Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Atlas City Emergency Operations Center…

Maxwell frowned hard as he read the report the satellite control center had sent over.

Over the past few weeks, compounds had been getting wiped out one after another by zombie hordes. In just a single week, dozens of small and mid-sized compounds had vanished. The weight of it sat heavy in his chest.

”Looks like we need to fast-track that Federal Emergency Summit,” Maxwell muttered.

He looked up. ”Have the satellite phones been distributed to every compound yet?”

”They have,” an aide answered immediately. ”We already had staff from the government Safe Zones in each region handle delivery to the non-government compounds. Most compounds have received their phones. There are still a few that haven’t.”

”Why?”

”Some of those compounds are too remote—there’s no nearby government Safe Zone, so there’s no way to get the phones to them. And some…” The aide hesitated. ”…some are because the leadership in certain government Safe Zones isn’t doing their job.”

”Not doing their job?” Maxwell’s expression darkened.

He let out a cold laugh. ”So that’s what they’re calling it.”

”You think the world ends and we can’t touch you anymore?” he snapped. ”If it’s a compound run by regular civilians, fine—we can’t demand much.”

”But government Safe Zones are different. If you’re flying the government flag, taking government weapons and resources, then you will do your damn job. Anyone who dares to neglect their duty—replace them immediately.”

”Yes, sir!”

Maxwell exhaled, forcing himself back into the work. ”Get the Federal Emergency Summit on the calendar. Tell the major compounds to bring in their low-Tier crystal cores and exchange them for higher-Tier cores. At least that gives them a better chance of surviving.”

”Yes.”

A man in camouflage spoke up from the side. ”General Kane—what exchange ratio are we offering?”

Maxwell turned to a bald man sitting to his left. ”R&D—what’s the current synthesis ratio?”

”Since our materials have improved across the board,” the bald man said, ”we can now synthesize Tier 7 and below at a rate of twelve cores to make one core that’s one Tier higher.”

”For Tier 8 and above, the energy is too massive. We still can’t control it perfectly—so it’s around fifteen to make one.”

He continued, voice tightening with excitement. ”Also, we’ve had another breakthrough. We can now synthesize Tier 10 crystal cores, but it takes about twenty, and there’s a risk of failure.”

Maxwell nodded once. ”Tier 10 can wait. Get Tier 6 and Tier 7 volume up first. Against a zombie tide, mid-tier combat power is the backbone.”

”Yes.”

”As for exchanges,” Maxwell said, tone decisive, ”tell them this: Tier 7 and below—thirteen cores for one that’s one Tier higher. Tier 8 and above—sixteen for one that’s one Tier higher. Maximum exchange up to Tier 9.”

”General Kane,” a middle-aged man protested, ”if we do it like that, we’re barely making anything. The manpower and resources required to synthesize crystal cores are enormous!”

Maxwell’s eyes flashed. ”At a time like this, you’re still thinking about profit? You trying to cash in on a national disaster?”

He slapped the report down on the table.

”The compounds down there are barely hanging on. If we don’t boost their strength now, do you want them all wiped off the map?”

No one dared say another word. Heads dropped around the room.

Truth was, when the Federal Emergency Summit was first proposed, the whole point had been to concentrate crystal core resources from major compounds across the country.

Back then, some people had even planned to set the exchange rate at 100-to-1.

No one expected Maxwell to flip the entire nature of the summit on its head.

Still, plenty of people agreed with him. Atlas City was the capital of the Atlas Federation. It couldn’t just look out for itself—it had to consider the survival of the entire federation.

While Maxwell and his team were drowning in work…

Fallen Star Squad was practically on vacation.

Day after day, they bounced between single-player video games, board games, drinking, good food, and card games.

It wasn’t really their fault. There just weren’t any zombies around worth them lifting a finger for.

And the card games weren’t pure slacking off, either. At the very least, nobody skipped the nightly routine—watching the stars and absorbing mysterious energy to raise their Tier.

