Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Just like Henry had guessed, this so-called Celestial Stairway was actually an insanely complex ritual circle.

And the ritual circle’s core—the runic disk—was embedded right on the 99th step.

The complexity of it was on a completely different level from the ritual circle they’d seen on that altar before. This one was far more intricate—denser, deeper, and way harder to parse.

Set into the runic disk were nine strange stones.

Every single one of them radiated terrifying energy—more power than any crystal core Ethan had ever seen, not even close.

Under True Sight, Ethan could see something even crazier:

Those stones could absorb mysterious energy on their own.

The absorption rate was extremely slow, though. If Ethan hadn’t stared for a long time with True Sight, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

Nobody knew how long this space had existed, but after who-knew-how-many years of accumulation, those stones were already full to the brim.

…Though now they seemed a little less full.

Because the energy that had poured into their bodies earlier had come from these stones.

Ethan only realized that during his own upgrade.

Before that, he’d been baffled—where the hell had that much energy even come from?

Now he had his answer.

As for the ”stairs” below?

They were just normal steps.

All that pressure had been radiating from the runic disk. The closer you got to it, the heavier the pressure became.

And now that Ethan had stuffed the entire runic disk into his spatial storage ring, the pressure naturally vanished.

Once they got back to Fallen Star City, he’d have Miles build an identical staircase. Then they’d install the runic disk.

And just like that—Fallen Star City would have its own Celestial Stairway.

Of course, the energy inside those mysterious stones could be consumed. So it wasn’t like Ethan could let everyone line up and take turns milking it dry.

In the future, they could set up a merit system in Fallen Star City—only people with enough contribution points would be allowed to challenge it.

Besides, even though the Celestial Stairway only gave an energy reward on the first clear, people could still challenge it afterward.

Even without rewards, it could temper willpower.

And that pressure was incredible for body tempering, too. Train against it regularly, and your physical stats would keep climbing.

Something this good?

Ethan obviously wasn’t letting it slip away. The reason he’d been ”messing around” up there for so long was simple—he’d been figuring out how to pry the runic disk out.

When Chris and the others heard Fallen Star City would eventually have its own Celestial Stairway, their faces lit up one after another.

They understood exactly what this meant for a compound.

This was the kind of foundation that could let Fallen Star City rise for real.

”Grace—thank you.” Ethan looked at her, gratitude plain in his eyes.

He honestly hadn’t expected that a casual act of help back then would lead to an opportunity this huge.

What they’d gained on this trip almost matched everything they’d fought and bled for over the past half-year of the apocalypse. If not for Grace, they probably would’ve never found this place.

The truth was, there were plenty of Void Realms.

The problem was, almost none had been discovered—because every entrance was absurdly hidden.

Like this one. Who would ever guess it was tucked into a mountain ravine in the middle of nowhere? Without someone to lead you, you could search for a lifetime and still miss it.

”Ethan, you really don’t have to,” Grace said, surprisingly clear-eyed about it. ”If it weren’t for you guys, the three of us would’ve died a long time ago. And honestly, what you earned here—you earned it yourselves. We just showed you the way.”

”Either way, we never would’ve found this place without you,” Ethan said seriously. ”I’ll make it up to you.”

”What kind of reward?” Chloe asked, eyes shining.

Ethan only smiled. ”You’ll see.”

Grace laughed. ”If it’s something from Ethan, it has to be huge. I’m definitely not turning that down.”

”Hey, we’re basically family now.” Ethan chuckled. ”If Sean ever gives you trouble, tell me. I’ll handle him.”

”Seriously?!” Sean stared at him. ”What did I do to deserve that?”

”Alright,” Ethan said, waving them on. ”Let’s move. Everyone spread out and see if there’s anything else worth taking.”

”Got it!”

They split up fast and started searching through the Void Realm.

”Ethan, we’ve searched this place a bunch of times already,” Grace said. ”There’s nothing left.”

”It’s fine.” Ethan grinned. ”Let’s look again. At the very least, you guys never searched up top.”

In the end, they actually did find something—under the collapsed main hall up above, they dug out a few scattered weapons and a black box.

The box was made of some kind of special material, probably meant to preserve something important.

Ethan opened it and quickly found two ancient-looking books neatly placed inside.

”Manuals?!” Everyone’s eyes lit up.

Ethan picked them up and flipped through a few pages, then could only sigh and put them away.

Yeah… this was going to need Miles to decipher.

”Alright,” Ethan said, tucking the box away. ”Time to go.”

”Mm.”

Everyone nodded, and they left the Void Realm together, heading back the way they’d come.

They’d only just made it out of the mountain range when a group of people suddenly came sprinting toward them like their lives depended on it.

Behind them, a massive tiger was charging after them, closing the distance fast.

One person after another got caught.

Each time, the tiger’s jaws snapped down—and the unlucky runner was bitten to death.

Grace’s face went white.

They were people from her compound.

”Over here!” Grace shouted, yanking out her weapon and squaring up to fight.

Not far away, Jared and a few men were lying low behind a hill, watching with tense faces.

”Jared…” one man whispered nervously. ”You’re really planning to get Grace and the others killed too?”

Jared snorted. ”They made the first move. Since they were so eager to hand the whole compound over to that man, I don’t owe them anything anymore.”

His eyes gleamed with excitement.

”Once they’re dead, the compound is mine. I’ll build it up—make it bigger.”

”…But you like Grace,” the man said carefully.

Jared laughed under his breath. ”So what? She’s always looked down on me. Then she turns around and goes with some other guy.”

He licked his lips, voice turning cold.

”In the apocalypse, feelings are the cheapest thing there is. Only strength and territory matter.”

”As long as I become the compound leader, the women in the compound… I can pick whoever I want.”

”That’s right.” The other two immediately piled on, eager to curry favor. ”From now on, we’re with you.”

The group stared ahead, buzzing with anticipation—waiting for the mutant tiger to hit the crowd and tear them into bloody pieces.

But a second later, every expression on their faces stiffened.

Because the savage, charging tiger suddenly stopped right in front of the fleeing group—

Then turned around and bolted.

”What the hell?” Jared and the others went blank.

”It… it looks like it got scared off,” one lackey said, swallowing hard.

”No way!” another snapped. ”That’s a Tier 11 mutant tiger! Who the hell could scare that off?”

But a heartbeat later…

They were going to have no choice but to believe it.