Chapter Summaries

Qin Luo took Xu Duoduo shopping through Willowbank District, where the rebuilt streets showed how much life and society had changed since the apocalypse. He fled with her after an elderly stall owner teased him about courting her, while the old man stayed behind to talk to his late wife’s photograph.

• Xu Duoduo tugged Qin Luo toward the pedestrian street, and he mistook her interest in shopping for a wish to go on a date with him.
• Qin Luo and Xu Duoduo saw the scarcity-driven shops and the expanding upper city, and a stall owner described planned buses and subways.
• Xu Duoduo played with mutant little goldfish at the old man’s stall, and he urged Qin Luo to woo her more confidently.
• The old man teased Qin Luo about his shyness, prompting Qin Luo to scoop up Xu Duoduo and hurry away.
• The old man told a young teacher about his beloved wife and stroked the photograph in his pocket watch after she left.

Xu Duoduo returned home, ate mutant food, and discovered that the revamped base forum had made her profile popular. She read the viral praise for Team 3A’s battle against the Zombie Monster.

• Qin Luo escorted Xu Duoduo back to their residential complex, and they parted to rest.
• Xu Duoduo ate a Mutant Core, snacks, and Professor Ji’s Mutant Core Diluent while noticing that her appetite and sense of taste had improved.
• Xu Duoduo logged onto the redesigned forum and found that her verified profile had more than ten thousand followers.
• Xu Duoduo saw a viral post featuring Team 3A fighting the Zombie Monster and read the comments praising the team’s strength and fierce loyalty.

Xu Duoduo discovered that a dress she wore had gone viral on the forum, where readers learned it cost several hundred thousand points. After Qin Luo caught her staying up all night browsing, Team 3A received a million points each and decided to visit the eccentric shopkeeper to clarify the dress’s attributes and protect Xu Duoduo’s secret.

• A forum user revealed that Alchemist Xiao Lin's Treasure Shop sold expensive custom clothing and that Xu Duoduo’s dress cost several hundred thousand points.
• Xu Duoduo read the forum’s reactions and became angry when people asked what zombie transformation felt like.
• Qin Luo and the others returned with breakfast, and Qin Luo realized Xu Duoduo had stayed up all night and sent her to shower.
• Bai Shu and Chen Xiaofei bickered over who was whose father while Wang Weihu ate breakfast in resignation.
• Bai Shu told Team 3A that Da Qiao’s points had arrived and that he had transferred a million points to each of them.
• Qin Luo proposed visiting the mysterious shopkeeper to clarify the dress’s cleaning attributes and prevent Xu Duoduo’s spatial ability from being exposed.

Team 3A headed to the downtown shop to ask about storage space, but a reunion with Mu Enya and Zhang Chi brought news of worsening conditions across the country. The chapter left them facing harder missions and uncertain prospects as more cities fell and survivors crowded the three major bases.

• Team 3A set out to visit the downtown shop, and Xu Duoduo happily reunited with Mu Enya, who pulled her aside to chat.
• Qin Luo, Chen Xiaofei, and Bai Shu joked about Qin Luo being left behind while Wang Weihu greeted Zhang Chi.
• Zhang Chi told Team 3A that a typhoon and flooding had devastated City I, forcing plans to evacuate its survivors.
• Qin Luo and his teammates discussed the strain on the three major bases as more cities fell and survivor populations grew.
• Zhang Chi lamented the lost grain in Ping'an County, while Bai Shu concealed that Xu Duoduo had brought it back safely.
• Mu Enya told Xu Duoduo that her team had lost four members and that supplies near the major bases were running low.

Xu Duoduo comforted Mu Enya, who became her friend and left with a bag of food, while Team 3A teased Qin Luo about his feelings for Xu Duoduo. The team headed to Alchemist Xiao Lin's Treasure Shop, where several people outside said the owner only let good-looking customers in.

• Xu Duoduo returned Mu Enya's protective charm, encouraged her, and hugged her as Mu Enya asked to be friends.
• Xu Duoduo gave Mu Enya a large bag of food, and Mu Enya joked about pledging herself to her, prompting Qin Luo and Zhang Chi to react protectively.
• Chen Xiaofei, Bai Shu, and Wang Weihu teased Qin Luo about liking Xu Duoduo, and Qin Luo decided he would stop denying his feelings to himself.
• Qin Luo took Xu Duoduo and Team 3A to Alchemist Xiao Lin's Treasure Shop on Bright Light Road.
• Several people outside the shop complained that its owner would not let them in because of their looks, and one newcomer froze when he saw Qin Luo and the others.

