Even if their water supply was sabotaged, most beings could go without drinking water for one to two days, especially Apes whose physical endurances exceed that of humans.
But oxygen was different. The Empire's Apes, who consumed more oxygen than humans on average, would die quickly and die in despair without it.
Can you imagine the scale of oxygen required by close to 150,000 apes? And not just for a day, but for an hour?
No need to calculate it. Neither humans nor the Apes needed to understand it fully.
When the Independent Group moved from Outpost 1840's imperial position across the location of the logistics warehouse, the fire that had been relentlessly pouring on the Independent Group from the entire defensive line of Outpost 1840, suddenly stagnated profoundly.
