Chapter 1353: Ava, the Winged Thrall

With last time’s experience under his belt, the second round of thrall-making went a lot smoother.

A full day later, Ethan finished refining the Winged Clan woman into a thrall and gave her a name:

Ava

.

The arrogance from before was gone—wiped clean. In its place was the same blank, vacant stare Dopey wore, like the lights were on but nobody was home.

Ava had been noticeably stronger than Rocky even when she was alive. She’d clearly been stuck at peak Tier 29 for a long time, hovering right on the edge of Stage S.

Now that she’d been made into a thrall, she wasn’t weaker than Stage S at all. The only possible gap was whatever special reinforcement came from truly stepping into Tier 29.

But thralls didn’t feel pain. Their bodies were tougher too. In a real fight, it wasn’t even obvious who’d come out on top.

Ethan ran his hands over Ava’s body from head to toe, checking everything, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Yeah. Good feel."

He put both soulless thralls away into his spatial storage ring and walked out of the basement.

Chris and the others were already waiting.

"Boss—how’d it go?" Chris asked immediately. "Did it work?"

"Of course," Ethan said, smiling.

Big Mike rubbed his hands together, eyes shining. "Boss, let me see her. Let me, uh... squeeze her a little. I wanna know what’s different about thralls compared to normal people."

"In your dreams." Ethan shut him down without mercy. "Don’t act like I don’t know what you’re thinking."

They headed over to Miles’s office together.

Miles was in the middle of sketching something on paper. When he saw them come in, he finally set his work aside.

"Captain," he asked, "done?"

"Yep." Ethan dropped into a more relaxed tone. "Once you’ve done it once, the rest is straightforward."

Then Ethan’s expression sharpened again. "Miles, study the thrall-creation process too. Next time I catch a high-tier Void Realm creature, you’ll be the one to make it. You need a few cards in your hand."

"I’m not in a rush," Miles said, shaking his head. "I’m in Fallen Star City. I don’t have to face the strongest enemies personally. If I keep them, it’s a waste. You guys out there need the trump cards more."

"I’d love more," Ethan said, blunt as always, "but making these things damages the body. And thralls don’t have minds—you have to command them directly. One person can’t control too many."

He held up fingers as he spoke. "If you want thralls to actually fight at full strength, three is probably the limit. Any more and you can’t manage them properly."

"I’ve got two now. I’m not desperate for a third. But you? You need something that can keep people honest."

Ethan leaned back slightly. "The Fallen Star Guard guys are basically at your level already. I’m not saying they’d betray you—but you’re my right-hand man. You need a hard method if something ever goes sideways."

Miles hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. I’ll research it seriously."

"Good." Ethan paused. "So—while we were gone, anything major happen?"

"Yes," Miles said immediately.

"A few days ago, Crownfall City Compound got hit by a zombie siege. An eight-million zombie tide."

"Eight million?" Ethan’s brows shot up. "So the zombies have already started producing something intelligent?"

"Seems like it," Miles said.

He continued, "All the major compounds sent aid. I dispatched the Fallen Star Corps as well. In the end, the tide was completely wiped out."

"But," Miles added, voice turning more analytical, "I suspect the intelligent Zombie King escaped."

Ethan didn’t interrupt, just listened.

Miles tapped the desk lightly. "None of the zombies ran. They fought to the last one, still attacking like rabid animals. That doesn’t make sense. If the Zombie King was truly intelligent, once it realized it couldn’t win, it should’ve withdrawn the horde."

"But they didn’t."

"So I believe the Zombie King left early—and ordered the horde to keep attacking."

His eyes narrowed. "It clearly didn’t care about sacrificing its subordinates. This was probably a probe. A test to measure human strength."

Ethan nodded slowly. "So it’s stockpiling strength somewhere right now... and next time it comes back, it’ll swing for the fences?"

"Very likely," Miles said, tone heavy. "Next time could be tens of millions. Or even a hundred million."

Ethan waved it off with easy confidence. "It’s fine. With the zombies’ current strength, they’re only a real threat to the other compounds. For Fallen Star City, it doesn’t matter how many show up."

"I know," Miles said, rubbing his temple. "But the Atlas Federation doesn’t have that many people left. We can’t just watch everyone die. And we’re far—every rescue becomes a logistical headache."

"True." Ethan’s mouth curved. "But I actually thought of a way to solve the zombie problem at the root."

Everyone looked at him at once.

"What way?" Chris asked.

Ethan leaned forward a little, eyes bright.

"Find the Zombie King," he said. "Then have

Skinny Pete

control it."

He let that hang for a beat.

"After that... the zombies won’t be our enemy anymore. They’ll be ours."

Ethan’s idea lit everyone up.

But Skinny Pete still looked uneasy. "Boss... my Beast Control is for mutant beasts. I’ve never tried controlling zombies. I don’t even know if it’ll work."

"I’ve looked at your ability," Ethan said. "You leave your mark on a mutant beast’s crystal core. Zombies have crystal cores too. Use the same method and test it."

He leaned back, eyes sharp.

"If it works, the zombie problem is basically solved. We can even have that Zombie King keep expanding its horde for us."

"And if it doesn’t..." Ethan’s voice dropped. "Then we kill the Zombie King and tell every compound to purge zombies as fast as possible."

A beat.

"I have a bad feeling the Void Realm gates opening everywhere isn’t far off."

"Alright," Miles said immediately. "We’ll do it your way. I’ll contact Atlas City and have them start searching for the Zombie King’s location."

Ethan nodded. "Do it."

Miles got Maxwell on the line fast.

After hearing the plan, Maxwell didn’t hesitate. He ordered the satellite control center to go all-in on tracking suspicious zombie activity.

Finding a single Zombie King inside hundreds of millions of zombies was obviously impossible. Satellites weren’t going to magically point and say,

that one’s the boss.

So they went for the next best thing: locate areas where massive zombie clusters were forming. That kind of movement pattern was a lot easier to catch.

After returning to Fallen Star City, Ethan’s group didn’t go "adventuring" again.

They trained.

The Rus Federation trip had made one thing painfully clear: there were still powerful Void Realm creatures on Earth, and their current Tiers weren’t enough. At the very least, they needed to reach Stage A first.

With massive energy crystals and a ritual circle, they could maintain peak training efficiency around the clock.

And it wasn’t just the Fallen Star Squad. Fallen Star Guard members living nearby benefited from the same environment.

Everyone threw themselves into it.

Eat. Train. Sleep. Train.

Repeat.

Atlas City soon identified a location where an enormous zombie force was gathering—highly suspicious, and very likely connected to a Zombie King.

Miles didn’t interrupt Ethan’s training right away. Instead, he dispatched a team of elite Fallen Star Corps members—strong fighters with sensory abilities—to investigate.

He needed confirmation before he pulled Ethan off his grind.

On the sixth day after Ethan’s group returned, a surge of breakthrough energy rolled out from the Fallen Star Squad’s training room.

Ethan—who’d been stuck at peak Tier 23 for a long time—finally broke through.

He stepped into

Stage A (Tier 24).