Qiang Niang centers around Carrie, the main character who has lost her memories of combat and is searching for her true self while uncovering the story of her final "Awakening". Set between 2025 to 2030, a world war has ravaged the planet, leading to the loss of half the world's population and humanity's loss of control over the direction of the war. In a bid for ultimate victory, the war has evolved into a battle of unmanned technologies, such as satellite lasers, bomb drones, intelligent AI, and unmanned gun turrets and tanks. Within this world of advanced technology, a group of young maidens known as the Gun Girls fight using outdated firearms. In a flashback, an intelligent life-form from outer space fuses with an "Inorganic Compound" M4A1 in a weapons dealer's warehouse to evade capture from its own kind. The M4A1 is then passed on to a youth in a military compound who takes her home and gives her affectionate care. As a response to the youth's emotions, the gun transforms into a beautiful young woman named Carrie. However, the discovery of Carrie's existence leads to competition among the world's powerful nations to capture her. After the youth dies attempting to protect Carrie, humanity studies her and develops the technology that leads them to the space age. As wars erupt between great nations to dominate the cosmos, humanity enters into a full-blown world war.