Recaps

Shen Jin rescued Shang Qian and Sun Can, who revealed that he had been searching for a game called New World and gave Shen Jin a blood crystal from an Advanced Zombie. After Sun Can blundered into Shen Jin’s traps, Shen Jin weighed the dangers of the evolving apocalypse and planned to seek Yang Ao’s help with his next goals.

• Shang Qian explored Shen Jin’s underground passage and found Sun Can waking up at the house, where she and Li Moxiao joined him for a meal.
• Shen Jin took Sun Can upstairs to talk privately, and Sun Can asked whether Shen Jin knew the game New World; Shen Jin had never heard of it.
• Sun Can gave Shen Jin a blood crystal from an Advanced Zombie, said it might help awaken abilities, and tried to leave.
• Sun Can triggered Shen Jin’s traps, dodged the attacks, and was later released from the surveillance room before heading out to hunt Zombies.
• Shen Jin considered the dangers posed by evolving Zombies and superhumans, then decided to complete the system mission and take Yang Ao to Future Human Pharmaceuticals.
• Shen Jin delivered a hot corn bun to Yang Ao in the underground test room, and Yang Ao ate it contentedly.

Shen Jin finally pursued his zombie-killing mission, bringing Yang Ao along to fight zombies while he used his system abilities to support him. After they killed and burned two zombies, Shen Jin’s mission progress reached 2/10.

• Shen Jin put off killing zombies despite worrying that he needed to grow stronger, then decided to use Yang Ao to help complete his system mission.
• Shen Jin gave Yang Ao equipment and food, and the two went to an apartment building where zombies had been spotted.
• Three zombies rushed them, so Shen Jin raised stone barriers that left two zombies vulnerable for Yang Ao to kill with an Iron Sword.
• Shen Jin stabbed the two zombies to ensure they were dead, and Yang Ao dragged them into a pit while Shen Jin burned them with gasoline.
• The system updated Shen Jin’s mission progress to 2/10.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao escaped a zombie-filled courtyard through a tunnel, and Shen Jin explained his Earth-based ability and the Gene Lock to Yang Ao. After unlocking the Module Store, Shen Jin chose the Industrial Module to expand his base’s production capabilities, leaving him with new electricity-generation and industrial crafting options.

• Shen Jin and Yang Ao cleared elderly zombies from an apartment building, completed the preliminary zombie mission, and unlocked the Module Store as evolved zombies gathered outside.
• Shen Jin led Yang Ao through an apartment and dug a tunnel back to their underground route after agility zombies blocked the courtyard exit.
• Shen Jin explained Gene Locks and abilities to Yang Ao, demonstrated his Earth-based ability, and sent him to the test room with a roast chicken.
• Shen Jin told Shang Qian to cook using stored ingredients and warned her not to touch the Secret Room.
• Shen Jin examined the three beginner modules and chose the Industrial Module, unlocking generators, batteries, wiring, lamps, and metalworking tools.

After unlocking the Basic Industrial Mod, Shen Jin decided to build a Combustion Generator so he could replace his fuel-hungry diesel generators with coal-powered electricity. He gathered and processed the materials, completed the generator, and left its capabilities untested.

• Shen Jin received a mission to enclose a 1,000-square-meter safe area and saw that the Module Store had unlocked the Basic Industrial Mod.
• Shen Jin decided to conserve diesel by switching his home to thermal power generation, since coal was plentiful.
• Shen Jin reviewed the crafting recipes and gathered iron, tin, graphite Redstone, coal, and other materials from storage.
• Shen Jin made a Forging Hammer and Plate Cutting Shears, processed the metal into components, and crafted the Combustion Generator.

Shen Jin installed a Combustion Generator and Energy Storage Units, restoring power to the house, then called Hu Shou to report a possible link between blood crystals and superpowers. The call ended abruptly when Hu Shou misunderstood Shen Jin’s question about someone who ate a lot.

• Shen Jin crafted a Combustion Generator and Energy Storage Units, then burned a Coal Block to store electricity.
• Shen Jin restored power to the house, delighting Shang Qian and Li Moxiao.
• Shang Qian prepared dinner, and the group listened to Hu Shou explain superpowers on the radio.
• Shen Jin called Hu Shou and reported that blood crystals from Mutated Zombies might help awaken superpowers, though absorbing one could be fatal.
• Shen Jin asked whether eating four or five jin of steak counted as a superpower, and Hu Shou hung up after mistaking what he meant.

