Zhao Shengshen

Biodata

Background and History

Recruiting Su Yang

Zhao approached Su Yang at school using his position as education director. After revealing his Soul-Reaping Bureau identity, he explained that Su Yang had inherited the First Sequence Ability from his parents and offered to help him awaken it. He also warned Su Yang not to trust strangers blindly, demonstrating how easily his Domain had made Su Yang trust him 11 12.

Zhao explained that the last three Sequence Abilities had been corrupted, forcing Sword-Bearers and Sword Guardians to kill former comrades who would otherwise mutate. He told Su Yang to wait until reaching the fifth rank before pursuing clues about his parents 13 14.

Awakening and Cemetery Mission

Zhao took Su Yang to the Bureau’s bar at midnight and arranged for him to face the Maiden’s Soul alone. When the Bureau’s view of the ceremony failed, Zhao ordered its members back and prepared them for battle. Su Yang claimed to have slain the soul; Zhao took responsibility for reporting its loss and sent him home to rest 16 17 19.

Headquarters did not punish Zhao after an unusually complete oracle followed the Maiden’s Soul’s disappearance. Zhao then welcomed Su Yang as a First-Tier Sword-Bearer and relayed that his parents were safe on a high-level mission 24.

For Su Yang’s first mission, Zhao and Lina took him to the Northern Suburb Cemetery. Zhao threw the newly enhanced Su Yang through the Suffocation Screen to practice against mutated monsters, then returned with Lina before the enhancement expired. After Su Yang destroyed three monsters, Zhao warned him to keep his unusual ability secret; Zhao believed the Black Blade was responsible, unaware of Su Yang’s blood 28 30 31 32.

Altered Reality and the City Crisis

After Su Yang reported Teacher Zhao’s death, Zhao investigated the apartment and identified a lingering Third Sequence Domain ability on the severed tentacles 35 36.

Su Yang later called Zhao and heard him say that he had brought Su Yang into the Bureau two years earlier. Su Yang found that memories and records had been rewritten. At Teacher Zhao’s apartment, another Zhao discovered a Sequence Ability fragment nearly as powerful as a Demigod. When Old Wang tried to teleport the Bureau members to him, he detected two Anchors for the director; a second Zhao then entered the bar 40 42.

As Muyang City came under attack, Zhao calmed the Bureau members and ordered them to take containment items and prepare to fight the Fierce Ghosts and Blood Village 48.

Appearance

Zhao is a refined, handsome middle-aged man with a magnetic voice 12 16.

• His slicked-back hair is gray at the temples, and he wears silver-rimmed glasses 16 24.
• He commonly wears a suit; for Su Yang’s midnight awakening, he changed into a fitted black shirt and trousers 13 16.

Personality

Zhao presents himself as dignified and approachable, and he speaks earnestly about protecting ordinary people. He considers using Sequence Abilities merely to gain wealth and status beneath their purpose. The corruption of former comrades visibly weighs on him, while the Fierce Ghosts’ mass killings provoke open anger 12 13 27 33.

His conduct can also be mischievous and reckless: he speeds through the city, boasts about generous death benefits, and throws Su Yang into a dangerous training fight without warning. Despite this, he shows concern for Su Yang, takes responsibility for reporting the Maiden’s Soul’s loss, and repeatedly warns him to guard his secrets 17 19 20 24 28 32.

Abilities and Skills

Third Sequence: Domain

Zhao’s Domain affects thinking creatures within its range. He compares it to a magnetic field acting on the mysterious world 12.

• Emotional influence: He can alter emotions and states of mind, making people feel calm, trusting, or admiring 11 12 24 25.
• Concealment and suggestion: He makes ordinary people perceive the Bureau’s bar as a grocery store and causes people at Su Yang’s school to overlook them 17 25.
• Memory and perception: He says he can alter short-term memories and sense another person’s emotional state 25.
• Limit: Zhao cannot read a person’s precise thoughts; he speculates that reaching the Demigod tier might change that 25.

Physical Strength

Zhao easily lifts Su Yang off his feet and throws him through an opening in the Suffocation Screen 25 28.

Equipment and Items

• Identity jade — A piece of black jade inscribed with his name and Soul-Reaping Bureau Sword Guardian title 11.
• Suffocation Screen disc — Used to open and close the cemetery barrier 28 31.
• Black sedan — Zhao’s luxurious car, in which he drives Su Yang to the Bureau and the northern suburbs 16 26.

Relationships

• Su Yang — Zhao recruits and mentors him, arranges his awakening and training, and warns him to conceal his ability. Su Yang values his guidance but is wary of his methods 11 17 28 32.
• Lina — A Bureau colleague who helps monitor Su Yang’s awakening and enhances him for the cemetery mission 18 19 28.
• Old Wang — A Bureau colleague whose teleportation ability Zhao uses to evacuate the awakening ceremony and send Su Yang home 17 19.
• Su Yang’s parents — Zhao knows of their Bureau involvement and tells Su Yang they possessed the First Sequence Ability 12.
• Fierce Ghosts — Zhao condemns the organization for its mass killings and vows to kill its members when he encounters them 26 27.

Notable Quotes

“Radiance of the Divine Guardian, walking the world! My mission is to safeguard the smiles of its people!” 11

“Influencing ordinary people with a Sequence Ability to win glory and riches is the lowest way to use it!” 12

“But don’t worry, the Soul-Reaping Bureau’s death benefits are very generous! Especially in our jurisdiction!” 24