Chapter 471: Maybe we can talk this out...

Chapter 471: Maybe we can talk this out…

“Open fire!” Frank barked the order without hesitation.

Behind him, the Awakener squad from Genesis Biotech raised their Crystal Core Firearms in unison. A surge of elemental energy—fire, ice, lightning—burst forth in a dazzling barrage.

“Lights out…” Mist murmured, his body shrouded in swirling black smoke. A thick fog erupted from him, merging with the already dense darkness until it completely swallowed the sky.

In an instant, the Genesis Biotech Awakeners lost all visibility.

“Damn, it’s pitch black!”

“I can’t hit anything!”

“What the hell are we supposed to do now?!”

“…”

Their Crystal Core Firearms, once deadly accurate, now fired blindly into the void—shot after shot missing their mark.

Meanwhile, Fear and his zombie underlings, having recently gorged on fresh flesh, were at peak cellular activity. Their combat prowess was off the charts. Even when knocked down by stray blasts, they clawed their way back up and charged forward again.

From within the suffocating darkness, they surged like starving demons from hell.

“Hack them to pieces!”

With no other choice, the Awakeners ditched their firearms and drew titanium-alloy machetes, engaging the zombies in brutal close combat.

The battlefield descended into chaos—human screams, zombie snarls, the clash of steel and bone. The air was thick with the sounds of slaughter.

“Holy crap! These zombies are going full rebellion mode!”

Despite the chaos, Frank remained confident. His elite squad was made up of high-level Awakeners, each with a fully formed crystal core. The black fog didn’t scare them. And on top of that, they had Cyborg T-08 on their side.

Frank was sure they had the upper hand. Victory was just a matter of time.

“Lightning Field!”

Cyborg T-08 finally made his move. Lightning crackled in his palm as he slammed his fist into the ground. A web of electricity exploded outward, racing across the battlefield like a living storm.

The air sizzled with raw power. It looked like this one strike could wipe out everything in its path.

But as the electric net surged into the black fog, it vanished—like a stone dropped into the ocean. No impact. No explosion. Just… gone.

“What the hell?” Frank’s eyes widened in disbelief.

T-08 stood still, his eyes glowing green, scanning the darkness with machine precision.

“The lightning was deflected. There’s something stronger in there.”

“You serious?” Frank’s voice cracked. A chill ran down his spine.

Something stronger than T-08? What the hell could that be?

He and his lieutenant stared into the fog, tension thick in the air.

Then, a figure emerged.

A man in white stepped out of the darkness, slowly coming into view.

Frank’s face went pale. His jaw dropped. It was like his soul had just left his body.

“It’s him… The Zombie King of Los Angeles! No doubt about it—he’s really back!!!”

“F-Frank… it’s really him. What do we do now?” his lieutenant stammered, panic creeping into his voice.

There was no mistaking it. The man standing before them matched the classified files exactly—an SS-class apex predator. The most dangerous Zombie King in America. The monster who had slaughtered thousands of Awakeners.

Frank’s knees buckled. His teeth chattered.

“I told you we should’ve pulled out earlier, but no—you just had to push in. Now we’re screwed.”

“…You’re the one who insisted we go in,” the lieutenant muttered, his face twitching with frustration.

“But wait—those people from the shelter came in here too, and nothing happened to them. Why the hell are we the ones running into the Zombie King?”

“Yeah, where the hell did they go?” Frank spun around, scanning the darkness. But all he saw was black.

Leah and her group had slipped away the moment the fog rolled in. No one knew where they’d gone.

Cyborg T-08, however, remained calm. Fear wasn’t part of his programming. His mind was already calculating the optimal way to eliminate the threat standing before him—the Zombie King.

The green glow in T-08’s eyes never flickered, scanning the darkness with relentless precision.

“This is a psychic projection. No physical form. It’s fake.”

“Oh?” Frank and his lieutenant exchanged startled glances.

“Well, damn. You really are the real deal, fourth-gen Cyborg,” a calm voice said from their flank.

Ethan stepped out of the shadows, revealing his true self—much closer than the illusion had been.

He’d planned to use the projection as a distraction, then ambush them. But they’d seen through it.

“Holy crap!” Frank jumped, heart pounding. No wonder this guy was the Zombie King in the classified files—he was creepy as hell.

“Eight-Ball, take him out!” T-08’s onboard AI kicked into overdrive, calculating tens of thousands of attack permutations in a fraction of a second. It selected the one with the highest probability of success and initiated the strike.

Electric arcs danced wildly across his body like silver serpents. Lightning surged, wrapping him in a blinding aura.

Then—boom. He vanished in a flash, moving at lightning speed straight toward Ethan.

But just as he closed in—

Ethan unleashed his Domain of the Dead.

It hit like a tidal wave, flooding the battlefield in an instant.

T-08 was swallowed whole by the oppressive force. The pressure was immense. His liquid-metal exterior rippled like disturbed water, then began to dent and warp under the strain.

Still, his adamantium-alloy skeleton held firm. He pushed through, step by step, until he was right in front of Ethan. His palm lit up with crackling lightning as he raised it to strike.

But inside the Domain, his speed had plummeted.

To Ethan, he looked like he was moving in slow motion.

“Not bad. Physically, at least…” Ethan muttered.

With a flick of his wrist, he summoned the Star Map tablet. Without hesitation, he wound up and swung it like a bat.

BOOM!

The impact echoed like a thunderclap. T-08 was sent flying, his liquid-metal skin exploding in all directions. Even his internal alloy frame buckled and warped from the blow.

“Jesus Christ!” Frank and his lieutenant stared, eyes wide.

Genesis Biotech’s strongest weapon—swatted like a fly.

Sure, T-08 could put up a fight, but that’s all it was: a fight. He wasn’t winning this.

T-08 slowly pushed himself off the ground. His body was twisted and mangled, exposing the gleaming silver of his internal skeleton. The scattered liquid metal began to melt, flowing back toward him like mercury, crawling over his frame to patch up the damage.

“Regeneration’s not bad either…” Ethan noted silently, evaluating. This fourth-gen Cyborg’s overall combat rating was definitely above S+, maybe brushing up against SS-tier.

Not far off, Frank had seen enough. T-08 was strong, sure—but clearly no match for the Zombie King. And right now, while they were locked in battle, was the perfect time to bail.

“Let’s go. Now. Quietly. While they’re distracted.”

“Y-yeah,” his lieutenant nodded frantically.

They turned to sneak away, ready to ditch their squad and even T-08 if it meant saving their own asses.

But the moment they spun around—

Five figures stood in their path.

Leah. Nora. And the rest of the group.

Their expressions were cold, eyes sharp with fury as they stared Frank down.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Frank froze. His mouth opened, but no words came out. His gut twisted. Shit. We’re screwed.

Nora’s face was still twisted with rage. After everything they’d done to her and the others—beatings, humiliation—there was no way this was ending peacefully.

Leah’s voice was ice. “Didn’t you say earlier you had a reward for me?”

“Uh… I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Maybe we can talk this out—”

“I got my balls smashed by a damn headbutt! And you still wanna talk?!”

The guy who’d taken the headbutt earlier wasn’t waiting for negotiations. Ignoring the pain, he leapt forward, wound up, and slapped Frank across the face with a full-body swing.

SMACK!

Blood sprayed from Frank’s nose and mouth as he hit the ground hard.

Nora was right behind him, sprinting up and driving her foot straight into his crotch.

“Let’s see how you like busted balls!”

…