This is a pretty standard survival vs surprise evolution story. Unfortunately, it's slow and dry. In the beginning, there is at least one or more plot holes per chapter. The MC is so dumb, I nearly dropped the series several times in the beginning, but he suddenly becomes intelligent around chapter 25... That said, he really needs to quit trying to ingest formalin. Note: The intelligence is short-lived.
Although the MC appears like he's supposed to be a character with morality, he only acts that way on screen. Off screen, he appears to be very inconsiderate to his supposed comrades and friends and doesn't give them the vital information they may need to survive. For example, he does not warn his friends about where he encounters deadly things, so they are completely unaware of it when they walk into the same traps he did. I'm not sure if he's a fake good guy, if he is just oblivious and forgot about this life-saving details, or if this is just an example of poor writing.
Furthermore, the MC starts smoking tobacco as soon as the apocalypse starts. Since the apocalypse isn't horrible enough, apparently he wants to give himself nicotine cravings on top of it? There is no logic here.
There isn't much character depth, and the strength of their bonds does not come across well.
The other characters are relatively flat, although they have consistent characterization. However, "smart" characters are not smart--they may be even less intelligent than the protagonist. If one of them is smart enough to design a certain plan or trap, why should he or she assume another person can’t? Their combat strategies are weak and full of pomp, and they don't plan things out well at all. They are only considered "smart" because they can modify organisms, and the writer did not demonstrate any good examples of their intelligence in action. They have observation skills, but their strategy and planning is so weak, this evens out their IQ to something around average.
None of the characters are particularly likable or unlikable. They're all forgettable.
There are numerous inconsistencies, especially about who knows what, where one character is, and what characters are up to. In the beginning, there is even a gun that is never mentioned again and disappears from the plot without any explanation. Characters also disappear and reappear several chapters later like they'd been there the whole time.
The writing is lacking, and the pacing is off. The action scenes are too abrupt and don’t let don't let the readers feel much excitement. Overall, the intensity, suspense, and action could be much better.
The strongest part of this series is the setting. Just make sure to turn off any knowledge of science before diving in.
Although the translations are good, there are distracting grammar errors often enough to lower my evaluation on that point. There is also inconsistency between whether pounds or kilograms are used, and it'd be nice if the translation and editing team just picked one. The Chinese names got flipped, which feels awkward to me since I automatically assumed the characters were named with their family names followed by their given names like everything else on this site and other Chinese web novel translation sites. I kept wondering why they normally addressed one character by his surname or as mister with his given name rather than his surname....
It looks like the author had a lot of ambition with this series but not enough scientific knowledge to make it believable (It's okay if no one understands how it works or if it's fantasy--just don't make fake science!). This is a huge turn-off. It also looks like the author planned to make this a heart-rendering, action/drama series, but he or she was unsuccessful on all fronts.
If you want an mild survival series to waste some time on, this is an option. I just don't recommend it for anyone looking for something to get his or her heart pumping.
