Wasteland Queen: My Harvest Power novel Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Demon Fog

Chapter 16 Demon Fog

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Reina felt a quiet sense of excitement. She began to wonder what kind of transformation would occur if all her attributes broke past twenty.

Will I become as powerful as those high-level ability users?

From what she knew, some high-level ability users were capable of flying and moving underground. There were even a few of them in Greenfinch Base, though she had never seen one in person.

After removing her protective suit, she found that the clothes underneath were completely soaked with sweat. She had no choice but to change into a clean set of underwear.

Washing clothes or taking a bath was impossible. The camp had already closed the public bathhouse and restricted water usage in preparation for the coming beast tide.

After drinking a cup of water, Reina lay down and opened her smartwatch to check the surrounding news.

She soon discovered that more than a dozen camps around Greenfinch Base had been hit by swarms of insects and waves of mutant beasts. Countless flying insects filled the sky, devouring every mutant plant and mutant beast they encountered.

Many mutant beasts could no longer endure the harassment and fled from the Dark Forest, attacking human camps along the way.

From the footage captured by drones, some of those massive beasts were extremely high-level. A few of them were over twenty feet tall. Several small camps fell apart in seconds under their charge.

The scenes in the videos were horrifying. Many people could not escape in time and were trampled beneath the beasts’ claws and 100ves like helpless ants.

Reina felt her scalp tingle as she watched, and a knot of anxiety tightened in her chest.

She continued scrolling through the news from the base..

The outer city was also facing large swarms of flying insects. Mutant rats had been spotted in the sewers as well, though the situation was not too serious.

The situation in the inner city was slightly better than in the outer city. The insect plague was not as severe.

The government had already organized teams to exterminate them. Each person carried a flamethrower, and the insects were quickly burned down by more than half.

Guards were also stationed around the base’s farmland. Everything seemed orderly and under control.

Still, Reina had a nagging feeling that things were not that simple.

With such a massive insect outbreak and beast tide, could the base really remain sale?

Thinking about it, no one actually knew where those mutated insects came from. They seemed to be born from the black log Every year, around July and August, they would arrive along with the haze.

In the past, however, the scale had been small and posed little threat to the base When the cold wave arrived in September, and temperatures dropped to -22 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit, the insects would freeze to death.

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4:40 pm

Chapter 16 Demon Fog

+20 Free Coins

But this year felt different.

It was only the beginning of August, yet huge numbers of mutated insects had already appeared. They had even stirred up a large- scale mutant beast tide.

As for the origin of the mutant beasts and mutant plants, Reina had learned from history books that it all began a hundred years ago, right before Year Zero of this planet’s Stellar Calendar.

A black fog began drifting endlessly from the depths of space, and it wrapped around this living planet like a shroud.

The sky turned dark gray, and thick black fog rolled across the entire world.

Within that fog, animals, plants, microorganisms, and even sea life mutated wildly, eventually turning into strange and unrecognizable species.

Then came decades of extreme cold. Fragile humans and countless other creatures died one after another.

Fortunately, around forty years ago, the black fog in the sky gradually began to fade. Perhaps it had dispersed to the land and oceans, and warm sunlight once again bathed the world.

Ice and snow melted across the planet. New life began to grow and reproduce rapidly. The terrifying black fog seemed to have become a kind of nutrient that fueled their growth.

Human living areas shrank little by little, and survival became extremely difficult.

That black fog was later named Demon Fog.

Humans who ate food tainted by the Demon Fog suffered terrible effects-at best, their bodies would rot from the inside out, at worst, they would mutate or die.

Animals on the planet were far luckier. Their strong physiques and high reproductive ability allowed them to adapt After generations of genetic changes and evolution, they eventually adjusted to the new environment.

Plants adapted even more easily. As long as they had water, sunlight, and oxygen, they could survive in the harshest conditions.

With their genes altered by the Demon Fog, plants became even more resilient than animals, even thriving freely in the new word

The most unfortunate ones were the fragile humans. Their reproductive ability had once been severely weakened and only began to recover slightly after many years.

Because of this, the human population declined year after year. According to incomplete statistics, fewer than 200 million people were still alive across the entire planet.

As for Greenfinch Base, although it had a population of more than 300 thousand people, there were no other human settlements within several hundred miles around it.

Reina turned off the smartwatch and closed her eyes to rest..

As she dozed off, she heard someone knocking on the door

“Reina, dinner’s ready!” It was Chloe’s voice.

Reina answered and got up to open the door.

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4:40 pm

Chapter 16 Demon Fog

+20 Free Coins

The two of them walked together to Chloe’s place on the second floor. Inside, a wooden basin had been placed upside down on the

floor.

On top of the basin sat a plate of fragrant honey-glazed meat, and next to it was a stack of golden-brown wheat buns.

The wheat buns were not something to underestimate. They were very valuable, almost as precious as mutant beast meat.

The farmland inside the base produced a limited amount of grain. Rice and wheat were especially scarce. A portion was reserved for the base’s higher authorities, and the rest was distributed among mercenary groups and ability users.

Ordinary people would have to pay a very high price just to eat a single bite.

Reina guessed that Dylan and the others had used all their wheat flour to make this entire stack of buns.

“Come sit and eat,” Dylan called out warmly. He handed Reina a spoon and a bowl.

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