Apocalypse: King of Zombies

In the stunned silence of the crowd, Ethan continued cutting down zombies with ruthless efficiency. In just a few moments, he had already slain over a hundred of them.

At the same time, he was quietly scanning the area, searching for the black cat.

It shouldn't be too far from here…

"Found it."

Before long, Ethan sensed a faint presence just outside the factory, hiding beneath a large metal tank.

But as he raised his gaze, two elite zombies lunged at him from the shadows.

With a swift horizontal slash of his blade, Ethan decapitated both zombies in one clean motion. Their heads flew off, spraying foul blood into the air, and two Neurocores popped out of their shattered skulls.

These zombies were highly evolved, which meant the zombie king ruling this area was likely no pushover either.

Ethan pressed forward, cutting his way through the horde until he reached the factory's exterior. Behind him lay a trail of mangled corpses and rivers of dark, putrid blood.

Outside, the light was dim. The sun had fully set, and the long night had begun. But the darkness didn't bother Ethan. His sharp eyes scanned the area, and under the large metal tank, he spotted a small, shadowy figure curled up tightly.

It was the same black cat he had seen earlier. Its body was coiled into a ball, completely motionless, as if it were asleep.

This was one of the major downsides of possession. With its soul currently inhabiting Sean's body, the cat's physical form was left paralyzed and defenseless.

However, the number of elite zombies in the area had increased significantly, as if they were deliberately guarding the black cat. In the dim light, grotesque faces emerged one by one, their eyes glowing with malice.

Now that he had located his target, Ethan stopped holding back. With a single thought, he unleashed Domain of the Dead to its fullest extent.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The zombies closest to him exploded instantly, their bodies reduced to chunks of flesh and bone.

The oppressive force of the domain reached its peak.

Nearby debris was crushed and twisted under the immense pressure. Even the towering metal tank groaned and warped as if an invisible hand were squeezing it. Liquid stored inside burst out in violent streams, spraying everywhere. Explore new worlds at empire

Beneath the tank, the black cat's body trembled, curling into an even tighter ball.

"Meowwwwwww!"

It let out a piercing, anguished cry. Sensing that its physical body was in grave danger, the cat immediately abandoned Sean and returned to its own form.

But the moment the black cat opened its eyes, it saw a tall, imposing figure walking toward it.

With each step Ethan took, the pressure around the cat intensified, like a massive millstone grinding down on it.

"Not so smug now, are you?" Ethan's cold gaze locked onto the cat.

The black cat could feel the suffocating aura of death closing in. Its fur stood on end, its ears flattened, and its wide, terrified eyes darted around, searching for an escape. It tried to back away, desperate to flee from the terrifying Domain of the Dead.

But its frail body couldn't even muster the strength to move.

Ethan raised his tachi and swung it in a clean arc, slicing straight through the cat's head. The blade was so sharp that it cut through the skull as easily as slicing a watermelon.

"Yowwwww!"

The black cat let out a final, pitiful wail before collapsing to the ground. Black blood gushed from the gaping wound where its skull had been cleaved open.

And just like that, the battle was over.

Ethan retracted the terrifying Domain of the Dead, though the effort had taken a toll on him. Fully unleashing the domain consumed a significant amount of energy—about one-tenth of his reserves, judging by the series of fights he had just endured.

But something caught Ethan's attention.

The black cat's shattered skull… didn't contain a crystal core.

"What the hell?"

He stood there, frowning, deep in thought.

Could it be that possession wasn't the black cat's innate ability?

Maybe… there was another explanation.

Perhaps some other entity had transferred the black cat's soul into Sean's body. In other words… the ability to possess others wasn't the cat's own power—it had been granted to it by something else.

"Well, that's creepy as hell…" Ethan muttered to himself.

Still, he felt like this trip hadn't been a waste. Thankfully, he had uncovered the truth in time. If he had remained in the dark, it could've cost him dearly.

Especially considering his subordinate, Bulldozer, was cut from the same cloth as Sean—both were brain-dead brutes with immense strength but no intelligence to speak of.

"Roar——"

Just as Ethan finished off the black cat, a deafening roar erupted from deep within the area. The sound was earth-shaking, as if the entire city district trembled in response. It was clear that the slaughter at the sugar factory had alarmed the zombie king lurking within the heart of the horde's nest.

