Reborn in the Apocalypse: Even SSS-Rank Mutants Call Me Mom

Yuan Li awakens in a sealed laboratory tank, her memories frozen in the year 2025, three years before the apocalypse. She is discovered by a Western special ops team during a raid, but before they can extract her, the facility is overrun by Mutants. The team, part of the Cleaning Department, eliminates the threat and finds Yuan Li as the sole survivor. Interrogation reveals her confusion; she believes she is an eighteen-year-old college graduate who simply fell asleep. A psychic scan confirms she is not a Mutant, and her bone age suggests she is older than her claimed age, yet her mind remains stuck in the pre-apocalypse era. The Deputy Head of the Cleaning Department assigns her to Team 3, specifically under the protection of Hong Yuan, a cold and lethal operative.

Yuan Li is initially placed in a dormitory within the Cleaning Department compound. She is wary of her teammates, who are described as lunatics, but Hong Yuan provides her with a badge and a job at the Haoguang Hotel to help her integrate into society. Yuan Li accepts the position, hoping to earn money and independence. However, her first day is disrupted when a bodyguard from the powerful Zhuang family forces her to deliver a package to a suite. The suite is occupied by the Zhuang family’s youngest son, who is secretly a Mutant. He attacks Yuan Li, but she manages to stab him with a dagger. During the struggle, a tentacle erupts from Yuan Li’s lower back, killing the Mutant. Hong Yuan arrives shortly after, rescues Yuan Li, and covers up the incident, unaware that Yuan Li possesses a latent, dangerous power.

The woman Yuan Li had previously encountered in the hotel, who was being abused by the Mutant Zhuang, commits suicide rather than face the Zhuang family’s wrath. This event deeply traumatizes Yuan Li, who is unprepared for the brutality of the new world. She resolves to learn how to kill to survive. Hong Yuan, despite her cold exterior, agrees to train her. Yuan Li undergoes rigorous and painful physical training, enduring beatings and mockery to build her strength. During this time, she also meets Fang Zhou, a doll-faced team member who shows an unsettling interest in her. Medical examinations reveal no physical mutations, leading the doctors to suspect Yuan Li might be a rare mental Evolver, though her abilities remain dormant and uncontrolled.

Tension rises within the Cleaning Department cafeteria when other operatives challenge Team 3, wanting to test their strength to join the elite unit. Yuan Li is targeted by a burly man who attempts to assault her. Hong Yuan intervenes, leading to a large-scale brawl. Yuan Li uses her communication device to call for backup, inadvertently exposing the troublemakers to the department’s leadership. Xu Hualiang, a rival officer, arrives and intimidates Yuan Li with his killing intent, causing her to faint. Team 3 carries her to the medical bay, where Captain Lin reveals that an SSS-rank Mutant, comparable to a natural disaster, has gone berserk three hundred kilometers away. The Cleaning Department must respond immediately.

Hong Yuan and Team 3 prepare for the mission, leaving Yuan Li in the care of the department’s doctor. Despite her fear and lack of combat readiness, Yuan Li insists on returning to her hotel job to earn her pay, demonstrating her determination to survive on her own terms. The doctor accompanies her, and they discuss the harsh realities of the post-apocalyptic world. Yuan Li’s journey is just beginning; she is a girl out of time, hiding a mysterious power that connects her to the very Mutants she must fight. As the Cleaning Department mobilizes against the SSS-rank threat, Yuan Li must navigate her new life, the dangers of the Zhuang family, and the awakening of her own abilities while staying under the watchful eye of Hong Yuan and her unconventional team.