Shen Jin planned to claim farmland north of his villa but decided to prepare before confronting dangerous Evolved Zombies. He set out with Yang Ao to search Yang Ao’s father’s laboratory for Gene Enhancement Serum 1.0.

• Shen Jin surveyed the areas around his villa and asked Shang Qian where to establish a 1,000-square-meter base.
• Shang Qian recommended occupying a factory to the east, but Shen Jin chose to enclose farmland to the north and clarified that he was not taking in other people.
• Shen Jin decided to search for the Gene Enhancement Serum rather than risk awakening an Ability with Blood Crystals or unlocking his Gene Lock.
• Shen Jin gave Yang Ao supplies and a map, then took him to his father’s laboratory to look for the serum.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao reached the buried laboratory but could not break through its alloy shell, so they returned to the base. After Shen Jin gave Yang Ao clean clothes and invited him upstairs, Yang Ao recognized the gesture as acceptance and took a long shower.

• Shen Jin and Yang Ao dug through the underground tunnel and reached the farm beneath which Future Human Pharmaceuticals’ secret laboratory was buried.
• Shen Jin tried to break through the laboratory’s alloy shell with his pickaxes but failed, and he rode away on his electric bike, leaving Yang Ao to run after him.
• At dinner, Shen Jin questioned why he had become so driven, while Li Moxiao misunderstood his remarks and imagined he wanted to eat someone.
• Shen Jin gave the exhausted Yang Ao clean clothes and told him to shower and join the others upstairs.
• Yang Ao recalled how he had endured the apocalypse and worked without complaint, then showered for a long time in the clean, warm water.

Shen Jin, Yang Ao, Shang Qian, and Li Moxiao bonded over board games and a series of increasingly silly question games. They ended the gathering laughing and playing Catch the Ducks, with no change to their situation in the apocalypse.

• Shen Jin introduced Yang Ao, Shang Qian, and Li Moxiao to one another, and the group joked as they got acquainted.
• Shen Jin brought out the board game Splendor, and the four played several rounds, revealing their different playing styles.
• Shang Qian proposed a question game, but the group’s answers and jokes derailed her plan to learn about them.
• The four traded questions about poetry, travel, love, cosplay, and deduction, with Shen Jin and Li Moxiao exchanging teasing insults.
• The group abandoned the question game and finished by playing Catch the Ducks.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao began clearing and enclosing a rural area for an operation called “Crazy Dave’s Backyard.” They encountered a powerful Jumping Zombie and another Mutated Zombie, leaving them poised to attack the jumper before the second threat arrived.

• Shen Jin led Yang Ao through an underground passage to a farmhouse and marked out a thousand-square-meter area for their operation.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao donned iron armor and began clearing the area, with Shen Jin building six-meter stone walls while Yang Ao guarded them.
• Yang Ao sensed danger, and the two spotted a green-furred Jumping Zombie that could leap four meters but could not scale their wall.
• A powerful roar signaled another Mutated Zombie, which Yang Ao suspected was an Iron Bucket Zombie evolved for strength.
• Shen Jin lowered their platform and part of the wall to five meters, then called for Yang Ao to stab the Jumping Zombie as it leaped toward them.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao fought their way through Zombies while building a stone enclosure, eventually completing the mission to claim a thousand-square-meter territory. The chapter ended with the two exhausted survivors resting after securing the area.

• Yang Ao killed the Jumping Zombie with a sword, and Shen Jin built a stone enclosure to face the Iron Bucket Zombie.
• Shen Jin trapped the Iron Bucket Zombie underground, and Yang Ao stabbed it through a narrow opening until it died; they recovered its blood crystal.
• Shen Jin used dirt blocks to separate ordinary Zombies while Yang Ao killed them, though Yang Ao struggled when several attacked at once.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao cleared the remaining Zombies, cremated the bodies, and completed the mission by enclosing a territory of over one thousand square meters.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao rested atop the wall, and Yang Ao rejected Shen Jin's suggestion to play Duck Duck Goose.

