Every major compound was pulling in a steady stream of high-Tier crystal cores each day, and their overall strength kept climbing.
But the most brutal by far was Fallen Star Guard.
Twenty thousand Fallen Star Guard members, backed by more than thirty thousand Flamebirds, were basically roaming around looting the apocalypse. Wherever they went, it didn't matter if it was zombies or mutant beasts—everything got burned, butchered, and scooped clean.
Other compounds hunted carefully. They looked for loners, small groups, soft targets.
Fallen Star Guard did the opposite.
They went straight for the biggest concentrations.
Zombies might've gotten stronger, but against a force where everyone was at least Stage B, plus the Flamebirds overhead, they couldn't make waves at all.
Wave after wave of zombies hit the dirt—then became crystal cores, shoveled into packs by Fallen Star Guard members like they were collecting dropped loot.
