Apocalypse: King of Zombies

All day long, everyone in Atlas City compound was running at full overload…

This time, they’d practically gathered and consolidated crystal cores from compounds all across the Atlas Federation, forcing a massive transformation that drove the federation’s overall strength sharply upward.

The most popular exchanges were for Tier 6 and Tier 7 crystal cores. Those took fewer low-Tier cores to trade up, and the processing speed was faster.

On top of that, once an ordinary Enhanced hit Tier 6, they gained a skill—and they could also start automatically absorbing mysterious energy to keep raising their Tier.

So for most of the people who came to exchange, the priority was obvious: get everyone in their compound up to Tier 6 first.

Of course, there were selfish types too—people who burned through huge amounts of cores to exchange for Tier 9s, rushing their own personal strength upward and not giving a damn about anyone else in their compound.

If Atlas City compound hadn’t capped exchanges at Tier 9, those people would’ve tried to trade all the way up to Tier 10.

Even at night, the crystal core exchanges were still going…

In one of the compound’s rooms, Garrett had one smoking-hot woman tucked under one arm while he rolled a Tier 9 crystal core in his other hand, studying it.

”This Atlas City compound really is something,” he muttered. ”The synthesized core looks exactly the same as a normal one.”

”Hey…” the woman purred, curling closer in his lap. ”You exchanged for so many Tier 9 cores this time. Think you could spare one for me?”

Garrett chuckled. ”That depends… how well you plan on taking care of me tonight.”

The woman smiled, eyes teasing. ”Oh, don’t worry. I promise you won’t regret it.”

She slid off his lap slowly, clearly about to prove her point.

Then there was a knock at the door.

She had to stop.

”Come in,” Garrett called.

The interruption pissed him off, but he also knew nobody would bother him at a time like this without a reason. He was horny, not stupid—if he couldn’t tell priorities apart, he wouldn’t have grown his compound into a large one in the first place.

A man hurried in.

”Well?” Garrett’s eyes narrowed. ”How’d the investigation go?”

”Boss,” the man said, voice tight, ”that Ethan you told me to look into—him and his Fallen Star Squad—this ties directly to the rumor I mentioned before.”

Garrett’s brow twitched. ”What rumor?”

”About half a month ago, a nine-man squad arrived in Atlas City. They clashed with the Hale family, and in the end, they wiped the Hales out right in front of all of Atlas City’s top powerhouses.”

He swallowed. ”And nobody could stop them. Not one of Atlas City’s strongest could do a damn thing.”

”Atlas City’s been trying to bury it,” he went on quickly, ”but it was too big at the time. A lot of people saw it, so we can still dig up plenty.”

”According to what’s been circulating… that squad was all Tier 11.”

He looked up. ”And the squad’s name was Fallen Star Squad.”

”…” Garrett’s face froze.

Then his eyes went wide.

”All Tier 11?” he barked. ”How the hell is that even possible?!”

But when he thought back to the scene in the conference room that morning, Garrett’s expression darkened.

A squad captain sitting in the most honored seat, right next to General Maxwell Kane—it had looked ridiculous at first.

If the entire squad was Tier 11, though?

Then it wasn’t ridiculous at all. It was terrifyingly logical.

Garrett stared down at his subordinate. ”So you’re telling me… you’d already heard this before?”

”Yes,” the man said carefully. ”When we were investigating the strength of other compounds, we heard it.”

Garrett’s face twisted. ”Then why the fuck didn’t you say it earlier?!”

The man’s face crumpled in grievance. ”Uh… because, boss… you didn’t let me. You told me if I thought it wasn’t likely, not to waste your time…”

”Fuck!” Garrett exploded. ”If I told you to go die, why didn’t you just go die?!”

He kicked the man hard, sending him tumbling out of the room.

”Hey…” the woman beside Garrett murmured, trying to smooth him down, voice soft and seductive. ”Want me to help you work that anger out?”

