crystals! All the blood, sweat, and grit—hell, even the damn gloom hanging over these days—finally paid off!
Since the second teor shower, Magnus Specter hadn’t cracked a genuine smile. Underground, it was him, alone, spilling animal blood. In Hanford City? Sa story. Killing animals, hauling gear to the won, going in solo to rescue Lana Stewart... Every damn step, it was him.
On the outside, Magnus seed calm, like the weight didn’t bother him. But inside? The pressure—the kind that grinds bones to dust—was suffocating. Only he knew how close he teetered.
The won, though? Sure, maybe Emily Ward and the others were scared, maybe they worried now and then. But deep down, they leaned on Magnus. He was their anchor, their answer to every desperate prayer. And because they had him, they didn’t carry that sa crushing load.
Letting out a ragged breath, Magnus surveyed the stash. 5000 crystals wasn’t just a number; it was a damn ga-changer. With his Ice Regint, he could strip Hanford City bare in a day and a half. Tomorrow? Rinse and repeat in Springvale City, bleeding Northreach Province dry of every last resource.The team wrapped up their work and returned to the main convoy camp. Among the nearly 5,000 crystals, the Fire Crystals—counting the earlier test digs—added up to over 1,700 in total. Liana Jabbar led the effort to fuse them into 170 Super Fire Crystals, adding to the 132 Super Fire Crystals they had already excavated.
The Ice Regint now had around 630 Super Fire Crystals altogether. Of these, 320 were distributed among the team, leaving over 300 stockpiled with Liana.
They reached the camp at noon. By 10 p.m., another round of animal blood was sared onto them. At midnight sharp, the convoy prepared to move out.
Magnus Specter passed the word around before heading back to his personal camper. Emily Ward and the others, except for Sophia Reid, were inside. Over the last few days, exhaustion had gotten the better of them, and their clothes and hair were sared with dirt and animal blood. None of them dared sit on the couch.
"Magnus, we’re moving out tonight. Do you have a plan? Where are we heading?" Emily asked. She had just rinsed her hair with a bucket of water and was drying it by the furnace.
Nodding to them in apology, Magnus went into his room’s bathroom. Crushing a single Water Crystal in his palm, he took a quick shower. The team’s bunk car for won had beco too crowded these days, and he had no choice but to wash up in his own small bathroom. Water ended up splashing everywhere.
Barely five minutes later, Ashton Honda stood at the door, handing him clean sleepwear. Changed and refreshed, Magnus returned to the couch to sit. He glanced around at the tired faces staring back at him and said, "I’ve actually been aning to talk about that..."Seeing Magnus Specter take a bath made the others, especially the won, a bit envious. But they knew that taking a bath now would waste a Crystal. One Crystal for 2000 tons of water, just for a few baths? Too extravagant. It wouldn’t sit well with the rest of the team, either.
“Liana,” Emily Ward asked, deep in thought, “what about that big tub from the underground granary? Did you bring it out?”
“No, didn’t bring it,” Liana Jabbar replied grimly. “Even if I had, I’d have used it already. When we left back then, all the bath wagons stayed with the stuff in the granary. Plus, those vehicles were busted anyway.”
“So, what now? Are we never bathing again?” Emily muttered, rinsing her hair with cold water. The chill bit into her, making her even more irritable.
“Nothing we can do...” Liana, sitting on her stool, glanced at her favorite white sofa spot. “We’ll wait. When we get back to Ironvale County’s shelter, the first thing I’ll do is throw together a bath wagon. Magnus, are we heading back to the shelter tonight, or to Ridgehaven City?”
“Ridgehaven,” Magnus answered. He lounged on the couch, lit a cigarette, and sipped his coffee. His eyes swept over the won, noting that even Lana Stewart and Mia Hadid were present. “We’ve got a chance to dig for teor Crystals without much danger right now. We need to take advantage of it. Hit up every town and city in the area until we’ve stripped them clean.”"Quickly?" Liana Jabbar asked in surprise. "Magnus, do you an if we’re too slow, others might dig up the crystals first?"
"This ssed-up world still has living people?" Sophia Reid followed up with her own question.
Charlotte Renard frowned, deep in thought, and finally said, "Hard to say. From the first red light to the second, those survivor groups already made changes. Their vehicles are modified, their shelters reinforced. Maybe they can’t defend fully against these creatures, but I doubt everyone died. There’s gotta be so survivors left."
Sophia scoffed. "Even if they’re still breathing, you think they’ve got the strength to fight us for the crystals? I don’t believe it."
"You can’t be so sure," Charlotte said. "Rember Willowglen Village’s old man Zhang? He figured out saring animal blood works to mask our scent. Others might’ve caught wind of that trick too. Didn’t we test it ourselves? Pour so animal blood on, hold your breath, and the beasts won’t bother you for a while."
Magnus cut in as soon as Charlotte ntioned animal blood. "Liana, did we mix teorite soil into the animal blood storage yet?"
"Yeah, we added it," Liana replied. "But haven’t checked if it works. Not sure if mixing in the soil makes the blood coagulate."This was an idea Magnus Specter had just co up with last night. If vegetables stayed fresh when stored in teor soil, then theoretically, animal blood wouldn’t clot or spoil either.
The only question was whether the effect still worked when kept inside a large white barrel, separated by layers of teor soil.
"Magnus, let just say sothing about that," Liana Jabbar said, annoyed. "Our original truck is already loaded to the brim. Where do we have space for these big barrels now? Getting rid of any of our stuff feels like a waste. We need to move fast over the next few days, pick up extra vehicles along the way, and slap those sheet-tal shelves Charlotte and I made onto them. That way, we’ll have a dedicated storage spot for the teor soil and animal blood. Otherwise, we’ll be forced to ditch sothing."
Sophia Reid chid in, "Vehicles won’t be a problem. Ridgehaven City is full of them. Once we get there, we’ll have as many as we need. There’s even a construction supply factory in the city. You could make more of those shelves there if you want..."
While the group chatted, Lana Stewart stayed quiet, just listening. She was still in the middle of her self-reflection phase and didn’t feel comfortable butting in. However, after so hesitation, she finally couldn’t hold back. “Uh, can I... can I say sothing?” she asked nervously.
Emily Ward raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Why would you think you can’t speak up?""I’ve been aning to tell you all this for a while now," Lana Stewart exhaled deeply, piecing her thoughts together before continuing. "When we first ca here—well, you probably guessed—our original plan was to head for Queenstead City in Eastmark Province."
"Queenstead City? You actually believe that place exists?" Sophia Reid scoffed, recalling what Mia Hadid had said about it. To her, it was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Emily Ward mused aloud, "I’ve heard Cassandra Cox ntion Queenstead City too. I get why you’d hold on to that hope, but honestly, I’m not convinced. And with the Second Red Light Arrival, even if the place is real, I doubt they’d stand a chance of holding it together."
User Comments
0 comments from readers