Chapter 162: Rough Roads

"Kyaa! The ground is shaking again! Watch out brother-in-law!" Linlin screamed; her blood turned cold by the sight in front.

For the past few hours, there had been several tremors, but since they were on the road, they were less affected than those inside the buildings.

This one, however, caused the midrise building that was already tilting down to completely fall down.

It was about to land on them! Fortunately, Kael was a skilled driver, and he manipulated the car like it was one of his limbs.

He drifted skillfully, avoiding the fall.

Whew.

"So cool..." Hans said, eyes sparkling.

Later, when things calmed down, he’d beg this man for driving lessons!

Uncle also gaped. He had been wondering when to switch driver roles, but now he had no face to do so.

There were several cars following them now; some were new and had followed their caravan at some point, catching up whenever there was an obstacle that had to be handled.

Of course, the car was strong, so logs and fallen poles were not an issue; however, they would feel if it would ricochet and hit random people. If it would, they would head down and slowly handle it, which gave time for others to catch up or gave time for others to follow.

This time, it was a building that fell down, and it would be more difficult for people to follow them. As for what happened to them, Kael’s side didn’t really care. Things were not so bad yet that they had to hold everyone’s hands to guide them.

"When will these earthquakes end?" Marcus asked, very concerned.

Naia calmly reassured him. "The tectonic plates are shifting, and it will continue to shake for at least a few more days, but it should stabilize soon."

Of course, by then there would be new challenges. There would also be new gorges, shifts in topography, maybe even small mountains would form in their lifetime.

While they continued to head to their destination, the sky was beginning to change; the darkened reddish sky was darkening even more. She knew that the storm was coming.

They did not rest, soon arriving on a highway, and this time Uncle really did switch and volunteered to drive. They decided that, as much as possible, they would travel nonstop.

When the switch happened, with Uncle as the driver and Hans was in the shotgun, definitely going to ask his father about driving basics.

Speaking of which, last year, his dad had promised to teach him before his 20th birthday, and who’d have thought it would happen like this?

Grandma and Linlin remained at the back, while Kael and Naia were in the middle row. It was their time to rest this time, and Kael shamelessly used Naia’s shoulder as a pillow.

Naia’s eyebrows rose, but her palm found his head. "You’re heavy," she said.

"Naia...can we just rest now?" he said, his baritone voice having a pitiful lilt to it.

Wow.

It struck Naia’s heart! She wondered whether to act coy, just because.

It was here that the car passed over a rather big obstacle and suddenly tilted a bit, shooting up right after.

BAM!

"Sorry!" Uncle said, eyes twitching. There was a massive pothole he had missed. The car was very sturdy, fortunately, and this little thing wouldn’t damage its suspension.

In the middle row, however, things got a little hot.

The two slid into the chair, Kael’s face and lips ending up on Naia’s collarbones, and her soft breasts were squished against his clavicle.

Before she could try to adjust, the car moved crazily again, rattled as it passed through uneven ground, dipping and recovering here and there.

Uncle apologized again, while Linlin complained at the back, though quietly since she knew she was just a passenger being carried around, so she ought not to add to the problem.

Linlin shut her eyes to minimize the dizzying sensation, which (to her dismay, if she knew) made her miss the heated moment right in front of her.

Kael stabilized himself and Nadia with one hand on the armrest and another on the backrest. It was just that, somehow, his face never left her body.

Naia complained in her heart. Wasn’t this a highway? The road should be smoother, right? Sad for her, part of the ejecta from a nearby meteorite fell in the area, causing a bit of damage. They were already lucky that this was passable at all.

When a particularly big movement happened, Kael shifted, and his entire weight was on her, and they were face to face, with her pinned underneath him.

Naia, despite all her boldness, felt a bit shocked. "You..."

Who is this rogue!?

The contrast between how she knew him for, like, twenty years prior to how he was now was utterly baffling. As proactive as she usually was, she found her brain turned to mush right now.

Unexpectedly, when they encountered another bump, she had to hold on to him, causing him to chuckle; his low rumbling felt between their skins, and she could feel his warmth.

"This is sexual harassment," she whispered with gritted teeth. This made him chuckle instead; he tilted his head to whisper against her ear, blowing his warm breath in her ear.

"The difference between sexual harassment and flirting," he began, his low voice so rich and sonorous that her legs weakened. "Is whether the ’victim’ finds the other attractive."

He lifted his head, looking at her straight in the eye. "Judging by how your pupils dilate when you look at my face, it is safe to say you still find me very, very attractive."

She was speechless. Absolutely speechless.

Kael was amused by her baffled expression. It made him itch to do things.

Sadly, she was purposely making things hard for him as revenge for his rejections in the past life. Granted, he liked her very early on, and it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t control his powers back then, but he accepted the challenge.

He knew that this girl (though she might not admit it) obviously enjoyed the ambiguous phase, so he would play along.

Even if the path was winding and there were a lot of detours, the endpoint would remain the same. For Kael, that was already more than enough.

His lips seductively hovered above hers, the movement of the car adding friction between the two bodies.

Her face burned, and she narrowed her eyes at him, adding distance by bending her elbow against his chest. "Go rest. You’re still on probation."

He was about to say something ambiguous, and she placed her palm on his lips to shut him up.

Kael chuckled, kissing the hand on his mouth. "What can I do?" he said. "I’ve already long been imprisoned."