Chapter Summaries

Su Jin discovered that the company-issued equipment was bound to him and could not be used by Fu Qingdai, so he gave her chocolate and warned her to stay alert. He then joined Sun Ya and Wei De in reviewing their findings about disguised mutant creatures, ending with their conclusion that the creatures lacked delayed gratification.

• Su Jin told Fu Qingdai to keep the chocolate poisoning secret, warned her about strangers and injured people, and gave her the Silver Spear for protection.
• Fu Qingdai could not fire Su Jin's handgun or access his briefcase, so Su Jin realized the company-issued equipment was bound to him and gave her chocolate instead.
• Fu Qingdai left to rest after struggling to stand, and Sun Ya invited Su Jin to the fifth-floor laboratory to discuss new findings with Wei De.
• Sun Ya and Wei De explained that disguised mutant creatures were not infectious, were attacked by zombies, and sought to kill uninfected creatures.
• Wei De proposed that infection could cause three forms of mutation, and Sun Ya and Wei De concluded that disguised mutant creatures had severely regressed in delayed gratification.

Su Jin discussed a plan with Sun Ya and Wei De to identify Disguised Infected using rats, fluorescent markers, and screenings before recruiting survivors. He accepted the risks of a supply mission to Dragon Mountain Medical University, arguing that they had to seize their chance to survive.

• Sun Ya explained that Disguised Infected had a strong urge to kill and proposed using that behavior to identify them.
• Sun Ya described three safeguards for recruiting residents: early warnings about contaminated water, screenings, and testing with rats tracked by sodium fluorescein.
• Sun Ya said Dragon Mountain Medical University’s underground laboratory might contain surviving lab rats, sodium fluorescein, and portable UV lights.
• Su Jin read the plan and recognized that it would limit recruitment to the residential complex and require a dangerous trip to the university with Cheng Du and Fu Hu.
• Su Jin warned that intelligent mutated creatures and evolving zombies might eventually cooperate, then decided they had to take the risk and seize their chance to survive.

Su Jin and Wei De and Sun Ya planned an expedition to Dragon Mountain Medical University, mapping hazards, supplies, and a way to divert zombies. Su Jin settled on leaving in five days so his team could hunt nearby zombies and prepare, despite Sun Ya urging an immediate trip before the ice thawed.

• Su Jin discussed the need for a car and asked Wei De and Sun Ya to teach him to drive.
• Wei De mapped a detour to Dragon Mountain Medical University and warned that Dragon Mountain No. 3 Middle School might be crowded with zombies after students attended an outdoor anniversary ceremony.
• Su Jin insisted they stop at Dragon Star Pharmacy to collect Wei De's heart medication, and Sun Ya agreed to prepare a campus map and notes on sodium fluorescein and portable ultraviolet lights.
• Su Jin proposed making crude timed bombs to draw zombies away, and Wei De explained how they could assemble devices from salvaged parts and shotgun-shell gunpowder.
• Su Jin planned to spend five days hunting zombies in the residential complex, counting survivors, distributing supplies, and seeking Flesh Balls for Fu Hu and Cheng Du.
• Sun Ya urged Su Jin to leave sooner because thawing ice would make zombies more mobile, but Su Jin argued that indoor combat and protecting his trusted people mattered more.

Su Jin continued organizing survivors and hunting zombies, then found another flesh ball and used it to awaken Cheng Du. Cheng Du developed fire powers, leaving Su Jin eager to learn what else he could do.

• Su Jin trained Fu Qingdai and Fu Hu to fight a restrained zombie while Zhang Wan and Sister Liu registered residents and distributed supplies.
• Su Jin found a flesh ball inside a zombie and brought it back to the group.
• Su Jin pierced the flesh ball with his knife, releasing its rainbow glow into Cheng Du, who collapsed after feeling a surge of heat.
• The next morning, Cheng Du awakened with fire powers, set flames around his arms, and spat out a fireball before collapsing.
• Cheng Du told Su Jin that his power felt flexible and offered to demonstrate it in private.

Su Jin and the others prepared for their mission while Fu Hu underwent the awakening ritual. Fu Hu awakened a hardening ability that also greatly increased his strength, leaving the group ready to depart the next day.

• Cheng Du demonstrated that his fire ability impaired zombies, while Su Jin continued leading the searches and found a Flesh Ball for Fu Hu.
• Su Jin gave Fu Hu the Flesh Ball to awaken him, and Sun Ya handed Su Jin mission instructions, medicine, and details about the prepared car and bombs.
• Sun Ya urged Su Jin to keep Cheng Du in check and said the household should learn about the danger after the mission.
• Fu Hu woke at dawn, sensed energy within himself, and discovered he could harden parts of his body and greatly increase his strength.

