Chapter Summaries

Su Jin and Fu Qingdai prepared their apartment building for the coming Apocalypse by sealing and barricading doors, stockpiling supplies, and making plans to keep Fu Qingdai's family safe. As Su Jin waited through the night, a Purple Rift appeared and torrential rain began, marking the Apocalypse's arrival.

• Su Jin reassured the frightened Fu Qingdai, then explained that they would glue neighbors' locks and deliver rainwater contamination notices.
• Su Jin and Fu Qingdai sealed the other apartments in their stairwell and braced doors with steel frames and wooden strips.
• Su Jin gave Fu Qingdai food, medicine, glue, and instructions to prepare her family and keep the fourth-floor supplies secret.
• Fu Qingdai sobbed as she embraced Su Jin before returning to her apartment.
• At fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds past three, Su Jin saw a Purple Rift flash across the sky, and torrential rain began.

Su Jin investigated the abnormal gray rain and discovered that its residue remained after the water evaporated. After preserving samples for observation, he learned from a radio broadcast that the same rainfall was occurring worldwide.

• Su Jin saw that the rain was visibly gray, but Fu Qingdai said she could not see anything unusual about it.
• Su Jin observed people walking through the rain without immediate symptoms and collected rainwater from outside.
• Su Jin heated the rainwater and found that the water evaporated while a gray mist remained behind.
• Su Jin dissolved the mist back into water, sealed samples in two jars, and placed them in sunny and shaded locations.
• Su Jin woke to a radio announcement confirming abnormal rainfall worldwide and advising the public to use rain protection and follow official updates.

Su Jin confirmed that the strange rain had begun turning people into zombies and tested its effects on mice. When the company announced that a new specimen could be collected for compensation, he killed the mutated mouse and put its body into his briefcase, hoping the company would take it.

• Su Jin spotted apparent zombies in the street and a bluish, expressionless man in a nearby apartment, then collected gray rainwater to test.
• Su Jin exposed two mice to the rainwater and found that the mouse given a second dose mutated and aggressively charged at living creatures.
• Su Jin reviewed a recording and concluded that the mutated mouse prioritized larger targets, though he was unsure how it sensed them.
• The company announced that the new specimen was available for collection in exchange for items of equivalent value.
• Su Jin killed the mutated mouse, wrapped its body in plastic, and placed it inside his briefcase to try to deliver it to the company.

Su Jin tested the Gray Rain’s effects on infected rats and learned how difficult they were to kill. After receiving an unusual first-aid item from the company, he heard a national emergency broadcast warning citizens to avoid the rain and seal their homes.

• Su Jin exchanged a dead rat through his backpack and received a first-aid suppository, then secured it at his waist despite his reluctance to use it.
• Su Jin tested infected rats and recorded that infection depended on exposure to the gray substance and caused relentless, pain-insensitive behavior.
• Su Jin’s experiments showed that infected rats survived drowning, suffocation, burning, and decapitation, but died quickly when pierced through the torso.
• Su Jin placed the rat cage in an aquarium and returned to bed, exhausted from his experiments.
• Su Jin listened to a National Disaster Emergency Command Center broadcast warning that the rainfall was hazardous and ordering citizens to avoid rainwater and seal openings in their homes.

Su Jin watched the government announce that citizens were on their own before a Cold-Sky missile strike unleashed devastating storms over the city, shattering his hope of rescue. As mass suicides unfolded and Fu Qingdai came to him for help, Su Jin’s despair hardened into a promise to protect her.

• Su Jin heard a frantic broadcast warning citizens that city services had ceased, then watched the Cold-Sky Missile System strike the city center and unleash freezing winds and violent downbursts.
• Su Jin smashed his Radio, then fired at zombies as a mother jumped with her baby, but he could not save them and broke down in despair.
• Fu Qingdai saw her mother faint after the strike, broke the door handle, and prepared to go out despite Fu Hu’s objections.
• Fu Qingdai entered Su Jin’s apartment and found him sharpening a blade with bloodied, bandaged fists.
• Fu Qingdai told Su Jin she was scared, and he reassured her that he was there.

Su Jin told Fu Hu that the government could no longer be relied on and revealed that Fu Qingdai was the savior foretold by the Maya artifacts. Fu Hu resisted believing him and still hoped for rescue as Su Jin urged him to face the danger and prepare to survive.

