Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”What are you guys talking about?”

Since they were speaking Japanese, Ethan couldn’t understand a word. He decided not to bother trying and simply dropped his stealth ability, stepping out from the shadows.

Ken turned around, and when he saw the figure emerging from the darkness, his eyes widened in horror.

”Z...Zombie King?” Ken looked as if he’d seen a ghost, his face filled with disbelief.

The mustached man and the two guards beside him immediately tensed up, drawing their katanas with a sharp metallic ring, ready for a fight.

”What the hell is going on?”

”Be careful, everyone! He’s America’s Zombie King!” Ken shouted urgently.

The mustached man looked panicked, as if facing a deadly enemy, but also deeply confused. In broken English, he asked, ”You...why are you here?”

”Didn’t he bring me here?” Ethan glanced casually at Ken.

Hearing this, the mustached man clenched his teeth, glaring furiously at Ken. ”You brought Zombie King here?”

”I...I...” Ken was speechless, suddenly realizing the truth. He hadn’t escaped at all—everything had been orchestrated by the zombie King from the start.

There was no luck, no coincidence—only the zombie King’s twisted plan.

He had just been used as a pawn.

Realizing this, Ken felt his heart sink into despair.

”We’re no match for him! Quick, sound the alarm!”

”Right!”

The two guards nodded frantically, turning to run.

But Ethan simply focused his mind, and instantly, the oppressive aura of Domain of the Dead spread out, pressing down on them like a mountain.

The four men froze in place, their bodies heavy and immobile.

With their strength barely at B-level, they had no chance of escaping Ethan’s domain.

Ethan slowly approached them, step by step.

”W-what are you going to do?” Ken collapsed onto the ground, pale and sweating heavily from blood loss and fear.

”You brought me here, so you’ve earned yourself a reward,” Ethan smiled faintly. Casually, he pulled out a vial of zombie virus from his storage ring. He had plenty of these, collected from the Genesis Biotech lab, in various potency levels.

”N-no! Please, don’t!” Ken screamed, realizing exactly what Ethan intended.

But Ethan had already opened the vial, pouring the pale blue liquid directly onto Ken’s wounded ankle.

”AHHHHH—!” Ken shrieked in agony, his screams echoing through the night.

Weakened and exhausted, Ken had no resistance against the virus. His veins bulged grotesquely, his eyes rapidly turning bloodshot, already showing signs of mutation.

Ethan calmly moved on, like a scientist conducting an experiment, pouring a quarter of the vial onto each of the two guards’ faces.

They screamed as if splashed with acid, writhing in pain as the virus rapidly invaded their brains, erasing their humanity and turning them into bloodthirsty zombies.

The mustached man watched this horrific scene unfold, frozen in terror, trembling uncontrollably as he collapsed helplessly to the ground.

Ethan turned to him, pouring the remaining virus directly onto his face.

”This one’s all yours. Cheers!” Ethan said mockingly, as the pale blue liquid seeped into the man’s eyes and nose, aggressively infecting his cells and consuming him from within.

”Raaaargh—!”

In no time, the four men had fully mutated, their throats emitting guttural growls, faces twisted grotesquely, saliva dripping from their mouths as they hungered desperately for flesh.

The commotion quickly drew attention from deeper within the corridor, where several survivors approached cautiously, looking puzzled.

”Hey, you guys okay?” A young girl tilted her head curiously, calling out hesitantly.

But in the flickering shadows, four zombies suddenly charged toward them, their faces savage and bloodthirsty.

”Ahhh—!” The girl screamed, turning to flee.

But before she could take more than a step, a powerful force slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Sharp teeth sank viciously into her neck.

The survivors behind her froze in terror.

”Run! Zombies!”

”What? Help! Somebody help!”

”Oh my god—!”

Chaos erupted instantly. These were ordinary people, completely helpless against the undead. One by one, they fell screaming beneath the zombies’ relentless attacks.

The corridor echoed with the zombies’ snarls, human screams, and the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart. Even the flickering torchlight seemed to take on a sinister, blood-red hue.

”Not bad at all,” Ethan observed calmly, satisfied with their performance. But he couldn’t let them waste time just feeding—they needed to infect more people.

He mentally issued the command to spread the infection.

”Raaaargh—!”

The zombies immediately rose from their prey, their jaws and faces dripping with fresh blood, making them even more terrifying. They sprinted deeper into the corridor, hunting for more victims.

Ethan followed leisurely behind. He could sense that this shelter housed thousands of survivors—maybe not ten thousand, but certainly several thousand, mostly ordinary people.

That’s exactly why he’d chosen this method to conquer it.

Behind Ethan, the survivors who had been bitten began convulsing violently, their bones cracking and twisting unnaturally. Moments later, they staggered to their feet, their bodies covered in gruesome bite marks, flesh torn away, blood dripping everywhere.

Now, they too joined the ranks of the undead.

They rushed past Ethan, eager to hunt down more humans.

Ethan glanced upward. In the flickering firelight, he noticed a sign hanging above the corridor: ”Sector D.”

This shelter had a strict hierarchy, dividing survivors into four sectors—D, C, B, and A—based on their social status and usefulness. Sector D was the lowest rung, filled with ordinary people, mostly the elderly, women, and children. It was essentially the shelter’s slum.

Conditions here were terrible—no electricity, barely enough food. People survived by eating scraps discarded from the higher sectors.

Even in the apocalypse, human nature didn’t change. The weak were always exploited and oppressed, perhaps even more blatantly now.

Ethan decided he’d help these poor souls in Sector D escape their miserable existence—by turning them into something stronger.

Ahead, the zombies’ roars grew louder, mingling with panicked screams as chaos spread rapidly. The zombie virus was quickly infecting the entire area.

Ethan continued forward, glancing around as he walked.

He noticed rooms lining both sides of the corridor—though calling them ”rooms” was generous. They were little more than hollowed-out dirt caves, without even doors, just piles of dry straw serving as beds.

It was truly pathetic.

Nothing here interested Ethan. He decided to move on to the higher sectors.

As he continued deeper, the corridors twisted and turned, becoming increasingly complex but also wider and better constructed. Soon, the dirt floors gave way to stone, and electrical wiring appeared along the walls, powering dim, flickering bulbs.

But due to the zombies’ rampage, the lights flickered erratically, casting eerie shadows across pools of blood on the floor. Bodies lay scattered everywhere, twitching and convulsing under the flickering lights, their limbs twisting grotesquely as they began to rise again as zombies.

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