Chapter 165: The Anomaly Zombie King

Around thirty meters in front of the broad staircase leading toward the Southern Spatial Anchor Gate, the 3rd Echelon commander sat casually on a broken section of dark stone that had likely once belonged to one of the plaza’s defensive structures.

Behind him remained a wide stretch of open ground before the staircase began, giving the enormous plaza more than enough space for a battle to break out without immediately reaching the Spatial Anchor itself.

His appearance was surprisingly restrained.

Cain had expected something physically enormous after seeing the stronger mutated zombies on Earth, perhaps another creature whose body had expanded beyond normal proportions after advancing.

Instead, the commander remained remarkably close to human proportions.

He stood slightly taller than Cain, with a lean build covered by dark armor fitted tightly around his limbs.

Pale-gray skin could be seen around his neck and face, while several thin black lines spread upward from beneath the collar of his armor and reached the lower half of his cheeks.

A long weapon rested beside him.

Its blade was narrow and slightly curved, resembling a heavy saber rather than the oversized weapons carried by many of the Zombie Race soldiers Cain had fought until now.

One of the Zombie’s hands rested loosely on its knee.

The other held a familiar rectangular device.

A communication device.

The zombie looked toward Cain’s group.

Its expression was calm, surprisingly calm as if he didn’t take Cain’s group seriously at all.

Cain stopped approximately 30 meters away.

His transformed right claws remained covered in compressed True Ruin Energy, ready to release the gathered power the moment the commander made an unexpected move.

The others spread slightly behind him but did not move too far apart.

Cain’s golden eyes focused on the commander for a moment.

Then a meaningful smile slowly appeared on his face.

The commander inspected him as well.

Its gaze lingered briefly on Cain’s transformed right arm before shifting toward the ruined southern section of the town.

Neither side moved for several seconds.

Eventually, Cain broke the silence.

"You’ve been sitting there this whole time, huh?"

The zombie’s eyes returned to him.

Its voice was rough, but unlike the 1st Echelon soldier they had interrogated before, the words came out smoothly.

"Would you have preferred that I greet you at the entrance?"

Cain shrugged as he smiled faintly.

"Maybe."

His smile remained faint as he continued, "But I’m more curious why you’re still sitting on your ass after I made that much noise outside."

The zombie’s expression remained unchanged.

"Why should I hurry?"

Ron quietly looked toward Cain from behind.

Even he seemed confused by the situation.

Cain said nothing, his gaze shifted toward the communication device still held loosely in the commander’s hand.

The zombie noticed where Cain was looking.

Without saying anything, it lowered the device beside its leg.

Cain’s eyes sharpened slightly.

’So you were using it.’

He did not immediately mention it as there were still things he wanted to know.

The commander clearly had no intention of attacking yet.

Cain could take advantage of that.

"You weren’t originally stationed here, were you?"

The commander became still for the briefest moment.

The reaction was minor enough that most people would have missed it.

But Cain noticed it.

He continued casually.

"The soldier we captured said a 3rd Echelon commander was sent here because something happened to the Anchor Gate."

The zombie’s eyes narrowed.

"So one of them spilled it."

Cain shrugged.

"He was surprisingly cooperative."

A quiet cough came from Ron behind him.

Cain ignored the sound.

The commander studied Cain for another moment, then it looked back toward the enormous Spatial Anchor Gate behind itself.

"There was a problem."

Cain immediately became interested, his eyes lit up as if he couldn’t wait to hear the reason why.

"What happened?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Because you’re clearly in no hurry."

Cain smiled faintly as he continued, "And neither am I."

That part was not entirely true.

Evelyne’s mission alone gave Cain enough reason to destroy the Anchor Gate as quickly as possible, but after looking at the Commander’s information, he decided that if the commander wanted to talk, Cain would gladly take whatever information it revealed.

The zombie remained silent, then its gaze moved toward Cain’s group again.

"You entered through the southern connection?"

Cain did not answer directly.

"Answer my question first."

The commander’s mouth curved faintly.

"You believe this is some kind of negotiation?"

"No." Cain shrugged as he continued, "But you’re more than welcomed to not tell me anything."

The faint smile on the zombie’s face disappeared.

For the first time, Cain saw a hint of irritation in his face.

’Good.’

The commander slowly stood from the step.

However, he didn’t reach for the weapon beside it.

"The Southern Anchor Gate experienced an abnormal loss of energy."

The commander paused for a second before continuing.

"Energy meant to stabilize the connection was being drained through the branch linked to your world."

Cain’s raised an eyebrow.

"Drained?"

"At a ridiculous rate..." The commander nodded with an annoyed expression.

"Enough that the Anchor Gate’s stability began falling."

Cain looked toward the Spatial Anchor Gate.

"Something on my side was stealing the energy?"

"That was the assumption."

Cain felt something click inside his mind as a memory surfaced immediately.

The western park.

The enormous spatial opening suspended in the air.

The Zombie King sat beside it, while one of its hands pressed directly against the Gate.

Cain’s golden eyes narrowed slightly.

’That bastard.’

At the time, Cain had known the Zombie King was doing something to the spatial opening.

He simply had not known what it was doing.

He also thought that it might even come from there.

Now the answer was obvious.

The Zombie King had found the spatial connection and started draining the energy flowing through it.

Cain nearly laughed.

’So that’s how he became that strong.’

That fucking bastard had practically discovered an endless feeding ground.

Energy prepared by the Zombie Race to stabilize their invasion route had instead been stolen by another zombie from Cain’s world and used to strengthen itself.

Then another realization appeared.

He had killed the Zombie King.

Which meant...

’Wait.’

The corner of Cain’s mouth twitched.

’Didn’t I solve their fucking problem?’

Cain had unknowingly helped the Zombie Race by eliminating the creature that had been draining energy from their Gate.

The realization was ridiculous enough that he nearly laughed in front of the commander.

’I should’ve left that bastard alive.’

If the Zombie King had continued absorbing the energy, perhaps it could have weakened the Gate even further.

Maybe it would have eventually become a problem large enough to threaten the entire southern connection.

Naturally, Cain showed none of those thoughts on his face.

The commander had no reason to know that the human standing in front of him was the one responsible for eliminating the source of their earlier problem.

Cain looked toward the commander again.

"So what happened afterward?"

"The drain stopped."

"When?"

"Before I arrived."

Cain nodded slowly.

"And how long did it last?"

The commander gave him a strange look.

"Why does that matter to you?"

"Just curious." Cain shrugged.

The zombie studied him for a moment, perhaps wondering whether there was another meaning behind the question.

Eventually, it answered.

"Only a few minutes."