Recaps

Cheng Jing told Jiang Nian about brutal killings and supply fraud he had encountered while working with the rescue team, and Jiang Nian reassured him that the chaos was beyond their control. After the command center issued a rule requiring supplies to be handed directly to recipients, Cheng Jing carried Jiang Nian to bed to leave the grim news behind.

• Cheng Jing unexpectedly kissed Jiang Nian and admitted he feared Jiang Nian might open the door to help someone and put himself in danger.
• Cheng Jing told Jiang Nian about a newlywed couple murdered for their supplies and a man who killed his wife and children.
• Jiang Nian said human nature would worsen amid the chaos and that they could only rely on themselves until order returned.
• Cheng Jing received a command-center rule requiring supplies to be delivered directly to recipients rather than collected by family members.
• Cheng Jing carried Jiang Nian to the bedroom, and they kissed as they prepared to spend the night together.

As Qingyun City established controlled zones, Cheng Jing’s team members awakened abilities and the team became a major force in the western zone. Jiang Nian warned Cheng Jing about approaching hail and extreme cold, and the exhausted team returned home on October 14 to prepare.

• Qingyun City divided into five controlled areas, and Jiang Nian’s residential complex became the western zone’s survivor settlement.
• Huang Qian, Zhao Lei, Jian Cheng, Tang Yi, Liao Yu, Lu Ningzhou, and Zhou Rongbin awakened abilities, while Cheng Jing told the team to conceal some of their strengths.
• Zhou Li let Cheng Jing keep his team together, and Cheng Jing gained influence in the city’s rescue leadership as his ability advanced.
• Jiang Nian warned Cheng Jing that hail, snow, and extreme cold were approaching, prompting Cheng Jing to alert the authorities to prepare.
• Cheng Jing and the others returned home on October 14 after more than ten days of missions, then washed, ate, and rested.

As extreme cold and snow engulfed the city, Cheng Jing and his team helped protect the resettlement site while staying warm and supplied in their safe house. With the city nearly shut down, Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing settled into a comfortable routine together.

• Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing watched an explicit romance film during a hailstorm and ended up becoming intimate.
• As temperatures fell and zombies gathered around the resettlement compounds, Zhou Li ordered survivors not to fire indiscriminately, and Cheng Jing's team patrolled nearby.
• When the weather turned colder, the districts gathered supplies and residents sealed doors and windows to prepare for the extreme cold.
• By November, temperatures reached minus thirty degrees Celsius, the command center closed, and Cheng Jing supplied electricity and fire at the Materials Center while his teammates stayed home.
• Cheng Jing shut their safe-house door to visitors after Huang Qian asked to move in, and Jiang Nian enjoyed eating, resting, practicing his ability, and spending time with Cheng Jing.

As the extreme cold settled in, Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing endured the deadly temperatures while keeping warm and teasing each other. After survivors adjusted to the cold and began reaching the aid stations again, authorities encouraged capable people to form teams and search for supplies.

• Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing joked and flirted in bed, with Cheng Jing agreeing to keep serving as Jiang Nian’s personal heater.
• Temperatures stabilized between minus sixty-six and minus seventy degrees, and people struggled to survive the deadly cold as supplies dwindled.
• Jiang Nian teased Cheng Jing during their exercise, distracting him with kisses and touches before returning to the treadmill.
• After more than half a month, survivors began adapting to the cold, and new groups of people arrived at the aid stations.
• Authorities asked capable survivors to form supply-search teams, offering continued rations to those who turned in half their finds.
• Ability users formed teams and returned from their searches with substantial supplies.

As the extreme cold pushed ability users to form independent teams, Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian resolved their first conflict after getting back together over Jiang Nian wanting to go on supply runs. Cheng Jing later learned that the rescue base was progressing, while the dangers outside grew as zombies adapted to the cold and people failed to return from supply searches.

• Ability users began forming teams and keeping the supplies they found, widening the divide between them and ordinary people at the settlement.
• Cheng Jing initially refused to let Jiang Nian join the team's supply runs, and their argument led to two days of estrangement before Cheng Jing relented.
• Cheng Jing's team began donating most of its collected supplies and his ability services to the settlement, and Zhou Li told him the army would search cities for survivors after the extreme cold ended.
• Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing discussed the benefits of building ties with the authorities and ate together at home.
• Zombies grew faster and more aggressive in the cold, while anxious families waited outside the command office for ability users to report whether their missing loved ones had returned.

After fourteen ability users vanished during a night patrol, Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian investigated the evidence and concluded that a human killer had likely lured the squad into the basement. The killer remained unidentified as Cheng Jing asked Jiang Nian what they should do next.

