Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Delusional!” Dominic roared. ”You think you can just wipe out the Hale Family because you feel like it?!”

He jabbed a finger at Ethan, shaking with rage. ”You really think we can’t do anything to you? If you push us too far—”

”Dominic!” Charles cut him off sharply, then turned to Ethan. ”Ethan—Dominic and Benjamin are both high-ranking leaders of the Atlas Federation. And the Hale Family is one of the Federation’s pillars. We can’t agree to those terms.”

”You’ve got it backwards,” Ethan said, voice even. ”I’m not negotiating. I’m informing you.”

His gaze was ice-cold. ”I don’t need your permission to kill.”

Then he gave a faint, almost amused snort. ”And ’pillar,’ huh? If you remove one or two rotten ones, the Atlas Federation might actually stand straighter.”

With that, Ethan flicked his hand.

A dagger on the ground snapped up like it had been yanked by an invisible thread, shooting toward Dominic at lightning speed.

The sudden move made everyone’s heart jump.

Nobody expected Ethan to attack outright in the middle of the ”talk.”

Dominic’s eyes went wide. He was a breath away from dying when—

A figure flashed in front of him.

A young man.

He took the dagger head-on.

The blade slammed into him, and he caught it with his bare hand. Even so, the force still drove him and Dominic backward several steps.

”Huh?” Ethan’s brows lifted.

Protecting someone like that—nowadays, that kind of loyalty was almost unheard of.

And the guy had blocked Ethan’s strike without taking any obvious damage. That wasn’t normal.

Ethan activated [True Sight] and looked closer.

His expression tightened.

He couldn’t see the man’s Tier. Couldn’t see his ability, either. It was like the inside of the guy’s head was blank—an empty void.

Ethan had never seen anything like it.

Dominic steadied himself behind the young man and let out a harsh laugh. ”Hmph. You want to kill me? It’s not that simple.”

He turned on Maxwell like a rabid dog. ”Maxwell! He’s already made a move on me—are you using the laser cannon or not?!”

”Exactly,” Benjamin jumped in, voice urgent and sharp. ”Today he targets our two families. Tomorrow he’ll wipe out the other three and take Atlas City for himself. Then he’ll unify the Atlas Federation—he’ll take control of the entire Federation!”

That line made Charles and even Maxwell’s faces tighten.

Because it hit the one fear none of them could say out loud: someone this strong could actually do it.

”He’ll take control of the Atlas Federation?” Ethan shook his head. ”I have no interest.”

His eyes slid back to Dominic, calm to the point of cruelty. ”You really think he can protect you?”

Then Ethan vanished.

Teleportation.

He reappeared right in front of them and threw a punch straight at the young man.

The young man didn’t flinch. He lifted his fist to meet it head-on.

A layer of black patterning spread over his knuckles—like the texture of a turtle shell, dense and armored.

Boom—!

Fists collided.

Ethan didn’t move an inch.

The young man, however, got blasted backward, skidding through the air. The sleeve on his arm shredded from the shockwave—

—but bizarrely, his arm itself was still intact. Not even bent wrong.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed with fresh surprise.

That strength was already close to Tier 11.

And taking Ethan’s punch without his arm getting pulverized? That level of defense wasn’t something an average Tier 11 could pull off.

Ethan hadn’t gone all-out, sure—but his base power was what it was. Most Tier 11 Enhanced would still have trouble eating a clean hit from him.

It has to be that shell-pattern armor, Ethan thought. If I’m right, that’s an evolved Innate Ability.

”Holy shit…” Big Mike’s eyes were huge. ”He took Ethan’s punch and didn’t die? That’s insane.”

The rest of Fallen Star Squad looked just as thrown.

They knew exactly how strong Ethan was.

Even they weren’t sure they could confidently take one of his punches head-on.

The young man hit the ground. He didn’t make a sound.

He sprang back up almost immediately—and instead of retreating, he charged Ethan again on his own.

