Apocalypse: King of Zombies

All the way there, Jaxon—and his entire team—trailed behind Ethan’s group in dead silence. They didn’t dare say a word. Honestly, they barely dared to breathe.

The pressure coming off these people was unreal. Jaxon kept fearing that if they annoyed someone by accident, they’d get slapped to death on the spot.

It was a short walk, but it felt like some kind of endless pilgrimage.

Up front, though, Ethan and the others didn’t seem to notice them at all. They chatted and laughed as they walked, occasionally pointing at nearby buildings and tossing out quick comments.

They kept running into residents along the road. The moment people saw Ethan’s group, they all greeted them respectfully. A few who were seeing them for the first time even whispered excitedly to each other.

Watching strangers act this reverent, Ethan guessed Miles had been working the crowd behind the scenes. Just relying on the original residents’ hype probably wouldn’t have gotten things to this level.

Either way, seeing how well Fallen Star City was being managed put Ethan in a great mood. He really hadn’t picked the wrong guy.

After more than ten minutes of walking—and one quick stop where Ethan asked for directions—they finally arrived at a lavish building near the compound’s center.

This was headquarters, the place Miles usually worked.

Miles seemed to have already gotten word. He was waiting out front.

”Captain!”

The second he saw Ethan, Miles came up with an excited grin.

”Haha, Miles—we’re back!” Ethan strode over and pulled him into a hug.

”You’ve worked hard.”

”Captain, don’t say that,” Miles said quickly. ”This is what I’m supposed to do.”

”Haha—Miles, I missed you like hell!” Chris laughed, stepping in for a hug too.

After that, the other guys each gave Miles a quick embrace one by one. As for the women, a nod and a smile was enough.

Miles glanced past them at Jaxon’s group, confusion on his face. ”And they are…?”

”New arrivals,” Ethan said. ”They said they were looking for you, so we brought them along.”

”Oh.” Miles nodded like it was nothing. Then he flicked a hand. ”Have them wait here.”

He turned back to Ethan, energized. ”Come on, Captain. Let’s go inside and talk.”

”Sure.”

Ethan and the others filed into the Command Center, leaving Jaxon’s people standing outside, feeling completely abandoned.

They were a mess inside, but none of them dared show the slightest dissatisfaction. They could only stand there quietly and behave.

Inside the Command Center…

Ethan’s group traded stories about what they’d seen outside, while Miles updated them on Fallen Star City’s growth, current operations, and future plans.

They talked for two or three hours straight.

And completely forgot that Jaxon and his people were still waiting outside.

”Oh, right,” Ethan said at last, like he’d just remembered something. ”Miles, you’re still at peak Tier 9, yeah? Perfect. This crystal core is yours.”

He reached into his spatial storage ring and handed Miles the crystal core from the Infant Zombie King.

When they’d left, Miles had only been Tier 8. Now he was already at peak Tier 9—fast progress.

Of course, it couldn’t compare to Ethan’s group. They’d eaten way too many high-Tier crystal cores in the Void Realm.

”A Tier 10 crystal core…” Miles stared at it, clearly thrilled, but he still shook his head. ”Captain, high-Tier cores should go to you guys first. I’m sitting in the compound all day. I’m not out fighting—I don’t need to level that fast.”

”That won’t fly,” Ethan said, laughing. ”Right now, you’re the only one in Fallen Star Squad still at Tier 9. Don’t drag the team down.”

Then his tone sharpened just a little, still friendly but leaving no room to argue. ”And we’re not here most of the time. If you’re not strong enough, how are you going to hold the place down?”

”Uh…” Miles hesitated, then finally nodded. ”Alright. I’ll take it.”

Under everyone’s watch, Miles swallowed the crystal core.

Not long after, his aura surged.

Miles stepped into Tier 10.

At that point, among the ten members of Fallen Star Squad, the captain was Tier 11—and everyone else was Tier 10.

