Xu Chen

Biodata

Background

Xu Chen transmigrated into his current world as a baby and retained memories of a previous life. Although he initially felt out of place, he came to regard his new parents as his family 1 6.

Unfamiliar place names and incomplete historical records led him to study history. His reconstruction of a damaged classical text impressed the history department, but he abandoned the field after learning how extensive the loss of historical documents was. He transferred to medicine through the arrangements of Grandpa Yang, a close friend of his grandfather 3 13.

Personality

Xu Chen is outspoken and often jokes with his roommate Song Tian. He is also conscious of his limited medical training: after leaving the fungal-infection internship, he admitted that he lacked the ability to contribute further, even though he welcomed the rewards and academic credit 1 12.

Family is his clearest moral boundary. When Dean Yang posed variations of the Trolley Problem, Xu Chen said he would not sacrifice one stranger to save five, but would sacrifice even thousands of strangers to save his family. Dean Yang judged his answers genuine and considered him a potential stable anchor 6.

Despite preferring to leave major crises to better-qualified people, Xu Chen persists when he believes a discovery is being dismissed. He insisted that Old Ge investigate Special Corrosion and later warned Captain Chu about the risks of sharing dangerous information 21 35.

Skills and Investigations

Historical knowledge

Xu Chen draws on memories of his previous world to recognize historical names and compare sites with their counterparts there 13 18.

• Reconstructed a damaged ancient text using classical Chinese knowledge from his previous life 13.
• Recognized Taihao as Fuxi and located the Taihao Mausoleum. There, he identified a broken Sleeping Palace Stele erected by Zhu Yuanzhang 14 15.
• Questioned the explanation that natural erosion had blurred the mausoleum tablet’s writing, noting that finer polishing marks remained visible 16.

Medical reasoning

As an undergraduate, Xu Chen can review medical records and identify unusual patterns, but relies on experienced researchers and physicians to assess his conjectures 24 26 48.

• Suggested that the mutant Aspergillus flavus might be an engineered microorganism that kills humans while using other species to spread. His discussion with Ouyang Xing’s group led them to notice the patient’s unnaturally stable body temperature 10 11.
• Examined Song Tian’s father’s rapidly progressing, drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia and offered to help seek medical trials 24 26.
• Proposed that an unknown substance might account for both the fungus’s abnormal activity and unusually active Brc-Abl tyrosine kinase or cells in the cancer patient. Ouyang Xing challenged the idea but contacted Academician Qi to hear it 48.

Special Corrosion inquiry

Xu Chen compared damaged artifacts and noticed that ancient human remains with healed injuries or abnormalities were disproportionately affected by Special Corrosion. Old Ge found the pattern statistically unlikely and proposed that someone might be destroying evidence of humanity and civilization; the cause remained a hypothesis 21 22.

Jade Jue and Communication

After attempting to reveal what Old Ge had discovered, Xu Chen lost the ability to communicate information through speech, writing, typing, or other attempted methods. Yang Tianyou later explained that Taihao had caused the loss of speech because the price was lower that way 32 42.

• Jade jue pendant — Sent by Yang Tianyou with a warning letter. Holding it allowed Xu Chen to speak and write again, so he made it into a necklace 33.
• Limits — Writing Cthulhu’s name produced a disturbing vision. When Xu Chen later spoke the name while holding the jade jue, Captain Chu briefly lost his senses and could not remember hearing it 33 36.
• Further interference — While investigating rising illness, Xu Chen believed his thoughts were being influenced. A note he thought recorded his suspicions was actually covered in meaningless circles 40 41.

Story Role

Fungal outbreak

As a typhoon approached, Xu Chen and Song Tian followed reports of untreated wastewater discharge and the resulting national emergency. Xu Chen contacted his family and confirmed they were following safety instructions 1.

He was subsequently added to Grandpa Yang’s ten-person medical internship team as its only undergraduate. At Nanhua Central Hospital, he studied a severe fungal infection alongside Ouyang Xing and the senior students. After proposing that the organism might be engineered, he left the group with academic credit and consideration for a scholarship 7 11 12.

Taihao Mausoleum and Special Corrosion

At Yang Tianyou’s request, Xu Chen investigated Taihao and joined Professor Ding’s team at the mausoleum. Their discovery drew official attention, and military and classified officials later questioned Xu Chen about Taihao and related outbreaks 13 15 19.

Xu Chen told the officials that his knowledge of Taihao had been present since birth, without revealing his transmigration. He then pressed Old Ge to examine Special Corrosion, leading to their discovery of the pattern among damaged ancient remains 20 21 22.

Old Ge’s death and the hidden entity

Old Ge requested a private conversation with Xu Chen while dying in a military hospital. After Ge died from an overdose, the recorder contained no speech, and Xu Chen was detained and interrogated so officials could reconstruct the conversation 27 29.

While trying to pass on Ge’s warning, Xu Chen experienced contact with an immense consciousness and subsequently became unable to communicate. He suspected the mastermind was Cthulhu, though the precise identity and number of supernatural beings remained uncertain. With the jade jue, he resumed communicating and cautiously shared his concerns with Captain Chu 31 32 33 35 36.

Renewed medical inquiry

Xu Chen investigated rising pressure on hospitals and found unusual increases in rare immune diseases and neonatal deformities. Drawing on Song Tian’s father’s records and the earlier fungal research, he proposed a possible common factor behind their abnormal activity 40 46 48.

Relationships

• Song Tian — Xu Chen’s roommate and friend. Xu Chen accompanies him to the hospital and helps him understand his father’s grave prognosis 1 25 26.
• Yang Tianyou (Grandpa Yang) — A close friend of Xu Chen’s grandfather who arranged his transfer to medicine, placed him on the internship team, and sent him the jade jue 3 7 33.
• Ouyang Xing — Xu Chen’s senior and Yang Tianyou’s pupil. He works with Xu Chen on the fungal case and later offers to help bring him back into the research group 3 7 11 48.
• Professor Ding — Archaeologist who searches the Taihao Mausoleum with Xu Chen and arranges for the damaged stele’s inscription to be reconstructed 15 16.
• Old Ge — Official and researcher who takes Xu Chen’s Special Corrosion discovery seriously. Before his death, he asks to speak with Xu Chen alone 21 22 27.
• Captain Chu — Classified official who questions Xu Chen and later works with him to contain and investigate dangerous information. Despite protecting Xu Chen, Chu briefly seeks a contingency order against him; the request is rejected 19 35 37 43.

Notable Quotes

“You can sacrifice me, but not my family. My family is where I draw the line. I can give up anything else.” 6

“I was born knowing it.” — Xu Chen, when asked where he learned about Taihao 20