Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Back at the shelter, the two of them were often approached by strangers trying to strike up a conversation. But they never imagined that one day, the Zombie King himself would ask for their contact info.

What was this about?

Was he planning to order takeout when he got hungry?

Of course, they didn't dare refuse. With stiff smiles plastered on their faces, they exchanged contact details.

Mia's sharp eyes studied him. "What's this about? First time meeting us, and you're already trying to kidnap us?"

"Don't be so stingy," Ethan replied casually. "I just need to borrow a couple of construction workers. It's not like they'll break."

Construction workers?

The two girls exchanged confused glances but quickly caught on to what he meant. They both let out a quiet sigh of relief. Construction workers? Sure, that's way better than being "delivery drivers"...

After adding him on social media, they noticed Ethan had updated his profile description. The two couldn't help but feel a little speechless. Yep, definitely a friend of Mia and Sean.

Once they made it ashore, a few zombies were wandering along the riverbank. Their faces were twisted and grotesque, their tattered clothes stained with dried, blackened blood.

One of the zombies, its cloudy eyes catching sight of Mia and the others, let out a guttural snarl and charged toward them.

These were just regular zombies—low-level, nothing to worry about.

Mia unsheathed her tachi and, with a couple of casual swings, neatly decapitated them. Her movements were clean and precise.

Sean stepped forward and kicked the zombie corpses into the river one by one.

Splash!

The water churned as dark blood spread out. A few strange fish were immediately drawn to the scene, swimming over to feast on the bodies.

"Hehehehe~~~" Sean crouched by the riverbank, giggling to himself.

Anna, standing nearby, looked at him in surprise, a hint of admiration in her expression. "Sean, you're pretty sharp. You even thought about getting rid of the evidence."

"Huh? Nah, I just thought it was fun," Sean replied.

"Uh…" Anna's face twitched. What's so fun about that?

She couldn't understand what went on in a guy's head sometimes.

"Let's go!" Mia called out, taking the lead as they moved forward. They were about to enter the zombie nest, and the two girls couldn't help but tense up.

Ethan, on the other hand, remained calm and walked ahead as if it were just another stroll.

The street ahead was a mess—completely ruined. Broken-down cars littered the area, and zombies were scattered among the wreckage. They stood there swaying, their grayish-white flesh rotting away, their faces half-decayed. The sight was nauseating.

These were low-level zombies, completely mindless and harmless. They acted purely on instinct, and if they were lucky, they might catch a rat to eat.

Mia didn't want to disturb them, though. She carefully avoided making any noise.

If they accidentally alerted these low-level zombies and caused a commotion, it could attract more dangerous ones.

The group moved cautiously, using abandoned cars and crumbling buildings as cover to stay out of the zombies' line of sight.

Ethan, however, didn't bother with any of that. He walked openly along the street. These zombies, being mindless, only categorized things into two groups: "edible" and "not edible."

Clearly, Ethan fell into the "not edible" category, so they ignored him completely.

The journey went smoothly. In less than five minutes, they reached their destination—a sugar factory. Rusted, massive tanks stood scattered across the area, and the number of zombies increased significantly within the factory grounds.

Ethan quietly focused, sensing the presence of elite zombies and mutated beasts inside. There was an eerie, unnatural aura about the place.

"Something's off…" he muttered.

He didn't sense any humans, though. If there were people hiding here, they must have been using some kind of special method to avoid detection. Otherwise, it would've been impossible to survive among so many zombies.

"Meow~~~"

As Ethan was lost in thought, a cat's cry echoed from within the factory. It sounded eerily like a baby crying, sending chills down their spines.

"What the hell was that?" Sean asked, gripping the fence and peering through a gap. He spotted a pitch-black cat perched on top of a large, rusted tank.

Around the cat, several elite zombies were wandering aimlessly, as if searching for something.

"That cat's weird. Be careful," Mia warned.

"Got it," Anna and Lillian replied, nodding nervously.

Sean nodded along, his expression suddenly turning serious.

"Black cats are seriously bad news!"

"Oh? You noticed something too?" Lillian asked curiously.

Sean explained with a straight face, "When I was a kid at the orphanage, I watched an episode of Looney Tunes, you know? There was this black cat that used a sniper rifle to shoot the hat off a mouse's head! The mouse was so scared it fainted on the spot. Tell me that's not freaky!"

"......" Lillian stared at him, utterly speechless.

"What? You don't believe me?" Sean pressed, trying to prove his point. "Ethan, you remember, right? We both saw it back then."

"Don't drag me into this…" Ethan replied, clearly unimpressed.

Meanwhile, Mia was fiddling with her phone, sending a message to the search team to ask for their exact location. But after waiting a while, there was still no response.

"Nothing," she said.

"They… they're not dead already, are they?" Sean asked, his tone uneasy.

"They shouldn't be," Mia replied, analyzing the situation. She pointed out that the zombies in the factory were clearly searching for something, which meant there were probably still survivors.

"They've probably run into some kind of trouble…"

...

At that moment, inside a pitch-black factory building, a young man crouched in a dark corner, not daring to move a muscle.

In his mind, he kept repeating to himself: I'm a tree. I'm a tree. I'm a tree…

The man's hands and feet had transformed into root-like tendrils, burrowing into the dirt beneath him. His skin had dried out, resembling the bark of a withered tree.

His name was Caleb Ash, the captain of the search team. He was a wood-element Awakener, and the ability he was using now was called Plant Camouflage.

Above him, on the factory's steel beams, several elite zombies crawled upside down like spiders. Their nostrils flared as they sniffed the air, using their heightened sense of smell to search for prey.

Not far away, a few other zombies were kneeling on the ground, feasting on a corpse.

Caleb's search team had originally consisted of over twenty people. Now, more than half were dead, and the rest were scattered, hiding in various corners of the factory. He had no idea if any of them were still alive.

Why are there so many elite zombies here? Caleb thought nervously, his heart pounding as one of the zombies crawled directly above him.

He deeply regretted coming here.

The plan had seemed simple enough. Sugar was a valuable strategic resource—high in calories, useful for medical purposes, and even for making ammunition. The factory was located on the edge of the zombie nest, so Caleb had thought it was worth the risk. But during the mission, everything went wrong.

One of his team members had suddenly snapped, attacking their own teammates like a maniac. The commotion had alerted the zombies, and soon, elite zombies swarmed the area, trapping them inside.

While hiding, Caleb had watched helplessly as several of his teammates were discovered and torn apart by the zombies. He couldn't do anything to help them. Moving even slightly would break his camouflage and expose him.

Watching his comrades die one by one was pure agony.

Just then, one of the elite zombies that had crawled away earlier returned. Its nostrils flared as it sniffed the air, letting out low growls of "raaah… raaah…"

Blood-tinged saliva dripped from its mouth, falling directly onto Caleb's face.