”Get out,” Garrett snarled—and flung her off him like she was nothing.

He had zero interest in messing around right now.

Before the apocalypse, Garrett Knox had been the heir to Knox Industries—a textbook rich kid. After the world ended, he awakened a powerful ability, and with his father backing him, he’d built his way up into one of the Atlas Federation’s only two non-government large compounds.

Garrett was, in every sense, a real-life winner. So of course he was proud. Arrogant, even.

That morning, seeing Ethan—someone even younger than him—sitting above him had rubbed him the wrong way. Then, when the room started questioning Ethan, Garrett tossed in a jab too.

It hadn’t seemed like a big deal. Plenty of people had been questioning him. One more voice shouldn’t matter.

Except Ethan had apparently remembered him.

And that was giving Garrett a headache.

If Ethan decided to settle accounts later, Garrett was screwed.

Ethan’s expression that morning hadn’t looked like he cared much… but Garrett didn’t dare bet his entire future on that.

After thinking for a long time, Garrett finally decided: he should go apologize.

They said a smiling face never got hit. Ethan probably wouldn’t be that petty.

And if Garrett played it right, he might even use it as a chance to get closer to him.

Still… apologizing was brutally hard for someone as proud as Garrett. He took several deep breaths before he finally stepped out.

”Let’s go,” he said tightly. ”We’re paying a visit to Fallen Star Squad’s place.”

”Huh? Boss, why are we going there?”

”Don’t ask. Just follow me.”

”…Okay.”

Fallen Star Squad’s mansion…

”Mia,” Ethan called, ”make extra for dinner. General Cross and his people are coming over.”

”Got it,” Mia said, nodding. Then she tugged Emily toward the kitchen, and the two of them got busy.

Inside Atlas City compound, farmland had long since been replanted. Food wasn’t an issue.

Ever since mysterious energy appeared, crop growth times had been slashed dramatically.

Corn, for example—what used to take around four months from planting to harvest now took just over a month. And the corn came out fuller, denser, more nutritious.

So at this point, as long as a compound’s development stabilized, corn and vegetables weren’t hard to keep stocked.

Meat was another story.

If you wanted meat, you had to hunt mutant beasts.

And mutant beasts were stronger than zombies—way harder to kill—so meat wasn’t something ordinary people got to eat often.

But for Fallen Star Squad, that wasn’t a problem at all. Ethan’s storage ring had plenty of mutant beast corpses inside. He could pull out any random one and feed a whole crowd.

Mia and Emily had barely been in the kitchen for a few minutes when there was a knock at the door.

Ethan glanced toward the entrance and frowned.

”Skinny Pete. Go open it.”

”Yessir!”

Skinny Pete jogged over and yanked the door open.

Four men stood outside. The one in front—a young man with a polished smile—looked at Skinny Pete and said, ”Hello. I’m Garrett from Riverton City compound. I had a great chat with Ethan this morning, so I came to pay Fallen Star Squad a visit.”

Skinny Pete stared at him. ”Oh yeah? You bring a gift?”

”A gift?” Garrett blinked, but he recovered fast. He quickly pulled out a Tier 8 crystal core and held it out.

”Brother. Help me out.”

Skinny Pete looked at the Tier 8 crystal core like it had personally insulted his ancestors.

Then—

”BANG!”

He slammed the door shut.

”…”

Inside the mansion, everyone who saw it just shook their heads. Nobody even commented.

If the boss told Skinny Pete to answer the door, that meant the person outside wasn’t welcome. If they were welcome, Ethan wouldn’t have sent Pete in the first place.

Outside, staring at the closed door, Garrett’s face sank.

In his whole life, nobody had ever dared give him the cold shoulder like this.

But when he thought about the monsters living inside that mansion, he forcibly swallowed his anger.

Then he clenched his teeth, face pained, and pulled out a Tier 9 crystal core.

He knocked again. Hard.