Well I thought Rust Lung was caused by exposure to raw Imulsion fumes (Because Rust Lung is just undeveloped Lambency) and it would’ve been around not much longer than the PWs as the war started when the UIR and COG began to fight for Imulsion, right?
Unless Niles wasn’t the head of New Hope and there were 1 or 2 researchers behind him that led the project. But even then, that makes the Locust what, 80-100 years at most? It’s a decent chunk of time but feels more gimmicky than the idea of them being ancient relatives of Humans.
)