”Hm?”

Ethan frowned. Something about this guy felt wrong. His eyes were empty… not like a normal person at all.

Don’t tell me… Ethan’s mind clicked. Is this one of the thralls the Hale Family made using some secret method they got out of a Void Realm?

The moment the man came in, Ethan caught his fist, yanked him forward, then planted a foot on his back and drove him face-down into the ground.

The young man struggled violently, thrashing like an animal—

—but he couldn’t break free.

Ethan’s raw power had already pushed past the boundaries of Tier 11. This thing wasn’t slipping his grip.

Ethan studied him up close. The stiff expression. The hollow stare. No normal human looked like that.

Yeah. Definitely a thrall, Ethan thought.

What surprised him was how strong it was. No wonder the Hale Family had been willing to go to such disgusting lengths with live experiments.

Then Ethan’s eyes caught the exposed skin on the man’s arm.

A faint bluish-green tone.

His stomach dipped with a sense of déjà vu.

He replayed yesterday in his head—and suddenly it snapped into focus.

The corpse he’d pulled out from under the altar in the Void Realm… that skin had been the same bluish-green.

Actually, the corpse’s color had been even deeper. This guy’s tint was lighter—so faint you’d miss it if you weren’t looking for it.

Don’t tell me… that ”corpse” is a thrall too? Ethan’s thoughts raced. Or the same kind of thing?

”Ethan,” Charles called again, voice tight, trying to sound reasonable, ”please release him. We can talk this through.”

”Release him?” Ethan looked up at Charles with a small smile. ”Old man… are you sure this is even a ’him’ you’re talking about?”

Charles’s brows knitted. ”What are you implying?”

Dominic’s face suddenly showed real fear. ”Ethan… are you really going to take this to the point where there’s no way back?”

”No way back?” Ethan laughed under his breath. ”You think you’re in a position to negotiate?”

His gaze turned sharp. ”You don’t stand a chance.”

”Then what if you add me?”

A voice boomed from the distance.

Everyone snapped their heads around.

On a rooftop far away stood a group of people. At the front was an elderly man in his sixties.

And beside them—

—was a massive, oddly shaped cannon, its barrel aimed straight at this street.

”ALEXANDER HALE!”

They recognized him instantly.

But the second they saw the cannon, faces went pale across the line.

Maxwell’s expression turned iron-black as he stared up at him. ”Alexander—without my approval, you don’t have authorization to use that. Who gave you the right to deploy the laser cannon?”

That’s what it was.

One of Atlas City’s most terrifying weapons—built at the cost of unimaginable resources after the apocalypse.

A laser cannon.

It looked nothing like an old-world artillery piece. The entire body was wrapped in special casing. Thick barrel, narrow muzzle—sleek and high-tech, like something ripped out of a sci-fi bunker.

Inside were over a hundred Tier 8 crystal cores and dozens of Tier 9 crystal cores.

The firepower was monstrous.

Alexander gave a cold snort. ”When I decide to do something, no one stops me.”

Then he pointed his accusation like a spear. ”And you, Maxwell Kane! Someone murders freely inside the compound, even threatens to wipe out the Hale Family, and as Commanding General of the Atlas Federation you don’t suppress them—you’re siding with them.”

His eyes narrowed. ”What, are you planning to use them to destroy the other four families so you can rule alone?”

”Alexander,” Maxwell shot back, furious, ”that’s a serious accusation. I’m not that kind of man!”

Alexander sneered. ”Not that kind of man? Then why, when they’re about to destroy the Hale Family, are you still refusing to use the laser cannon? Are you just going to stand there and watch my family get wiped out?”

”You know damn well what happens if that thing is fired inside the compound,” Maxwell said, voice tight. ”The consequences would be unimaginable!”

”At this point, we don’t have the luxury of worrying about consequences,” Alexander snapped, almost vibrating with intensity as he pointed down at Ethan’s group. ”They have to be eliminated!”