Embers of the Apocalypse in the Early Ming Dynasty

Synopsis Fifteen years into the apocalypse, Xiao Cheng, captain of a scavenger team in Rust-Iron City, fights a deadly battle against a mutated “Runner” with his mechanical arm. By chance, he and the genius girl Wu Xiaoyan and biologist Jiang Chen are transmigrated to the second year of the Longfeng era at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, carried there by the spatial energy of an alien escape pod. The three fall from a zombie battlefield into an age of cold weapons. They must conceal “artifacts of the future” such as Xiao Cheng’s mechanical arm and their windbreakers, while also facing accusations that they are “demons” and the threat of shamans trying to exorcise them. Drawing on his mechanical-arm modifications and apocalyptic ingenuity, Xiao Cheng helps Zhu Yuanzhang’s army improve its trebuchets and repel enemies with “jet propulsion,” earning the trust of Li Shanchang and Zhu Yuanzhang. Jiang Chen discovers that bacteria from the late Yuan Dynasty can suppress the zombie virus and builds an epidemic-prevention system using fermented wheat bran liquid. Wu Xiaoyan repeatedly saves her companions with her precise crossbow shots. But an antibody sample that came with them leaks, and the zombie virus spreads through the ancient military camps, mutating into an even more potent infection. With no quarantine facilities or protective suits, the three fight the virus with wheat-bran lactic acid bacteria and mugwort disinfectant. They also witness Zhu Yuanzhang burn down the Eastern Camp to contain the outbreak. Then the alien escape pod appears once more. Xiao Cheng’s mechanical arm absorbs its energy and the heat from the fire, opening a temporary spatial rift. The three carry back data on improved ancient bacteria and antibody samples, then make a perilous return to Rust-Iron City in the apocalypse, where they successfully develop a vaccine and help drive reconstruction. Yet the straw caught in Xiao Cheng’s mechanical arm, a mysterious signal from the ancient military camp, and the legend of a “miracle doctor from the future” all hint that the bond between the two eras remains unbroken. After the vaccine is widely distributed in the post-apocalyptic world, Xiao Cheng’s team is clearing out a zombie nest when the mechanical arm receives an even stronger cross-temporal signal. Greater secrets await discovery.