Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 224 Vehicles, One Man’s Plan

Everything that flew in the sky or ran on the ground - Magnus tested them one by one. Nothing attacked his off-road vehicle. The core powering the car wasn’t even a deep crimson Fire Crystal, just a regular Metal Crystal.

By all logic, creatures like mutant roosters should’ve gone after a Metal Crystal-powered vehicle. First time Magnus left the grain depot to save Sophia, he got swallowed by one of those damned birds.

But now? Not a single one came at him. That had to mean the car was safe.

Relief surged through Magnus, followed by a flicker of excitement. Never thought that crazy idea from Alex would actually work out this well.

Damn, I owe that guy big time.

That thought, though, turned bitter just as fast. Folks back in Willowglen - Alex, the elders, and those kids - they might’ve held their own against centipedes and spiders. After all, those things hit the cities first, rarely reached out into their village.

But this second wave fell right on the rural areas. Chances were... they didn’t make it.

The off-road made it back safe to the grain depot. Through a hidden hatch, Emily and the others saw the experiment work, and they were all fired up.

Magnus didn’t waste a second. Shouldering a bundle of steel cable, he switched to a Fire Crystal and headed for the other two entrances of the depot.

Same method. Chickens, ducks, geese - slaughtered. He kept at it till ten in the morning the next day. Fifteen - sixteen hours straight. Over thirty birds dead. He collected a thousand barrels of blood for the entrance convoy and drenched all 1,000+ modified vehicles in the stuff.

How long the scent would hold? No clue yet. So for safety, each five vehicles got one barrel of blood. Every three vehicles carried one Super Fire Crystal - just in case they ran into something that didn’t buy the ruse.

While Magnus kept busy, Liana and the teams at the other two depots weren’t sitting around either. Counting what he’d stashed in his own space, they had over 3,600 Fire Crystals. Liana had specialists fuse them into 360 Super Fire Crystals overnight.

As for the rest of the women, aside from guarding the breaches, logistics kicked into high gear - steaming bread, frying flatcakes. Cooking on the road was tough work; steamed buns and oil cakes were the best travel food.

By noon, Magnus had gone a full twenty-something hours without shutting his eyes. Eyes bloodshot, blinking haze, he called an emergency meeting with Emily, Sophia, and the crew to discuss the Ice Regiment’s next stop.

"I say we return to the Ironvale bunker," Sophia recommended. "That shelter’s sturdy enough to survive these waves. If we keep the blood supply steady at the gate, those beasts might not even bother us."

"I agree with her," said Emily.

"Same here," added Liana.

Charlotte gave Magnus a sideways look, noticing he’d been quiet. "You? What’s your take?"

Magnus rubbed his eyes, snuffed the cigarette between two fingers. "I say we go to Hanford City first."

"You’re going after them?" Sophia jumped to her feet. "You think they even made it through this mess?"

Magnus let out a long breath. True, Lana and her group - eighty-three in total - were all Second Awakening fighters. That much he could count on. And sure, they’d butted heads with him a few times. But deep down, they weren’t bad people. You could tell - they really cared about the Regiment.

More than that, Magnus had another reason. It was about appearances for the whole team. In the others’ eyes, Lana and her group had gone out risking their lives for the Ice Regiment. Most didn’t know Magnus had been against their actions from the start. Even if he explained it later, it’d just sound like a lame excuse for not rescuing them.

So yeah, they had to be saved.

Besides, rescuing them was basically on the way. Hanford City was in the same general direction as Ironvale County’s air raid shelter. It only required exiting at a different highway junction. Magnus had figured it out already - let the convoy camp there, and he’d go alone.

As long as they were still alive, he had a decent shot at pulling it off solo. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

He explained his thoughts to Emily, Sophia, and the others. Charlotte nodded. "I figured the same. Most of the team doesn’t know they disobeyed orders. Trying to explain now would reek of cover-up. Makes things messy."

"Fine then, I’m in too," Sophia said, her face tight. "But if they make it back, they’re getting punished. Otherwise, we won’t hold this team together."

Everyone agreed. Magnus got out and went to the breach at the underground granary. What he and Emily had expected didn’t happen - there was no massive swarm of sparrows and bats. In fact, come daylight, the bats were gone, just a few sparrows fluttering near the scorched meteorite-crusted soil.

The bats still avoided sunlight. That caught Magnus off guard. If he weren’t in a rush to head for Hanford City, he’d have waited until night. Moving at night might be safer - chickens, ducks, sparrows, they’d all be asleep then, right?

He made a note to study that more closely later.

By 1 PM, the Ice Regiment was ready to roll. Magnus drove the lead car, the first one out of the granary gate...

Creeping past the threshold, he eased on the brakes. What he saw made him raise his eyebrows - just a dozen rat-type beasts left from the massive swarm last night. They were hunched in the shade, looking like they were sleeping.

Rats were nocturnal - then it clicked.

He peered through the windshield. Sure enough, there were a bunch of huge white geese, some chickens and ducks waddling around Ashbrook Town, pecking at the ground here and there. He had no idea what they were even eating.

Could those beasts starve?

Spiders and centipedes didn’t seem to die from hunger. Which meant, those chickens might be pecking at spiders or centipedes crawling around.

The sparrows and bats probably ate flying insects like mosquitoes.

The convoy slowly rolled out of the underground granary. First, Magnus and Emily’s group exited from the 30-meter breach. Then came the second wave - Megan and Amber headed out from another exit. Last was the third team, where Amelia and Kristina were stationed.

Even though they’d already tested the animal blood trick the night before, today was different. The whole team was moving at once. Magnus’s nerves were tense as a bowstring.

One screw-up and it’d be a disaster for the Ice Regiment.

The vehicles crawled forward, slowly passing a handful of white geese and dozens of ducks, eventually approaching the massive chicken horde...

Once through that, they’d be mostly safe.

But just as Magnus’s lead vehicle cleared the chickens, and Emily’s and Sophia’s infantry carrier followed suit, something shifted - one of the giant roosters tilted its head.

Then, it gently pecked the roof of a sleeper bus behind them.