Shen Jin crafted a True Diamond Pickaxe and an energy-enhanced Iron Sword, then returned with Yang Ao to break into Future Human Pharmaceuticals' underground laboratory. As they peered inside, the glass seal shattered, while Sun Can displayed new powers in Harbor District and a giant-headed Zombie slipped away unnoticed.

• Shen Jin used a blood crystal to enhance two Iron Swords and spent three diamonds to craft a True Diamond Pickaxe.
• Shen Jin made Yang Ao a room, and the two rode an electric bike back to Future Human Pharmaceuticals' secret laboratory.
• Shen Jin broke through the laboratory's alloy shell with the Diamond Pickaxe, and he and Yang Ao saw blood and scattered equipment inside.
• The glass blocking the opening suddenly shattered as Shen Jin and Yang Ao looked into the dark laboratory.
• Sun Can showed off new Earth Enchantment abilities while speaking with Void, and an enormous-headed Zombie crawled east with a crowd of Zombies around it.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao trapped and killed a powerful mutant Zombie in the laboratory, then searched the building for more. They found a sealed room upstairs, where someone inside called for help.

• A perceptive Zombie attacked Shen Jin and Yang Ao through a hole in the laboratory floor, and they severed both its arms with energy-enhanced Iron Swords.
• Shen Jin dug a deep pit beneath the opening, dropped the Zombie into it, and sealed it in with stones.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao cut off the Zombie's feet and destroyed its head, then Yang Ao retrieved its blood crystal.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao searched the laboratory and wondered how the Zombie had survived and evolved underground.
• They heard movement upstairs, found a password-protected alloy door, and heard someone inside shout, "Save me!"

Shen Jin and Yang Ao rescued Fu Wei, the sole human survivor of a sealed pharmaceutical research laboratory, and learned how the Zombies inside had evolved into a powerful super Zombie. The laboratory’s doors had held, but the story left Shen Jin fearing that similarly evolved Zombies could devastate human Gathering Places.

• Shen Jin and Yang Ao broke into the laboratory’s second floor, found Fu Wei alive, and confirmed he was the only survivor there.
• Fu Wei identified himself as Future Human Pharmaceuticals’ chief engineer and explained that he had survived for three months by rationing supplies and eventually consuming his own waste.
• Fu Wei described how the apocalypse infected the laboratory, turned most of its staff into Zombies, and left him trapped behind secure doors.
• The Zombies mutated by consuming chemical agents and then one another, until a super Zombie devoured the remaining Zombies and repeatedly attacked Fu Wei’s reinforced barriers.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao recognized Fu Wei’s resilience and knowledge, while Shen Jin worried that evolved Zombies could overwhelm human Gathering Places without heavy weapons.

Shen Jin, Yang Ao, and Fu Wei restored power to the laboratory and recovered the last two bottles of Gene Optimization Agent 1.0 along with its research data. Shen Jin took the materials and welcomed Fu Wei to his territory, preserving the possibility of making the agent again.

• Fu Wei recognized Yang Ao as Yang Tianyao's son and learned that Yang Tianyao had died.
• Fu Wei explained that the Gene Optimization Agent was locked in a vault that needed power, and Yang Ao said Shen Jin could help restore it.
• Shen Jin rewired the laboratory and used a wooden Chest from his system to bring the power back on.
• Yang Ao entered the password his father had left, and the vault released two bottles of Gene Optimization Agent 1.0 and a portable hard drive containing the laboratory's data.
• Shen Jin stored the agent and hard drive in his inventory and welcomed Fu Wei to his territory.

Shen Jin tested the Gene-Enhancement Serum on Yang Ao while recording his reaction. Yang Ao completed the process, grew leaner and stronger, and estimated his overall physical improvement at about twofold.

• Shen Jin sent Yang Ao and Fu Wei back to the villa while he returned to the laboratory to retrieve something with his Diamond pickaxe.
• Shen Jin confined Fu Wei to the underground testing room and urged Yang Ao to drink the Gene Serum as he prepared to record the effects.
• Yang Ao drank the serum, and after ten minutes his skin reddened, his body steamed, and he became ravenously hungry.
• Yang Ao ate a large amount of food as his body processed it to fuel the genetic changes, while Shang Qian and Li Moxiao overheard the commotion from the corridor.
• Yang Ao finished the process, found that he was leaner and stronger, and told Shen Jin that his overall physical ability had roughly doubled.

