Over twenty female mbers started stirring up trouble. Thankfully, none of them had guns right now, or it would’ve turned into chaos.
Most of them were latecors to the Ice Regint, and older too. They didn’t like the idea of being bossed around by younger won. But they’d completely overlooked the bond the original mbers had built with Magnus - they’d followed him, fighting step by step from Springvale City to this very place.
It was back at Springvale University that Magnus risked his life to rescue the girls from Dorm 3. Then at Havencrest dical Academy, when the won had almost given up hope, it was Magnus who showed up with help. He even took a direct shell hit from an attack chopper and barely made it out alive.
From Ashbrook Town to the lumber factory, all the way to this fallout shelter, he was the one who kept people fed and gave them hope again and again. The old mbers weren’t about to turn their backs on him because of a few newcors’ complaints. Not a chance.
And everyone knew what kind of people those 32 were. Kicking them out was long overdue. With them around, things only ever went bad.
No matter how much they resisted, the outco was decided. Each pair of Ice Regint mbers restrained one troublemaker, and the 32 were driven out of the fallout shelter.
They were gone now. If any of them made it out alive, they’d only beco future threats to the regint. But there was no better choice. Magnus wasn’t the type to raise a gun against his own people.
Had he executed them in front of everyone, it would have shattered everyone’s trust. Magnus didn’t want to lead with fear.
Once it was over, Charlotte glanced at Magnus, gave a soft sigh, then stepped forward to address the group.
"The rats are out," she said firmly. "We’ve cleaned house. From today on, the rest of us - we’re one family. No more old or new, no more young or old. From now on, we’re all sisters. We’ll support each other."
"We all ss up. I ss up. Magnus sses up. Everyone does. But making a mistake doesn’t an getting kicked out. We’re not like them. We ss up, we learn. We don’t stir up fights on purpose, and we don’t sulk around dragging everyone down into our misery."
"Those who were sent away? Their ti’s up. No future. The people still stuck in Springvale or those wandering around the villages - sa for them. There’s no light ahead for their path."
"But us? We’re different. We’ve got weapons, we’ve got food, and most of all - we’ve got each other. We’ve got Crystals, enough to make us stand tall above them all."
"Let be clear!" she raised her voice. "Across all of Northreach Province, maybe even all of Sinovar, or the entire world - only we, the Ice Regint, are still living like real human beings! Only we still know what it ans to survive with dignity!"
"Am I right?"
"RIGHT!" The shout rocked the tunnel.
Cheers burst out, finally sweeping away the gloom.
Magnus stood off to the side, watching Charlotte rally the group. He gave a low chuckle. Heard tales before of how the army brainwashed troops with speeches. Seeing it firsthand - damn, it worked.
"Sent it out to the whole damn world? We’re the only ones still living like humans and he dares to brag like this? Sounds like so mystical fantasy crap to ."
Magnus climbed back into the sleeper bus. It was the first day selling water. He, Sophia, and Emily each led 100 won, split into three squads. They set up four checkpoints on the northern and eastern highways out of Springvale City. Each checkpoint had one full water tanker, three box trucks, one sleeper bus, and five SUVs. In terms of crystals, each squad got 50 Fire Crystals, 50 tal Crystals, and 10 Water Crystals.
"Charlotte, Liana."
Before leaving, Magnus gave final instructions to the two holding down the shelter. "We’ll be out trading. Charlotte, organize the girls and train those 11 battle car drivers. Liana, the rest who can’t drive yet - get them behind the wheel. We want everyone driving, big vehicles too. Don’t worry about fuel. We’ll try to find more tankers while we’re out."
"We got it."
"And Chloe," Magnus turned to her, his tone softening slightly. "You, gan, and Amber - each of you take fifty won. Bring flathrowers. Hit the nearby counties, towns, anything within reach. Grab whatever’s useful. Recruit any won you think are fit. But listen - if it gets too dangerous, don’t push. Just pull back. Safety first."
"Understood!" Chloe, gan, and Amber answered crisply in unison.
"Anyone else got questions?" Magnus looked around the sleeper bus one last ti.
"Um, Magnus," Liana said awkwardly, "About that pricing list... Aren’t we being a little too - uh - ruthless? I an, you guys are out there, but this still feels wrong."
Last night, Magnus had slashed the prices Liana had set - massively. So items were cut down to a tenth of her original estimate.
Take the SUV, for instance. Liana and the others figured even in this ss, a working vehicle was worth at least ten boxes of bottled water. Magnus insisted: one SUV - one box, no more.
Sa with personnel. An Awakened woman? The team thought ten boxes would be fair. Magnus just snorted, "A woman ain’t worth that much. One box is generous."
That earned him a wave of eye-rolls. Even Sarah gave him a sharp pinch on the arm.
The rest of the stuff went even lower. Fifty pounds of rice? One box. A barrel of cooking oil? Three bottles. A pack of instant noodles? Ten bottles. Ten rolls of toilet paper? One bottle. A bedding set? One bottle. A helt? Two bottles. Fifty bags of instant coffee? One bottle.
The price list went on for over thirty pages in a single notebook. The girls had copied it into thirty more to hand out.
They were to collect anything with even a bit of value - but the exchange rate was brutal.
Only a few exceptions made the list in reverse: water containers, tankers, fire trucks, fuel carriers - those, Magnus priced higher than before.
By 11:50 AM, the convoy reached the eastern highway checkpoint out of Springvale. Less than an hour after setting up - business arrived.
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