Chapter 1236: The Name That Terrified Atlas City

Capítulo 1236: The Name That Terrified Atlas City

The next day, people started filing out of Atlas City one after another, heading back to their own compounds.

In the apocalypse, the situation could flip overnight. Nobody wanted to stay away too long when their home base could get hit at any moment. A lot of people, the second they’d traded for crystal cores, were already itching to leave.

Of course, some people were genuinely interested in the Void Realm near Atlas City’s compound and wanted to stick around to take a look.

Even knowing it had already been picked clean, a space like that—something they’d never seen before—still pulled at people’s curiosity.

Ethan and his group were getting ready to leave Atlas City’s compound too. They were going to the Void Realm Grace and the others had run into.

Ethan was taking that place seriously.

From what Grace’s group had said last night, this Void Realm was different from the ones they’d encountered before.

There weren’t any treasures inside. No other living creatures either. Just a Celestial Stairway that climbed upward—higher you went, the more benefits you got.

That alone was enough to hook everyone. They had to see it for themselves.

But before that, Ethan needed to swing by Fallen Star City. He had a bunch of stuff to bring back, especially that laser cannon. The thing took up way too much space—he needed it out of his inventory as soon as possible.

Early that morning, Ethan left Atlas City’s compound with Garrick.

He brought Garrick along because there was one more thing he needed to grab.

And that thing was the skeleton buried under Atlas City’s Void Realm.

Before, they hadn’t had any way to deal with it. But now they had Dopey. With Dopey’s strength, smashing that skeleton apart shouldn’t be a problem.

If they could break it down, those bones would be ready-made weapons. A skeleton that huge could arm thousands of people.

The two of them made their way to the Void Realm entrance like they’d been there a hundred times.

The guards at the entrance didn’t even dare lift their heads. They just let the two of them pass.

Last time, Garrick had only restored the top nine feet of earth, so digging down again was a lot easier.

Before long, they were back in that underground space beneath the Void Realm.

Ethan released Dopey, then handed him the poleaxe and pointed him toward the massive skeleton ahead.

Dopey didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the poleaxe, launched himself up, and started hacking.

Then, right in front of their stunned eyes, the skeleton—the one they’d thrown everything they had at without leaving so much as a scratch—collapsed under Dopey’s strikes, chopped into chunks that clattered across the ground.

“So it’s not that the weapon wasn’t good enough,” Ethan muttered, half laughing at himself. “It’s that we weren’t.”

Same poleaxe. When Ethan swung it, it didn’t even leave a mark. Dopey, barely trying, turned the thing into pieces.

It said a lot about how terrifying Dopey’s strength really was—on a completely different level from any of them.

“Captain,” Garrick said, eyes bright with a sudden idea, “if Dopey’s this strong, should we take him to that Void Realm by Clearford City and kill that scary mutant beast you saw last time?”

Ethan’s expression flickered with temptation.

But the memory of that moment made his scalp tighten, and he shook his head hard.

“No. That thing is way too terrifying. Even if Dopey can hold it off, we can’t.”

Back then, that mutant beast had only looked at him from far away, and he’d been seriously injured. If he faced it head-on… he didn’t even want to imagine what would happen.

Dopey had to be in the same space as him. If Ethan wanted Dopey to deal with that thing, Ethan would have to enter that Void Realm too—and that was just asking to die.

If they were going to make a move on that monster, it would have to wait until Ethan’s strength came up—at least to the point where he could survive a single hit.

“Leave it alone for now,” Ethan said. “It hasn’t come out causing trouble. There’s no reason for us to go provoke it.”

“…Alright.” Garrick nodded.

Before long, Dopey had completely dismantled the skeleton.

Ethan hurried to pack the scattered bones into his spatial storage ring.

To make everything fit, he even had to take a few items out first.

No choice—the ring was stuffed to the brim already.

As for the pillars, Ethan could only give them up for now. There was just no room.

The iron chains wrapped around the pillars, though—Dopey tore those down and stuffed them into the storage ring as well.

Once they were done, the two of them climbed out of the underground world beneath the Void Realm. Garrick used his earth-type ability again, restoring the ground like it had never been disturbed.

After they came out of the Void Realm, the two of them climbed onto Peregrine Falcon Flint and took off toward Fallen Star City.

Out of all their flying mounts, Flint was the fastest, so Ethan usually picked him.

Meanwhile, inside Fallen Star City…

Miles looked down at Harris, thoughtful. “So you’re saying Stonebridge City’s compound is trying to absorb our people?”

“Yeah.” Harris nodded. “The last couple days we’ve been clearing zombies around Stonebridge City. Today a group from Stonebridge City’s compound came looking for us. They demanded we join them—said they’re government-backed, that joining the government is the only ‘legitimate’ path. They even tried to turn our guys.”

“And what did you do?” Miles asked.

“We didn’t bother with them,” Harris said.

Miles’s mouth twitched. He looked like he wanted to smack someone.

“They’re digging a tunnel under our wall right in front of Fallen Star City and you didn’t kill them?”

“Uh…” Harris hesitated. “From what we found, Stonebridge City’s compound really is built and run by the government. And it’s a large compound—close to three hundred thousand people. If we just flip the table on them… that might not be a great idea.”

“Afraid of what?” Miles snapped. “Listen. You’re Fallen Star City people. Stand up straight. Anyone who messes with you, you kill them—end of story. I don’t care if it’s a large compound. Even if it’s a major compound—if they dare set their sights on Fallen Star City, we kill them anyway.”

“Yes!” Harris straightened, the answer coming out sharp.

Miles nodded. “Good. Since you’re Fallen Star City, don’t embarrass us when you’re out there. You all know Commander Ethan and the Fallen Star Squad are always out in the field—but do you have any idea how much weight they carry outside?”

“I… don’t,” Harris admitted, shaking his head. But his eyes were burning with curiosity.

Miles smiled.

“Let me put it this way. You know the Five Great Families of Atlas City?”

“Yeah. Before the apocalypse, they were basically the overlords of Atlas City.”

“Right. After the apocalypse, those five families jointly ran Atlas City’s compound. But one of them crossed Ethan, and just like that? Five became four. Ethan and his people are still living it up in Atlas City’s compound. Now you get it—how much presence the Commander has out there.”

Harris froze.

His eyes went wide, and the shock just stayed on his face like it didn’t know how to leave.

They’d always known Ethan’s group was strong, but he’d never imagined strong like this.

Wiping out one of Atlas City’s top families inside their own compound—what kind of dominance was that?

And the craziest part was Atlas City couldn’t even do anything about it. Just thinking about it made his blood heat up.

“Deputy Commander,” Harris said, voice tight with resolve, “we know what to do now.”

“Good.” Miles’s gaze hardened. “I want to build a team that’s strong—not just in power, but in mindset. Right now, you still can’t really help Ethan and the others. But I want the day to come when you can stand behind them—be the city’s toughest backbone.”

“Don’t worry, Deputy Commander!” Harris said immediately. “The Fallen Star Guard is leveling up like crazy. I believe that day isn’t far!”

Miles nodded once, firm. “Mm. I believe in you.”