Dean Yang

Biodata

History

Taihao investigation

Dean Yang assembled and led the South China Medical Support Team to investigate the Taihao disease. He warned the volunteers that their team might die and proposed stopping further medical personnel from entering if that happened. As a last resort, he recommended eliminating every source of infection if isolation failed. No doctor withdrew 3.

At Central Hospital, Yang and his team examined six patients but found no visible abnormalities beyond the effects of poor health and prolonged bed rest. Xiao Wu reported that patients at distant weather stations had all watched an animated typhoon wind field map before falling ill. Yang compared equipment at affected and unaffected stations, identifying weather radar and control-room monitors as possible factors, and requested a high-resolution monitor and the original infographic data 4 5 6.

The other support-team doctors became incapacitated, leaving Yang and Xiao Wu still functioning. A psychological report found that Yang showed mild anxiety and paranoia, with suspected early signs of incoherent speech 6.

Xu Chen and the supernatural threat

Yang tested Xu Chen with variations of the Trolley Problem. After reviewing an analysis that judged Xu Chen’s answers genuine, he concluded that Xu Chen could be a stable “anchor.” Yang also selected him for a medical internship group investigating a severe fungal infection 6 7.

Unable to disclose what he knew without risking a greater disaster, Yang sent Xu Chen the written name “Taihao” to research. When an officer later told Yang that Xu Chen had helped discover the Taihao Mausoleum, the name provoked an obsessive reaction 13 17.

Yang subsequently sent Xu Chen a warning against passing on a mysterious being’s name, along with a jade jue. Xu Chen discovered that holding it allowed him to speak again 33.

The price of disclosure

After six Taihao patients suffered sudden brain death, Yang told Captain Chu that their deaths were a price Taihao had paid to avert a greater disaster. When Chu pressed him for information about the supernatural entity, Yang spoke further; two patients died during the disclosure, while Chu became terrified and could not retain what he had heard. Yang administered propofol to calm him 41 42.

Yang later told Chu that invoking Taihao’s name could protect him from the entity, but that protection would also require a price 43.

Personality

Yang is cautious but willing to take personal risks. He volunteered to investigate Taihao firsthand, warned his colleagues of the danger, and applied his proposed containment measures to himself as well as the patients. He left his star pupil Ouyang Xing behind rather than expose him to the outbreak 3.

He is direct and prepared to reconsider assumptions: although he initially found transmission through images or sound implausible, he pursued equipment differences between the affected weather stations. His concern for patients also extended to comforting Xiao Wu after their deaths 4 5 41.

Abilities & Skills

Medical practice and research

An experienced physician, Yang conducts patient examinations and directs investigations into unfamiliar illnesses 4.

• Wrote the published work Virus–Cell Transmission Studies 4.
• Compared weather-station equipment configurations while investigating the suspected image-linked outbreak 5 6.
• Administered a small dose of propofol when Captain Chu’s terror placed strain on his heart 42.

Knowledge of Taihao

Yang possesses information about Taihao and the entity referred to as “He,” but warns that revealing the truth can carry a deadly cost 13 42.

• Judged Xu Chen’s answers to be consistent with a stable “anchor” 6.
• Explained that learning the entity’s name or invoking Taihao’s protection could involve a price 33 42 43.
• Said Taihao was responsible for Xu Chen’s inability to speak because that kept the price lower 42.

Items

• Jade jue — A pendant Yang sent to Xu Chen with a warning letter. Xu Chen identified it as resembling a Hongshan Culture pig-dragon-shaped jue and found that holding it restored his ability to speak 33.

Relationships

• Xu Chen — The grandson of Yang’s close friend and a student under his care. Yang helped him transfer schools, selected him for the medical group, and considered him a potentially stable anchor 3 6 7.
• Ouyang Xing — Yang’s star pupil. Yang gave Xu Chen Ouyang’s contact information before leaving and kept Ouyang off the initial support team 3.
• Xiao Wu — A doctor who assisted Yang’s Taihao investigation and remained with him after the other support-team doctors became incapacitated 4 6.
• Captain Chu — A military officer investigating Taihao. Yang disclosed some of what he knew to Chu and warned him of the costs of confronting the entity 41 42 43.
• Taihao — A being Yang said had warned that time was running out and had paid a price to prevent a greater disaster 13 41.