Chapter 1242: Because My Fists Are Bigger

Ethan and the others pushed hard and, after three straight days, finally reached the county where Grace’s compound was located.

Three days for twelve hundred-plus miles. Aside from eating and sleeping, they’d basically been moving nonstop.

Along the way, Ethan was the only one who occasionally bothered to fight. The rest of them barely lifted a finger.

With Ethan around, getting surrounded by zombies was almost impossible. Whenever they ran into a large horde, Ethan would spot it early and lead everyone around it.

In those few days, Ethan still killed dozens of Tier 9 zombies and seven Tier 10s—without even actively hunting. They were just the ones he happened to run into.

Which said a lot: Tier 9 and Tier 10 zombies were getting common.

And the zombie groups they saw now? You could barely find anything under Tier 6. Almost all of them were Tier 6 and above. If Atlas City hadn’t just synthesized crystal cores for all the major compounds and boosted their mid- and high-level fighters, very few compounds would be able to withstand hordes like this.

They passed through plenty of cities on the way. Most had no trace of humans left—just zombie territory. Only a handful still had compounds standing.

Grace’s compound had fewer than a hundred thousand people. Like Fallen Star City, they’d cleared all the zombies within the county’s range first, then settled in and developed in relative safety.

But unlike Fallen Star City, they didn’t keep pushing outward to sweep surrounding areas. They kept their heads down and focused on stable growth.

As for the Void Realm... because she was afraid the news would leak, Grace hadn’t told anyone in the compound. Only the four of them had gone in.

It was also because of the Void Realm that the four women had grown so much stronger than everyone else inside the compound—strong enough to keep things under control.

Otherwise? Four girls running a compound? Who would actually listen?

The moment Grace and the others returned, people came out to greet them.

"Grace, you’re back!" A handsome young man led a group over at once.

"Yeah." Grace looked him over. "Everything stable while I was gone? No trouble inside the compound?"

The man was

Jared Brooks

. Because he was capable, Grace had personally promoted him to

Compound Manager

, putting him in charge of day-to-day operations. Aside from the four women themselves, his status in the compound was the highest.

"With me here, what trouble could there be?" Jared said with a smile.

"Good." Grace exhaled. "Let’s go in. We’ve been on the road for days. I’m dead."

"Sure." Jared’s gaze slid to Ethan’s group. "And these are...?"

"My friends," Grace said. "Arrange better accommodations for them tonight."

"Oh. Of course."

They entered the compound. People inside greeted Grace one after another, and at the same time couldn’t help stealing curious looks at Ethan and the rest.

Ethan’s group was also quietly taking everything in.

Overall, Grace’s place was a standard, by-the-book small compound.

The footprint wasn’t huge. Population was around seventy thousand. The facilities were decent, and they had farmland and vegetable plots—enough that people weren’t going hungry.

Management seemed solid too. At least, the residents looked satisfied with their current lives. Most people had color in their faces, healthy and well-fed.

The people they passed were friendly enough.

Only Jared, walking alongside them, kept shooting Ethan’s group guarded looks—like he was weighing them.

They arrived at a mansion inside the compound. Grace immediately sent Jared off to have the kitchen prepare food.

"Ethan, sit wherever," Grace said, gesturing toward the couches in the living room. "Make yourselves at home."

"Okay." Ethan nodded and took a seat.

Vivian spoke up, glancing around. "Grace, if you ever get hit by a million-zombie tide, this compound won’t hold."

Grace didn’t even flinch. "I know. But we have a fallback. If a million-class horde shows up, I’ll take everyone into the Void Realm."

"That might solve the immediate crisis," Vivian said, "but it’s not a long-term plan. If there’s no food in the Void Realm, you’ll still starve eventually."

Grace’s eyes narrowed slightly. "So what are you suggesting?"

Vivian didn’t dance around it. "I just took over Deepwater City Compound. It’s got over six hundred thousand people—already a large compound. If you don’t mind, bring your people and merge into ours. Together, our odds of survival are a lot better."

"This..." Grace hesitated.

She and Vivian had gotten along fine on the road, and they’d both escaped from the same university back then—but asking her to bring her people and fold into Vivian’s compound...

Grace didn’t like it.

She had pride too. And she didn’t want to live under someone else’s roof.

"You two don’t need to debate it," Ethan cut in suddenly. "When this is over, you’re all merging into Fallen Star City."

Vivian and Grace both froze, then turned to stare at him, stunned.

"Why the hell should we?" Vivian snapped.

"Because my fists are bigger." Ethan’s tone left no room for argument. "Once we’re done here, you’ll arrange for your people to move under Fallen Star City. That’s it."

"You...!"

Vivian’s face flushed with anger. "How can you be this overbearing?"

Off to the side, Chloe looked like her eyes had turned into stars. She clasped her hands, completely lovestruck. "Ethan is so manly..."

"Chloe, I’m manly too," Big Mike said, sliding in beside her.

She gave him a once-over, unimpressed. "You’re not even close to your captain."

"..."

Henry cleared his throat and jumped in before Vivian could blow up again. "Vivian, just listen to Ethan. Even if you’re a large compound, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to survive the apocalypse."

He spoke calmly, but the warning underneath was sharp. "Right now the highest zombies we’ve seen are only Tier 10. But if Tier 11 shows up—or even Stage C zombies—who knows what things will look like? Fallen Star City is the safest option, period."

"I’ll think about it," Vivian said, visibly torn.

She’d always been competitive. Stubborn. The type who never believed she had to lose to any man. She’d been determined to carve out her own territory in the apocalypse by sheer effort and grit.

But Ethan was... Ethan.

So strong and so domineering that arguing with him felt like throwing punches at a mountain.

And sure—Henry might’ve been exaggerating a little. Zombies were getting culled fast every day. Even if a Tier 11 or Stage C Zombie King appeared, it probably wouldn’t be able to gather

that

many zombies.

But the truth was, nobody had seen something like that yet. Nobody knew what abilities zombies at that level might have.

What if a monster like that could summon every zombie within hundreds of miles?

When that day came, could any "large compound" really hold?

As for Fallen Star City being safer... Vivian didn’t doubt that for a second.

She’d already accepted what the Fallen Star Squad was capable of.

Then Grace spoke up first, cutting through the tension.

"I agree," she said quietly. "We’ll merge into Fallen Star City."

Vivian blinked. "Grace..."

Right then, Jared returned from the kitchen—and just happened to catch that last line. His expression twisted in confusion.

"Grace, what are you talking about?" he demanded. "Merging into Fallen Star City? What merging?"

Grace met his eyes head-on. "I’m planning to merge our compound into Ethan’s."

"What?" Jared’s voice jumped. "No."

He frowned hard. "I don’t agree. Our compound’s doing fine. Why would we merge into someone else’s compound?"

Grace’s voice went cold. "I built this compound. What I choose to do with it is my business. You don’t get to ’not agree.’"

Jared’s jaw tightened. "Maybe you founded it, but everything it’s become was built by everyone’s hard work. You just saying ’we’re merging’—did you ask what everyone wants?"

Grace’s eyes narrowed, the temperature in the room dropping another notch. "So what—now that I’m the leader, I can’t even make this kind of decision?"

"I’m not saying you can’t decide," Jared said, holding his ground. "I’m saying you should at least discuss it with people first."

"Fine." Grace’s tone was clipped. "I got it. I’ll tell everyone. Now leave."

"I—"

"Leave."

"...Yes." Jared bit the word out and backed off.