1 There’s a lot of telling instead of showing in the world-building. Like when they explain the apocalypse history through a Wikipedia-like exposition in dialogue. But considering this is a translated web novel, it’s expected. The pacing of action keeps it from getting boring. I prefer the survival scenes over the info dumps.
2 I'm looking forward to seeing what other skills or pills Jiang Chen can get from the roulette. The Small Revitalizing Pill was a good start. But if he pulls a blank, that's gonna sting. Hope his luck holds up.
1 The prose can be really vivid, like when describing the qipao: “ruby ribbon, small round collar, inlaid crane clasp.” That’s so beautiful and lets me picture her at the banquet. The description also shows she’s not dressing for Liang Yushan but for herself—her own dignity. The contrast between this imagery and the later mess at the birthday banquet is strong. Honestly, the fashion in this novel has more personality than some of the side characters.
The mystery around the monster or entity that killed Old Stuart and the original owner is well set up. Miller mentions that a small town like Champagne Town shouldn't have so many exorcism requests in half a year, which hints at something abnormal. Eileen also implies that if it were the same monster, it would have come for her first. So there might be multiple threats? And the necklace's backstory about the last owner being "scared to death by a nightmare" ties into the nightmare motif again. I'm really curious about the nature of the nightmare monster and whether it's connected to the unknown being that transferred Mark's job.