Shen Jin strengthened Crazy Dave's Backyard's walls while Yang Ao tested his doubled abilities against Mutated Zombies. After obtaining obsidian, Shen Jin crafted an Enchanting Table, surrounded it with bookshelves made from web novels, and placed his Diamond pickaxe on it.

• Shen Jin built the perimeter walls eight meters high and three meters thick while Yang Ao patrolled for Mutated Zombies.
• Yang Ao killed a Jumping Zombie with one sword strike, and Shen Jin finished it off, collected its blood crystal, and burned the corpse.
• Yang Ao tested his enhanced strength against Zombies, while Shen Jin completed the mission and collected ten World Coins and five obsidian.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao finished the walls, then ate dinner with Shang Qian and Li Moxiao and joked together.
• Shen Jin crafted an Enchanting Table using obsidian, diamonds, and a book, then surrounded it with sixteen bookshelves made from web novels.
• The enchanted book began turning its pages on its own, and Shen Jin placed his Diamond pickaxe on the Enchanting Table.

Shen Jin decided to pursue the system’s mission to recruit thirty survivors while preparing to take Gene Optimization Serum 1.0. He took the serum in Li Moxiao’s room, leaving her confused by his precautions and his talk of gene modification.

• Shen Jin found a new mission requiring him to house thirty survivors in his territory for seven days, with a reward of twenty World Coins and the Daily Missions module.
• Shen Jin spent the next three days gathering supplies, improving the underground rooms for Li Moxiao and Shang Qian, and preparing for possible attacks.
• After observing Yang Ao’s improved abilities and seeing no adverse effects from the serum, Shen Jin decided to take Gene Optimization Serum 1.0 himself.
• Shen Jin brought food into Li Moxiao’s room, locked the door, and warned her not to scream or tell anyone he was there.
• Li Moxiao misunderstood Shen Jin’s preparations, then learned he was taking a serum to modify his genes and stared at him in surprise.

After completing genetic optimization, Shen Jin and Yang Ao tested their enhanced strength and recognized how far their rough fighting skills fell short of a Gene Lock fighter’s. Shen Jin then prepared a temporary enclosure for twenty-six former coworkers and recruited Yang Ao to help bring them over, leaving Yang Ao eager to meet the women among them.

• Shen Jin completed genetic optimization in Li Moxiao’s room, and she sulked because he failed to understand her romantic hints.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao practiced with wooden swords after drinking the final two bottles of serum, but their swords snapped and they admitted their fighting skills were crude.
• Shen Jin compared their abilities with Lu Qiang’s and concluded that a fighter who had opened a Gene Lock could overwhelm them.
• Shen Jin built a temporary enclosure with six small rooms and planned to keep twenty-six people there for seven days to complete a mission.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao rode through the underground passages to fetch Shen Jin’s former coworkers, and Yang Ao eagerly anticipated meeting the women among them.

Wanyu Group’s starving survivors prepared to fight their way downstairs for food, while Shen Jin and Yang Ao cleared the Zombies below. The survivors reached the second floor and found the armored pair waiting for them.

• Director Wang rallied the Wanyu Group survivors to arm themselves and fight downstairs, while Old Liu broke down and tried to block the stairwell.
• Shen Jin agreed to let Yang Ao take the lead and provide backup as they entered the first floor in iron armor.
• Yang Ao and Shen Jin killed the five Zombies on the first floor, then sealed the stairwell and killed more than fifty Zombies coming from the second floor.
• The survivors pulled away the clutter blocking the stairs and encountered the armored Shen Jin and Yang Ao, who greeted them with a remark about the coincidence.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao rescued the survivors from the dormitory and brought them to their walled courtyard, where Yang Ao laid down rules for their new settlement. The survivors settled in under Old Wang’s supervision as Shen Jin and Yang Ao left them behind a locked iron door.