The zombie army was likely mobilizing, surging toward Ethan's location.

"Time to go…" Ethan muttered to himself. He wasn't ready for an all-out battle with them just yet.

At the very least, he needed to secure the Y-virus first and allow his ace fighters to evolve further. If the fight turned into a brutal war of attrition, even a hard-won victory could leave him vulnerable to other zombie kings waiting to exploit the aftermath.

Not to mention, Genesis Biotech was already watching him like a hawk.

At that moment, hurried footsteps echoed from the darkness ahead. It was the rest of the search team. They had sensed the commotion and decided to stop hiding, rushing over to see if they could help in any way.

But when they arrived, the scene before them left them speechless.

Ethan stood alone outside the factory, surrounded by piles of mangled zombie corpses, shattered debris, and the twisted remains of the metal tank.

The entire area looked like it had been ravaged by a natural disaster.

"Hiss…"

The group collectively sucked in a sharp breath, too stunned to speak.

Meanwhile, inside the factory, Sean's cat-like eyes gradually returned to their usual sharpness, though his expression remained dazed.

Moments ago, his "mainframe" had gone offline—like blacking out after drinking too much. He had lost chunks of memory and couldn't recall what had happened.

All he knew now was that his entire body ached. Every inch of him felt battered and bruised.

Instinctively, he reached up to touch his face. A sharp, throbbing pain greeted him. His cheeks were swollen, and his nose was bruised and discolored.

"What happened to me? Why does everything hurt so much?" Sean asked, bewildered.

Mia glanced at him and replied casually, "Nothing. You fell asleep and took a nasty tumble."

"...Huh?" Sean blinked in confusion.

Then why were there shoe prints all over his body?

"We need to move," Mia said firmly, her gaze shifting toward the direction of the zombie king's roar. She wasn't the only one who had heard it—everyone else had, too. Their faces were pale with fear.

If the Zombie Horde surrounded them, there would be no escape. It would be the end.

"Did we rescue everyone?" Sean asked, still trying to piece things together.

"Stop worrying about that and just move!" Lillian snapped, urging him forward.

Without wasting any more time, the group quickly left the sugar factory and ran toward the river. Fortunately, they were still on the outskirts of the zombie nest. Before long, the sound of flowing water reached their ears.

But under the shroud of darkness, the river ahead looked like an endless expanse of black.

Mia glanced back over her shoulder.

The Zombie Horde was closing in fast. The ground beneath them trembled faintly, and in the distance, shadowy figures began to flood the streets, their grotesque forms illuminated by the faint moonlight.

The group's "builders" sprang into action. Cold air radiated from their bodies as they constructed another ice bridge, just like the one they had used to get here. This time, however, the bridge had a slight curve to it, resembling a slide.

Once it was ready, everyone jumped onto the bridge and slid across to the other side of the river.

"Wheee! This is fun!" Sean exclaimed, momentarily rediscovering the joy of childhood.

As soon as they reached the opposite bank, the builders quickly dismantled the ice bridge.

"Phew… we're alive…"

The group collectively let out a sigh of relief. For Caleb and the rest of the search team, it felt like they had just escaped from the jaws of hell itself. They had stared death in the face and somehow lived to tell the tale.

The apocalypse was truly unforgiving. Every day was a fight for survival, a constant battle against despair.

On the far side of the river, zombie silhouettes began to appear. They had chased the group all the way to the riverbank. But now, the zombies could only stand there, staring across the water. Their furious roars echoed into the night, filled with rage and frustration, but there was nothing they could do.

...

Back at the ruined sugar factory, darkness had completely swallowed the area.

"Salem~~~ Salem~~~"

A raspy, haunting voice echoed through the night, carrying a tone of sorrow and bitterness.

From the shadows, an old woman's figure slowly emerged. Her hunched frame moved with an eerie, deliberate slowness. Her white hair was wild and unkempt, and her frail body seemed barely able to support her weight.

But the most terrifying thing about her was her face.

Half of it was a wrinkled, human visage, weathered by time. The other half… was the face of a black cat, pitch-black and grotesque, with gleaming, predatory eyes.

...