In the winter of 2073, global warming triggered the large-scale thawing of the permafrost in both polar regions. The “Charon Fungus,” frozen for ten thousand years, flowed into the oceans with the meltwater. Fish ingested it, and it entered human society through the global supply chain. Humans who ate contaminated seafood transformed into mindless walking corpses within twelve hours. Their defense, attack, and hearing were all three times stronger than normal. They fed on living creatures and spread the fungus through bodily fluids. They also grew stronger with every kill, and in later stages could even awaken intelligence and tactical abilities.
Eighteen-year-old Li Xiaoran, a senior in high school, witnessed his father fight the walking corpses to the death while protecting his family during the outbreak in Canglan City. In his final moments, his father killed a walking corpse and obtained a pale blue crystal core, urging Li Xiaoran to swallow it to survive. After consuming the core, Li Xiaoran awakened a skill.
From then on, Li Xiaoran fled the walking corpses with his mother. He ran into his childhood friend Chen Feng, a tech enthusiast skilled at modifying equipment, and Su Yue, a medical student. The three formed a team to search for supplies and hunt walking corpses, gradually discovering how the crystal cores worked: different-colored cores corresponded to different attributes and skills, and consuming them could randomly improve basic stats such as strength, stamina, and agility, as well as grant skills. They fought other human groups over supplies, including a clash with Wang Hu's gang, witnessed the stratification and moral decay of the safe zones, and encountered “mutant walking corpses” that had grown enormously in size, “intelligent walking corpses” that knew how to cooperate, and even ones capable of commanding other walking corpses
