Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 129 Flyers, Firepower, and Fear

"Really?" Evan was caught off guard. He blurted out, "You mean... you still have pork?"

"We’ve even got human meat, want some?" Liana shot back, clearly ticked off that Magnus had once again made a decision on his own.

"Oh no, we wouldn’t dare," Evan said with a knowing smirk. "Your meat’s all for your boss, isn’t it?"

The words came out crude and teasing. Liana gave him a sideways glare, but didn’t bother arguing. Sophia stayed unusually quiet, but a few squad leaders blushed, their glances darting toward Magnus. He cleared his throat.

"Evan, we called you here today to talk business."

"You don’t say. Like we didn’t see this coming?" Evan let out a light sigh, not hiding the bit of grudge in his tone.

Magnus stood up and spread a map over the table. Evan and his two teammates leaned in. Magnus circled Ashbrook Town with a pen.

"Can you mark down the survivor teams in this area? We need to get a handle on the local situation."

"Hah, I knew it." Evan chuckled. Simon joined in and pulled out a folded map from his coat, laying it right on top of Magnus’ map.

"Our captain figured you’d ask," Simon said. "We drew this up last night."

The map was detailed - every village and town around Ashbrook Town noted. Which teams stayed where, how many people, what weapons they had - all listed out. Magnus studied it carefully and nodded.

"How’s your relationship with them?" he asked.

"Not friendly, but not enemies either," Evan replied.

Magnus nodded again, then scratched his nose as he sat down. "I want your team to help with something."

"Do what?" All three men looked at him.

"I need you to spread some flyers," Magnus said, pulling a small notebook from his pocket and handing it to Evan. Inside was his carefully planned "food exchange price list."

Evan’s face shifted as he flipped it open. "You’re not worried they’ll gang up and rob you? We thought about doing trade too, but too risky."

"I’ve got one more thing."

Magnus pulled out a photo. It showed a massive food warehouse lined with rows of explosives - every section rigged, clear as day in the instant camera shot.

"What the hell?" Evan blurted out. "You’re gonna blow up your own food?"

"Corner a rabbit and it bites. We’re worse than rabbits," Magnus said coldly. "That price list ends with a warning - try raiding Ashbrook Town, and there are two outcomes: either we wipe them out, or we all die and take the grain with us. No one gets that warehouse but us. If they push us, we all starve together."

"You..." Evan blinked, then slapped his thigh. "Shit! Why didn’t I think of that? I should’ve sealed your damn entrance the moment you crawled into that underground bunker - bury the whole damn Ice Regiment!"

Evan paused mid-sentence, suddenly realizing he’d said something wrong. He quickly clamped his mouth shut and glanced at Sophia and the other women. Sure enough, they were all staring at him with dark expressions. He hurried to correct himself, sighing, "Alright, the idea’s not bad... but asking our guys to go hand out flyers - that’s where the trouble starts."

"No shit!" Simon burst out, clearly annoyed. "Why ain’t you folks doing it yourself, huh? Handing out flyers? Sounds nice and easy, but one wrong move and you’re dead. Might as well call it a suicide mission. You’re throwing our boys to the wolves!"

"Suicide? That’s a bit much," Magnus said, shaking his head. "We’re only sending one man per village. If one doesn’t come back, the village will face our retaliation. Unless someone wants a war, they won’t dare lay hands on our guys."

It was a solid plan, and Evan and the others gave each other a look. Magnus continued, "Anyone who comes back gets a bonus from us - one pack of cigarettes, two bottles of liquor, and a can of meat..."

"Alright, enough!" Liana cut in sharply. "That’s it. One pack. Two bottles. One can. Not a scrap more." She shot Magnus a fierce glare.

Magnus, a bit embarrassed, could only nod. "Fine. That’ll be the deal. And from your side, Evan, help us out a bit too. Let your guys get a few days’ rest after posting the flyers..."

With the rewards laid out, Evan and his two teammates seemed more at ease. They talked over the distribution areas with Magnus, then took their leave, agreeing to return at 7 the next morning with the rest of the team.

After Evan’s group left, at 9 sharp the Ice Regiment held an internal meeting. Magnus pulled out the plans he’d pieced together over the past few days.

"I figure unless things go sideways, we’re settling here long-term. So, we make this underground granary a proper base. I want the squad to feel like they belong here."

"You’re reading my mind," Liana said, glancing at Charlotte. "We were just discussing that last night. But we didn’t agree. I wanted to bring it to the team today."

"That’s right," Charlotte chimed in. "I think we should keep living in the sleeper cars - a thousand of us, there’s enough beds for now. But Liana wants to build housing down here."

"Build houses?" someone asked.

"Not houses," Liana corrected quickly. "I mean prefabs. Like the kind you see on construction sites. You’ve all seen them. Once we’ve got the materials, you slap one together in a day. Decent shelter, not bad to live in."

"And where are we getting those materials?" Sophia questioned.

"We’ll trade, obviously. Use rice if we have to. Or send Evan’s crew to scavenge. There’re steel plants all over. Dozens of them nearby."

"No way," Charlotte insisted. "A thousand people? They’re not all fitting into prefab units. We stick to the train cars."

Emily weighed in, "What about beds then? We’ll need a thousand more."

"Same as before - trade for them. And we don’t need bunk beds. Floor sleepers work fine. With open-floor sleeping, fifty per room. Twenty rooms get the job done..."

The discussion turned heated as the women’s voices rose. Eventually, all eyes fell on Magnus, looking for his call.

But Magnus wasn’t focused on prefab housing. His mind was on far more pressing matters bearing down hard.