Chapter Summaries

Trapped in Wanyu Group by a horde of Zombies, Shen Jin waited for a chance to leave while Shang Qian concluded he was an Earth-based Ability User and asked him to take her with him. He opened the door but asked her to keep her cold, aloof manner, leaving her stunned.

• Shen Jin sealed the windows and stairs, then waited in Shang Qian's room while Sun Can slept nearby and Lu Qiang's body lay covered.
• Shang Qian knocked on the door, and Shen Jin refused to let her in at first.
• Shang Qian reasoned that Shen Jin had entered through a third-floor window and sealed the stairs with stone, so she believed he was an Earth-based Ability User.
• Shang Qian asked Shen Jin to take her with him and said she would pay any price.
• Shen Jin opened the door and told Shang Qian he preferred her original cold, aloof manner, leaving her frozen in surprise.

Shang Qian misread Shen Jin’s sexuality and his connection to Sun Can, while Shen Jin mistakenly believed she was suicidal and tried to comfort her. Shang Qian concluded that Shen Jin loved Sun Can and wondered whether he was the top or the bottom.

• Shang Qian asked Shen Jin if he was gay, and he agreed rather than correct her.
• Shang Qian interpreted Shen Jin’s rescue of Sun Can and his refusal to take Zhao Mingkai as signs that Sun Can was his lover.
• Shen Jin told Shang Qian he would only guarantee Sun Can’s safety, intending to discourage her from joining him.
• Shang Qian took Shen Jin’s words as confirmation that he had chosen Sun Can as his true love.
• Shen Jin mistook Shang Qian’s calm expression for despair and urged her not to make a decision she would regret.
• Shang Qian decided she understood Shen Jin’s love for Sun Can and wondered whether Shen Jin was the top or the bottom.

Shen Jin and Shang Qian repeatedly misunderstood each other’s words and intentions, but Shen Jin finally decided to take her with him. Shang Qian believed she had found a kindred spirit, and both smiled as they looked forward to starting over together.

• Shang Qian asked Shen Jin whether Sun Can’s ability was beneath his, and Shen Jin mistakenly thought she was choosing between them as potential rescuers.
• Shen Jin claimed that Sun Can was better than him in some ways, and Shang Qian interpreted his words as confirmation of their intimate friendship.
• Shang Qian stroked Shen Jin’s head and said she wished him and Sun Can happiness, believing she was offering them a heartfelt farewell.
• Shen Jin mistook Shang Qian’s kind words for final words before her suicide and decided to break his rule against forming bonds.
• Shen Jin told Shang Qian they would spend plenty of time together, and she happily realized he had agreed to take her with him.

Shen Jin used his Blockify Ability to bring Sun Can and Shang Qian down to an underground tunnel, while Shang Qian mistook his shovel work for an Earth-based Ability. He rode off on a working electric bike, leaving Shang Qian behind before returning only to seal the entrance, and she was left alone in the cold tunnel.

• Shen Jin and Shang Qian found two folding electric bikes, and he used his pickaxe and Blockify Ability to shrink them into the inventory.
• Shen Jin struggled to move the unconscious Sun Can onto a dirt platform, then lowered the three of them toward the tunnel by breaking dirt blocks.
• Shang Qian believed Shen Jin had awakened an Earth-based Ability and endured the frightening descent until they reached the underground tunnel.
• Shen Jin took out the bikes, found one intact and the other dismantled, and asked Shang Qian to repair it before riding away with Sun Can.
• Shang Qian hurried after Shen Jin, but he returned only to fill in the entrance and left her alone in the tunnel.

Shen Jin discovered that Li Moxiao had stopped breathing, only for her to wake up and reveal she was desperately hungry. He fed her steak and cornbread, then prepared to hide the evidence before Shang Qian and Sun Can arrived.

• Shen Jin checked the surveillance and decided to serve his guests cornbread and pickled mustard greens rather than his best food.
• Shen Jin tried to wake Li Moxiao, found she had no breath or pulse, and blamed himself for letting her go hungry.
• Li Moxiao suddenly woke and confronted Shen Jin about secretly eating steak while she went without.
• Shen Jin gave Li Moxiao millet porridge and ten steaks, and she also insisted on eating cornbread.
• Before Shang Qian arrived through the tunnel, Shen Jin and Li Moxiao finished the steaks and cornbread, then cleaned up the scraps to make the food look shabby.

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.