Outside the compound, the sea of zombies was closing in fast—dense, endless, and suffocating.

Inside, everyone was racing to power up.

On top of the wall, the members of the Fallen Star Squad stood in silence, eyes locked on the approaching horde. Their expressions were grim.

They weren't exactly confident about this fight either. The numbers were just too lopsided.

But they did have one major advantage: terrain.

Whoever built this compound had done their homework. The outer wall stood 18 feet tall and 3 feet thick, reinforced with stone and concrete—solid as hell.

Below the wall, a 17-foot-wide moat had been dug out. The water was over 6 feet deep.

Now, a moat like that wouldn't stop Tier 5 zombies—they could easily leap across that distance. But here's the clever part: there was no landing zone on the other side. The wall rose straight up from the edge of the moat.

Even Tier 5 zombies couldn't leap 17 feet across and then 18 feet straight up. So if they tried, they'd just slam into the wall and fall straight into the water.

And once they were in the moat? With no footing and six feet of water, they weren't getting back out.

So as long as they held the wall, the zombies wouldn't be able to swarm them easily.

At least, not the ones below Tier 6.

Unfortunately, the compound's heavy weapons had already been used up. If they still had machine guns, mowing down the horde from the wall would've been a breeze.

Now, they had to rely on Tier 6 Enhanced with ranged abilities to hold the line from above.

Thankfully, aside from the Fallen Star Squad, the compound still had four Tier 6 Enhanced.

There used to be five, but one of them had refused to follow orders—Miles had taken care of that. The remaining four had gotten the message and fallen in line.

Add in Tyler and Jacob, both Tier 6 Awakened, and that made six Tier 6s total.

Still not enough.

Miles was already thinking about boosting a few more.

He had over twenty Tier 6 crystal cores left—leftovers from the Fallen Star Squad's own advancement. Now that the whole squad was Tier 7, they didn't need them anymore.

The problem was, Miles had only just taken over the compound. He didn't know who was worth investing in yet. Tier 6 wasn't like Tier 5—you had to be careful.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Miles wasn't the type to drag his feet. He quickly called over a dozen Enhanced who were at the peak of Tier 5.

These were people he'd gotten a good read on—decent character, solid potential.

He handed each of them a Tier 6 crystal core. No oaths, no promises. Just a quiet, "Do your best."

The moment they held the cores, their hands started shaking. None of them had expected this kind of miracle to fall into their laps.

They bowed deeply to Miles, voices trembling with gratitude, swearing loyalty on the spot.

Miles didn't put much stock in words. He trusted his own instincts. And if he wasn't sure about someone, he'd have Skinny Pete use [Enthrallment] to peek into their hearts.

That's why every person under his command was someone he could control.

The dozen Enhanced sat down immediately and began swallowing the crystal cores, starting their breakthrough.

Everyone else watched with wide eyes, full of envy.

But along with the envy came something else—hope.

If these people could get Tier 6 cores, maybe one day they could too.

That thought alone lit a fire in their chests.

As long as they worked hard and proved their loyalty, maybe—just maybe—they'd get their shot.

While the compound's Enhanced were frantically leveling up, the zombie horde finally reached the far side of the moat.

There was a single bridge—or more accurately, a road—that crossed it.

The moat had been dug out around the compound, but the area directly in front of the main gate had been left untouched, forming a 10-foot-wide path straight to the entrance.

Now, the zombies were surging onto that path, trampling over each other in their frenzy to reach the compound.

The scent of thousands of humans inside had driven them into a frenzy.

"Big Mike, Miles, Tyler, Jacob—you four take the other Tier 6s with ranged skills and hit them from the wall. Everyone else, with me—we're blocking that road!"

Ethan didn't wait for a response. He leapt straight off the wall.

The rest followed without hesitation.

A squad of Enhanced hit the ground running, charging straight toward the bridge.

And just like that, the two sides collided.

Ethan swung his rebar staff in a wide arc—crack! The skull of the zombie in front of him exploded like a melon, spraying gore in every direction.

The others weren't far behind. One by one, they joined the fray, their rebar weapons cleaving through the undead with brutal efficiency. With Tier 7 strength behind each swing, the steel rods became unstoppable wrecking tools.

The 10-foot-wide path leading to the gate could only fit so many zombies at once, which limited the pressure from the front. But Tier 5 zombies weren't content to wait their turn—they started leaping across the moat, aiming straight for the top of the wall.

Too bad for them, just like Ethan had predicted, they slammed into the vertical stone and dropped straight into the moat below.

The 6-foot-deep water left them thrashing helplessly, claws flailing, unable to climb or jump. They were stuck.

That's when the ranged attackers on the wall made their move.

Big Mike and the others unleashed a barrage of skills—Rain of Flames, energy blasts, waves of light—all raining down on the trapped zombies below.

The moat turned into a kill zone. Zombies floundered in the water, unable to dodge, and were quickly torn apart by the relentless bombardment.

Meanwhile, the dozen or so Enhanced who had just broken through to Tier 6 finished their advancement. Without wasting a second, they scrambled up the wall and joined the fight, adding their own firepower to the mix.

The kill rate spiked instantly.

Lower-tier Enhanced, who lacked ranged abilities, had also taken positions along the wall. They couldn't attack from a distance, but they stood ready to intercept any zombies that managed to get close.

At that moment, all eyes were drawn to the battlefield below.

Ethan and his squad had already pushed across the bridge and were now deep in the horde. Each of them wielded a massive rebar staff, swinging it like a war god in the middle of a slaughterhouse.

Every swing crushed skulls, shattered spines, and sent bodies flying. The sheer force behind their attacks created a six-foot radius of death around each of them—no zombie could get close.

Compared to the ranged attacks raining down from the wall, Ethan's group was pure adrenaline. Raw, brutal, up-close carnage.

Their overwhelming strength, the explosive impact of every strike, and the way they carved through the horde like it was nothing—it was enough to make every Enhanced watching feel their blood start to boil.

"Holy shit… this is the Fallen Star Squad? They're monsters!"

"Goddamn, and to think Raymond wanted us to fight them yesterday. That would've been suicide. I'm just glad we had the sense not to go through with it. If we had, there wouldn't even be enough of us left to bury."

"No kidding. Yesterday they were just messing around. They weren't even trying."

Just then, a few Enhanced on the wall spotted something and their faces changed.

"Leader! Watch out! Two Tier 6 zombies are heading your way!"

Tier 6 zombies were easy to spot. Unlike the lower-tier ones, their faces weren't rotting—they looked almost human, aside from the glowing red eyes.

They also moved differently. Their posture, their gait—it was eerily close to a person's. You could tell at a glance they were smarter, faster, deadlier.

Anything below Tier 6 still looked like a walking corpse, and the lower the tier, the more decayed they were.

But above Tier 6? That was where things got tricky. Tier 6 and Tier 7 zombies looked nearly identical. You couldn't tell them apart just by looking.

And if you guessed wrong?

Well, you probably wouldn't live long enough to regret it.

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