• Su Jin checked that his experimental mice had survived the freezing night, then went to the Fu Family’s home.
• Su Jin admitted that he had sealed the Fu Family’s door and introduced himself as Li Haocheng, director of the National Key Risk Intervention Executive Bureau.
• Su Jin explained that his bureau studied Maya artifacts whose prophecies had predicted the disaster, and revealed that Fu Qingdai was the prophesied savior.
• Fu Hu struggled to accept Su Jin’s claims and asked whether he had known the disaster was coming without warning the country.
• Su Jin said the country could no longer be relied on and estimated that the Cold Firmament Missiles had given them about a week before temperatures rose.
• Fu Hu asked Su Jin to leave, saying his wife was unconscious and he would wait for rescue, but Su Jin challenged his faith that anyone would save them.

Su Jin persuaded Fu Hu to join him in protecting Fu Qingdai and preparing for the apocalypse. After they secured warmth and discussed the prophecy, Su Jin planned to recruit residents and build a team.

• Su Jin threatened Fu Qingdai with the Silver Spear until Fu Hu agreed to cooperate and protect her.
• Su Jin told Fu Hu to bring supplies from the fourth floor, then explained that infected animals made it dangerous to leave windows uncovered.
• Fu Hu built a stove and chimney while Su Jin blackened the windows, and Fu Qingdai fetched ice for water.
• Su Jin told Fu Hu that the National Strategic Risk Bureau was doing nothing and that Qingdai's prophecy only foretold a catastrophe and a savior who could predict it.
• Fu Hu revealed that he could not reach his father, then asked Su Jin what they should do next.
• Su Jin told Fu Hu to list the building's capable residents so he could release them one by one and recruit them into a team.

Su Jin searched the apartment complex for people who could help secure it, but his attempt to recruit Wang Song ended with Wang Song's death after he revealed he was infected. Su Jin then approached Sun Ya, who explained why he believed the military and the world had already fallen, leaving Su Jin facing a bleak assessment of their chances.

• Su Jin used the residents' list to seek out former soldier Wang Song, broke into his apartment, and found that Wang Song's family had become zombies and that Wang Song was infected.
• As Wang Song began losing the ability to speak, Su Jin shot him before he could turn, then inspected the bodies and concluded that a zombie's heart was its weak point.
• Su Jin disposed of the bodies and went to the sixth floor to check on Sun Ya, an elderly former researcher and serviceman.
• Sun Ya opened the door with a hunting gun aimed at Su Jin and rejected his offer to organize the residents.
• Sun Ya argued that infected animals had likely overwhelmed military bases around the world on the night the rain fell, so the armed forces might have been wiped out first.

Su Jin recruited Sun Ya by promising to build a team, and Sun Ya tested him by sending him to clear zombies. With Fu Qingdai’s help, Su Jin lured the zombies and fired his shotgun, then returned believing he had killed three.

• Sun Ya explained his suspicions about the rain and agreed to help Su Jin after hearing about Fu Qingdai’s warning and Su Jin’s plan to build a team.
• Sun Ya handed Su Jin a shotgun and told him to clear the zombies downstairs to prove himself.
• Sun Ya taught Su Jin how to use the shotgun, and Su Jin prepared protective clothing and weapons.
• Su Jin and Fu Qingdai used firecrackers and noise to draw the zombies away from the entrance.
• Su Jin opened the entrance door, fired all nine shells at the zombies, and returned to Fu Qingdai, believing he had killed three.

After helping clear zombies from the residential complex, Su Jin agreed to help Sun Ya study them and revealed that he could see the infection’s source. That night, Fu Qingdai sought comfort from Su Jin as she worried about her mother.

• Sun Ya introduced Wei De to Su Jin and agreed to help him, while explaining that he had left two zombies for target practice.
• Su Jin and Sun Ya discussed how the frozen zombies could still move, and Su Jin agreed to retrieve two bodies for dissection while Sun Ya studied them and a cage of mice.
• Su Jin revealed that he could see the infection as gray mist and said it dissipated after about five days, but Wei De warned that the infection had already spread into living organisms.
• As the others slept, Su Jin worried about the risks of dissecting zombies and when to recruit more people.
• Fu Qingdai told Su Jin she was worried about her mother, and he comforted her before joking about her greasy hair.

Su Jin organized research on the gray infectious mist and assigned the Fu Family training and protective-clothing work. He then went outside to collect zombie corpses for dissection, leaving them secured in Wang Song's apartment.

