[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-apocalypse-king-of-zombies":3,"chapter-apocalypse-king-of-zombies-apocalypse-king-of-zombies-chapter-1284":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Apocalypse: King of Zombies",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},697381,930,"Chapter 1282 1282: They Ran… Straight Into a Mass Grave","apocalypse-king-of-zombies-chapter-1284",1284,"\u003Cp>In the ruins of a Yamato Empire compound…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan looked at the storage ring on his finger—at the crystal cores piled inside until they were practically overflowing—and smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Turns out, raiding pays better than honest work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After wiping out a few compounds, his storage ring was almost packed solid with cores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure, most of them were low-tier, but back home they could fuse them into higher-tier cores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Atlas City's fusion tech had already reached the point where they could synthesize Tier 11 crystal cores. As long as they had enough raw cores, they could crank out a whole batch of Tier 11 Enhanced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yamato probably didn't have fusion technology yet. Otherwise these compounds wouldn't be sitting on mountains of cores like this. Worked out nicely for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And even though Yamato's population was \"only\" a bit over a hundred million, the land area was tiny. The population density was way higher than the Atlas Federation's.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Yamato, small compounds didn't really survive. The ones still standing were almost all large-scale compounds—each one built on top of piles of zombie corpses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which meant one thing:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had cores. A lot of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On top of that, Ethan had spotted a few Awakened with genuinely useful abilities. Those he didn't kill—he had the team break their limbs and lock them up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were high-tier Awakened. They wouldn't die anytime soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they headed back to Fallen Star City, they'd bring them along.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A single flying mount could grab two people with its talons. Five mounts meant ten prisoners. And if that still wasn't enough, Skinny Pete could always control a few extra birds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Awakened weren't just loot. They were the kind of resource you couldn't replace. One dead meant one less forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So whenever Ethan saw an Awakened, he usually kept them alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bring them back, and Fallen Star City's second line of combat power could become an all-Awakened force. Any extras could be handed out as rewards to people who'd been loyal and contributed the most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A prize like that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would buy devotion down to the bone. The kind where someone would die for you without hesitating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Awakened were in a completely different league from normal Enhanced. Becoming one meant you'd actually made it—really stood up in this world. Who wouldn't want that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other compounds would be lucky to have three or four Awakened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, Fallen Star City could have a hundred-plus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just imagining it made Ethan feel great.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These past few days, they'd been rampaging across Yamato—burning, killing, looting. The body count was already over a million.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Yamato, they were demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the Atlas Federation, they were heroes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan didn't care how outsiders labeled him. All he'd done was mirror what Yamato had done to the Atlas Federation back then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No—what they were doing still didn't even come close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least Fallen Star Squad were \"only\" killing and robbing. They weren't experimenting on living people. They weren't raping children or the elderly. They weren't doing the truly filthy things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could be a bandit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wouldn't be an animal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mount up. Next compound,\" Ethan said, swinging onto Flint's back again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The others climbed onto their flying mounts as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan's goal in Yamato was simple: wipe every compound off the map and force them to meet the zombies face-to-face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when they reached the next compound, they got a surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh?\" Ethan stared into the hollow compound, genuinely caught off guard. \"They ran ahead of time?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly… he almost respected the nerve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evacuating an entire city in the apocalypse wasn't some easy decision. If your luck was bad, you were basically gift-wrapping yourself for the zombie hordes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They landed and searched the place anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anything valuable had already been taken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Looks like they left yesterday,\" someone said after checking the traces. \"But this compound was big—at least four hundred thousand people. They can't have gotten far.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan's eyes narrowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then we chase.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They climbed back onto their flying mounts and followed the trail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half a million people on the move didn't exactly cover their tracks. The route was obvious—trampled ground, abandoned carts, scattered supplies, the kind of mess a mass evacuation always left behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe they were running to a bigger compound to beg for protection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe they were trying to hide somewhere remote.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Either way, it made no difference to Ethan. They were all targets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And with flying mounts? Even if the evac started yesterday, they weren't getting away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yamato's territory wasn't that big to begin with, and it was ocean on all sides. There was nowhere to disappear to—unless they slipped into the Void Realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, Ethan almost hoped they had. If the trail led them to a Void Realm entrance, that'd be killing two birds with one stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They flew on. Along the way they passed a few more compounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like people were evacuating in groups, domino-style.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which… yeah. Against Fallen Star Squad, what else could you do besides run?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After more than half an hour in the air, they finally saw it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the foot of a massive mountain, a crowd spread out like a dark carpet—packed so tightly it seemed to swallow the whole base of the slope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conservatively?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over five hundred thousand people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Big Mike squinted. \"Uh… are these people stupid? Why'd they all come here? There's nowhere to hide.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Who knows,\" someone said. \"Maybe they finally realized they can't outrun us.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sean tilted his head. \"That mountain… isn't that Mount Fuji? I heard Yamato treats it like a holy mountain. Maybe they ran here to pray for blessings. Like the mountain's gonna protect them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…Honestly?\" Big Mike said. \"That sounds dumb enough to be true.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Garrick stared for a second, then blurted, \"Wait—this thing's… erupting?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh?\" Big Mike frowned. \"What's erupting?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fuji,\" Garrick said, sounding almost offended nobody else noticed. \"It's an active volcano. Supposedly it hasn't erupted in like three hundred years. Looks like it's going now—and it's not a little one either.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"….\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chris shot him a look. \"You'd better be talking about a volcano eruption.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Garrick blinked. \"What else would I—never mind.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan didn't even bother reacting. He kept his eyes on the crowd below. \"Doesn't matter if it's erupting or not. If they picked a nice spot for their own mass grave…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice went flat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then we'll do them the favor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Killing had already become routine for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And killing Yamato?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That came even easier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan lifted his hand. \"Kill.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They dove.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Down below, the people at Fuji's base saw the squad coming and pure panic rippled through the mass of bodies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Didn't the Prime Minister say if we came here, they'd send rescue?\" someone shouted, voice cracking. \"So why is nobody here?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don't know!\" another screamed back. \"They told us to wait—that they had a way to deal with them!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well what the hell is this, then? They're already here! Where's the rescue?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few people's faces twisted as the truth sank in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bastards… we got abandoned!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then fight!\" someone roared, forcing courage into his lungs. \"We've got numbers! What are we afraid of?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Kill them!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one just stood there and waited to die. A storm of skills erupted upward—fire, lightning, blades of wind, all of it thrown at the incoming mounts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Big Mike snorted. \"Like ants trying to stop a storm.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swept his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rain of Flames poured from the sky, slamming into the crowd below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyone it touched didn't even have time to scream. They burned down to ash instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Skinny Pete wasn't about to be outdone. He flicked his wrist, and a massive tornado formed right in the middle of the crowd, sucking people in by the dozens—then shredding them into bloody confetti.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Garrick moved at the same time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meteors rained down in a brutal barrage, smashing craters into the earth. Anyone caught under one was flattened into meat paste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those three were Fallen Star Squad's nastiest crowd-clearers. In a battle like this, their value shot through the roof—more destructive than anyone else on the team.\u003C\u002Fp>",1344,"2026-06-02T09:29:46.901Z",1,"novelbin.me","250055d55683d16e7268e6f6caf352938fcb13f497de324d93f18671dc71d0b0","apocalypse-king-of-zombies-chapter-1285","apocalypse-king-of-zombies-chapter-1283",1329,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fapocalypse-king-of-zombies-cover.jpg"]