Team 3A returned to the shop and received an unexpectedly lavish welcome ceremony, which the Clown Puppet said was to thank them for publicizing the store. They bought three outfits and accessories for Xu Duoduo, then asked how they could contact the owner about business.

• Team 3A discouraged newcomers from entering the shop by warning them about its expensive goods and the risk of damaging something.
• Qin Luo and the others entered to confetti and greetings from the Mechanical Parrot and Clown Puppet, who credited the ceremony to Team 3A’s publicity.
• Bai Shu asked whether the shop would offer Team 3A perks for bringing it customers, leaving the Clown Puppet stumped.
• Qin Luo, Chen Xiaofei, Bai Shu, and Wang Weihu browsed dresses and accessories, then helped Xu Duoduo try on outfits.
• Qin Luo bought three outfits after Bai Shu negotiated a fifteen-percent discount, and Team 3A asked how to contact the shop’s boss.

Team 3A met Lin Qianxing, the young Alchemist who ran the shop, and asked him to keep Xu Duoduo’s secret about blood not sticking to her dress. Lin Qianxing agreed in exchange for medicine, and the team prepared to deliver it to a girl named Yuanyuan.

• Qin Luo asked the shop’s owner to meet with Team 3A, and a commotion behind the counter revealed that the owner was a boy named Lin Qianxing.
• Lin Qianxing emerged with help from his clown puppet and explained that he made mechanisms and ordinary melee weapons, but not custom firearms.
• Qin Luo asked Lin Qianxing to keep Xu Duoduo’s unusual secret from the forum, offering medicine in return.
• Lin Qianxing promised not to discuss the secret and asked for burn scar-removal ointment to be delivered to Yuanyuan at the Childcare Center in Willowbank District.
• Xu Duoduo packed several boxes of ointment and other medicine, and Team 3A agreed to deliver them.

After finishing their business with Lin Qianxing and delivering his medicine to the Childcare Center, Qin Luo and Team 3A received a mandatory emergency mission to defend City I’s temporary Survivor Base from mutated marine creatures. They set out at once, preparing to face the flooded city and protect more than two hundred thousand survivors.

• Lin Qianxing thanked Qin Luo and his team for the medicine by offering to add one attribute to their melee weapons for free next time, then sent them out of his shop.
• Qin Luo and the others delivered Lin Qianxing’s medicine to the Childcare Center, where they saw Sun Yuan drawing with the girl who had previously drawn the granary.
• The team received a mandatory mission to help City I’s temporary Survivor Base, which was under threat from mutated marine creatures that had come ashore.
• Wang Weihu went to retrieve their vehicle while the rest of the team prepared to depart, and Bai Shu studied the creatures’ weaknesses.
• Qin Luo encouraged the team by talking about collecting seafood, while the passengers on the bus admired Team 3A’s optimism.

Xu Duoduo and Team 3A joined a large-scale emergency mission to rescue more than two hundred thousand people in City I, where Mutated Marine Creatures had come ashore. As the squads headed out from the H City Survivor Base, they argued over the best route, and Team 3A chose the expressway.

• Xu Duoduo noticed that Mu Enya's team was absent from the mission roster, while a broadcast announced that many rescue squads were being sent to City I.
• Wang Weihu secured the vehicle, and Qin Luo, Xu Duoduo, Bai Shu, and Chen Xiaofei set off with Team 3A behind the Rose Squad.
• The squads debated whether to take the blocked expressway or detour onto the national highway, but failed to agree on a route.
• Qin Luo ended the argument by declaring that Team 3A would take the expressway, then turned off his phone.
• Xu Duoduo gave the weary Bai Shu Herbal Cooling Tea and brought out a hot meal for hungry Chen Xiaofei.

As 3A traveled toward City I, a sudden minor cold wave plunged the temperature, forcing the squad to layer up and prepare for harsher conditions. Wang Weihu shared spare warm clothes with the Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad as they stopped to keep them from freezing.

• The Golden Roc Squad headed for the national highway, with the Rose Squad and several other squads following, while 3A continued along the expressway.
• Chen Xiaofei noticed the temperature falling, and Bai Shu confirmed that the apocalyptic era’s first minor cold wave was arriving early.
• Wang Weihu urged everyone to put on winter clothes, and the squad layered up with thermal wear and outdoor jackets from Xu Duoduo’s storage space.
• Qin Luo noticed Xu Duoduo watching him change, flicked her forehead, and screened off the back seat.
• The Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad called Bai Shu while freezing on the road, so Wang Weihu told them to pull over and gave them spare warm clothes.

Team 3A prepared for the extreme cold, helped the rookie squads and cleared frozen zombies and vehicles from the highway. They reached the X City service area while Rose Squad turned back from an impassable route and tried to catch up.

