Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 169 The Day the Sky Killed Me

After personally seeing Megan and Amber off, Magnus slipped the day’s harvested Crystals into the black tattoo space. He stood by the door briefly, listening to the chatter of the women inside, still caught up in talk about rewards. Then he left alone, checked all around to make sure no one was watching, circled to the side of the house, quickly stripped, crushed a Water Crystal in his hand, and quietly rinsed himself off.

By morning, the villagers had finished cooking the first batch of steamed rice. The iron pot was only so big - feeding 2,500 people meant staggered meals. Two hours later, with everyone fed, Ashton, Molly, and Lucy led the teams back to the mountain. The villagers returned to work on lunch prep.

Those three took the morning shift supervising the dig. Megan and Amber would take over at noon. Magnus didn’t go with them today. He got up later, sat on the edge of the bed, lit a smoke, and just stared off, empty-minded... thinking about Ice Regiment’s future. Memories from his previous life flickered through his head.

He only survived nine months in his last life after the apocalypse. Two meteor showers. The first hit five hours before it all started - before the red light came down from the sky, bringing those monsters with it.

The second? That was the day Magnus died. That one came fast. Less than two hours from first impact to his death.

Was there a pattern between the meteor showers and that red light? If not, why was there never a single meteor before the apocalypse, and then suddenly they’d rain down in swarms?

But if there was a connection... what was it? Maybe every time meteors fall, exactly five hours later, the red light appears. And from that light, the apocalypse creatures start crawling out...

Too bad, the second time he didn’t live long enough to see what happened after those two hours.

Lately, though, his mind was tangled. Too many things were off. He awakened a second time in the Anomaly Zone. Crimson rain showed up early. Then came that meteor mountain - all these things, he never saw in his past life.

And then the Springvale City troops, the Ridgebreak Battalion, the air raid shelters, underground grain storage - all of it, new to this life. His path was already completely different from before.

His thoughts were a mess. He didn’t even know what he was thinking anymore when Megan and Amber knocked at the door and came in.

They had the morning off and had just eaten. With nothing better to do, they figured they’d come chat.

There was one thing they’d been wondering about - they couldn’t figure out where the crystals from the last four days had gone. There were dozens of rice sacks full of them. Could he have lost them somehow?

The two searched the whole place - the outdoor kitchen, the bed, even inside the stove. No crystals.

Seeing them come in, Magnus just smiled, got up, and pulled two bottles of green tea from a cabinet, tossing one to each of them. They’d worked hard these last few days; he hadn’t done much of anything.

After so many meals of plain rice and leaf soup, seeing green tea made them happy. They cracked them open and took big gulps before kicking off their shoes and climbing up on the bed.

Amber, always the more lively one - with long legs and a sharp energy - pulled off her helmet, shook out her hair, and folded her legs beneath her. She looked at Magnus, then at Megan, who gave her a wink. Amber hesitated, then asked, "Captain, there’s something me and Megan have been dying to ask."

Magnus lit another cigarette and sat cross-legged across from them, nodding with a small smile. "Go ahead."

Under his gaze, Amber hesitated for a beat, then said, "We’ve been puzzled... Where did you stash all the crystals we dug up? You didn’t lose ’em, did you?"

"We didn’t mean anything by it. We were just worried the place you hid them might not be safe," Megan quickly explained. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Magnus smiled faintly. "They’re stored properly. Very safe." He knew the two had no bad intentions, just plain curiosity, but there was no way to explain the space tattoo.

Amber glanced at Megan, both even more puzzled now. Just then, a knock came from outside. Alex’s voice rang out, calling Magnus’s name. Given most inside were resting women, and he was a man, it wasn’t fitting for him to just barge in.

Amber looked to Magnus, who gave her a nod. She got up and brought Alex into the house from the outer kitchen. Alex stepped in, smiling as his eyes swept the room. Seeing only two girls fully dressed, he flopped down on the bed with a grin, rubbing his hands. "Captain Magnus, you taking it easy?"

Magnus tossed him a cigarette with a smirk. "Got something on your mind, old man?"

"Heh..." Alex chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head. "Well, yeah, a little something..."

"Speak straight," Magnus said, tossing him a lighter. Alex caught it quickly, lit the smoke, took a deep drag, then said sheepishly, "It’s just... you guys have dug up quite a haul of crystals these days - bagfuls of them. And our folks, well..."

"Old man," Magnus cut in, pretending to frown, "we had a deal when we came - one cart of grain for two crystals and the intel you gave us. Now you tell me, how much grain did we give you? Enough to last the village twenty years, right?"

"Yes, yes! That grain - more than enough, way more than we asked for," Alex nodded rapidly, "but... Captain Magnus..."

He grimaced and continued, "Can’t you cut us some slack? Look, two Water Crystals ain’t enough for the handful of old folks we have. They don’t know how to seal them like you Awakened..."

Magnus understood that. These villagers couldn’t seal crystal energy like he could. Two crystals wouldn’t last them. Considering he’d already dug up nearly a thousand by now, giving out a few more wasn’t a big deal.

He had planned to hand them out when they left, but since Alex showed up, he might as well hear him out.

Alex kept up, "These days, we’ve done nothing else but cook for you - hot meals every day... Captain Magnus, could you spare just two more Water Crystals? Just two more, that’s all."

"Two more water stones?" Magnus snorted lightly. "Fine."

He stood up, casually turned to rummage in a cabinet by the bed, slipped two Water Crystals from his space, and handed them over. "Here, take these two. When we leave, you’ll get the other two as agreed. We won’t short you."

"Great! That’s great!" Alex could barely contain his grin, carefully tucking the crystals into his coat. Grinning ear to ear, he bowed his thanks to Magnus before saying, "You’re a generous man, Captain. We country folk from Willowglen Village won’t be outdone either."

With that, he jumped up and headed to the kitchen, returning with two big woven sacks, one in each hand.

"Captain, take a look at what I brought you..."

Magnus glanced inside and froze. "Alex! Is this... ginseng?"