Hothouse Flower? Who Says the Apocalypse Can Only Be Fought with Force?

Jiang Mo is a twenty-one-year-old history graduate from Tsinghua University who works as an assistant in an archaeological expedition. Her life is upended on October 26th when a zombie apocalypse strikes Anxi City, trapping her and sixty-six other survivors in a hotel. Before the chaos fully consumed her, Jiang Mo encountered the Black and White Impermanence, spirits from the underworld who checked the Book of Life and Death. They discovered an error in their records and departed, leaving Jiang Mo with a peculiar compensation: a single breath that will keep her alive for three days at the moment of her death. This supernatural intervention occurs just as she receives a cryptic text message from her boyfriend, Lu Yanci, warning her not to trust anyone and to wait for him in the hotel. The message is suspicious, as the number is invalid, and Jiang Mo finds herself isolated in a hostile environment where she is already viewed as a privileged outsider due to her father’s wealth.

The core conflict arises from the immediate scarcity of resources and the deteriorating social order within the hotel. Jiang Mo, who is naturally timid and traumatized by a childhood kidnapping, is forced to confront her vulnerabilities. She discovers that her father had stocked her suite with an abundance of food, medicine, and supplies, which she hides to ensure her survival. As the group gathers to ration food and assign duties, Jiang Mo is placed in Group Three, where she faces hostility from peers who resent her background. The tension escalates when Huang Yuan, a woman who harbors a secret crush on a man Jiang Mo rejected, deliberately spills hot soup on Jiang Mo and insults her deceased mother. In a shocking turn, Jiang Mo retaliates by slashing Huang Yuan’s face with a shard of glass, revealing a ruthless side that contrasts with her previously docile demeanor. This act fractures the group’s fragile unity, dividing survivors into factions that either support Jiang Mo or view her as a dangerous threat.

As days pass, the green mist outside thickens, and the zombies evolve. Jiang Mo observes that the creatures are not merely mindless beasts; they begin climbing walls, using tools, and displaying hierarchical intelligence. She documents these changes meticulously, realizing that the zombies are systematically hunting the survivors. The situation worsens when several group members, including Huang Yuan, fall ill with fevers after minor injuries. While Huang Yuan transforms into an ability user who can manipulate green vines, others succumb to a grotesque decay, their bodies dissolving into sticky fluid and writhing worms. Jiang Mo deduces that the illness is linked to the green mist and that the zombies are being orchestrated by higher-level entities. She also suspects that the official rescue broadcasts are traps designed to lure survivors out into the open.

A key turning point occurs when Jiang Mo is locked on the rooftop by an unknown assailant, an act of sabotage that nearly costs her life. She is rescued by Zhu Ci, a quiet classmate who reveals she witnessed the crime but remained silent. Jiang Mo’s suspicion grows, and she realizes that internal betrayal is as dangerous as the external threat. With food supplies dwindling and the power cut off, the survivors face starvation and exposure. Jiang Mo proposes a desperate plan: retreat to the hotel’s blast-proof freezer and wait for the mist to dissipate. She argues that the zombies are playing with their food and that rescue will eventually come once the immediate threat is neutralized. Despite the risks, the group agrees to her strategy, uniting under her leadership for the first time. The chapter ends with a zombie smashing through the window, forcing the survivors to execute their plan immediately as the apocalypse closes in around them.