That big rat never saw it coming—the crows swooping in to back up a human.
Feeling the heat, the rat figured it was time to bounce, trying to make a break for the sewer.
But just then, a gust whipped up, and a few crows dived down, boxing it in.
One slammed right into it, sending it flying a good few yards.
Zane caught the action and thought, "Now's my shot."
"Man, these crows are legit... let's do this."
He leaped up, pushing his power to the max, and the rats caught in his zone just exploded.
The Rat King, panicking, tried to bolt.
But then, it felt a massive force.
Frozen.
Couldn't move a muscle.
Looking up, it saw Zane's tall figure looming, his gaze icy, full of deadly intent.
The big rat, now under Zane's control, shook uncontrollably.
Its eyes pleaded for mercy, almost making it look pitiful.
Zane focused his power to a point, and with a loud 'pop,' the rat burst apart.
A Core crystal flew out, which Zane caught in his hand.
With the Rat King gone, the vicious rat tide lost its leader and fell into disarray, screeching and scattering everywhere.
The swarm of rats quickly receded like a tide.
In no time at all, they were gone.
Now, the streets were even more wrecked, littered with rat remains and the stench of blood.
A bunch of large crows pecked at the ground.
"Good guy, goodbye..."
The lead crow circled Zane a few times, then flew off with the flock.
And just like that, the streets quieted down again.
...
Zane watched the crows fly away, thinking that good deeds pay off, and maybe he should feed the little critters more often, be a 'good guy.'
He looked around—the Rat King on this street was gone.
But there were definitely other things lurking in the nearby areas; after all, the Rat King wasn't the real boss here.
The true ruler was probably a Zombie Overlord.
Zane decided not to push his luck further.
With two Core crystals in hand, he had enough to absorb for a while.
He should head back to his turf and lay low.
With that, he vanished, activating his stealth mode, and returned to his domain.
...
Not long after Zane dipped out,Not long after Zane dipped out, the street, littered with remains, saw a bunch of Zombies show up, led by a Zombie Overlord with dark red skin and bulging black veins—the same one from the park.
It had something furry and pitch-black around its neck, and when it lifted its head, there was a human face covered in black fur.
"Squeak—squeak squeak—"
This human-faced rat jumped down from its neck to a pile of rat remains, letting out a mournful squeak, full of sorrow.
"My love... how did you die? Who did this? I swear I'll avenge you!"
The human-faced rat rubbed its creepy face all over the remains.
In no time, it was smeared with fresh blood.
"Violet, don't be too sad. Anyone who dares to invade my turf, I'll make sure they're done for!"
The Zombie Overlord's voice was hoarse, like grinding stones.
Behind him, a few capable lieutenants, highly evolved and as smart as JakeZoe, stood ready.
"Boss... I asked around, and it was that Zombie from the building."
"Oh?"
The Zombie Overlord's eyes flashed with murderous intent. He'd been planning to take that guy out to expand his territory, but it looks like they came for him first.
"How many Zombies does he have?"
"After scouting these past days, we've figured it out—about two thousand," said another Zombie Overlord from behind.
"Only two thousand?"
The Zombie Overlord cocked his head, incredulous.
He thought the guy was stronger...
After all, under his command, he had amassed a zombie horde of twenty thousand.
Twenty thousand against two thousand? That's gonna be a cakewalk.
"Violet, get ready, I'm about to avenge you!"
...
Meanwhile, Zane was totally clueless about all the chaos unfolding.
He had already made it back to his crib.
Following his usual routine, he soaked in a hot bath, slipped into some clean threads, and then started to soak up energy from a Core crystal.
This particular Rat King Core crystal was pitch black, looking like a ripe 'cherry' and even sweeter.
The energy inside was super pure, giving him a major boost.
Maybe it was because the Rat King's mental vibes kinda matched his own "Dead Zone" powers.
Over the next few days, Zane just chilled at home.
Ever since he took out the Rat King, not a single rat or Zombie had bothered him.
Though, every now and then, a crow would circle overhead.
During this time, Zane kept up with the outside world through his smartphone.
The Quantum Leap Innovations website was buzzing.
News about the mall incident had gone public—awakened beings killed, billions in resources gone.
Survivors were all over the comments section.
"Over ten awakened folks wiped out overnight, what kind of monster did this?"
"Seriously, what level of Zombie Overlord are we talking about?"
"It's terrifying, and to top it off, over two hundred survivors and billions in resources just vanished."
"Quantum Leap Innovations dropped the ball, they were all about that 'King Hunt' and ended up getting hunted by Zombies first..."
"Could it be, maybe it wasn't Zombies but some other human group?"
"emmm...possible, I heard there are some no-good awakened out there, forming their own crews, even hit our official shelters for supplies..."
"....."
The mall mystery was deep, and everyone was dying to know what went down that night.
But no survivors were left to tell the tale.
It was quickly becoming the biggest unsolved mystery of the Apocalypse.
But Quantum Leap Innovations wasn't about to let it slide, especially not with billions in resources lost without a trace.
They immediately issued a statement: "Our company will thoroughly investigate the mall incident to honor the spirits of Kai and others.
The 'King Hunt' starts now—we'll hunt down all Zombie Overlords and recover the resources!"
"These folks are stirring things up again," Zane muttered to himself.
Right then, Quantum Leap Innovations was plotting their next move, with a bunch of awakened beings gathered in a conference room.
The big screen up front displayed a map of Verdantia.
"After a month of drone surveillance, we've mapped out the basic distribution of Zombies.
Near the mall, there are roughly ten Zombie Overlord territories, ranked from one to five stars based on danger level."
"The five-star zones are the most dangerous, one-star relatively safe, like this building here."
A middle-aged man explained, circling an area on the map.
"This spot has about two thousand Zombies, the smallest Overlord territory.
We rate hunting this Zombie Overlord as one-star difficulty!"
The awakened folks in the room looked at each other, feeling like they were picking game quests.
Clearly, a one-star difficulty was a sweet gig.
Hands shot up as they clamored, "I'll take that spot! Let me at it!"