MC can still speak when they begin to catch feelings; there’s also a zombie cat X zombie couple at the end, but that one is kinda harder on the bestiality scale

This one has a little bit of extra pomp with fallen meteorites being the source of the virus. There are also the cultivation elements that allow the kitty to transform. But, both of the latter things are not really explained.

At the beginning, I found myself very frustrated with the author sometimes forgetting the MC is a tiny kitten and the backstory they gave him. I was having real trouble imagining a two-month kitten setting up a solar generator and stewing a fish (without abilities, as it was only later mentioned the MC suddenly realized he could use those for these tasks). Also, the author originally said the MC was only 8 when the apocalypse started in his first life and he spent 13 years in a lab as a test subject. That would make it pretty hard for him to have any practical skills (like stewing a fish, using a map, anything really). A bit later, the author suddenly realizes this plothole and out of nowhere starts claiming MC escaped after almost ten years and spent the last three years free. The MC still at some points has knowledge about the beginning of the apocalypse that he has no business knowing.

MC reborn as a cat 3 days before the apocalypse after being eaten alive by zombies (he was a runaway experimental subject who endured cruel torture because he can regenerate his limbs as part of his mutation). The ML found him. ML is a renowned biologist turned forensic police officer.

MC warned the ML about the apocalypse by writing on the wall with ketchup but did not manage to pass the message in time and the ML was infected. Before the virus took full control, the ML managed to understand the MC's warning and did a test on his blood to confirm it was something he researched about before. He warned his sister who was about to give birth to hide at their old house. ML tried to send the MC away but MC bit him and ingested the zombie blood. ML was zombified and obtained some mental powers while MC was mutated and obtained wind and speed superpowers.

Along the way, they stock up on tons of stuff and realise the space can maintain freshness of stuff and that the spring water as well as killing zombies can heal the ML to a certain extent. Spring water can be upgraded using zombie nucleus and jade. So, the ML managed to gain consciousness and remember stuff but still have zombie urges to eat. Learnt more about the space and the (dual) cultivation method that allowed the MC to talk and eventually transform into human. Found the sister but the baby the sister had was too powerful which entice his instincts as a zombie. Found a way to hide the baby from other zombies and asked the sister with her baby to go to a base.

ML decided to get revenge on the aunt and uncle of the MC who sold him away to be an experimental subject in his past life. They weren't alive. Saw a meteor (which was where the first strain of virus originated from) and managed to absorb the power and upgrade to a zombie emperor who can fully control zombies and at the same time in a way completely stop his zombie urges and become a somewhat fully human of sorts.

Made their way to Base A where the inhumane experiments were being held. Reunited with the sister, found out more about the lab and eventually destroyed it. ML developed a cure and use his power as a zombie emperor to plant consciousness into the zombies to eventually build a world where people and zombies can live well. The end. Extras is about a zombie subordinate they recruited along the way x a super powerful zombie kitten who was taught to think itself as a leopard.

the villain being a villain to the end: the cause of the mutation/spread of the virus and perhaps the communication breakdown was a side effect from the virus deployment. The ‘cure’ is explained to have severe limitations as it’s only an inoculation. I’m pretty certain this is actually true due to the MCs’ follow up actions. The author doesn’t elaborate on the ML’s follow up plan. It’s obvious that his method to restore zombies is more like a forced mutation than the ‘cure’ dispensed by the humans.

They are still zombies on a special diet, meaning they are now starving themselves and hoping that they can hold out until they are able to recover enough to consume real food. The early chapters outlined serious consequences for not eating flesh or cores. The zombie virus is clearly willing to eat it’s host if it’s host isn’t cooperative. So do they now need to consciously mu*der their now conscious only food source (fellow zombies) ?

Good ending may have been to take the cultivation route to the end by finding a jade ornament with some normal introductory breathing techniques. These could then be spread to the zombies along with the consciousness seed. Even the recovery and search for a new cultivation technique for the zombie cat in the extra would have been more natural. The dropped plotline about searching for jade artifacts would have also been reintegrated. Cultivation stuff could have also been an explanation for the MC’s restarted/replaced plotline. A nice final touch might have been funding the uncle had been sold into the research base.