An arch with flowers.

father, Ning Changfeng. Ning's older brother's reaction to being Mc's father really touched my heart.

MC was the son of the number 1 (Mr. Loner) and number 2 (Ms. President) top players in the dungeon world. I forgot their names... but they're really cute.

In the original time line, those two were rivals because of some misunderstanding, until they resolved those misunderstanding and fell in love with each other. Then after decades in the dungeon, Ms. President became pregnant, and as Ms. President was about to have birth, the system gave a once in a life time free pass card to the real world. They wanted that opportunity, so they went to that dungeon, agve birth successfully in the dungeon and sent MC out to the real world.

However unlike what mc's parents were expecting, MC particularly has difficult life in the real world.

He was born different from ordinary people, with the blood of the hydra in his body (from his father), he could see things other people can see, he doesn't have friends, and only has ghost to accompany him, and because of that he was bullied to the point of death! Right death.

MC experienced being tossed everywhere when he went to different household after houde hold, adapting him everyturn to be abused.

And all this time, ML was with him. When MC was hungry, he ate the flower ML grew for him. When he needed company, MC has ML flower, when his life was in danger, those vines and flowers would save him from harm.

That's why MC worship ML like a god. He was there from the start.

I could even say that he raise MC. Hahaha, he rose MC as his child bride, that's why mc's father was so angry when he learned of their relationship... more so he was the one who entrusted MC to ml...

And also because of ml, MC has gain an ability to devour darkness.

MC was also a genius. Don't look at his dimwitted appearance, MC didn't go to school, and just went to take college entrance exam and became a biology student.

Anyway, MC became part of a research team, until apocalypse came and he was sacrificed.

MC doesn't really have much ambition. He was just bored, and decided to just gather all the zombies around the world and then absorbed all the virus until he explode.

Thankfully in the final moment ML saved him and directly took him to the dungeon world, and so the begining of the story.

ML isn't from the same world as MC.

ML is from. anotther world, a world who almost successfully destroy the system but still failed. He was one of the survivor of that world.

And also because of his powers he was used by the system for a long time.

Anyway, in present time, ML represent god. He has many identity, since ML is the flower itself, his "self" was divided into many different worlds all at once.

Those dungeons the players went to where all worlds, the system invaded.

Anyway, the system wanted to destroy them, but ML went to save them... so people begun to worship him.

ML has a deep background, I won't say more.

Oh right, ML doesn't have memories. He loved for long time, and to use him, the system keep deleting his memories...

If I comare it to some other novel, then the system concept here is the same as the system in "with the god of learning at hand, the world is in my hand" (did I get the title. correct?)

The system wanted to plunder worlds for power. He envaded many worlds, until it came to ml's world and experienced devistating damage.

So it fled, thankfully ML survived and he followed the system in many worlds... it used ML to plunder, while ML lay dormant while doing his best to help those worlds.

Mc's world fell into zombie apocalypse because of the system, and the mc's existence made the system's plan shattered.

The moment the apocalypse came, it was the time the system wanted to eat the world, but unfortunately for it, MC existed and the apocalypse didn't last long.

So when MC came to the dungeon, it wanted to kill. MC every opportunity.

Ning Su was OP, there is no denying that, but I honestly found myself enjoying the ride. He doesn't share much when not asked, and why would he? After he's lived the life he did, the kindness it took to be that gentle is astounding. One particular scene that I'd like to underline is when after Ning Su and other newcomers get off the bus, he trades the invitation card he got for steamed buns. First time reading it, I didn't care much for the decision; I found it foolish and careless to just discard a possible treasure like that. But a hundred chapters in, I squeezed out a fresh batch of tears as I re-examine that scene and the wishes of a boy whose existence was defined by suffering. I adore Ning Su, and I'm so, so glad he has a bunch of people that he cares for and is cared by dearly by the time the novel ended. He certainly deserved it. I love his little moments of tender joy —his precious moments of happiness, his admittance of his hurt and yearning, his childishness and desire for a peaceful life, and his undeniable care for the ghosts that he took for his own, as his children in all but blood.

I've also come to appreciate and even love the main pairing! Ling Xiao is also someone who suffered a lot, but he has done so much good to the lives of other people as well. Salted Fish Zombie is a story with loads of lonely people, and yet the narrative also gave a lot of them a guiding light in the dark tunnel. The road of life was lonely and unkind for many of the characters, but there came light. As Gu Po best expressed, the abyss was not the abyss, but rather, the bottom of a well, and there exists a wider world beyond the darkness. After being sent to the real world by his parents, Ling Xiao was Ning Su's light. After he entered the game base, his life became even more illuminated by his friends, children, and parents. Amidst this, Ling Xiao did not stop being his light —his belief, but that one star in the sky fell and came to accompany him in human form.

