Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The guard captain led Ethan and the others deeper into the compound. They hadn’t gone far before they spotted Oliver’s group waiting ahead.

”Ethan—and everyone from the Fallen Star Squad—welcome to Stonepeak City compound!” Oliver stepped forward to greet them.

”I didn’t know you were coming,” he added quickly. ”If I had, I would’ve had the guys downstairs get food and drinks ready ahead of time.”

”It’s fine,” Ethan said with an easy smile. ”We decided on a whim. You can still prep it now.”

”…”

The people around them gave Ethan a few strange looks, like they hadn’t expected the legendary captain of Fallen Star Squad to be so blunt.

”Fair enough.” Oliver forced a smile and made a polite, sweeping gesture. ”I’ll have them prepare good wine and food right away. Ethan—let’s go inside and sit for a bit.”

”No rush,” Ethan said, waving it off. ”Let’s handle the real business first.”

Oliver’s expression tightened. ”And what business would that be…?”

”I heard Stonepeak City compound has a Void Realm,” Ethan said plainly. ”We’re curious. We want to take a look.”

”…”

The moment the words fell, it was like the air itself stalled.

Oliver and the others all tensed.

The Void Realm was the reason they’d been able to rise at all. It was the most core, most secret thing Stonepeak City compound had. Oliver had no intention of sharing it with anyone.

Atlas City had tried to fish for the location before, hinting and probing from the side, and he’d shut them down without hesitation.

But Fallen Star Squad showing up for the Void Realm…

That made Oliver’s scalp go tight.

Everyone knew how overbearing Fallen Star Squad was. There was no way he could reject them the way he’d rejected the federal government.

After a beat, Oliver spoke carefully. ”Didn’t expect you to be interested in our… little Void Realm.”

”Honestly, ours is pretty much like the one Atlas City has. It’s not even as big as theirs. There were some things inside, but we already took them.”

”It’s been so long we’ve basically plowed the place over a few times. Forget treasures—you can’t even find a single intact piece of anything. There’s really no point going in.”

”It’s fine,” Ethan said, still smiling. ”We just want to look around. We’re not necessarily hunting for loot.”

Atlas City’s Void Realm had been searched a thousand times too, and they’d still found good stuff.

Every Void Realm had its own quirks. Ethan wasn’t about to miss a chance to scavenge something everyone else overlooked.

Besides… Oliver was Tier 15.

That wasn’t a level you reached off Earth’s current resources. The only real explanation was this Void Realm.

If anything, that just made Ethan more curious.

Oliver frowned, hesitation plain on his face.

He really didn’t want to tell them. If Fallen Star Squad discovered the Void Realm was saturated with mysterious energy, then with their bandit-style way of doing things, there was a very real chance they’d just take it for themselves.

But he also didn’t dare refuse them outright. If he did, they’d probably make him pay on the spot.

And no—this wasn’t the kind of thing you could hand-wave away with They wouldn’t attack over something like that. From everything he’d heard, this sort of thing was basic operating procedure for them.

In that moment, Oliver finally understood what made Fallen Star Squad so unbearable.

Powerful wasn’t the scary part.

The scary part was being powerful and not giving a damn about playing fair.

He wrestled with it for a long time. In the end, Oliver could only nod, bitterly resigned.

”If you’re interested, Ethan… then I’ll take you to see it.”

”Boss!”

The underlings around him instantly panicked, all of them staring at Oliver with tight, anxious faces.

Oliver shot them a hard look, like he was saying, You think I want this? I don’t have a choice. If I don’t agree, we’re all screwed.

In the end, the others could only swallow their resentment. Compared to staying alive, the Void Realm really wasn’t that important.

Ethan, of course, caught every shift in their expressions, but he didn’t comment. Seriously… I’m being polite here. Why are they looking at me like I’m some prehistoric monster?

Whatever. As long as he got what he came for.

”Oliver, you really are a warm-hearted guy,” Ethan said brightly. ”Since that’s the case, let’s not waste time. Let’s go now.”

”…”

Oliver looked like he’d bitten into something sour. Warm-hearted, my ass. My heart has never been this cold in my life.

He shook his head, gave his men a few instructions, then set off toward the back of the compound with a handful of underlings. Ethan and the others followed immediately.

They wound through the mountains in a long series of turns. After more than half an hour, they finally reached a spot halfway up a mountain.

Ethan’s gaze snapped onto the warped space at the mountainside.

”This is it,” Oliver said, pointing at the distortion.

Since he’d already decided to tell them, there was no point playing coy now.

”Yeah. Not bad.” Ethan nodded. ”Let’s go in and take a look.”

He stepped straight into the twisted space.

Since it was a known Void Realm, there was no need to worry too much about sudden danger. The others filed in right after him.

The instant they entered, everyone perked up.

”Damn—this mysterious energy is thick.”

Just like the Void Realms near Atlas City and Redwood County, this one was a broken pocket world. Desolation in every direction. Ruins and shattered walls everywhere you looked.

But there was a clear difference compared to the others.

The mysterious energy here was dense—so dense you could feel it even without activating True Sight.

In the earlier Void Realms like this, you could barely sense any mysterious energy at all. But this one was saturated with it. Ethan and the others couldn’t help lighting up.

Based on Ethan’s experience, there was no way a place like this didn’t have something worth taking.

”Ethan, this is the Void Realm we found,” Oliver said. ”There really isn’t any treasure inside. It’s just… the mysterious energy’s pretty rich. If you absorb it here to raise your Tier, it’s a little faster than outside.”

”A little faster?” Ethan gave him a look that was half-smile, half-not. ”That’s underselling it.”

On Earth, you could only absorb mysterious energy and raise your Tier at night, when the Nine-Star Dipper appeared. Here, you could do it twenty-four seven.

And the concentration wasn’t even in the same universe.

The speed difference wasn’t minor—it was ridiculous.

It was basically like keeping a ritual circle running all day. With this kind of density, it was probably comparable to them powering their ritual circle with a Tier 18 crystal core. No wonder Oliver’s crew was this strong.

Oliver let out an awkward laugh.

”If you need it,” he said carefully, ”you can come here anytime.”

He didn’t like saying it, but what choice did he have? Now that they’d seen what this place was, there was no way Fallen Star Squad was letting it go.

At least the Void Realm couldn’t be packed up and carried away. Otherwise he’d have nowhere to cry.

”This place is solid,” Ethan said, sounding genuinely impressed. ”Just… kind of far.”

”No, no, it’s fine,” Oliver said quickly. ”You’ve got flying mounts, don’t you? A trip here isn’t hard. I can even arrange a place for you to stay in the compound. If you’re tired, just sleep here.”

And weirdly enough, once he said it out loud, it didn’t feel that terrible.

They couldn’t take the Void Realm with them anyway. Letting a few more people in wasn’t the end of the world.

If anything, if Fallen Star Squad were around, the compound’s safety level would shoot through the roof.

Eat here. Sleep here. And if danger showed up…

Well. It’d be pretty shameless of them to live under his roof and still refuse to fight, wouldn’t it?