On Nugget’s back, Ethan held his poleaxe high with one hand. Skewered on the tip was a zombie—its neck completely pierced through by the blade.
Nugget had moved so fast that the Tier 8 zombie hadn’t even had ti to react. One clean thrust from Ethan, and it was impaled and lifted off the ground in a single motion, carried away like a trophy.
Once the zombie stopped twitching, Ethan cracked open its skull and pulled out the crystal core. Then he tossed the corpse into his spatial storage ring.
He’d feed it to Bengal Tiger Goldie or Jaguar Speckles later—mutant beast at like this was great for boosting their strength.
"Heh... that was way too easy," Ethan chuckled, admiring the crystal core in his hand.
The whole kill had been smooth as silk—clean, fast, effortless.
This was exactly why he’d insisted Skinny Pete ta the Golden Eagle. Whether for scouting or surgical strikes, a flying mount was a ga-changer.
A few minutes later, Ethan swooped back down and rejoined the group.
He tossed the Tier 8 crystal core to Skinny Pete.
Pete caught it, blinking in surprise. "Boss, where’d this co from?"
"Just flew out with Nugget and took down a Tier 8 zombie."
"Wait, just now? You were only gone, like, a minute or two!" The others stared at him, wide-eyed.
"Yup," Ethan said with a nod, then urged Nugget back into the sky to continue scanning for more high-tier targets.
"Damn, that’s insane," soone muttered in awe.
Skinny Pete didn’t waste ti—he swallowed the crystal core on the spot, and the group pressed on.
Over the course of the day, Ethan disappeared into the sky two more tis. Each ti, he ca back with another Tier 8 crystal core.
Anything below Tier 8? He didn’t even bother.
By the end of the day, they’d covered over 500 miles.
And that was with multiple rest stops—mostly because riding those beasts for hours was rough on the body. If they’d pushed straight through, they probably could’ve reached Clearford in a single day.
Along the way, aside from taming Nugget, they also ran into a massive horde of zombies.
The horde had spilled onto the highway, blocking their path. But the team didn’t waste ti—they carved a bloody path straight through and kept moving, not bothering to clean up the stragglers.
That night, they camped at a service plaza.
The next morning, they hit the road again.
By midday, they finally reached Clearford City.
From the sky, Ethan spotted it first—a massive fortified compound dominating the cityscape.
He saw a sprawling military-controlled zone, stretching over twenty square miles, with a heavily fortified core at its center.
Even Ethan was a little stunned.
The compound was enormous—easily over twenty square miles—and teeming with life. From the air, he could see countless figures moving inside. A rough estimate? At least 300,000 survivors.
The outer walls stood thirty feet high, lined with heavy machine guns, autocannons, and other mounted weapons. Patrol squads moved constantly along the periter.
Ethan had Nugget descend imdiately. He’d noticed several guards inside the compound scanning the skies with binoculars and optical sensors. No need to cause a scene.
"We’re almost at Clearford," Ethan said as he landed. "Let Goldie and the others roam the hills nearby. We’ll walk the rest of the way."
"Ethan, there’s a compound in Clearford?" Henry’s eyes lit up with hope.
"Yeah. It’s huge—at least twenty square miles. Looks like it was built by the governnt," Ethan replied.
"No way," Chris said, stunned. "Clearford’s a major city. The governnt actually managed to build a compound here and hold it this long?"
The rest of the team looked just as shocked.
They all knew the truth—zombie numbers in major cities easily reached into the hundreds of thousands, sotis even over a million. Building a compound in a place like that and actually holding it? That was no small feat.
It was exactly why they’d chosen to avoid big cities and stick to more remote areas.
"It’s not that the city governnt’s strong," Henry said, shaking his head. "You guys forget—Clearford’s always had a major Joint Base. The military presence here was solid even before the apocalypse. If I had to guess, this compound was built and is still being run by the military."
"Oh, right! Totally slipped my mind," Chris said. "A Joint Base, huh? No wonder they’re holding it down in a city like this."
"I took a quick look from the air," Ethan added. "The compound’s doing really well. A lot of infrastructure’s already back up and running. I’m guessing the people inside are strong too. We should play it safe—go in, get a feel for the place, and see if we can find out whether Henry’s family made it here."
"Yeah, good call."
Everyone nodded in agreent.
They sent Goldie, Speckles, Pumpkin, and Nugget off to roam the nearby mountains.
With their power levels, no one was worried about their safety. If anything, it was the other mutant beasts in the area that should be worried.
Golden Eagle Nugget was Tier 9. Bengal Tiger Goldie and Jaguar Speckles were both at the peak of Tier 8. Even the orange cat Pumpkin was at the peak of Tier 7.
That lineup? Absolute apex predators. They’d rule the mountains.
Besides, Skinny Pete could summon them remotely if needed. No big deal.
Once the beasts were gone, the group started walking toward the compound.
The road was eerily clean—no zombies in sight. All around them were signs of heavy bombardnt: scorched earth, shattered pavent, craters from artillery.
It was clear the area had been thoroughly purged.
Ethan had seen it from the air earlier—there weren’t any zombies for miles in any direction. Not even stragglers.
He figured the military inside the compound had probably wiped out zombies by the millions.
Which ant... the number of crystal cores they’d collected must be insane. There might even be a stockpile of Tier 1 cores just sitting around.
After all, to save that many survivors, they must’ve started clearing zombies from day one. And back then, firearms were still devastatingly effective.
While Ethan and the others were still at Starlight State University, bashing zombies one by one with a barbell bar, these guys were probably mowing down tens of thousands a day with tanks and airstrikes.
So yeah, they probably had a mountain of Tier 1 and Tier 2 crystal cores. The only question was whether they’d already used them up.
If not, maybe Ethan could trade so Tier 4 or Tier 5 cores for a bulk batch of Tier 1s.
Eventually, they reached the compound’s main gate.
There was a steady flow of people coming and going, forming loose lines. Entry didn’t seem restricted, but everyone had to check in.
Multiple lanes were open, with folding tables set up near the gate. Ard guards were stationed at each one, checking IDs and logging arrivals.
As they got closer, they could hear familiar chatter from the people in line.
"Yo, Hank! You guys bag any zombies out there? Find any supplies?"
"Heh, not bad. Got a little sothing."
"Hey, isn’t that Captain Stone? Your squad’s one of the heavy hitters, right? Bet you cleaned up this ti."
"Eh, not bad," Captain Stone said with a grin. "Just one Tier 6 crystal core and a few dozen Tier 5s."
That drew a wave of envious stares from the people nearby.
"I heard Captain Stone got crazy lucky," soone whispered. "Ran into a Tier 6 zombie that was half-dead from a shell blast. His team finished it off, and that’s how he evolved into a Tier 6 Enhanced."
"Yeah, I heard that too. Man, so people just have all the luck. If I had that kind of break..."
"Right? Ever since he hit Tier 6, his squad’s been growing like crazy. Outside the military, there’s maybe only a handful of teams in the whole compound that can outmatch him."
"Still, luck’s a kind of strength too. No point being jealous."
Captain Stone clearly enjoyed the attention, flashing a bright smile as he soaked it all in.
Ethan listened quietly, piecing together a rough picture of how things worked here.
From the sound of it, the compound really was military-run—and the way they managed it was surprisingly reasonable.
Even scavengers who got lucky weren’t punished or shaken down. Whoever was in charge knew how to balance control with freedom.
"Finally, a compound that actually works," Ethan said with a smile.
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