Strongest Deliveryman In The Apocalypse

Sharon watched as Sobin strolled casually out of the Rider Association's HQ, his posture loose, his hands in his pockets like a man leaving a grocery store instead of someone who had just taken on the most reckless re-evaluation in Association history.

Her sharp eyes narrowed.

'This man is too suspicious. There's no way I can just leave it at that.'

For now, she had business in Zone E-46. But Sobin… Sobin needed to be watched.

The second the lobby doors closed behind them, Sharon slipped her hand into her coat and pulled out her ECD. With a flick, its screen lit up, far more advanced than any Rider's standard RCD.

She tapped into her private channel.

"Unit 7," she said curtly.

A deep male voice responded almost instantly. "Yes, Commander?"

"Tail Rider Sobin. He'll be leaving HQ in a truck. Shadow him at all costs, but do not engage. Report every movement back to me. Use the cloak function; he must not know you're there."

"As you command."

She clicked the line closed.

Sharon's gaze flicked back to the door Sobin had exited moments ago. For all his silly demeanor and lack of ambition, something about him did not add up.

He had cut their travel time to a fraction of what it should have been. His record in just one week was unnatural.

And now, without blinking, he had accepted five re-evaluation missions.

'If this is arrogance, then he's heading to his death. But if this isn't arrogance…'

Her stomach tightened.

In any case, it didn't hurt to be too careful.

'But right now, I have other bigger concerns… like the possibility of an SS-Rank Disaster being the culprit that wiped out the Deepcrawler King.'

The thought alone made her throat dry.

SS-Rank Disasters were beyond the Association's ability to manage. They weren't just calamities—they were extinction-level events.

The last time humanity faced something like that was decades ago, and they all nearly perished.

If another one appeared now… it could spell the end of the world!

********

[Moments Later]

As Sharon wrapped up her confidential matters in Zone E-46—reports, meetings with officers, a discreet inspection of armory stores—her mind never left Sobin.

Even as officers saluted and assistants bowed, her thoughts circled back.

Finally, hours later, she departed the HQ and made her way back to the road where she had first intercepted Sobin. Her escorts had regrouped there, stationed with military precision.

When they saw her approach, they saluted sharply.

"Executive Head Sharon! You've returned."

"Report," she said crisply.

"All clear, ma'am. We've secured the perimeter while waiting for your signal."

She gave a short nod, eyes scanning the horizon. The endless dunes and jagged rocks stretched far and wide after the gates. The wind carried faint whispers of dust, the faint hum of monsters in the distance.

Sharon's brows furrowed.

'It took hours to get back here. Hours. Yet with Sobin… it was only minutes.'

She clenched her jaw.

Could it have been a time distortion effect? No… she hadn't sensed any Artifact energy. Her ECD's chronometer hadn't malfunctioned either.

Then how…?

The only answer left was Sobin himself.

Before she could even exert her thoughts to think about the guy, her ECD buzzed.

'Hmm? A call?'

It was Unit 7.

'They've noticed suspicious activity already?' Sharon immediately answered with that thought flowing in her head.

"Report."

Static crackled before the man's low voice came through. "Commander… I've lost visual."

Sharon's eyes sharpened. "What do you mean, 'lost visual'? Did he detect you?"

"No. At least—I don't think so. I've been tailing him since he left HQ. He was driving along the northern ridge. Everything was normal. But then, without warning, he just… vanished from my sensors. The cloak was active. My vessel's radar picked up nothing. I've widened the search grid, but it's like he disappeared off the face of the earth."

Her grip on the device tightened. "Are you telling me you lost him in open terrain?"

"Yes, Commander."

Her stomach dropped.

Sobin had noticed!

He must have noticed something after all!

"Just as I suspected… he was no ordinary Rider." Sharon's mind raced. 'If he can detect a cloaked vessel… if he can evade surveillance at will… then his strength, his background, everything about him—'

Her alarm bells rang at full volume.

There was no more room for hesitation.

Switching to priority channels, Sharon's voice cut like steel.

"To Zone Command, E-46. This is Commander Sharon. Effective immediately, Rider Sobin is to be flagged as a person of interest. Information regarding his identity, vehicle, and last known location is being transmitted. Alert all nearby Zones for interception. He is to be taken alive and brought back to Zone E-46 for questioning."

"Copy that, Executive Head Sharon. Orders received. Deploying capture units across all connected highways. Rider Sobin will be located."

"Do not underestimate him," Sharon warned sharply. "Proceed with utmost caution. Keep your eye on him, and once you have visual, do not allow him to vanish again."

"Understood!"

As her orders spread through encrypted channels, Sharon finally allowed herself a quiet breath. She stared into the wasteland, the faint glint of stars just beginning to pierce the twilight sky.

'If Sobin truly is tied to something beyond Rider control… then maybe…' Her pulse thudded heavily.

Lately, there had been rumors of a certain insurgency group that was on the rise.

'Could he be one of them…?'

Meanwhile, miles away, Sobin hummed to himself inside Bessie's cabin.

The truck sped across the wasteland at a pace that would make professional couriers weep with envy. The engine purred like a beast, but to Sobin, it was nothing unusual.

"Man, traffic's light today. I'll be at the first mission zone in no time." He grinned, tapping the steering wheel in rhythm to a song only he remembered from Earth.

Unaware of the panic his driving speed had caused, he leaned back in his seat and thought about his schedule.

"Let's see… if I map the convoy escort and the medical delivery together, then cut across the ridge, I can hit the Plunderer gang on the way. Should take, what… two, three days tops?"

The landscape blurred outside his windows, dust clouds exploding in his wake.

Behind him, far in the sky, Unit 7's cloaked vessel struggled desperately to match pace. The readings on his dash went haywire, and within seconds, the truck was gone from every sensor.

"Impossible…" the man whispered.

But to Sobin, it was just another ordinary day on the road.