Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 520: Not a drop of sweat.

Sunshine slowly turned her head, staring at Lisha the way someone stared at a cracked wall they’d been ignoring, with a grimace. "The animal network hasn’t heard anything. Nothing at all?"

Lisha leaned back and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Suni, you literally told Zulu to dissolve it. You nearly plucked out her wings and terrorized her. She was so afraid of what you might do if she didn’t follow your orders, so she retired her merry band of mischief makers."

Sunshine groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. She would really never hear the end of that threat. She raised her brows and looked at Lisha. "That is unlike Zulu."

"Zulu may talk a lot of crap but she is afraid of incurring your wrath." Lisha shared.

Sunshine rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension within. "Tell her to get it back up and running. Quietly. I want rumors, whispers, nonsense, anything about the Watchers."

Lisha blinked, hesitant, "Are you sure? Last time that group caused a lot of problems and instigated fights. They blackmailed people."

Sunshine tilted her head, eyes sharp now but lips twitching, "No spying on humans unless they are assigned to them. I wouldn’t mind it if they kept an eye on Amber and Harringtons 1, 2,3. But their priority is the watchers. I heard they can hypnotize people. Who knows what they’re planning?"

Lisha’s mouth dropped open, "WHAT?" she yelped, echoing off the command center walls, attracting curious looks. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Sunshine spun around instantly, "Lower your voice! and keep this to yourself?"

Lisha clamped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide and glossy with fear, "Suni, do you know what that means? They can hypnotize anyone to cause chaos in the base and dismantle it from the inside. What if they hypnotize you?"

Sunshine sighed, already shifting from the window, "I am working on getting my hands on a pill or something that can help protect us from that. But for now, we are keeping it quiet because some people could take advantage of the news. They do something stupid or terrible and claim a watcher made me do it."

Lisha nodded frantically, "I agree and I had not even thought of that."

Right then, Sunshine got a call from Kent that the first batch of coins was ready.

"Owen will be there to pick them in 30." She touched Lisha’s arm lightly. "I have to go; other duties need my attention." She sighed. "I never worked this much when I was changing your sheets and polishing cutlery. Sometimes, I would give anything to go back to those days."

Lisha snorted and laughed. The sound followed Sunshine all the way to the exit. She carried it in her mind until she met Owen and gave him instructions before sending him off to Hunkerville.

Then, she settled in her office and began to select a team that was going with her to Ferry Island in a few days.

****

Fifty degrees Celsius! That was how hot it was. The air itself seemed to peel skin from bone. Every day that passed, people felt like they were living in a desert, without the sand. Traveling in ordinary cars was a challenge. Engines coughed like asthmatic dogs, radiators hissing in protest.

But humans were learning to adjust. Wheels of vehicles were rigged with sheets of scavenged metal to shield them from the sun. Superhumans that could filter toxins were selling unique paints and fluids that could limit the suns brutal rays on the vehicles.

Small inventions like these were what allowed Zadok and his convoy of battered trucks and armored sedans to make the journey into dangerous zones to search for Moon Raine. It was dangerous, fuel was precious, water even more so, but the promise of the bounty and the usefulness of Moon Raine was enough to keep the moving.

Zadok wanted the bounty and the promises Ceasar had made him. Ceasar wanted Moon, nothing else.

Inside the lead car, where both men were sitting, sweat dripped from the ceiling. The smell was even worse, not that any of the men cared. The driver, a skinny man with skin as yellow as a banana peel muttered curses at the dashboard. "The heat is burning the carburetor, and it will soon melt into soup. Why the fuck are we out here Zadok?"

From the back seat, Ceasar drawled lazily, "Don’t worry, if I can keep myself cool, I can keep it cool as well." He reclined lowered the sunglasses over his eyes, sipping cool water like it was champagne. "See? Not a drop of sweat on me."

Three men in the back of the seven-seater vehicle groaned. They hated Ceasar, his empty promises and his comfort in the face of their suffering. They were boiling in a tin can while he relaxed as if he was at the beach!

The yellow man slammed the boots as shadows darted across the cracked highway. The beggars that were dressed in rags whistled and creatures that looked like regular guests to hell responded. Three were mutated dogs, one was a mutated blue serpent and five were vultures, circling overhead.

"Superhumans." The yellow man roared into a radio. "They are working with mutated beasts. Attack."

Car doors were flung open and a woman whose skin shimmered like steel jumped out first. Bullets bounced harmlessly off her chest and arms. Behind her, a pyrokinetic leaped out of a car window, flames blasting. The two sides clashed. The battle was chaos.

And the fake president? He cleared his throat and adjusted his sunglasses and announced to those expecting him to join the battle, "I’d join, but a leader has to stay cool-headed and provide a strategy." He took a map of the area and pretended to study routes while the others risked their lives.

"Strategic my ass." They yellow man muttered, breathing poison out of his mouth at a vulture.

Their group was more powerful than the opponents and they scattered as soon as they realized that. The convoy limped forward again but stopped after only thirty minutes. The sheets on the tires were damaged, so the tires were sticking to asphalt like chewing gum.

The woman with metal skin started bending new sheets. two superhumans applied a fresh coat of paint on the cars. A hydrokinetic cooled the radiators. The smell of rubber mixed with frustration, desperation and sweat.

On the roadside, clusters of survivors begged for help weakly. Many had cracked lips, they begged for drops of water, offering anything in return for that help. A man tried to cling to the bumper of the lead car, but the yellow man kicked him away before breathing poison at some bystanders.

When they dropped to the ground, screaming and crying, others got the message. There was no help they were getting from this group.

The vehicles moved forward, passing by a group of armored bikers whose engines growled like thunder. They waved a poster, one with the image of Fifi and Moon. Obviously, they wanted information.

"Mercenaries, they’re after her too," the yellow man said, gripping the wheel of the vehicle.

"Step on it." Zadok ordered the yellow man.

For their refusal to help, the mercenaries responded hostilely. Bullets sparked against the convoy’s armor. One truck exploded. The convoy came to a stop. This was not the first fight they would encounter.

"Drop them all and keep the bikes." Ceasar ordered. Then he grinned. "See? I don’t need to fight when I can strategize."

For a second, the yellow man wondered if it would be so bad to breathe in Ceasar’s face.