Apocalypse: I Rise as the Corpse King, Starting from Devouring - Reviews

A very solid start for a Zombie King LitRPG. The prep phase was efficient, the apocalypse dropped hard, and the system is clean. If the author can introduce some real external threats and develop Zhang Yang beyond just “hungry and greedy”, this could be a great long-haul binge.

This is total junk food reading, but it is high-quality junk food. Crispy, bite-sized chapters that just keep moving. I opened the file expecting to skim and ended up reading the whole excerpt in one go. It is incredibly addicting for what it is.

Is no one going to talk about the smell? Filling a warehouse and his villa with fifty thousand tons of raw meat is going to create an insane scent trail. I am genuinely worried his base is going to become a beacon for every stronger zombie and mutated animal in the region.

The zombie design is very “sexy vampire” with the pale skin, red eyes, and sharp fangs. He looks cool and intimidating. No rotting flesh or weird zombie warts. It fits the power fantasy of being a cool monster king.

Poor Manager Xu. The guy is just a middleman trying to get a commission on a sale. He has no idea he is dealing with a guy who plans to skip town (or skip paying) in a week. He is just a lamb being led to a financial slaughter.

“It’s just a zombie wielding swords and blades. The art style would be a bit strange.” The author is self-aware! This line made me laugh. A zombie with a katana or longbow is such a silly image, but the author acknowledges it and runs with it anyway.

The power hierarchy (Common > Elite > Lord > Overlord > King > Hell > Catastrophe) is exciting. Starting at King potential gives a clear ceiling to aim for. I am wondering if he will actually reach Catastrophe level and become a god-tier threat.

The first few hours of the apocalypse are surprisingly quiet for the MC. He just sits in his villa chewing beef. It slows the pace down a lot after the exciting chapter 1 montage. I appreciate the calm before the storm, but I am ready for him to go outside.

The dialogue is purely functional. “Sign here.” “Yes Uncle.” “Give me money.” It serves the plot and moves the transaction scenes along fast. It isn't deep, but it doesn't get in the way of the meat-grinding action.

Playing from the perspective of the *boss monster* is such a smart twist on the saturated zombie genre. We have played the survivor a million times. Playing the guy who *wins* by default because he becomes the high-level threat is a great hook.

The plot armor is significant, but you kind of have to accept it for this genre. Why didn’t the uncle suspect the scam immediately? Why weren’t there zombies trying to break into the villa on night one? The convenience is baked into the premise.

“Look, this is the empire I ruled!” Talking to himself in his inventory space about his organized stacks of pork. What a great moment of megalomania. You can already see the seeds of the Zombie King personality sprouting. He is loving this.