• Yang Ao silenced the survivors, announced that he and Shen Jin were Superhumans, and ordered everyone to follow them to safety.
• Shen Jin insisted they rescue Old Liu as well, and Yang Ao kicked open the locked dorm room and brought him downstairs.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao led the survivors through a tunnel; Old Wang remembered the warehouse’s Mid-Autumn Festival Gift Boxes, but Shen Jin kicked him into the passage before he could finish explaining.
• The group arrived at Shen Jin and Yang Ao’s walled courtyard, where the survivors praised its safety and space.
• Yang Ao announced rules against bullying, required residents to follow management and earn food through work, and gave Old Wang a walkie-talkie.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao left through the iron door and locked it behind them.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao brought twenty-four survivors into their compound and left them to settle in, while the group wondered who their hosts were and whether they would receive food. The chapter ended with Yang Ao sneaking toward the women’s dormitory after overhearing Li Jie’s remark about food.

• Yang Ao asked Shen Jin whether he had acted convincingly, and Shen Jin told him to keep the survivors under control.
• Zhao Mingkai and the others discovered that the hole they had climbed through was sealed and speculated that their hosts were Superhumans.
• The twenty-four survivors divided into male and female accommodations, and the women found new beds and warm wool quilts in their room.
• The women grew hungry and uncertain about whether they would be given food the next day.
• Yang Ao packed leftovers, sneaked toward the women’s dormitory, and asked whether Li Jie’s remark was true.

Yang Ao brought hot food to the women and offered it in exchange for massage work and a bath, prompting Li Jie and Su Lele to leave with him while Qi Tong stayed behind. Shen Jin noticed Yang Ao was missing and planned to bring Kind Auntie over the next day.

• Yang Ao visited the women with hot food and said they could earn it by doing work, including massage.
• Yang Ao offered a bath to anyone who volunteered, and Qi Tong warned the women to be cautious about going inside.
• Li Jie volunteered to massage Yang Ao, and Su Lele followed after hesitating.
• Zhao Hong stayed behind, and Qi Tong remained in the room with her.
• Shen Jin checked the mission progress, considered bringing Kind Auntie over the next day, and wondered where Yang Ao had gone.

Yang Ao sent Su Lele to massage Shen Jin, and she and Shen Jin recognized each other from a campus recruitment event before the apocalypse. The chapter ended with Su Lele offering to knead Shen Jin’s shoulders.

• Shen Jin let Yang Ao leave after warning him not to stay up too late, while Yang Ao decided to arrange something nice for him.
• Yang Ao brought food to Li Jie and Su Lele, who ate their first satisfying meal in a week.
• Yang Ao told Su Lele to bathe, bring hot water to Shen Jin’s room, and introduce herself as the technician he had ordered.
• Shen Jin opened the door to Su Lele, learned Yang Ao had sent her for a massage, and recognized her as a former campus recruit.
• Su Lele thanked Shen Jin for saving her and offered to massage his shoulders, and he agreed.

Shen Jin and Yang Ao searched an apartment building for Kind Auntie but instead found a middle-aged couple who agreed to leave with them. As they headed back underground, an unknown woman moved across the building’s rooftop.

• Shen Jin gave Su Lele clothes to change into, let her massage his feet, and woke up alone the next morning with confused thoughts about what had happened.
• Shen Jin scolded Yang Ao for acting on his own, then told him to join a rescue mission after breakfast.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao reached the apartment building marked “Kind Auntie” and found the first-floor home clean and undisturbed but empty.
• The two searched all twenty-six floors, killing Zombies, and found a middle-aged couple who had survived on flour and steamed buns.
• Shen Jin persuaded the couple to leave by threatening to open the building entrance and attract Zombies, then led them toward the underground passage.
• An unknown curvaceous figure flashed across the rooftop as Shen Jin, Yang Ao, and the couple departed.

After bringing the middle-aged couple to his settlement, Shen Jin organized the survivors into work teams to keep them fed and prepare the settlement for winter. Meanwhile, Su Lele concealed her private meeting with Shen Jin from her suspicious boyfriend, Liu Dalao.

• Shen Jin saw that the settlement had thirty-one residents and needed seven days of residence time to unlock the advanced Industrial Mod.
• Shen Jin and Yang Ao offered food to survivors who agreed to work, and six people refused.
• Old Wang became greenhouse team leader and selected nine men to build a greenhouse, while Zhao Hong led the women in making cotton clothes and quilts.
• Yang Ao assigned the remaining six survivors to patrol the walls and gave them walkie-talkies; the workers then cooked and ate porridge and steamed buns.
• Liu Dalao questioned Su Lele about looking cleaner, and she claimed she had washed with water provided to the survivors.