• Chen Xiaofei and the others gave the Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad spare insulated coats and explained the Seven-Layer Dressing Method, while Xu Duoduo provided ginger tea powder.
• Qin Luo helped Xu Duoduo dress warmly and braided her hair, then Team 3A activated the vehicle's snow mode to handle the icy road.
• Bai Shu bombed frozen zombies as Chen Xiaofei used tornadoes to clear wrecked vehicles, allowing Team 3A to advance along the blocked highway.
• Mu Mei contacted Qin Luo and said Rose Squad was turning back because its route was impassable, and Chen Xiaofei told her they had reached the X City service area and cleared the road.

Team 3A reached City I, parted ways with the Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad, and headed toward the flooded lowlands to investigate the seawater’s advance. They encountered enormous mutant sea creatures and continued toward the danger zone.

• Wang Weihu drove through the night while Qin Luo and the others rested, and Qin Luo took over driving in the second half of the night.
• Team 3A reached the City I toll station and coordinated with the Cheetah Squad, White Dove Squad, and Rose Squad.
• Wang Weihu advised the Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad to rely on their own strength, and the squads parted ways.
• Qin Luo drove Team 3A toward the low-lying areas near the City I base to investigate the inland flooding.
• Xu Duoduo and Chen Xiaofei gaped at giant mutant crabs and four-legged fish as mutant starfish gnawed at buildings.
• A lobster stared at Chen Xiaofei through the vehicle window before scurrying away, and Qin Luo told him it had been looking at its reflection.

Qin Luo's team explored the flooded Low-Lying District and began clearing its invasive marine creatures, discovering the starfish could be collected as food. Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo filled her space with seafood while the others protected them from mutated threats.

• As the team encountered buildings blanketed in man-eating starfish, Bai Shu suggested searching the edge of the low-lying area, but Xu Duoduo and Chen Xiaofei urged them to deal with the creatures.
• Bai Shu threw Marble Bombs at the starfish, knocking them off a building and releasing a tempting roasted-seafood smell that made Xu Duoduo eager to collect them.
• Qin Luo agreed to let Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo gather the starfish while he, Bai Shu, and Wang Weihu stayed by the vehicle to provide cover.
• Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo climbed onto a building and pried starfish loose, sending them through Xu Duoduo's spatial entrance into her Rubik's Cube space.
• Bai Shu shot mutated birds overhead, while Qin Luo killed bloodthirsty black bugs that crawled toward Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo.
• Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo continued collecting starfish, prawns, and octopuses as the team's space filled with seafood.

Xu Duoduo and Chen Xiaofei gathered mutated sea creatures while Qin Luo, Bai Shu, and Wang Weihu guarded them, until a gigantic Mutated Octopus attacked and forced the group to lure it onto higher ground. Elsewhere, the Rose Squad rescued the rookie Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad from Mutated Green Crabs and advised them to stay calm and practice using their abilities.

• Xu Duoduo and Chen Xiaofei cleared starfish and collected other mutated seafood while Qin Luo and Bai Shu guarded them and Wang Weihu followed in the vehicle.
• A gigantic Mutated Octopus attacked Xu Duoduo and Chen Xiaofei, but Chen Xiaofei carried Xu Duoduo away after she shielded them from its corrosive ink.
• Qin Luo, Bai Shu, and Wang Weihu drew the Mutated Octopus onto higher ground, where Qin Luo unleashed his Thunderstorm Ability against it.
• The Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad fled from Mutated Green Crabs until the Rose Squad restrained the crabs and treated the rookies' wounds.
• Mu Mei encouraged the Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad to practice their abilities and stay calmer when facing danger.

Qin Luo and Team 3A defeated a giant mutated octopus and harvested it, while nearby squads marveled at their strength and their haul. The team kept the octopus to eat, and Qin Luo carried the filthy Xu Duoduo back to the vehicle to change.

• Qin Luo used the stormy environment to defeat the mutated octopus with only a third of his ability reserves, while his teammates stayed back to avoid his attacks.
• Wang Weihu showed Qin Luo recorded footage and suggested he get his ability level tested again.
• Xu Duoduo carved open the octopus, found no human remains, set aside its ink sac for the Research Institute, and claimed its blue Two-Star Mutant Core.
• Qin Luo and the others agreed to keep the octopus for food, while passing combat squads praised Team 3A for taking it down and clearing the starfish nearby.
• Bai Shu collected samples and prepared to report on the starfish, while Qin Luo told Xu Duoduo to get into the vehicle and change her clothes.

Team 3A gathered mutated seafood in the Low-Lying District while Xu Duoduo’s Rubik’s Cube space gained new functions. The chapter ended as screams sounded nearby, signaling that another team had come under attack.

