Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 226 He Set the Monster Free... and Drove On

The base camp was about ten kilometers from Hanford City. Magnus drove a heavily modified bus alone. After half an hour on the road, he reached the outskirts of the city, parked the vehicle at a safer spot, and got off with a Fire Crystal activated.

Hanford was just a small county-level city, so Magnus planned to scout ahead first. If he found Emma and the others, he’d return to get them.

He had ten Fire Crystals from Liana. Each crystal was about the size of a fingertip, enough for an hour.

He stuck to the shadows, hugging the walls of shops, doing his best not to stir up any mutated beasts.

The only light came from the moon, but it was full tonight - enough to see clearly within fifty meters.

After walking for over ten minutes, he started to confirm a hunch: although these mutated beasts had changed in size, their old habits were still there.

Every ten meters or so, a mutated poultry rested on the street - chickens, ducks, geese. They still slept at night. Some stood with heads buried in feathers, some lay down. The giant sparrows, probably unable to nest in trees anymore, had taken over houses - sleeping on beds or floors inside.

Moving carefully, Magnus reached Hanford People’s Plaza. Before the world fell apart, it would’ve been filled at night with dancing grannies and playing children. There used to be an inflatable playhouse for kids there, not too big, just enough for play.

He stuck to the edge of the plaza, counted six meteorites scattered around - two at the center, one at each corner.

As he passed one, his eyes locked on something odd atop the deflated playhouse. At first glance, it looked like a stone. On closer look - an egg.

They still lay eggs?

Magnus jogged over, scanned the area. No hen in sight, not even rats. A swarm of bats rushed overhead, uninterested.

The playhouse had long lost its air, just cloth now. The egg lay flat on it. Magnus reached out and felt it - it felt like a chicken egg. Goose or duck eggs should’ve been white, but this one had a red shell, like the ones people used to eat - only way bigger.

By eye, it was at least three meters long and one and a half meters wide.

His mind spun. If he could take this back somehow... it’d feed dozens. Maybe more than a hundred pounds.

He memorized the spot and picked up the pace. He remembered where Hanford Advanced Finance College was. If Lana was still alive, that was a likely place. Along the way, he also kept watch - might be more of those oversized eggs. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

After jogging nearly forty minutes, he found the college gate based on memory. Along the way, he had counted at least a dozen more giant eggs, all kinds.

It was winter now. Normally, poultry didn’t lay eggs this season. Maybe the size and thick feathers of these mutated types made them less affected by the cold. With a Super Fire Crystal loaded, Magnus stepped into Hanford Advanced Finance College.

Right past the gate, he spotted a swarm of rat beasts. He’d slaughtered plenty here a few months ago, and now the place was littered with corpses - some fully rotted, others half-decayed. The rats had found their feast, tearing into bodies and gnawing bones like mad.

All over the campus, meteorites were scattered. Dozens of them. Between the craters, more rat beasts darted around crazily. Magnus kept close to the perimeter wall, sweeping his tactical flashlight over the barricaded windows. If Lana and the others were inside, they’d spot the signal.

He made his way to the dorms. Most windows were sealed with planks or metal sheets. First, he checked below for Ice Regiment’s custom bus - nothing. Then he went up and down with the flashlight, checking window after window. When he reached the final dorm building, there was still no trace - no response, no noise. No damn bus.

A cold sense of dread slid into his chest. Maybe Sophia was right - they might not have made it.

He tore through the campus again, double-checking every corner. In the end, he pulled out his pistol and blasted seven shots into a rooster napping in the bushes. The echo ripped across the college. All mutated creatures woke with a jolt. Those that caught sight of him, his body faintly glowing in dark red, bolted like hell was on their heels.

He kept at it until nearly 3 a.m. - crossing south of the city, looping back east, then north. Every place he thought survivors might hide, he made noise. But not a single sign of Lana or anyone else. Just the usual silence dragging on.

Drained, he took a moment to rest. He found a beat-up BYD F3 parked outside a shop, keys still in the ignition. There was gas left, but the front windshield was cracked to hell. Taking a one-meter military dagger from his leg holster, he rammed it through the glass and cleared it out.

A giant centipede burst from the backseat, screeching and scrambling to flee. The Super Fire Crystal he ran now gave off such insane energy that even monsters like this didn’t dare strike. It only wanted out.

Magnus paused, watching the creature wriggle in panic. Oddly enough, a weird sense of familiarity showed up. These days, centipedes and spiders had all but vanished. Chickens, ducks, geese, even birds and bats had probably wiped them out. This one counted as rare now.

He opened the door and let it go. It felt ridiculous, maybe even funny. Two lifetimes, and he never thought he’d end up releasing a giant centipede out of mercy.

He fired up the engine and kept scouting down the block. Roaring forward, the car moved slow but steady. All around were rats, fleeing and smashing into storefronts, bumping into other wrecked cars, creating echoes in the night.

An hour later, once rested, he stepped back out, engine still running, and swept the area again - this time returning to People’s Square.

It was nearly 5 a.m., darkest before dawn. He stood once again in front of that massive red-shelled egg. That’s when he saw it.

There, lying on its back beside a giant meteorite - was a dead hen. Iron bar stabbed right through its chest. Just lying there.

A grim chill crept over him. This damned world was rotting from the inside out.