Mortal Core

[Apocalyptic survival × eerie rules × disaster technology × underdog's rise × the truth of civilization | Zombies, Jiangshi, vampires, aliens, and the uncanny, all included | Ordinary people breaking through impossible odds · hardcore survival, no superpowers, no backing, forging a disaster core with a mortal body and defying the apocalypse like an ant. Read with caution if that's not your thing]

The Great Fall: disaster erupts as the Disaster Core deep beneath Earth's crust begins to leak. Unknown radiation sweeps across the globe, killing or mutating 90% of humanity outright. The remaining 10% struggle to survive in the wasteland. All monsters and uncanny phenomena are, at their core, different mutations of the Disaster Core's energy. The higher the energy concentration, the stronger the monsters and the more twisted the rules.

The nine fortresses monopolize the remaining clean water, food, and disaster-energy purification technology, treating the lower-class survivors like livestock in a pen. Sun Xiangyu, the protagonist, uses a repairman's way of thinking to analyze disaster energy and build weapons from scrap metal that can fight monsters and break the monopoly, tearing open the ultimate truth behind the apocalypse.