Apocalypse: King of Zombies

After Ethan and the others joined in, it didn’t take long before the zombies in the area were basically wiped out. Only a small portion managed to get away.

The Fallen Star City group started cleaning up the battlefield and collecting crystal cores.

Mostly, they were digging out cores for Ethan’s people—because the Fallen Star City team dug cores as they killed, while Ethan’s side only focused on killing and didn’t bother harvesting.

Mainly because they were killing way too fast. There was no way to keep up with them.

While everyone was busy sweeping the field, Ethan used Teleportation and blinked straight in front of a half-collapsed house.

”Come out,” he said flatly.

At his words, the people inside looked at each other—back and forth—until, in the end, they had no choice but to step out obediently.

Ethan’s gaze landed on the petite girl immediately. There was a little heat in his eyes.

Seeing that, the squad leader’s eyes lit up. With a fawning grin, he said, ”Her name’s Hannah. You can take her if you want.”

Hearing him say it, the petite girl stared at him with her eyes blown wide, like she couldn’t believe he’d actually said something like that.

The others were shocked at first too… but they understood quickly.

Faced with someone this strong—someone they had no idea how strong—this was the ”right” move.

Even Ethan glanced at him in surprise. Then he smiled. ”Pretty generous. In that case… I’ll take her with me.”

”Please, go right ahead!” the leader said, still smiling like he was trying to crawl into Ethan’s good graces.

”Captain, how can you do this?!” Hannah shouted.

”Hannah, I’m doing this for your own good. Following him is way better than following us!”

”Yeah, Hannah, the captain’s thinking of you. Just go with him. He’s that strong—you won’t lose out.”

”You…” Hannah pointed at them, too choked up to even finish.

”They’re not wrong,” Ethan said with a laugh. ”Following us really is better than staying with them.”

”Hmph! You’re not a good person either!” Hannah snapped.

”???”

”How am I not a good person?” Ethan looked completely lost.

He thought: I just like your special ability and want you to join Fallen Star City. Tons of people would kill for an opportunity like that. How does that make me the bad guy?

”Hannah, watch what you say!” the leader scolded. ”Are you trying to get us killed?”

Hannah swept her eyes over them, disappointment thick in her gaze. Then she looked back at Ethan. ”Fine. I’ll go with you.”

”Now that’s more like it.”

Ethan smiled, then led her straight toward the battlefield.

As for the others, he’d originally planned to bring them into Fallen Star City too. But the way they’d sold out their own teammate rubbed him the wrong way, so he decided to leave them to their own fate.

”Aren’t we supposed to go somewhere with no people?” Hannah frowned from behind when she saw him heading toward the fight zone.

”What do you mean, somewhere with no people?” Ethan turned to her, genuinely confused.

”What—are you waiting until nighttime?” She narrowed her eyes. ”You waiting until we’re alone? Fine. Guess you’re not that desperate.”

”What are you even talking about?” Ethan looked speechless. ”Did you seriously misunderstand something?”

”You took me from them. What else would you want?” Hannah said coldly. ”Men. I’ve seen through you all a long time ago.”

”…”

”You’re overthinking it,” Ethan said evenly. ”I just think the skill you got after hitting Tier 6 is pretty useful. You can be support—logistics—for the team.”

This girl didn’t have any Innate Abilities, so she wasn’t an Awakened. But after reaching Tier 6, she’d gained an ability called Mending—a very useful skill. It could repair items, and it could repair wounds too, basically functioning as healing like Henry’s.

She wasn’t as strong a healer as Henry, but Henry wasn’t always around. Having an auxiliary support who could heal on the team was naturally a good thing.

”Uh…?”

Hearing Ethan say that, Hannah froze. She stared at him like she couldn’t quite believe it. ”For real…?”

”Why would I bother lying to you?” Ethan rolled his eyes. ”You’re imagining things. You’re not my type.”

”…”

Only then did Hannah realize she’d misunderstood—no, their whole squad had.

Thinking back on what she’d just said, her face instantly started burning.

”Then… how did you know what ability I got at Tier 6?”

”I’ve got my ways.” Ethan’s tone stayed casual. ”From now on, just stay with the team. It’ll be a hell of a lot better than sticking with those people.”

At the mention of her old group, Hannah’s expression darkened again.

Her brother had been one of the team’s founders—the vice-captain, too. When the zombies broke through the city, he’d died under their claws protecting everyone else.

And now these people had turned around and sold her off without even hesitating.

A team like that? She didn’t need it.

Before long, the two of them reached the battlefield. Ethan introduced Hannah to everyone and explained what her ability was.

The moment they heard her skill, the team welcomed her enthusiastically. Having a support like that around meant, at the very least, your life had some insurance.

Over the next few days, they kept sweeping Harrison City.

Harrison City had had a population of over a million. More than nine hundred thousand had turned into zombies. Even after months of clearing by the Harrison City compound, there were still around six hundred thousand left.

Since Ethan’s spatial storage ring could hold crystal cores, everyone decided they’d finish the cleanup before heading back to Fallen Star City.

So they cleared zombies during the day, and at night they rested on whatever relatively flat ground they could find.

By now, aside from the Harrison City compound itself, there were basically no intact buildings left outside. Everything had been torn apart by zombies. With over twenty thousand people, they could only sleep out in the open.

Luckily, everyone was used to it. Half the group slept before midnight while the other half stood watch. Then after five a.m., they swapped. The time in between was for staring up at the stars and absorbing mysterious energy.

On the morning of the third day, they finally pushed up to what used to be the Harrison City compound—and saw the massive horde of hundreds of thousands of zombies, along with a Tier 10 Zombie King.

That Zombie King had an ability too. It was similar to how Chris could give a weapon an edge—boosting sharpness. The king’s claws were terrifyingly sharp.

Too bad for it.

The moment it flashed those claws, Ethan’s poleaxe came down and chopped it cleanly in half.

After that came a brutal fight that lasted hours.

Against more than six hundred thousand zombies, the Fallen Star City soldiers showed insane grit. They held for hours, slaughtered over five hundred thousand zombies, and let a little more than a hundred thousand escape.

After that battle, the zombies in Harrison City were basically broken. Two more days of cleanup later, everyone started hauling Harrison City’s supplies back to Fallen Star City in Redwood County.

With Fallen Star City’s compound already established, there was obviously no need to build another one in Harrison City. But Harrison City had plenty of resources Fallen Star City didn’t, so they needed to bring it all back.

And during the zombie sweeps these past few days, they’d also run into quite a few survivors. They brought them back too, shoring up Fallen Star City’s population problem a bit.

Though it wasn’t really a ”problem” anymore. Fifty thousand people was already a real population base, and it was manageable. Fallen Star City’s strength was on display—five万人 or not, nobody dared mess with them.

Still, since they’d run into them anyway, they just brought them along.

With Harrison City handled, the next issue was the white-furred apes.

Ethan wanted to head to Atlas City to take a look, but Atlas City was too far. He planned to ride a flying mount, leaving the white-furred apes behind in Fallen Star City.

So he had to get them under control first.

Otherwise, if he and the others weren’t here, the compound could easily end up in chaos.