Crownfall City Compound...

As the largest compound in the northwest of the Atlas Federation, Crownfall City’s population had already climbed past two million.

The compound sprawled across a massive area. Infrastructure was back online. Daily life had stabilized to the point that, inside the walls, it almost felt like the apocalypse had never happened.

Right now, in an office near the compound’s center, the compound’s top administrator—Edmund Fletcher—was leaning back with a cocktail in hand, music playing softly in the background.

Then hurried knocking exploded against his door.

Edmund’s brow creased. "Come in."

A young man rushed inside, face pale and frantic. "Commander! Something terrible happened!"

"Stop freaking out every time you breathe," Edmund said, taking another slow sip. "Talk. What is it?"

"Ridgegate City—there’s a zombie tide, around two million strong, and it’s coming straight for our compound!"

CRACK—!

The glass in Edmund’s hand shattered.

He shot to his feet so fast the chair scraped. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. The front line just sent it in!"

Edmund’s face tightened. "The zombies already lost their intelligence. How does a two-million zombie tide even happen?"

"We don’t know. But it might be... a Zombie King. One that regained intelligence."

That landed like a punch.

Edmund’s expression turned completely grim. "How far?"

"About one hundred thirty miles."

Edmund drew a deep breath, forcing the panic down.

"Notify every senior manager. Emergency meeting—now."

"Also—recall every Enhanced team outside the walls. Full city lockdown."

"And contact the other major compounds. Request immediate support."

"Yes, Commander!"

Atlas City Compound...

Thanks to the ten thousand Tier 19 crystal cores Ethan had given them last time, Atlas City’s compound had been on a rocket-powered climb.

That strength spike triggered a chain reaction: faster zombie clears, more high-tier cores coming in, and the compound’s overall power snowballing upward.

On top of that, the research center’s latest breakthrough in crystal-core synthesis pushed Atlas City up another notch—giving them the ability to stabilize and steer the Atlas Federation’s overall situation again.

Of course...

Fallen Star City was the one exception.

At this moment, deep in the compound’s center, inside the Atlas City Command Center, Maxwell and a group of Atlas Federation top brass were holding an emergency meeting.

The atmosphere was lead-heavy. Every face was drawn tight.

Maxwell spoke first, voice low. "The satellite control center just finished compiling the newest numbers. The zombie tide has already broken four million—and it’s still growing."

Gabriel’s expression was dark. "Then it’s not just a Zombie King regaining intelligence. It probably awakened a special ability too. That level of control... it’s excessive."

He looked around the room. "At this rate, by the time it reaches Crownfall City Compound, it could hit eight million."

"Eight million..."

The room went dead quiet.

It felt like a boulder had been dropped onto everyone’s chest.

Charles finally spoke, voice rough. "If that’s the case... Crownfall can’t hold. Tell Edmund to evacuate."

"Evacuate..." Maxwell’s jaw tightened. "Two million people. You make it sound like moving a file from one folder to another."

He shook his head. "And Crownfall is far from the other compounds. Even if they try, at least half won’t make it."

Everyone knew why.

The compounds had been boosting strength like crazy lately—but that strength was concentrated in a minority of combat personnel. Most non-combatants were still weak.

They had to be. Crystal cores weren’t infinite. You couldn’t raise everyone, not even in Fallen Star City—there, too, upgrades happened in batches.

So if Crownfall tried to run...

Those weaker civilians would turn into food.

And a few million people moving at once was like lighting a bonfire in the dark. Even if zombies had no intelligence, they’d still swarm from every direction.

At that point, survival rates would be ugly. Maybe nonexistent.

"We can’t retreat," Gabriel said suddenly, tone hard enough to cut. "We have to hold."

"Why?" several people demanded at once, turning toward him.

Gabriel’s eyes were steady. "Even if they can escape, then what? We just... let this tide go?"

"This horde hit four million in just a few days. If we ignore it, it’ll be ten million before you can blink."

He leaned forward. "Then it rolls forward and flattens everything in its path. Every compound gets hit."

His voice dropped. "Are we really going to play whack-a-mole with evacuation? It reaches one compound, that compound abandons the city. Then the next. Then the next."

He looked around the table. "If we do that, we won’t need Void Realm creatures to wipe us out. We’ll collapse on our own first."

"...."

No one answered right away.

But the silence wasn’t agreement.

It was everyone realizing how bad the options really were.

"Gabriel’s right," Maxwell said, decision made in an instant. "We have to fight this. No matter how hard it is—we fight."

He looked up, voice snapping through the room.

"Notify every major compound. Send your strongest teams. Full speed to Crownfall City Compound. We hold Crownfall at all costs!"

"Yes!"

"Atlas City Compound—Task Force Fang and every other special operations unit, deploy immediately. Fastest route to Crownfall City!"

"Yes!"

Orders rolled out one after another. Within minutes, the entire Atlas Federation was in motion.

Everyone understood the reality: if Crownfall City Compound fell, the zombie tide wouldn’t stop. It would keep rolling forward, swelling with every city it swallowed—until, sooner or later, it arrived at their gates.

So this battle at Crownfall wasn’t just about Crownfall.

It was about every compound in the Atlas Federation.

And in that moment, Atlas showed that unique kind of cohesion—something that felt less like policy and more like a national instinct.

Back in the Atlas City Command Center, even after issuing his orders, Maxwell’s expression didn’t loosen by even a fraction.

Right now, the average zombie was still stronger than most Enhanced.

Zombies had no intelligence, which meant Enhanced could exploit numbers—surround them, grind them down, win through coordination.

But once zombies had command... the whole equation changed.

An eight-million zombie tide at current tier levels?

Even if every major compound pooled their Enhanced, it still wasn’t guaranteed they could stop it.

And some compounds were too far. They might not make it in time at all.

"General Kane," Gabriel said, tone steady but urgent, "you should call Fallen Star City’s Deputy Commander Miles. Whether we can hold this line... depends on Fallen Star City."

Other compounds could be contacted by staff.

But Fallen Star City? That call had to come from Maxwell himself.

Maxwell nodded and pulled out the satellite phone. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Charles frowned. "But Ethan took the Fallen Star Squad and the Fallen Star Guard with him. Can Fallen Star City even field anything worth sending?"

"Never underestimate Fallen Star City," Maxwell said flatly. "What they can ’casually’ put on the table is beyond what the rest of us can imagine."

He dialed.

It rang once... twice... then connected.

Miles’s voice came through, clean and direct. "General Kane. What’s going on?"

No small talk. Miles didn’t do pointless calls, and he knew Maxwell didn’t either.

"Miles, we’ve got a situation. Ethan’s not in the country, so I’m contacting you," Maxwell said.

"Understood. Go ahead."

"It’s like this..." Maxwell laid it out—Ridgegate, the tide, the growth rate, Crownfall’s odds, the federation-wide mobilization.

He finished and waited for the reaction.

It didn’t come.

On the other end, Miles sounded... calm. Almost bored.

"That’s it?"

Maxwell and the others exchanged looks.

Miles continued, like he was scheduling maintenance. "Alright. I’ll send some people over."

The room stayed quiet for a beat.

Then someone murmured, half awed, half bitter, "Deputy Commander of Fallen Star City... the guy actually running that compound. Even the way he talks is different."