After this stretch of steady training, everyone in Fallen Star Squad besides the captain, Ethan, had climbed solidly into mid–Tier 11. And Ethan—already at peak Tier 11—could feel it in his bones.

He was probably going to break through to Tier 12 within the next couple days.

Right when everyone was deep into the card game…

”BOOM—!”

A thunderous blast erupted from Henry’s room. The floor shuddered under them, and the door suddenly blew off its hinges—flying straight out with a bang and smashing into Big Mike’s head.

”Holy shit! Enemy attack!” Big Mike sprang up like he’d been launched, eyes wide, scanning the room like someone was about to kick in the walls.

Everyone else just stared, completely dumbfounded at the chaos that came out of nowhere.

What the hell now?

A beat later, an ecstatic voice rang out from inside the room.

”Hahaha! I did it!!!”

Then Henry came sprinting out—hair like a bird’s nest, face smeared, looking like he’d been living in a garage for a week—grinning like a madman.

”Ethan! I did it!!”

”Uh…” Ethan leaned back, openly disgusted. ”Henry. How about you take a shower first?”

Henry glanced down at himself, didn’t care in the slightest, and blurted out again, even more hyped, ”Ethan, do you know what this means? I successfully activated the ritual circle!”

”Activated it?” Even Ethan looked surprised.

”Henry,” Chris said, laughing at his state, ”is the ritual circle you activated designed to blow yourself up?”

”Get outta here,” Henry shot back. ”You don’t know shit. Give me a sec—I’m gonna shower, then I’ll show you. You’re all gonna have your jaws on the floor!”

With that, he bolted straight into the bathroom.

The squad traded looks. Confusion, curiosity… and, against their better judgment, a little anticipation.

Not long after, Henry came back out, freshly washed and in clean clothes, looking almost like a human again.

”Come on,” he said, practically vibrating with excitement. ”Backyard.”

They followed him outside, faces full of questions.

Henry picked out a clean patch of ground and wiped it down. Then he crouched and started carving.

Nobody spoke. Nobody even really breathed.

He worked slowly, but his hands were steady—like the entire ritual circle was already burned into his brain.

And honestly, it probably was. He’d spent these past days obsessing over the thing, skipping sleep and meals, and it showed.

The ritual circle was made of countless runes. Every curve, every placement, every length—if anything was even slightly off, it wouldn’t work.

The design was so complicated it was a headache just to memorize, let alone carve by hand.

But Henry was genuinely into it. And with his current strength backing him up, he’d managed to reproduce it shockingly well after only a few days.

After a while, Henry straightened up.

The ground was now covered in intricate, interlocking lines.

It looked almost identical to the one they’d seen on the underground altar… but there were differences.

For example, where the original had places to set several pillars, Henry had left pits instead. Some of the connecting lines had been rerouted too.

So he hadn’t just copied it—he’d actually thought through changes and made adjustments.

”That’s your ritual circle?” Chris asked, frowning. ”It’s not doing anything.”

Henry grinned. ”Heh. Watch this.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of Tier 5 crystal cores. Then he placed them one by one into nine pits.

The moment he set the last crystal core in—

The entire ritual circle flared.

A harsh, dazzling light spilled out across the backyard.

Everyone suddenly felt the mysterious energy around them grow more active—almost the same feeling as at night when that weird formation of nine stars, the Nine-Star Dipper, appeared overhead.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He immediately activated [True Sight].

And sure enough, he could see thin strands of mysterious energy being tugged and drawn toward the circle, like it was pulling on invisible currents.

But then—

”BOOM…”

The circle detonated.

The ground blew apart into shattered chunks, and a crater opened up where the carving had been. Dirt and grit rained over everyone, leaving the whole squad coated head to toe like they’d just crawled out of a trench.

”…”

Chris spat mud out of his mouth, deadpan. ”Yeah. Called it. Your thing’s for blowing yourself up.”

”Uh…” Henry rubbed the back of his head, face burning with embarrassment. ”That one’s not on me. The floor material was just too crappy.”