• Chen Xiaofei heard Xu Duoduo speak and excitedly carried her off to gather mantis shrimp.
• After the tide receded, Team 3A collected clams and seafood while Wang Weihu killed trapped zombies and Qin Luo used electricity to bring down mutated creatures.
• Xu Duoduo’s space leveled up, revealing six color-coded faces and new functions, including Strangulation, a domain, water, planting, and two storage spaces with Time Stasis.
• Qin Luo, Bai Shu, and Wang Weihu gave Xu Duoduo mutant cores as they defeated one-star mutated seafood.
• Bai Shu and Wang Weihu discussed the danger of encountering stronger creatures, and Qin Luo urged them to stay alert.
• Screams erupted nearby as another team came under attack.

Team 3A helped rescue a squad from a Three-Star mutant Australian rock lobster, then cleared a large portion of City I’s marine creatures before retreating ahead of the incoming tide. As they drove toward City I’s Survivor Base, Xu Duoduo fed the exhausted team and enjoyed feeling cherished, though she still did not understand her upgraded Rubik’s Cube Space.

• Xu Duoduo followed Team 3A as Qin Luo led the team toward Chen Xiaofei’s warning about a massive mutant lobster.
• Wang Weihu scolded a stranded squad for provoking the Three-Star lobster and refusing to call for help, while Qin Luo paralyzed it with electricity.
• Xu Duoduo and Shishi fought off marine creatures as Team 3A and the arriving support squads cleared the area, reducing City I’s mutated marine creatures by a third.
• Qin Luo called for the squads to retreat to City I’s Survivor Base as darkness fell and the tide rushed back in.
• Wang Weihu drove the team toward higher ground, and Xu Duoduo shared food with everyone along the way.
• Xu Duoduo happily ate a mutant core and a rice ball, while wondering about her upgraded Rubik’s Cube Space.

Qin Luo and the other combat squads arrived at City I Base and found a stark divide between crowded tent settlements and a luxurious city center. Suspicious of the base’s officials and their unusual lodging arrangements, the squads insisted on staying together and prepared to investigate.

• The squads entered City I Base and saw that many survivors were living in tents outside its shabby walls.
• Little Deer told Wang Weihu that more than two hundred thousand people lived there and that the wealthy occupied the city center while poor residents crowded into tents.
• Qin Luo and the others suspected something was wrong after noticing the base’s neglected facilities, its staff’s restraint, and their attempt to take the squads’ vehicles.
• Qin Luo insisted that Team 3A stay together in a suite, and the Cheetah Squad and White Dove Squad followed his example.
• Jin Chuanqiong mocked Team 3A for refusing separate rooms, while Qin Luo and his teammates focused on checking their rooms and investigating the base.

Team 3A settled into luxurious quarters in the City I base and learned that its leaders mistreated ordinary survivors while pretending to follow Headquarters’ rules. Their guide, Little Deer, secretly revealed that the mayor was being controlled by his bodyguard and that the base planned to lure the team into staying.

• Qin Luo, Bai Shu, Wang Weihu, and Chen Xiaofei discussed the base’s lavish facilities and the suffering of ordinary survivors outside its gates.
• Bai Shu identified the mayor as Wu Dahai and learned that his injured bodyguard had an early tier-three fire ability.
• Little Deer arrived wearing a listening device, and Bai Shu briefly took it off before returning it when she warned that she would be punished if it stayed off.
• Little Deer secretly told the team that Wu Dahai was hostage to his bodyguard, who controlled the base, while she publicly delivered an invitation to a lavish banquet.
• Little Deer wrote that the base meant to tempt the team into working for it and warned that the sea creatures outside were less active at night.

Team 3A learned that City I Base was exploiting its residents and that Yi Liuqi might be controlling the base, though they suspected the mayor could be the true mastermind. They planned to report the situation to Headquarters and investigate while continuing their mission to eliminate the Mutated Marine Creatures.

• Little Deer told Team 3A that Yi Liuqi controlled City I Base, hoarded mutant cores, and exploited ordinary residents while other visiting squads supported him for personal perks.
• Qin Luo declined Little Deer's offer of outfits and learned that the banquet would be held downstairs at eight thirty that night.
• After Little Deer left, Chen Xiaofei and the others discussed how the base had used her as a guide, and Qin Luo said they should replace an unfit leader.
• Bai Shu warned that the mayor might be the real mastermind using Yi Liuqi as a scapegoat, so Team 3A decided to report the situation to Headquarters and investigate.
• Wang Weihu reminded the squad that clearing out the Mutated Marine Creatures remained their main mission, while Qin Luo dried Xu Duoduo's hair.