Chapter 41: The Wonderful Race Car
On the spacious rooftop terrace of a building in Black Mountain, a lively open-air barbecue party was in full swing. The gathering celebrated City Lord Darius Smith’s successful negotiations, which had secured the hydroelectric power station outside Refuge City.
Beyond Black Mountain, the murky, polluted waters of the Brown Water River surged past. A dam built before the Cataclysm still spanned the river channel, its once-functional hydroelectric equipment long since ruined.
The Sandhawk Raiders had held the dam for ten years. Black Mountain now faced a critical power shortage. Their only nuclear fission battery had finally died, and they urgently needed a new, reliable energy source.
Decades of steady development had given Black Mountain the confidence and resources to repair the hydroelectric station themselves.
The Sandhawk Raiders, however, were a pack of fanatical madmen. A direct assault would likely cost far too much in lives, and large-scale weapons were out of the question—they could easily damage the very facility Black Mountain wanted intact.
To show good faith, City Lord Darius Smith had gone to negotiate in person, bringing only two subordinates.
It was a dangerous move, no different from a lion walking straight into a den of wolves. No matter how strong the lion, it would still be torn apart—especially an aging one.
Fortunately, decades of reputation and connections carried the day. Darius Smith returned with an agreement. The Sandhawk Raiders would hand over the dam. In return, Black Mountain would, of course, have to offer them suitable compensation.
……
The barbecue party was lively. Two mutated wild bulls had been butchered and set onto the grill racks, their mouthwatering aroma spreading through the air.
Olivia had no interest in joining the feast. She leaned against the rooftop railing, gazing into the distance with a troubled look.
“Olivia, come have some wild bull leg! I saved one especially for you!” a young man by the bonfire called out, waving at her.
“Not interested.” Olivia waved him off and stayed where she was.
“Still thinking about that young man named Finn?” Darius Smith walked over with a glass of wine, stopping beside her.
“No… I’m not thinking about him at all. Don’t be ridiculous!” Olivia’s cheeks flushed as she hurried to explain.
Darius took a sip of his wine without calling her out, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Olivia puffed up indignantly. “It’s all your fault, Dad. You must have driven him away. Didn’t I tell you to keep him here? He’s a Tier 5 Vanguard! It would’ve been so good if he could’ve stayed in Black Mountain.”
Darius smiled helplessly. “He’s too mysterious. Mystery always means danger. And he’s completely tight-lipped about his identity—he won’t reveal even a hint.”
“He’s probably from Dustgrain Valley or Green Dragon. What’s so dangerous about that? Last time you even brought me some dried fruits from Dustgrain Valley.”
“I sounded him out indirectly. He’s neither from Dustgrain Valley nor from Green Dragon.” Darius took a measured sip of wine, his gaze distant and thoughtful.
Last night, Darius Smith had sat down for a long private talk with Finn, but Finn refused to reveal even a single detail about his own past.
“I admit he’s a bit mysterious, but he’s a good person,” Olivia said earnestly. “I saw him give a little girl some pure water with my own eyes. It’s just a pity the Demon Gang blew up her entire family.”
Darius shook his head. “I told you to get information out of Jimmy. Did you manage to learn anything?”
“Jimmy wouldn’t say a word either.” Olivia sighed. “I just get the feeling they come from some really powerful and comfortable Refuge City. Otherwise, how else would they raise someone like Jimmy—so soft and delicate, who doesn’t even know basic weapon handling?”
Darius nodded, his gaze sharp as an eagle’s. “Jimmy? The moment I met him, I could tell he came from a sheltered, privileged place. But in all my seventy years, I’ve never seen anywhere like that.”
Olivia pouted and refused to give up. “So what? It’s not like they’d harm Black Mountain, right? If Finn stayed, he could definitely help us build up Refuge City!”
“He’s too mysterious. Too dangerous. My only concern is that he may have come from the far side of the sea.” Darius’s voice grew low and grave.
“The other side of the sea?” Olivia asked in surprise. “You mean the Luminous Sea?”
The Luminous Sea was a vast ocean—barren, silent, and home to not a single fish.
It earned its name because at night its surface would glow with countless specks of light, the radiance of radioactive waste.
Legend had it that during the nuclear war of the Cataclysm, countless nuclear submarines, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and nuclear torpedoes sank into the sea, unleashing terrifying radioactive contamination. From then on, the once-blue ocean became a permanent dead sea.
“When I was young, I wandered the continent and picked up quite a few pre-Cataclysm documents. They helped me piece together fragments of the old world. Before the Cataclysm, there was a powerful nation across the sea. According to the records, that nation beyond the sea was also drawn into the full-scale nuclear war.”
“So? That’s a really faraway place, isn’t it?” Olivia asked, confused.
Darius voiced his suspicion. “My only worry is that after rebuilding their homeland from the ruins, they may have crossed the Luminous Sea to conquer us—and Finn is their advance scout.”
Olivia fell silent. She leaned against the railing and thought for a moment. “But… the Luminous Sea is so huge. Crossing it by ship would take a long time, right?”
“What if they’ve already built giant ironclads powered by atomic energy—vessels thousands of meters long and hundreds of meters wide?”
Olivia couldn’t help feeling a pang of worry. “If that’s true, then what do we do?”
“If such a steel leviathan truly exists, perhaps only the Radiant Path’s ‘Divine Ark’ could stand against it.”
……
Finn sped across the wasteland on his mountain bike. According to the holographic 3D map on his phone, he wasn’t far from reaching Ironatom.
In the distance, Finn could already see dozens of hazy black smoke plumes. From experience, they came from factory chimneys venting exhaust.
Suddenly, an off-road vehicle tore through the dust and charged straight toward him. The vehicle was caked in mud, its engine roaring loudly with a rough, aggressive sound.
Its tires churned through the dirt as it pulled ahead and stopped in front of Finn. The driver leaned out the window while steering, looking puzzled at how Finn’s mountain bike could keep up with his off-roader.
Finn glanced at him. It was a middle-aged man around forty, his gray hair pressed flat by the wind, face covered in stubble.
Annoyed by the staring, Finn pushed hard on the pedals. The mountain bike suddenly surged forward, shooting past the off-roader and leaving it choking on the dust kicked up by his rear wheel.
The driver’s eyes widened in shock. One hand on the steering wheel, he used the other to slap his own face several times.
His cheeks burned painfully, confirming he wasn’t dreaming—there really was a mountain bike faster than his off-roader.
The man slammed the accelerator to the floor. The engine let out a desperate roar as he gradually caught up to Finn.
Finn glanced at him again and pedaled harder. The mountain bike surged forward with astonishing acceleration, instantly leaving the off-roader far behind.
“I don’t believe it! There’s no way your mountain bike can outrun my off-roader!” the driver shouted into the wind.
Fighting against the gale, he floored the gas and activated the nitrous oxide boost. Bright yellow flames burst from the exhaust pipes as the off-roader’s speed surged to its limit, hurtling toward Finn at breakneck speed.