Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The moment Ethan’s words fell, Chris lunged straight for Vince.

Vince’s heart jumped. He retreated fast, backing into the crowd behind him.

”Don’t run,” Chris called, almost cheerful. ”My blade’s quick. You won’t even feel it.”

Then his speed spiked without warning.

In the blink of an eye, he was already on Vince.

Vince’s expression changed. His ability flared—silver armor flowed over his body like liquid metal. He raised his fist and drove a punch at Chris’s head.

Chris slipped to the side.

His dagger flashed.

An arm spun up into the air, high and clean, like it had been tossed.

Everyone watching went wide-eyed.

It happened too fast. One second Vince was swinging, the next his arm was flying.

The Fallen Star Squad was seriously this overbearing? No warning, no negotiation—just straight-up dismemberment?

And not just anyone’s arm, either.

It was Vince’s.

The captain of the strongest squad in the compound.

Vince was a peak Tier 7 Awakened. Outside of the military, his strength in this place was basically untouchable. His Silver Carapace could block attacks from Tier 8 zombies. And paired with the strength-boost skill he’d gotten back at Tier 6, there were almost no equals within the same tier.

The military had even made him an exception before—personally extended an offer to recruit him.

He’d turned them down.

And yet now, someone had casually sliced off his arm like it was nothing—while Silver Carapace was active. The cut was so smooth it was like the armor didn’t exist.

People always said everyone in Fallen Star Squad was absurdly strong. Some didn’t buy it. After all, when they dealt with Ironfang Squad last time, only two of them had actually fought. No one knew what the others could really do.

Now?

No one dared doubt it.

Some random guy steps out, one lazy slash, and Vince’s arm comes off through Silver Carapace.

That wasn’t just insane.

That was monstrous.

Vince’s face twisted with pain, but he didn’t make a sound. He stared at Chris like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

No one understood how tough Silver Carapace was better than Vince himself.

On the way up, he’d run into zombies ranked higher than him more than once. Every time, he’d tanked their attacks head-on with Silver Carapace… and then turned around and killed them anyway.

Direclaw Squad had gotten where it was today almost entirely because he’d built it with that ability.

And now this ”unbreakable” power hadn’t slowed Chris down even a little.

One knife.

And the arm was just… gone.

He had to admit it—he’d been testing them. That was why he hadn’t dodged in time.

But still.

Too fast. Chris hadn’t even given him a fraction of a second to react.

”Captain!”

Direclaw Squad’s people rushed forward, hastily wrapping and binding the wound. Every one of them looked furious.

Right in front of several thousand Direclaw members, their captain got his arm chopped off.

These people were completely out of control.

”Captain! Should we—” A teen at Vince’s side had a wild look in his eyes, like he was ready to go all-in.

As the compound’s top squad, even the military treated them politely. When had they ever been humiliated like this?

Anger burned in plenty of Direclaw members’ eyes—barely restrained.

”Don’t do anything stupid!” Vince snapped, stopping him immediately.

His face looked just as bad as theirs. Losing an arm—especially for an Awakened who lived by fighting—didn’t need explaining. It would gut his combat power, probably cut it in half. There was no way he could swallow this.

But he also knew he had to.

At least for now.

He looked at Chris, voice icy. ”I’ll remember this. I’ll remember what you did to my arm.”

”Don’t remember me,” Chris said with a shrug. ”I’m just an employee.”

Then he calmly stepped back behind Ethan.

”…”

Vince looked back at Ethan again, voice low and heavy. ”Ethan—what the hell is this supposed to mean?”

”If you don’t tell the truth, I take one of your arms,” Ethan said coldly. ”If you still don’t tell the truth, I keep taking them.”

”!!!”

”Ethan, are you seriously relying on your strength to do whatever you want in the compound!?”

”Yeah,” Ethan said, nodding. ”That’s right.”

”...”

That one line left Vince staring like an idiot.

Honestly, everyone around them did.

He was… that direct?

A beat later, all eyes swung toward Michael, who’d come along to watch the show from a short distance away.

The guy just said it out loud. You’re a compound higher-up—aren’t you going to do something?

Michael’s mouth twitched. He wanted to slap himself twice.

Why the hell did I come over here to spectate?

Now it was impossible to stay out of it. He had to step forward, awkward as hell. ”Ethan’s just joking. I’m sure they came because they’ve got solid evidence. Vince… you should just be honest. Save yourself some unnecessary pain.”

”Honest? I didn’t do anything—what am I supposed to ’confess’?” Vince laughed loudly, trying to stir up the crowd. ”I thought the military would give us justice, but turns out the military just bullies the weak and fears the strong! A compound like this isn’t worth staying in!”

Too bad for him, this wasn’t the old days.

Now the military had absolute control inside the compound. Nobody dared rebel. Everyone knew that if they left, there was a good chance they wouldn’t survive out there.

So even though plenty of people’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, no one let Vince drag them into it.

”You done?” Ethan glanced at him and shook his head. ”Too bad. I didn’t hear what I wanted to hear. Guess I’ll have to take another arm.”

”!!!”

Everyone jumped.

This Ethan really was the type who didn’t waste words—just straight to the point, ruthless as hell.

”Um… Captain,” Skinny Pete suddenly spoke up, ”I actually have a way to make him tell the truth.”

”No need to make it complicated,” Ethan said flatly. ”Cut his arms off and he’ll talk on his own. And if he still won’t talk, arms are gone—he’s still got legs. As long as his head’s still attached, he’ll talk eventually.”

”...”

The moment Vince heard that, a chill shot straight up his spine.

Chris started walking toward him again.

Vince’s face went white. ”I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

”It was Sophia,” he blurted. ”The captain of Silverfox Squad. She gave me a Tier 6 crystal core and told me to help her put on a little show. I sent people to kill this girl’s parents, and then… forced myself on her. After that, I didn’t have to handle anything else.”

He looked like he was about to cry. ”I figured it was easy money for a Tier 6 core, so I didn’t think too hard and I agreed. I seriously didn’t know she was connected to you guys!”

Only then did everyone finally understand.

So the girl’s parents really had been killed on Vince’s orders. No wonder they’d come straight to his door.

”You’re lying!” Emily suddenly screamed, her voice edging into hysteria. ”Why would she do that!?”

The Silverfox Squad captain who’d always taken care of her… how could she possibly do something like this?

Ethan hadn’t had Henry tell Emily that Silverfox Squad was involved.

He knew Emily was grateful to Sophia—the one who’d pulled her out of hell. Emily had even been thinking about going back to Silverfox Squad someday.

If they’d said it themselves, Emily probably wouldn’t have believed them. She might’ve even thought they were making it up just to keep her in Fallen Star Squad.

So Ethan had Vince say it with his own mouth.

Otherwise, why bother with any of this? They could’ve just killed these people and been done with it.