• Zhou Li brought Cheng Jing, Jiang Nian, and others to Jiahe Court, where they found the patrol squad’s smashed satellite phones and bloody drag marks leading into the basement.
• Zhou Li collected the phones and returned with the group to the command center, where he asked Cheng Jing to stay behind.
• Jiang Nian told Cheng Jing that only one ability aura lingered in the basement, suggesting a powerful killer had killed the squad or picked off its members in pairs.
• Cheng Jing asked whether the killer could have been a zombie, and Jiang Nian explained that a zombie at this stage could not kill with conscious, logical intent.
• Cheng Jing asked Jiang Nian what they should do next.

Jiang Nian argued that Cheng Jing should let him help investigate the killer instead of keeping him at home, and the two confronted their fears about relying on and protecting each other. They reconciled and agreed to face future dangers together, with Cheng Jing no longer stopping Jiang Nian from preparing to go out.

• Jiang Nian proposed questioning residents the next day, but Cheng Jing told him to stay home and said he would take Zhou Rongbin instead.
• Jiang Nian objected to being treated as helpless and argued that he needed to grow stronger to survive the dangers ahead and avoid becoming a burden.
• Cheng Jing grabbed Jiang Nian when he threatened to break up, then apologized after hurting his shoulder.
• Jiang Nian explained that he wanted them to face the apocalypse together, and Cheng Jing agreed to stop overprotecting him.
• Jiang Nian promised he would not break up with Cheng Jing, and Cheng Jing helped him search for outdoor gear.

Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian made up after a fight, while Cheng Jing shared Jiang Nian’s ideas with Zhou Li and kept their engagement private. The next morning, rescue teams began searching Jiahe Court, where Cheng Jing’s team encountered families waiting for missing relatives.

• Jiang Nian noticed the bruises Cheng Jing had left on his shoulder, and Cheng Jing apologized and promised not to lose control again.
• Cheng Jing discussed Jiang Nian’s discoveries with Zhou Li, who recognized that the two men were engaged and asked whether Cheng Jing was keeping Jiang Nian off the rescue team out of possessiveness.
• Cheng Jing returned home late and found Jiang Nian pretending to sleep while playing a handheld game; they reconciled for the night.
• The command center assembled twenty temporary teams to search Jiahe Court, and Cheng Jing’s team began checking Building 13.
• Cheng Jing’s team saw the elderly couple in apartment 501 and the mother and daughter in apartment 1805, whose family members had gone missing.
• After searching the seventeenth floor, Cheng Jing’s team saw the woman from apartment 1805 leading her bundled-up daughter downstairs.

Jiang Nian and the others encountered Lin Qin and her daughter Xiao Ya while checking apartments, then returned to review the settlement’s search results and death reports. Jiang Nian noticed that several missing residents shared a pattern, but the investigation had not found useful leads.

• Huang Qian and Jiang Nian spoke with Lin Qin and Xiao Ya, who were heading to the command room for medicine and news of Shan Chengfei, who had gone missing.
• Xiao Ya asked Jiang Nian to save her father, but he apologized and refused because he could not help someone who had disappeared.
• The team continued checking apartments, then returned to the command room for a debrief after finding no useful leads.
• Jiang Nian read the settlement’s death reports and noticed that recently missing residents had lived alone and vanished after collecting supplies, with their supplies left untouched.

Jiang Nian noticed that ordinary people had been disappearing before the night patrol members were killed, and he and Cheng Jing deduced that the killer was feeding victims to a zombie who had once been a family member. They realized the night patrol had likely uncovered the killings and been murdered to conceal them, but the killer’s identity remained unknown.

• Jiang Nian found a pattern of ordinary people disappearing every few days and suspected the killer had been targeting them before the night patrol squad.
• Huang Qian reported that Xiao Ya and her mother had not been home during the residents’ inspection.
• Jiang Nian told Cheng Jing that the killer might have teleportation abilities or an accomplice and had likely taken victims away to dispose of them.
• Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian considered why the killer was collecting victims and realized the zombies might be the killer’s family.
• Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing concluded that the killer was feeding people to a zombified family member and had killed the night patrol after they discovered the scheme.

Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian’s investigation into the hidden ability user stalled until Huang Qian’s call drew their attention to Xiao Ya and her mother. They suspected the pair were concealing what happened to Xiao Ya’s father and decided to investigate their home.