And half of them were already at peak Tier 10. If they kept spending their nights watching the stars and absorbing that mysterious energy a while longer, they’d probably break through to Tier 11 soon too.

”Oh, right—Miles,” Ethan said. ”How strong are our Enhanced overall right now? I swear, outside I ran into almost nothing but Tier 7 and above. Are there any low-Tier people left at all?”

”There are,” Miles said. ”But anyone below Tier 7 is working the fields right now. And some are over in the factory buildings on the north side. So around here, you usually only run into Tier 7+.”

”Wait—Tier 6 is out doing farm work?” Big Mike’s eyes went wide.

”What else would they do?” Miles said matter-of-factly. ”We can barely even find any Tier 6-and-below people anymore.”

”…”

Chris rubbed his chin, looking baffled. ”Is that Energy Absorption Technique from the book really that insane? I remember when we left, the compound had tons of normal people. Even with those Tier 1 crystal cores the Captain sent back, there’s no way they should’ve hit Tier 6 this fast.”

”Just using the method from the book definitely wouldn’t be enough,” Miles said. ”But we also had crystal cores.”

He spoke like he was reporting the weather.

”Our people are way stronger than the zombies. In this period, we’ve killed—if not five hundred thousand—then at least three hundred thousand zombies. And we don’t have that many people. The cores were piling up with nowhere to go, so we basically had to force-feed them.”

”…”

Big Mike frowned. ”Still doesn’t add up. Back then, there weren’t many Tier 2 or Tier 3 zombies anymore. Wouldn’t we run short on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cores?”

”We would’ve,” Miles admitted, ”except we cleared out a few big rat nests.”

Everyone paused.

Miles continued, ”Those mutant beast rats level up slower than zombies. Most of them were still stuck hovering at Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4.”

”…”

Ethan stared at him for a second, then let out a breathy laugh. ”Miles, you’re a damn genius.”

”Don’t praise me like that,” Miles said, looking a little embarrassed. ”I just got the idea after we ran into a bunch of rats wrecking the crops.”

”Alright,” Ethan said, grinning. ”So how many Tier 7 and above do we have now?”

”I’ve kept our properly organized Enhanced forces at twenty thousand,” Miles said. ”A little over eighteen thousand are Tier 7. And I’ve given… special attention… to a bit more than two thousand, pushing them to Tier 8.”

”Impressive,” Ethan said honestly.

After spending so long around Clearford City, the comparison was brutal. Fallen Star City had far fewer people, but the quality here was on a completely different level.

Still, quality alone wouldn’t cover the gap in raw numbers. They needed to widen that advantage as much as possible—because sooner or later, they were going to face Atlas City’s compound.

Ethan flicked his hand and tipped a flood of crystal cores out of his spatial storage ring. They spilled across the floor in a glittering heap, piling up like a small hill.

”I’ve still got a batch of high-Tier crystal cores here,” Ethan said. ”Find time to distribute them to the Enhanced. This should be enough to push those twenty thousand up to Tier 9—across the board.”

These were from their sweep through mutant beasts in the Void Realm—Tier 7 to Tier 9 cores.

Nearly three hundred thousand of them.

Even Miles, usually steady as a rock, couldn’t help but stare.

”Captain…” he breathed. ”You guys… you basically slaughtered the whole Void Realm, didn’t you?”

”No,” Ethan said, shaking his head. ”That place is huge. It’s not that easy.”

He paused, expression turning a touch complicated.

”But there’s a big one in there. We’re not going back for now. If it weren’t for that thing, we’d have brought back way more than this.”

”…”

Miles looked down at the mountain of cores, and excitement flooded his face.

”This is more than enough,” he said, voice tight with energy. ”With this, our compound’s strength is going to jump to a whole new level.”

Outside, Tier 9 zombies were still extremely rare.

If Fallen Star City had twenty thousand Tier 9 Enhanced…

They wouldn’t just survive.

They’d steamroll everything.