink-black, with well-balanced proportions, broad, straight body lines, and a rugged, imposing build.

The interior was finished in dark tones and reddish wood trim. The black leather sport seats were extremely comfortable, and the premium leather wrapped around the steering wheel felt exceptionally smooth. Matching wood trim ran across the control console, lending the cabin a solid, commanding air.

Its power came from a 4.0-liter V8 equipped with twin turbochargers and a mechanical supercharger. The engine’s output was astonishingly strong.

The chassis featured part-time four-wheel drive, independent double-wishbone front suspension, and a four-link solid rear axle. Even on the rugged mountain roads, the ride remained smooth.

The ink-black SUV cruised steadily along the road. Olivia kept both hands on the wheel, then turned slightly and asked, “Master, the Radiant Path has committed every evil imaginable. Should we wipe it out completely?”

“Not interested,” Finn replied calmly. “Our target is the World Nucleus. I couldn’t care less about changing this world. Anything that gets in our way—whether it’s a person, a faction, or a religious order—gets blown to hell.”

“Mm-hmm. I understand.” Olivia nodded obediently.

Finn activated the three-dimensional map projected from his phone and marked several locations in red.

“Still, these are all home cities of the Radiant Path. They’re beyond saving. Let’s bring every one of them nuclear peace.”

Olivia turned her head and saw that Finn had crossed out four Refuge Cities, including the Radiant Path’s holy city.

The blood-red X marks announced their fate: destruction.

“If you ever run into someone calling himself a ‘Celestial Sojourner,’ be extremely careful. Better yet, stay far away from him.”

Finn paused. “Except for me, of course.”

Olivia was clever enough to immediately catch the hidden meaning in his words.

“Are you a Celestial Sojourner?”

“That’s right. I am one. As for what the term really means, I’ll explain it to you slowly after we’ve had a deeper exchange and gotten to know each other inside and out.”

“Why should I stay away from Celestial Sojourners?”

Olivia’s large eyes were filled with confusion.

“Celestial Sojourners are troublesome creatures. Trouble follows them wherever they go. Some of them may be saddled with tens of quadrillions of Imperial credits in debt, hunted by countless creditors, and forced to work for millions of years before they can pay it all back.

“Others may have tens of millions of threads of fate and karma wrapped around them, all knotted together like an impossible ball of yarn. Anyone who gets involved with them will end up shouldering their karmic burdens.

“A cultivator like me, who doesn’t need to worry about maintaining a Dao heart, can still manage. At worst, I’ll lose a little sleep. But if a cultivator who needs to stabilize their Dao heart and mental state gets even slightly entangled in that mess, their cultivation won’t advance another inch.”

“Mm-hm, mm-hm.”

Olivia was thoroughly confused. She didn’t understand many of the words Finn had used, but she still dutifully committed everything to memory.