• Cheng Jing told Zhou Li and a few command-room staff about the hidden ability user theory, and Zhou Li assigned the investigation to Cheng Jing’s squad with support from others.
• Cheng Jing reviewed the west district’s ability-user register but found no leads, while Huang Qian reported that Xiao Ya and her mother were the only residents she had not managed to check.
• Jiang Nian asked Huang Qian not to pursue the pair and suggested that he and Cheng Jing visit Xiao Ya’s home.
• Cheng Jing pointed out that Xiao Ya’s unusual questions and warning to Jiang Nian could mean she knew what had happened to her father.
• Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing suspected that Xiao Ya’s father had been infected and that the mother and daughter might be hiding him, possibly using a teleportation ability to avoid inspection.

Cheng Jing, Jiang Nian, and Huang Qian entered Xiao Ya’s apartment and discovered that her mother had been feeding victims to her zombified husband. As they confronted the family, the mother used her mental ability to suppress their minds, leaving them unable to resist.

• Cheng Jing told his teammates that he and Jiang Nian suspected Xiao Ya and her mother, then arranged a small team to investigate apartment 1805 after seven.
• Cheng Jing, Jiang Nian, and Huang Qian entered the apartment and sensed abilities from three people inside.
• Huang Qian restrained and knocked out Xiao Ya when she tried to run toward the master bedroom.
• Jiang Nian deduced that Xiao Ya had teleportation, while Xiao Ya’s mother admitted that she had used her mental ability to keep her zombified husband quiet and had killed people to feed him.
• Cheng Jing melted the bedroom lock, and the zombie husband attacked through metal blades that Huang Qian and Cheng Jing countered with vines and lightning.
• Xiao Ya’s mother spoke with her mental ability, causing Cheng Jing and Huang Qian’s minds to grow hazy and preventing them from resisting.

Jiang Nian, Cheng Jing, and Huang Qian subdued an infected woman and her zombified husband, then uncovered how she had killed fourteen ability users and used her daughter Xiao Ya to lure victims. The woman admitted her crimes and asked them to take Xiao Ya away, leaving the three to decide what to tell the child.

• Jiang Nian used his Purification Ability to free Cheng Jing and Huang Qian from the woman's influence, and Huang Qian bound the infected woman with vines.
• Huang Qian killed the zombified husband when he tried to use his ability, and the group discovered the restraints, human flesh, and sedatives the woman had used to feed him.
• The woman confessed that Xiao Ya's teleportation ability had brought victims to her, while her own power controlled them; she had killed fourteen ability users and dismembered them in the basement.
• Jiang Nian and Huang Qian condemned the woman for exploiting Xiao Ya and making her participate in the killings, while the woman revealed that a piece of candy had briefly helped Xiao Ya warn them away.
• The woman asked the group to take Xiao Ya and tell her that her mother would no longer control her, then admitted she had forced her husband to stay because she could not bear to let him go.

Jiang Nian, Huang Qian, and Cheng Jing left Xiao Ya alive, and Zhou Li asked them to supervise her until she could be registered and face trial. Later, Jiang Nian discovered that Xiao Ya’s mother’s ability crystal core had mutated, and Cheng Jing suggested the couple’s bond might have caused it.

• Jiang Nian struggled with whether to kill Xiao Ya, but Huang Qian carried her out, and the group left as apartment 1805 caught fire.
• Zhou Li explained that Xiao Ya was both an accomplice and a minor victim, and asked Cheng Jing, Jiang Nian, and Huang Qian to supervise her temporarily until she could be placed and tried.
• Cheng Jing agreed on behalf of the group, and they left the command room after Zhou Li promised to record the case and eventually tell the victims’ families the truth.
• Cheng Jing showed Jiang Nian the crystal cores taken from Xiao Ya’s parents, and Jiang Nian noticed a black spot in her mother’s core that indicated a rare mutation.
• Jiang Nian speculated that the couple’s emotional connection had caused the mutation, then gave both cores to Cheng Jing for safekeeping.
• Cheng Jing put the cores away and pulled Jiang Nian into a tight embrace.

Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing argued over whether Xiao Ya deserved punishment for her role in the deaths at Jiahe Court, then agreed to keep her under supervision and take her to the base. The chapter ended with them visiting Xiao Ya and seeing how deeply traumatized she remained.

• Cheng Jing admitted he might have acted like Xiao Ya's mother, and Jiang Nian insisted her actions were unforgivable and said he would have killed her.
• Jiang Nian explained that he had wanted to kill Xiao Ya but had hesitated, and Cheng Jing asked whether he would have killed a child in the same circumstances.
• Jiang Nian agreed to keep Xiao Ya under supervision and take her to the base for registration, while he and Cheng Jing promised to survive the apocalypse and raise dogs together.
• A few days later, Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing visited Huang Qian's safe house and saw Xiao Ya looking vacant after learning that both her parents had become zombies and died.
• Huang Qian told them Xiao Ya had suffered nightmares, breakdowns, and suicidal thoughts, but had improved after medical staff recommended sedatives.