• Su Jin prepared numbered ice samples and a grayscale chart, helping Sun Ya and Wei De begin quantifiable experiments on the gray mist.
• Su Jin gave Fu Hu and Fu Qingdai stones and whey protein to support indoor strength and archery training, and asked Zhang Wan to sew aluminum into protective clothing.
• Su Jin geared up and went downstairs, deciding to postpone recruiting new people until he was rested and the experts had studied the infectious material.
• Su Jin found that both first-floor households had been wiped out, ignored residents calling for help, and shot the two remaining zombies nearby.
• Su Jin covered and dragged two zombie corpses back to Wang Song's apartment for later dissection.

Su Jin and Sun Ya dissected two zombies to investigate their mutations and discovered hard black tissue growing in both hearts, with the larger growth in the weaker-looking zombie suggesting that zombies were evolving. Sun Ya found another unexplained object in the second zombie, leaving their investigation with a new mystery.

• Su Jin dissected a restrained zombie under Sun Ya’s guidance and found hard, black tissue embedded in its damaged heart.
• Su Jin pulled a translucent stone from the zombie’s abdomen and called it a zombie crystal, but Sun Ya dismissed it as a kidney stone and broke it.
• Su Jin and Sun Ya dissected the second zombie and found the same black tissue in its heart, but it was larger than the first zombie’s.
• Sun Ya compared the zombies’ physiques and heart growths, then concluded that the zombies were evolving.
• Sun Ya noticed something else inside the second zombie and exclaimed in surprise.

Su Jin and Sun Ya discovered a strange sphere inside a ball of flesh, and Su Jin absorbed it before passing out. After waking with a fever, Su Jin found his body had changed and demonstrated that he could run along a wall.

• Sun Ya and Su Jin found a bright red ball of flesh behind a heart and felt an overpowering hunger as they examined it.
• Su Jin cut the ball open and revealed a clear sphere that looked rainbow-colored to him.
• The sphere spread across Su Jin's hand and disappeared, after which he passed out.
• Su Jin woke bound and feverish, then told Sun Ya that he had absorbed the sphere and felt a current moving inside him.
• Su Jin asked everyone to observe him, then ran sideways along a wall before falling at the corner.

After absorbing something from a zombie, Su Jin discovered that his abilities changed with the light: sunlight enhanced his strength and recovery, while darkness boosted his speed and agility. By the next day, he had confirmed he could not be infected by zombie bodily fluids and was testing his powers when someone knocked at the door.

• Su Jin woke with extraordinary agility and strength, then tested his new abilities in the stairwell as Sun Ya and Wei De watched.
• Su Jin noticed his body grew heavier in the sunlight, then killed an attacking zombie cat with a powerful kick.
• Covered in the cat’s blood, Su Jin waited in the stairwell while Sun Ya and Fu Qingdai monitored him and found no signs of infection.
• Su Jin spent the night isolated, then returned the next day after confirming he was immune to infection and had learned how light altered his abilities.
• Su Jin stood in the sunlight and savored his strength until someone knocked at the door.

Su Jin learned that two supposedly contained lab mice had vanished and set up his phone to record the cage. Sun Ya and Wei De became convinced Su Jin might be an alien, but decided to keep quiet and continue trusting him.

• Sun Ya told Su Jin that two uninfected lab mice had disappeared despite being kept in a secured cage.
• Su Jin joined Sun Ya and Wei De in the lab, then proposed using his phone to record the mice.
• Sun Ya and Wei De marveled at Su Jin’s phone and privately wondered whether he was an alien.
• Su Jin left to recruit more people while Sun Ya and Wei De agreed to ignore their suspicions and support him.
• Sun Ya and Wei De speculated about Qing Dai’s parentage before Sun Ya scolded Wei De and led him away.

Su Jin rescued Cheng Du from his apartment and learned more about the trapped residents, while checking on Sister Liu and the new tenant. In 302, starving Li Fang faced an increasingly threatening Cao Chengping as Li Kai tried to defend her.

