When civilization withers, knowledge is the last weapon. He isn't protecting the world, only the light in his sister's eyes. Four months after the catastrophe, the "Withering Disease" has turned cities into silent graveyards. Chen Mo, a librarian, and his sister Xiaoyu, miraculously uninfected but suffering from a worsening wound, are huddled in an underground cell beneath a clinic. Their supplies are gone, and a high fever is burning away Xiaoyu's life. Their only hope is a box of Tienam antibiotics deep inside a hospital two streets away.
For Chen Mo, leaving their shelter means stepping into hell. He knows nothing about guns or fighting. His only advantages are the city map etched into his mind, his scattered but shallow knowledge, and a homemade spear. Every step taken in stealth is a dance with death, every choice tears at the limits of his morality. From cleverly driving off vicious looters in a back alley to risking his life crossing streets roamed by the "Withered," Chen Mo uses observation, quick thinking, and a love as deep as an abyss in place of muscle and bullets, fighting to give his sister a chance to survive amid despair.
But the abandoned hospital is only the entrance to a vast darkness. The entrenched survivor factions, the warped mutants, and the terrifying clues about the origin of the "Withering Disease" all point to a truth that leaves him gasping: Xiaoyu's "miracle" may not have been a coincidence. Chen Mo soon realizes that this quest for medicine is drawing him into the heart of a maelstrom of resource wars, human cruelty, and viral evolution.
In this knowledge forbidden zone known as the apocalypse, how can a bookish weakling use his mind to kindle the last embers, protect his loved one, and face a cruel truth capable of burning away every last hope?
