Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Inside the Void Realm…

It was a ruined world. Broken walls and collapsed structures littered the space in every direction, nothing but desolation as far as the eye could see.

Ethan and the others appeared inside the Void Realm. Looking at the scene, none of them seemed particularly surprised.

Sure enough, this Void Realm was similar to the one they’d entered the first time—another shattered, dying world.

The difference was, the earlier Void Realm was obviously much older.

Back then, most of the architectural remains had practically turned to dust. Here, the wreckage was still… wreckage. You could still tell what things used to be.

That alone said a lot. These two Void Realms weren’t from the same era—there had to be a huge gap in time. Which meant this one should’ve had more left behind than the last.

But when everyone looked around at a Void Realm that clearly had already been picked clean by Atlas City, they could only shake their heads.

With how thoroughly it had been stripped, even a rat would’ve walked out with tears in its eyes.

Atlas City hadn’t half-assed their search. They’d done it for real.

So the group could only turn to Ethan. In a situation like this, the only hope was his [True Sight].

Ethan didn’t waste words. He activated [True Sight] and started combing through the area inch by inch.

Honestly, he wasn’t holding out much hope either. But they were already here. Might as well try.

Chris and the others didn’t stand around, either. They spread out and started searching.

This Void Realm was a lot bigger than the previous one, which meant it naturally took longer to sweep. They searched for hours.

Outside the Void Realm, Ryan waited patiently.

Sebastian had already left with his people. The strength he’d seen had rattled him—he had to go back and talk it over with his grandfather.

If it was just one or two Tier 10s, the Hale family, with their current power, wouldn’t be afraid.

But nine Tier 10s?

That was something you had to seriously weigh.

At that moment, inside a room at the Hale family estate…

Alexander Hale and Dominic Hale sat at the head of the room.

Below them, Sebastian was briefing them on what had happened.

By the time he finished, both Alexander and Dominic had furrowed brows.

”Nine of them are all Tier 10,” Alexander said, turning to Dominic. ”Do you really think that’s possible?”

Dominic thought for a moment, then said heavily, ”It sounds unbelievable, but Ryan wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

He paused, clearly puzzled. ”Atlas City has massive resources—and they’ve got crystal core fusion tech. Even now, they don’t have that many Tier 10s. So how did those people pull it off?”

”I think it’s possible they’re all Awakened,” Sebastian offered, ”and their abilities are extremely strong.”

Alexander shook his head.

”Even if that’s true, they still shouldn’t be able to surpass Atlas City. If I had to guess… they’ve probably entered a special space before. And a lot earlier than we did. They must’ve gotten plenty of benefits inside.”

Hearing that, Dominic and Sebastian both nodded. That explanation made way too much sense.

No wonder the moment they arrived in Atlas City, they headed straight for the special space.

”Grandpa,” Sebastian asked, unable to hold it in, ”what do we do now? Are we just supposed to let Uncle Leonard’s death go?”

”Of course not,” Alexander said coldly. Then his eyes sharpened with something brighter—hungrier. ”And… if we can take them down, the Hale family might be able to completely control Atlas City’s compound.”

The method of creating thralls had been the Hale family’s greatest harvest from the special space.

After pouring resources into it without sparing any cost, their live-subject experiments had made major breakthroughs.

And their earlier guess had been right: to successfully create a thrall, the test subject needed at least Tier 10 strength.

To make the process work, the Hale family had handed over the only Tier 10 crystal core they’d obtained to a distant relative—someone in the Hale bloodline who happened to have an ability.

That relative thought a fortune had fallen into his lap. He was so excited he could barely breathe. He even believed Alexander was finally valuing his ability.

He didn’t realize Alexander was valuing his body.

The moment he became Tier 10 was the moment his nightmare started.

One cup of wine went down his throat, and he never woke up again.

No—more accurately…

His body woke up.

But his consciousness was gone.

This was the first thrall the Hale family had ever successfully created—and it dragged them in so deep they couldn’t pull themselves back out.

Once a thrall was made, it became stronger than it had been in life. Someone who’d only just reached Tier 10, after becoming a thrall, actually ended up far beyond a normal Tier 10 Enhanced. Based on their estimates, it was likely pushing close to Tier 11.

And thralls didn’t feel pain. They didn’t know fear. Most importantly… they were perfectly obedient. No betrayal, no hidden agendas.

That made the Hale family completely obsessed with creating more.

With the strength of that one thrall, taking on three or four Tier 10 Enhanced at once wouldn’t be a problem.

They’d originally thought the other side only had two Tier 10s—nothing to worry about.

If they could capture them, the Hale family would gain two more thralls with strength approaching Tier 11. Their overall power would jump dramatically.

But they hadn’t expected this.

The enemy was all Tier 10.

It left them shocked—and thrilled.

If they could turn all nine Tier 10s into thralls, how would the other major families even compete?

The thought made all three men in the room look excited, practically glowing with it.

”This needs to be planned carefully,” Dominic said, voice heavy again. ”Nine Tier 10s isn’t something we can handle easily. If we want a chance, we’ll have to join forces with the other families.”

”And what if the other families won’t move?” Sebastian frowned. ”I think the Kane family is already in bed with those people. They definitely won’t help.”

”Then this old man’s going to have to pay some visits in person,” Alexander said, calm but firm.

Back inside the Void Realm…

Ethan and the others searched for five hours and still came up empty. The entire Void Realm—aside from scattered building ruins—had been cleaned out down to the last scrap.

”Damn,” Big Mike grumbled. ”They didn’t just search this place. They vacuumed it.”

”Atlas City’s got plenty of everything except space,” Mia said with a sigh. ”They’ve got manpower, and they’ve got exploration gear. Trying to find leftovers after they’ve already swept through? Yeah. Good luck.”

By now, everyone had basically given up.

Everyone except Ethan.

He was still moving slowly, scanning inch by inch.

He’d kept [True Sight] running nonstop for five straight hours. His eyes felt strained to the point they might start bleeding.

Just when even Ethan was about to call it…

His gaze snapped into focus.

Under the last stretch of rubble, he caught a flicker—an energy ripple.

It felt like it was coming up from deep underground. It was so faint that if he hadn’t been paying obsessive attention, he would’ve missed it even with [True Sight].

”There’s something…?”

The moment they saw his expression, the others surged over, instantly energized.

”Yeah,” Ethan said, excitement flashing across his face too. ”It’s underground. Really deep.”

After all that time… they finally had something.

”Then what are we waiting for? Dig!”

Everyone was buzzing. They pulled out their melee weapons and started hacking and smashing downward like maniacs. After hours of nothing, they were practically going feral just to do something.

”Uh…” Garrick said quietly. ”I can actually use my ability to reshape the terrain.”

The digging froze mid-swing.

”Hell—how did we forget that?”

They hurriedly put their weapons away and all turned to stare at Garrick.

Garrick gave an awkward little grin, then placed his palm on the ground.

A second later, the earth split and slid aside. A deep pit opened under their feet—and kept sinking, dropping farther and farther down.

Chris laughed. ”Now that’s what I’m talking about. Garrick’s ability is clutch.”

Ethan opened his mouth.

He wanted to say: It’s seriously deep. Even with [True Sight] I can’t tell what it is.

But everyone looked so fired up that he swallowed it.

Let them dig.

No need to kill the mood… yet.