Strange Apocalypse: I've Got This Polluted World Covered

In the summer of 2446, two centuries after the Dark Apocalypse devastated civilization, humanity survives in isolated shelters amidst mutated creatures and expanding polluted zones. Sentinels, individuals with enhanced physical abilities, form the primary defense force but risk mutating into monsters through dark matter accumulation. Guides, a rare class with spiritual powers to stabilize Sentinels, are typically sheltered and protected. Yun Zhao, a young woman raised in the remote Qingshan Town by a team of Sentinels who rescued her as a child, has recently awakened as a Guide. When the No. 6 Polluted Zone expands and destroys her home, she leads the remaining townspeople on a perilous migration to Dawn Base, the only major settlement built above ground in the southwest.

The convoy faces immediate danger as they traverse dangerous routes filled with aberrants. Yun Zhao demonstrates extraordinary power, using her spiritual threads to neutralize threats and protect the civilians. Her spirit body, a majestic blue Luan bird, is unlike the gentle herbivores typical of Guides, instilling fear and awe in the local Sentinels. During the journey, the group accidentally enters a newly formed polluted zone on Route 102. Inside, Yun Zhao and a young Sentinel named He Xiang navigate a surreal, looping environment populated by mutated creatures retaining fragments of their human obsessions. Yun Zhao successfully obtains the zone's key by fulfilling a mutated creature's lingering desire, triggering a chaotic uprising of monsters.

As the group fights to escape, they encounter Zero Team, an elite squad from Dawn Base led by Xie Tu, an S-Class Sentinel with a fire phoenix spirit body. Xie Tu is also searching for a high-level Guide based on intel from an informant. The convergence of these two groups creates tension, as Zero Team initially mistakes Yun Zhao for a smuggler attempting to claim mission points. However, Yun Zhao reveals her true strength by calming the rioting mutants and purifying the polluted zone with her overwhelming spiritual power, a feat unseen before. This display attracts Xie Tu's attention, as his own spirit body reacts instinctively to hers, indicating a rare and high compatibility between them.

After escaping the collapsing zone, Yun Zhao leads her people to Dawn Base. Upon arrival, she is processed by base officials who recognize her value. While the ordinary townspeople are assigned to the outer city shantytowns with limited resources, Yun Zhao is directed to the inner city for testing and registration. She insists on discussing terms for her entire community before undergoing the standard guide evaluation, asserting her leverage as the group's only protector. The story concludes with Yun Zhao entering the inner city, poised to negotiate her place within the base's hierarchy while Xie Tu and his team arrive, setting the stage for future interactions between the powerful S-Class Sentinel and the newly emerged S-Class Guide.