Ning Changfeng's reaction to the revelation that Ning Su is his son is CHEF'S KISS. He's also written with kindness and care for Ning Su in his marrow, just as Shi Tianzu is (who is so, so cool and admirable). The way both him and Shi Tianzu dote on Ning Su has my heart melting. This is the relationship I wish Xiao Lan had with Xiao Chengyan. Shi Tianzu's subordinates caring for Ning Su also brings me so much joy.

Another thing that I vastly enjoyed was how women were portrayed in the story. They were in turns leaders of the resistance, inspirations, brutal, desperate, kind. Shi Tianzu and Xia Qing, Ling Xiao's mother in particular were super, duper COOL!

Ning Shu is kinda ditzy and is really strong and intelligent. He isn't weak, but is often too lazy to solve the instances asap since he wants to hug powerful thighs to pass instances. Ning Shu is an OP zombie who decided to explode himself and kill all the zombies in his og timeline. He can absorb dark energy since he has been eating ML's flowers since he was a child. MC values food since he was from the zombie apocalypse era so he couldn't enjoy eating food. He was also thrown around to different adopted families and was bullied because he could see ghosts and couldn't die. An evil professor does inhumane experiments on him to test his powers and throws him to the zombies even though MC is a genius, graduating college early as a biology student and is a great researcher. ML was his only source of salvation since he protected MC by providing his flowers to eat and using his vines to prevent MC from dying.

ML is Ling Xiao and is the flower god. His mother was the light god and sacrificed herself to save her son. He inherited the flower god's power and created the ghost masters. The system keeps trying to erase his memories since they don't want him to rebel. Honestly, his personality like a white paper, most side characters had more personality than him. I guess he is strong and dotes on MC. That's pretty much it.

MC's mom is Shi Tianshu (rank 2 player) and father is Ning Changfeng (rank 1 player). They have an enemies-to-lovers relationship from a dumb misunderstanding. It was fun reading how Ning Shu tries to improve their relationship and resolve their misunderstandings. Shi Tianshu thought Ning Changfeng was the dungeon npc snake and wanted to create a contract with it. They are both lonely people and in her vulnerable state, she tells him her past when they were in the dungeon. He was in the form of a snake since he was in the middle of getting his hydra inheritance, but he transformed into a human. She was angry because she revealed her vulnerable past to a player and that's how they became enemies even though Ning Changfeng had a fat crush on her. He stayed in the cave because he didn't want to leave her alone even though he knew his transformation was unstable. Shi Tianshu had a scum father that had many illegitimate children so she needed to fend for herself since she was little while Ning Changfeng was an orphan with no family to rely on. They were the only people that could understand each other.

The system is the big bad villain and tries to kill MC because MC has the potential to destroy the system because he can absorb dark energy, the energy the system runs on. The system was the reason the zombie virus broke out because it wanted to recycle NPCs in the games. The system uses the ML as a battery source to keep the game instances running since ML is the flower god. It erases ML's memories so he won't rebel against the system. When MC explodes himself to kill all the zombies, the system was about the collapse and ML could've used that chance to destroy the system, but used that chance to send the MC 20 years back in the past. MC meets his parents and they both simp for him and give him their props and points. The parents truly love MC, but couldn't raise him since they can only send one person out into the real world from a reward in the competition. Don't worry it's a HE and they destroy the instances, destroying the system and everyone returns to the real world. It turns out MC dad is rich and his mother is rich too so MC can finally live a salted life. ML is earning money by keeping the players causing problems in the real world in check so they don't destroy the world.

The MC's dad was furious when he heard about their relationship since he entrusted his child to ML. He thought ML would be an uncle, but he sent out his kid to get married so he is distraught. The mom is chill about it though and accepts it calmly. Lol even in the novel the mom is the alpha in the relationship while the dad is the omega.

from mc's parents to ml's mom who f*cking sacrificed herself so her son could be strong enough against the system - there's also guishen's mom or the player in "pretending to be a ghost" who would have given up if not for her daughter, which earned her mc's respect

i really feel for the lesbian couple in the god of flower instance (forgot the name) who were so happy : ( (and bam! it's cannibalism time

also, my heart was about to stop when MC and ML learned that in the original timeline, fang qi willingly became a human pupa and zhu shuangshuang blamed herself for not checking up on him when she saw he didn't respond to her messages and I was like, wait, isn't that what's happening right now??

but those side characters aren't all the same, they all have different aspirations and hope and I love it

like, some characters did bad things bc they truly didn't have other options so you can't really hate them for that and others were shitty but still

still can't believe those human pupae were conscious!!! how awful it must have been for lin i-forgot-his-first-name who must be strong as hell to be in this form for so long and not go completely crazy : ( (

And also the ML surname is Ling, and he appears quite in the middle of the story. So no the ML, not the 1st rank or other, even though the surname Ning kinda has that ML vibes but nah he is not, he is the MC dad.