Su Jin, Fu Hu, and Cheng Du set out for the Medical University to collect supplies for an experiment that could detect infected people hiding among them. Before they left, Su Jin explained the threat and his reasons for building a larger team, then the car pulled away after an argument about Fu Hu and Cheng Du’s photographs.

• Su Jin and his companions checked their weapons and equipment before leaving the residential complex, while Su Jin told Sun Ya and Wei De to keep everyone inside.
• Cheng Du offered Su Jin warm socks for the trip, but Su Jin tossed them aside and Fu Hu questioned him about the mission.
• Su Jin told Fu Hu and Cheng Du that some infected looked like ordinary people and explained that Sun Ya and Wei De had devised an experiment to identify them.
• Cheng Du questioned why they needed to recruit others, and Su Jin insisted they had to fight back and share the burden to survive.
• Fu Hu asked Su Jin to look after Zhang Wan and Qing Dai if he died, then teased him about Qing Dai; Cheng Du showed off a photograph of his younger brother.
• Su Jin punched Fu Hu and Cheng Du, ordered Fu Hu to drive, and the car left the residential complex.

At the Welcome Guest Restaurant, trapped residents clashed as a tattooed man bullied a woman who insisted aliens could save them. The elderly woman accompanying her fainted, leaving the residents’ immediate danger unresolved.

• Tan Hui brought hot water to the twenty-three residents sheltering in the restaurant.
• A skinny man asked the tattooed man to help him lure Ding Jia into the kitchen, and the tattooed man slapped him down.
• Yue Hao challenged the tattooed man, and Tan Hui intervened to stop their fight.
• Ding Jia pleaded with the residents to seek help from a Namekian in the Talents Residential Compound, but the tattooed man mocked her and accused her of escaping from a psychiatric hospital.
• Tan Hui defended Ding Jia, and the tattooed man warned Yue Hao before Yue Hao noticed Ding Jia’s elderly mother had passed out.

Yue Hao and Tan Hui risked crossing the street to get medicine for Ding Jia's mother, while Su Jin's group drove through the devastated city toward Dragon Star Pharmacy. The chapter left Yue Hao and Tan Hui outside the restaurant as people inside urgently called for the door to be closed, and Su Jin's vehicle nearing the pharmacy.

• Ding Jia begged for help getting blood pressure medicine for her mother, and Yue Hao and Tan Hui agreed to retrieve it from Dragon Star Pharmacy.
• Tattooed Arm warned Tan Hui that helping Ding Jia could get him killed, but Tan Hui chose to go anyway.
• Yue Hao arranged for Ding Jia to distract nearby zombies with metal basins, then he and Tan Hui slipped under the rolling shutter and went outside.
• Fu Hu worried that Disguised Infected might get guns, and Cheng Du suggested adjusting guns to shoot left of their aim points.
• Su Jin, Fu Hu, and Cheng Du drove through the devastated city and spotted the Dragon Scale Tower as they neared Dragon Star Pharmacy.

Tan Hui and Yue Hao searched the Dragon Star Pharmacy for medicine, but a childlike creature killed them. At the Yingbin Hotel, Ding Jia spotted Su Jin and his companions arriving, while they found the crying child upstairs and Su Jin prepared to investigate cautiously.

• Tan Hui and Yue Hao collected medicine from the pharmacy and discussed Tan Hui’s despair over the disaster and his missing family.
• Yue Hao spotted a shadow upstairs and tried to retreat, but returned after hearing a child crying.
• The child attacked and killed Tan Hui and Yue Hao, biting through Yue Hao’s neck.
• Ding Jia saw Su Jin and two armed companions arrive at the pharmacy and excitedly called them aliens, while the tattooed man silenced her.
• Su Jin, Cheng Du, and Fu Hu searched the second floor and found a crying child among three fresh corpses; Su Jin approached with his hand on his gun.

Su Jin discovered that a child who appeared harmless was a zombie capable of disguising itself, and warned that zombies were evolving. He and Fu Hu and Cheng Du continued toward Dragon Mountain Middle School, where they encountered a large horde and a remarkably fast zombie.

• Su Jin shot the crying child, then found sharp teeth and fresh blood in its mouth and concluded that zombies were developing intelligence and disguises.
• Su Jin examined the dead adults and reasoned that they had risked their lives while seeking medicine for a group sheltering nearby.
• Su Jin, Fu Hu, and Cheng Du secured the medicine and drove toward Dragon Mountain Middle School.
• The three encountered more than a hundred zombies near the school and drove onto the sidewalk to get past the horde.
• A fast zombie in a school uniform carrying artificial flowers hit the hood, and Fu Hu braked before the group continued onward.