Chapter 451: Better tread carefully

This battle turned out to be the bloodiest one yet for Ethan’s crew. His guys took more hits than ever before. Even Little Shadow got slashed across the shoulder, and Big Ears—well, his ears now had two massive bite marks in them.

But none of them were seriously hurt.

Only Laura.

She was the worst off.

Ethan walked toward her slowly.

As he moved, memories surfaced—he couldn’t help but think back to the first time Laura cried. It was right after she’d joined him. She was starving, and he’d fed her the corpse of a low-level thug. That was the first time she broke down.

Now, standing in front of her again, hearing her sobs, Ethan stayed silent for a long time. Finally, after a heavy pause, he asked quietly:

“Who did this?”

“It was Slade, leader of the Black Hand Legion,” Mia answered from behind. “They had an S+ grade Cyborg and two S-grade Awakeners. We almost had them, but they got away in the end.”

“Oh…” Ethan responded with a calm nod, his face unreadable. No one could tell what was going through his mind.

Mia watched him carefully, remembering Slade’s twisted, ugly face.

Yeah… that bastard was probably screwed now.

Around them, the other Zombie Kings—Bulldozer and the rest—were fuming.

“Boss, we gotta get revenge for Laura!”

“Yeah,” Ethan said, eyes fixed on the horizon. “We will. Once we regroup, we’re gonna steamroll Blackhand City. Wipe the Black Hand Legion off the map.”

The Zombie Kings around him lit up with excitement. That was their boss—never let the dead down.

This wasn’t just about a lost arm. This was blood for blood. The humans were gonna pay, and pay hard.

“But… what about Queen Laura’s arm?” Lil’ Shroom asked in her usual dazed, innocent tone. “She lost it… what do we do now?”

Losing an arm was a huge blow to her combat ability.

“I don’t know…” Ethan shook his head. He didn’t have a solution. Sure, he was powerful, but regrowing limbs? That was beyond even him.

Maybe someday, he’d find a way to rebuild her body. But for now, they were stuck.

Just then, PhD strolled over, calm and collected, his eyes bright and clear.

“I might have an idea,” he said.

“Oh?” Ethan raised an eyebrow. Bulldozer and the other Zombie Kings all turned to look at him.

“What kind of idea?”

PhD didn’t answer right away. Instead, he pointed with his thumb toward a massive building on the right side of the street.

At the top of the building, a red “GB” logo gleamed in the sunlight—Genesis Biotech. One of their branch labs, recently taken down by Nightbane.

“How about… we rebuild her?” PhD said, voice low and serious.

Ethan and the others froze for a second. That… was a direction none of them had considered.

But the more they thought about it, the more it made sense. Genesis Biotech had been modifying humans—why not zombies? Zombies had insane vitality and adaptability. If anything, they were better candidates.

A cybernetic zombie… could that actually work?

In the corner, Laura had stopped crying. She slowly lifted her head, her expression uncertain.

“Is that… really possible?”

“Let’s give it a shot,” PhD said, thinking it through. He was only planning to install a mechanical arm. Even if it failed, no big loss. Might as well try.

Laura stood up. Her lone arm hung at her side, but her posture was steady. Without a word, she followed PhD into the Genesis Biotech lab…

…

Meanwhile, Ethan and the rest of his crew got to work cleaning up the battlefield.

This was their favorite part.

First, they collected the S-grade crystal core from Deathspeaker Falseword. Then came the cores from Hellhound and Daisy.

Those two Zombie Kings had fought hard, but by the end, they were barely hanging on. When they realized the Ritual Array was a fake—that everything they’d been protecting with their lives was a lie—it broke them.

When Nightbane said his final goodbye to this world, the two of them took their own lives, choosing to follow their leader into the unknown.

Maybe they’d crossed into another world, still fighting, still conquering…

Ethan pulled out Daisy’s crystal core—and to his surprise, it was a soft pink, laced with flecks of pollen and shimmering starlight. Under the night sky, it glowed with a mesmerizing, almost ethereal beauty.

He already had a plan for it.

Daisy had created a Zombie Cultivation Ground that was practically a human trap on steroids. If he could raise another mutant Zombie King like her, it’d be a game-changer.

And the first ones to enjoy that little surprise? The Black Hand Legion.

Ethan held the crystal core in his palm, scanning the crowd. His eyes quickly locked onto one of the elite female zombies in his squad. Her eyes were sharp, alert—not the usual dull stare. She’d clearly evolved a high level of intelligence.

Smart. Capable. Perfect for this.

“You. Come here.”

“M-Me?” she blinked, stunned.

She knew exactly what this meant. She’d seen it happen before—Sprout, Lil’ Shroom—how they’d fused with cores and evolved into fusion-type Zombie Kings. She’d been low-key jealous ever since.

“Is this my lucky break? Did I just hit the jackpot?” Her eyes lit up, and she rushed forward without hesitation.

Ethan didn’t waste time. With a flick of his wrist, he pressed the crystal core into her forehead.

Seconds passed.

Then, just like before, the fusion began.

“GRAAAHHH—!” Her roar split the night sky.

Her body cracked and shifted, her aura transforming. A tiny green sprout burst from the top of her head, quickly blooming into a delicate pink flower. It swayed gently, glowing faintly in the dark.

Her energy stabilized, stronger than before.

“Boss, I did it. I fused successfully.”

“Mm.” Ethan gave her a once-over, nodding in approval. That flower on her head? Yeah… she was definitely giving off Daisy vibes.

“You gonna give me a name now?” she asked, clearly familiar with the process. She’d been with Ethan long enough to know how he rolled when it came to naming. She was probably expecting something like “Little Flower” or “Petal.”

Ethan stared at her for a moment, sizing her up. She really did resemble the original Daisy—about seventy percent, at least.

“Alright… you’ll be called Daisy 2.0.”

“Pfft!” One of the zombie underlings nearly choked on his own blood.

Seriously?

Only the boss could come up with something like that. They’d all braced themselves for a weird name, but this? This was next-level.

“Boss, uh… Daisy 2.0 kinda makes me sound like a knockoff. Like I’m just a replacement or something. How about… Petal instead?”

“Sure,” Ethan shrugged. “Petal it is. That’ll be your nickname.”

“Awesome!” Petal’s eyes sparkled as she nodded excitedly.

And just like that, Ethan’s lair welcomed its eighth Zombie King—Daisy 2.0, a.k.a. Petal.

…

With that handled, Ethan turned to something else that had been nagging at him.

He flipped his hand, and the Star Map stone tablet appeared. Three Radiant Crystals were already embedded in it, but one slot remained empty. That gap had been bothering him for a while.

“Finally… I can stop twitching every time I look at this thing.”

In his other hand, he held two freshly acquired Radiant Crystals. They glowed with a soft, radiant light, their warm white hues blending together in a gentle shimmer.

One of the crystals began to float, drawn by some unseen force. It hovered over the empty slot on the tablet—then dropped in.

BOOM!

The air around them rippled violently as a surge of energy exploded outward.

The Radiant Crystal locked perfectly into place.

The runes on the stone tablet lit up one by one, pulsing with power. The whole thing now radiated a strange, potent energy—something ancient, something… otherworldly.

Ethan watched in silence, deep in thought.

Both Nightbane and Mia had warned him—this tablet wasn’t something to mess with lightly.

“Yeah… better tread carefully. Last thing I need is to walk straight into some half-baked scam.”

…