Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The surroundings improved significantly, clearly indicating they’d entered Zone C.

Ahead, the zombies spreading the infection were facing fierce resistance. Zone C had quite a few Awakeners who had already developed their Neurocores.

They grabbed their weapons and fought desperately against the undead horde.

Shouts and screams echoed everywhere.

But the zombies were overwhelming in number. Almost all survivors from Zone D had been infected, swelling the zombie ranks to over two thousand.

The Awakeners were struggling badly, quickly becoming surrounded by the relentless undead.

Ethan figured they could use a little help...

He glanced upward at the flickering lights, quickly forming an idea. He decided to lend a hand by cutting off their power first.

Finding the power source wouldn’t be difficult for him.

All he had to do was follow the wires—simple as tracing breadcrumbs.

Activating his Domain of the Dead stealth ability, Ethan moved effortlessly through walls, passing through several rooms of varying sizes.

Eventually, he stepped into a spacious hall.

At the center stood a massive generator, looking like an old-fashioned paddle wheel from a steamship.

Due to the lack of other power sources, the shelter relied entirely on manual labor. Right now, three thin, exhausted men were sweating profusely, pushing the heavy paddle-wheel mechanism to keep the generator slowly turning.

”Huff—come on, push harder!” one man growled through clenched teeth, using every ounce of strength he had.

The young man beside him was equally exhausted.

”What’s going on? Why hasn’t anyone come to relieve us yet? Our shift ended ages ago!”

”Didn’t someone say earlier... there’s a zombie outbreak outside?” another man gasped breathlessly.

”What? They haven’t handled it yet?”

The other two exchanged worried glances. Monster invasions weren’t exactly rare in the shelter, but usually, they were quickly contained.

This time, it seemed serious.

”Let’s stop talking and save our strength. We can’t let the lights go out now!” the young man said, sweat dripping from his forehead onto the floor.

”Working so hard... careful you don’t tire yourselves out,” Ethan’s voice suddenly echoed beside them.

”Huh?”

The three men sensed something was off and quickly turned their heads.

But before they could react, a swift gust of wind sliced through the air, and Ethan’s blade flashed.

”Lights out,” Ethan whispered coldly.

With a single strike, three heads fell to the ground. The generator lost its momentum and immediately ground to a halt.

With a sharp crackle, all power was abruptly cut off.

Every light nearby instantly went dark.

The entire underground shelter plunged into pitch-black darkness—the kind of darkness where you couldn’t even see your own hand in front of your face.

”Ahhh—!”

Outside, the Awakeners fighting the zombies screamed in panic.

Their eyes, accustomed to the bright lights, were temporarily blinded by the sudden darkness.

Even though Awakeners had better vision than ordinary people, they still needed time to adjust.

But for the zombies, darkness was their natural habitat.

It was practically camouflage.

In the pitch-black chaos, the zombies roared ferociously, becoming even more aggressive, tearing into many human Awakeners.

Ethan didn’t join the fight directly. Instead, he continued to sabotage quietly from the shadows—playing support.

This generator area seemed to be a critical part of the shelter.

He wondered what else he might find here.

Passing effortlessly through another wall, Ethan entered the next room. This one was even larger, filled with computers, monitors, and various electronic equipment.

In the center stood a laboratory table, covered with experimental instruments and strange devices.

”A lab, huh?” Ethan tilted his head, glancing around with interest. He always liked places like this.

Maybe he’d find himself a new toy.

At that moment, an elderly professor and his student were frantically packing up documents from the table, illuminating their work with a flashlight.

”Hurry! Pack everything quickly! The zombies are breaking through—it’s not safe here anymore. We have to leave now!” the professor urged anxiously.

”Got it, professor. But where did all these zombies come from anyway?”

”I have no idea. Something’s definitely off about this!” The old professor grew even more anxious, hands trembling as they scrambled to gather their research.

Ethan watched quietly from the shadows, deciding not to interrupt. He’d wait until they finished packing, then conveniently take everything with him.

After all, everything was written in Japanese—he couldn’t read a word of it.

He’d have to find someone to translate later...

A few moments passed, and the documents were neatly stacked, some stuffed into paper bags, others carefully bound together.

”Go get the item from the safe,” the professor instructed. ”And be careful—handle it gently. Don’t break it, whatever you do.”

”Yes, professor!” The student hurried to the corner, quickly punching in the combination.

With a soft click, the safe swung open.

The student carefully took out a small transparent container.

”What do we have here?” Ethan’s curiosity was piqued.

He noticed something interesting—the entire safe contained only this tiny container, nothing else. Clearly, whatever was inside was extremely valuable.

Just as the professor and student finished packing and prepared to leave, flashlight in hand, the professor reminded, ”You got everything? Don’t lose anything!”

”No worries, professor!” the student nodded vigorously.

But suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine. Instinctively, he swung the flashlight beam behind him, briefly illuminating a shadowy figure.

”Huh?”

Feeling uneasy, he quickly swung the flashlight back again.

Sure enough, someone was standing right there.

In the pitch-black darkness, a figure appearing out of nowhere was terrifying enough to nearly make him wet himself.

”P-professor!” The student’s legs trembled uncontrollably.

The professor turned around sharply, his eyes widening in shock as he saw Ethan standing there.

”Who...who are you?”

”You finished packing everything up? Thanks for that,” Ethan said with a casual smile. Then he realized they probably didn’t understand English. How did you say ”thank you” in Japanese again?

”Uh... Arigato?”

”????” The professor and student stared blankly, utterly confused.

But before they could react, Ethan’s white-clad figure rushed forward, illuminated briefly by the flashlight beam.

In the next instant, both men collapsed unconscious. The flashlight fell to the floor, shattering and flickering weakly.

Ethan calmly approached the packed documents.

He glanced at the research papers, but as expected, they were all in Japanese—completely unreadable to him. So he turned his attention to the small transparent container instead.

Holding it carefully between two fingers, he lifted it to eye level for a closer look.

He quickly realized the container wasn’t empty. Inside was a tiny insect, barely a millimeter long, buzzing around restlessly.

It had two delicate wings and a body resembling an ant.

It looked like a miniature flying ant.

”A mutated insect?” Ethan wondered aloud. Usually, mutations made creatures bigger and stronger, enhancing their combat abilities.

But shrinking was unusual.

Yet, whether extremely large or extremely small, both extremes could be incredibly dangerous.

For instance, giant beasts lurking in the deep ocean were terrifying, but against something this tiny, they might actually be helpless...

Since he couldn’t read the research notes, Ethan had no idea what this tiny flying ant was capable of.

”Maybe... I should find someone to test it out on...”