Jiang Nian and his team took Xiao Ya in while she recovered from the trauma of helping her mother kill people, and Huang Qian helped Jiang Nian come to terms with sparing her. As Cheng Jing’s team joined Qingyun City’s official rescue guild, the group prepared to face the jealousy and hostility their new status might bring.

• Xiao Ya broke down in Jiang Nian’s arms, confessed her guilt, and fell asleep after Huang Qian gave her warm water with a sedative.
• Huang Qian told Jiang Nian that killing Xiao Ya would have left him with lasting regret, and the team agreed to take the girl in temporarily.
• Huang Qian completed Xiao Ya’s guardianship paperwork, while Xiao Ya gradually settled in but avoided using her ability and kept her hands covered with gloves.
• Cheng Jing’s team accepted an invitation to join the Qingyun City Apocalypse Ability User Rescue Guild as Team 017, with the option to leave at any time.
• At a gathering in Cheng Jing’s safe house, the team brushed off the prospect of resentment from other ability users and agreed to fight back against anyone who challenged them.

Cheng Jing rejected Jiang Wenwen when she asked to join his team, and Jiang Nian made clear that he was married when she showed interest in him. After their teammates left, Cheng Jing confronted Jiang Nian for attracting attention, and Jiang Nian teased him for being jealous.

• Cheng Jing refused Jiang Wenwen's request to join his team, but she introduced herself to the others anyway.
• Jiang Wenwen asked Jiang Nian whether he had a girlfriend, and Jiang Nian showed her his wedding ring and said he was married.
• Jiang Nian suggested that Jiang Wenwen consider his single teammates, but she said she preferred someone well-behaved and declined.
• Jiang Wenwen told Cheng Jing she would be interested in working together if his team recruited later, then left.
• Cheng Jing declined to consider Jiang Wenwen because Liao Yu's ice ability could provide water for the team.
• After their teammates went home, Cheng Jing pinned Jiang Nian on the sofa and told him not to attract attention, while Jiang Nian teased him for getting jealous.

Jiang Nian coaxed Cheng Jing through a jealous complaint about their reduced intimacy, then the group learned that apocalypse bases were ready to receive survivors. They began planning which nearby base to travel to once the extreme cold eased.

• Cheng Jing pinned Jiang Nian down and complained that Jiang Nian had been limiting their time together, so Jiang Nian promised to change and they reconciled with kisses.
• During dinner, Jiang Nian asked Cheng Jing to speak directly when something bothered him, and Cheng Jing agreed while feeding him.
• Satellite broadcasts announced that apocalypse bases across the country were ready to rescue survivors and accept those who could reach them.
• Jiang Nian told Cheng Jing that the weather should warm in early March and that rescue teams would likely set out around mid-March.
• Jiang Nian marked the nearby bases on a map, and the group discussed traveling to L Base, K Base, or South City Base once conditions allowed.

Jiang Nian chose South City Base for its safety and military management, and his squad agreed to follow his lead. He revealed his Purification ability and demonstrated that it could free people from mental illusions, then the team continued its plans and began taking night patrol shifts.

• Jiang Nian explained the pros and cons of the candidate bases and chose South City Base, citing its safety and orderly military management.
• The squad agreed to Jiang Nian’s choice and discussed setting out in early March to reach the base by early April.
• After Liao Yu asked whether he had awakened an ability, Jiang Nian revealed his Purification ability and asked everyone to keep it and Xiao Ya’s ability secret.
• Zhou Rongbin cast a mental illusion of zombies over the squad, and Jiang Nian used Purification to free everyone, causing a mental rebound for Zhou Rongbin.
• Cheng Jing and the others began taking turns on night patrol as part of the official rescue team, while Zhou Li allowed Zhou Rongbin to substitute for Huang Qian so she could care for Xiao Ya.

During a peaceful patrol, Cheng Jing's team joked about romance and Lu Ningzhou revealed his intention to pursue Huang Qian. After a week of help from the team, Lu Ningzhou and Huang Qian became a couple, and he moved into her safe house to help raise her child.

• Xiao Ya brought Cheng Jing and the others steamed buns during their night patrol, and the team joked about the sounds they heard from a neighboring apartment.
• Liao Yu asked whether Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian behaved like the couple in the apartment, prompting his teammates to tease and warn him.
• Lu Ningzhou announced that he planned to pursue Huang Qian, and the team encouraged his effort.
• After a week of pursuit, Huang Qian and Lu Ningzhou became a couple, and she invited him to help raise her child.
• Lu Ningzhou moved his belongings into Huang Qian's safe house while Zhao Lei and Liao Yu complained about being left behind.

Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian left Qingyun City for South City Base as the weather warmed and zombies grew more dangerous. On the road, their convoy rescued three wounded ability users from a zombie horde and swiftly destroyed the attackers.

• Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian prepared to leave, registered their departure with Zhou Li, and received his recommendation for South City Base.
• On March 10, Cheng Jing's group quietly left Qingyun City in two snowplows and two vehicles.
• As they traveled, evolved zombies with crystal cores appeared, and one of the group's snowplows was wrecked.
• Jian Cheng spotted three wounded ability users trapped by a zombie horde, and they ran toward the convoy for help.
• The older survivor shoved the two younger ones out of danger, and Zhao Lei blocked the zombie's stone barrage while a vine pulled the man back.
• Cheng Jing's group attacked with earthen barriers, iron walls, ice spikes, vines, lightning, and fire, killing the zombie horde.

After helping Li Kaiyun and his children survive a zombie attack, Jiang Nian agreed to let the family travel with them to South City Base. Seeing Li Kaiyun care for his children stirred Jiang Nian’s grief over having been rejected by his own father.

• Huang Qian collected three zombie crystal cores, and Jiang Nian explained where different kinds of zombies’ cores could be found.
• Li Kaiyun asked to travel with Cheng Jing’s group, and Jiang Nian agreed after learning they were both headed to South City Base, where Li Kaiyun’s nephew was stationed.
• Li Kaiyun, Li Liang, and Li Shuhui buried their neighbors and asked Cheng Jing to cremate Li Kaiyun’s wife.
• Jiang Nian gave the family meals, snacks, and medical supplies after seeing how little food they had, and told Li Kaiyun they did not need to repay him.
• Li Kaiyun’s devotion to his children reminded Jiang Nian of the father who had rejected him before he was born.

Jiang Nian’s group traveled with Li Kaiyun and his children toward South City Base, building trust and sharing duties along the way. Near the base, an earthquake collapsed a bridge and trapped survivors, and Cheng Jing’s team joined the rescue as zombies emerged from the rubble.

• Jiang Nian’s group camped in an open plaza, and Cheng Jing spoke with Li Kaiyun about their military backgrounds and the team’s plans.
• Li Kaiyun’s family shared their crystal cores with Cheng Jing and helped with cooking and camp chores as the groups traveled together for nearly a week.
• An earthquake struck as the group approached a bridge, collapsing it and opening cracks that swallowed several rescue trucks carrying survivors.
• Cheng Jing left Huang Qian, Xiao Ya, and Li Shuhui to guard the vehicles while he and the others went to help the rescue team.
• Zhao Lei pulled a concrete slab away from a trapped family of three, and the frightened daughter asked Cheng Jing to carry her.

During the rescue beneath the collapsed bridge, Jiang Nian saved an injured woman who then tried to pressure him into taking responsibility for her, but he and Cheng Jing rejected her demands and returned to their group. The woman was left resentful, while the others recognized how fortunate they had been to receive Jiang Nian’s help.

• Cheng Jing and Zhao Lei helped rescue a girl and her father as the team searched the bridge ruins for survivors and supplies.
• Jiang Nian rescued an injured young woman, purified the wound on her leg, and handed her over to medical staff.
• The woman demanded that Jiang Nian take responsibility for her and become her boyfriend, but he refused and called out her attempt to manipulate him.
• When bystanders urged Jiang Nian to help her, he challenged them to take responsibility themselves and mocked the woman’s threats to harm herself.
• Cheng Jing arrived, threatened the woman if she kept pestering Jiang Nian, and led him back to the group.
• Liao Yu warned the woman before leaving, while Li Kaiyun and his son reflected on their good fortune and the woman watched the group depart resentfully.

After choosing to travel with Cheng Jing's group rather than the rescue team, Li Kaiyun and his companions set out for South City Base. Jiang Nian's group reached the base safely in early April as zombies spread and disease outbreaks worsened.

• Li Kaiyun declined the rescue team leader's invitation to travel with them, choosing to stay with Cheng Jing's group.
• Jiang Nian's group camped near the rescue team, then refused a family of three who asked to join them; Jiang Nian challenged them to serve as zombie bait, and they returned to the rescue team.
• Jiang Nian's group traveled by national highway, fought zombies, collected ability crystal cores, and directed survivors toward the rescue team following behind.
• The group reached South City Base safely in early April as the thaw brought out more zombies and radio reports warned of plague and deadly viral infections.