• Su Jin finished dissecting the zombie corpses, found no flesh orbs, and recalled that he had discovered a fatal weakness shared by nearly all zombies.
• Su Jin rescued Cheng Du, confirmed he had avoided the contaminated rainwater, and learned about Sister Liu and the people trapped on the third floor.
• Su Jin told Cheng Du to gather useful supplies while he went to rescue Sister Liu across the hall.
• In 302, Cao Chengping claimed he had collected and drunk rainwater, then offered the remainder to Li Fang while pressuring her to sleep with him.
• Li Fang pleaded with Li Kai for help, and Li Kai confronted Cao Chengping for taking advantage of her.

Su Jin cleared zombies from apartment 301, then found three survivors in apartment 302 in the aftermath of a failed assault and a bitter argument. He left them confined with food and water promised, planning to consult Elder Sun and Elder Wei before deciding whether to bring them to safety.

• Su Jin shot the zombies in apartment 301, including a child zombie that attacked him, but found no flesh balls in their hearts.
• Su Jin entered apartment 302 and found Li Fang, Cao Chengping, and Li Kai in a filthy bedroom after the two men had tried to assault Li Fang.
• Li Fang accused Cao Chengping and Li Kai, while the men traded insults and Li Kai gave Su Jin an absurd explanation for stopping.
• Su Jin revealed that he had come to rescue them, but decided to leave them in the apartment and bring them food and water instead.
• Cao Chengping begged Su Jin for forgiveness, and Su Jin left after wedging a sofa against their door.

Su Jin discussed how to protect the apartment complex and organize survivors as the gray substance began to dissipate. Sun Ya urged him to lead everyone to a military base, while Su Jin worried about the dangers there; Wei De’s dwindling heart medication added urgency to their preparations.

• Cao Chengping trembled in fear that Su Jin would punish him, while Li Kai awkwardly offered Li Fang her damp sock and she angrily rejected him.
• Fu Qingdai struggled through her workout and forced herself to eat protein powder while Su Jin reviewed the rat experiment notes with Sun Ya and Wei De.
• Sun Ya advised isolating uncertain residents and observing the three weak, poorly supplied survivors in their apartment.
• Su Jin proposed barricading the complex, organizing survivors, gathering supplies and flesh orbs, and eventually establishing a defensible base in the city.
• Sun Ya argued that the survivors should instead move to a military base for heavy weapons, warning that Wei De had less than a month of heart medicine remaining.
• Wei De stood and suggested that they check on the rats.

Su Jin and the researchers discovered that mouse three had mutated into a concealed, predatory infection, then found Li Fang dead and two men accusing each other of killing her. Su Jin suspected one of them was newly infected, but the crowded stairwell interrupted his attempt to identify the culprit.

• Su Jin watched footage showing mouse three swallow another mouse and swell before returning to normal, while mouse six was found missing.
• Su Jin went to apartment 302, where Cao Chengping and Li Kai accused each other of killing Li Fang, whose body lay on the bed.
• Su Jin told Sun Ya and Wei De that one of the men might have the same concealed infection as the mutated mouse, and he questioned them both without finding clear signs.
• Su Jin ordered Cao Chengping and Li Kai to undress and kneel for inspection, but neither appeared abnormal.
• Fu Qingdai, Fu Hu, Zhang Wan, Cheng Du, and Mrs. Liu crowded into the stairwell, and Su Jin ordered them back to their apartments while claiming he knew which man was infected.

After killing both suspects, Su Jin told Sun Ya and Wei De that one had been the murderer and that the infection changed its victims’ brains and bodies, making trust nearly impossible. He vowed to survive, protect Fu Qingdai, and fight the forces that had brought him to this world, while Sun Ya and Wei De prepared to study the infected rat for a way to identify infected people.

• Su Jin returned to the sixth floor, showed the group footage of Cao Chengping and Li Kai dying, and asked Fu Hu’s family to leave so he could speak privately with Sun Ya and Wei De.
• Su Jin explained that Cao Chengping had been the murderer, that the infection was in his brain, and that infected humans could be killed like ordinary living creatures.
• Sun Ya and Wei De recognized that the infection had shattered society’s ability to trust, while Su Jin drank and brooded over the collapse of civilization.
• When Sun Ya asked if he was giving up, Su Jin vowed to survive, protect Fu Qingdai, and take revenge on the person who sent him there.
• Su Jin urged Sun Ya and Wei De to study Rat No. 3 and search for a way to identify infected people, saying they could not fight alone.
• Sun Ya praised Su Jin’s ruthlessness but warned he might become a tyrant; Su Jin replied that the world needed a tyrant, but it would not be him.