Refined Man

Biodata

Appearance

• A young man with a refined appearance and gentle bearing 29.
• Usually wore a mild expression and rarely showed strong emotions 37.

Personality

The Refined Man was composed and analytical, favoring cooperation when the group faced danger. He considered risky investigation necessary to retain the initiative, but opposed rushing into danger without a plan 37 39 43.

He also wanted to lead the group and was willing to test other players. Although he acknowledged Xu Xi’s intelligence, he struggled to read his intentions. Livestream analyst Ji Yang interpreted the Refined Man’s conduct as a subtler attempt to control Xu Xi alongside the Burly Man; this was Ji Yang’s assessment rather than an established account of every motive 31 40 42.

He was adept at choosing his words and maintaining a convincing appearance. He concealed his anger and suspicions when questioning the young man posing as Yang Wu, and improvised a name for the Short-Haired Woman with Glasses to avoid revealing that the players did not know one another’s names 47 48 56.

Abilities & Skills

Investigation and deduction

The Refined Man pieced together clues from the inn’s faded rules, guest rooms, diary, and phone recordings.

• Initially offered several possible interpretations of the incomplete rules rather than treating them as certain 33.
• Connected Wang Xiuping’s transformation to a nighttime knock and inferred that a creature could imitate human appearances. He also proposed that guests should not let such beings know they had been discovered 38.
• Concluded, with the High-Ponytail Woman, that the passage beneath Room 101’s wardrobe was a trap 44.
• Mistakenly attributed Xu Xi’s knowledge of the candle danger to noticing that the guest rooms contained no candles; Xu Xi actually knew because he had died in an earlier attempt 36 37.

After clearing the instance, Xu Xi regarded the Refined Man as the smartest of his four teammates, particularly praising his analysis of clues and quick reactions at critical moments 54.

Planning and negotiation

• Proposed luring the White Humanoid into a candlelit room and locking it inside. He selected Room 106 for the trap and Room 103 as the group’s hiding place 39 40.
• Questioned the young man who called himself Yang Wu, while withholding the group’s real circumstances. He later used a phone’s notes app to discuss their suspicions privately 45 46.
• Suggested pretending not to suspect the young man and keeping him close, believing he might be connected to clearing the instance 46.
• When the Burly Man began mutating, he warned the others to run and proposed retrieving a candle to distract the creatures 47.

History

Entering the inn

The Refined Man joined Xu Xi and three other players on a mountain as a rainstorm approached. He warned that the steep, sparsely vegetated slopes could produce a mudslide. The group reached an abandoned inn and entered together 30 31.

Inside, he lit a candle at reception and persuaded the Burly Man to conserve the second one. The two men found a guest register, pen, and keys, then teamed up with the Short-Haired Woman with Glasses to investigate the occupied rooms 31 32 33.

The White Humanoid and Room 101

After the Short-Haired Woman was killed by the White Humanoid, the Refined Man urged the survivors to share their clues. His proposal to trap the creature led Xu Xi to lure it into Room 106. The Burly Man then prevented the Refined Man from opening Room 103’s door for Xu Xi, suspecting he had been replaced 35 37 39 41.

Xu Xi confronted the two men at Room 101 and threatened to release the creature unless they entered. The Refined Man went in first, recognizing that he had underestimated Xu Xi. When a passage was found beneath the wardrobe, Xu Xi warned that entering it meant death; the Refined Man later helped turn it into an ambush 42 43 44.

The ambush caught a young man attempting to seal the passage. The Refined Man confiscated his tools and questioned him. The captive claimed to be Yang Wu, a man searching for his missing sister, but the players privately doubted his story 45 46.

Cellar and death

After the Burly Man suddenly mutated, the Refined Man fled with the other survivors and followed the supposed Yang Wu to a hidden cellar. Although he suspected the young man had an ulterior purpose, he played along, seeing him as a possible opportunity to uncover a way to clear the instance. There, the young man admitted that he was not Yang Wu and had fabricated much of his account of the inn 47 48.

An Evolved Body appeared behind the Refined Man and drove its arm through his chest, killing him. The young man revealed that he had lured the players there as test subjects for an experiment. Xu Xi rewound after his own subsequent death, but returned only to a moment immediately before the attack; the Refined Man was killed again before he could be saved 49 50.

After his death, Xu Xi retrieved his phone from the cellar while the High-Ponytail Woman distracted the Evolved Body. They used it to contact the anomalous-management authorities, whose rescue team killed the creature and enabled the two surviving players to clear the instance 51.

Reviewing the instance on his livestream, Ji Yang claimed that Xu Xi had deliberately kept the Refined Man probing the false Yang Wu and had engineered his death. Ji Yang argued that the Refined Man’s position closest to the cellar entrance made him the Evolved Body’s first target. This was Ji Yang’s interpretation; Xu Xi himself believed his rewind had returned him too late to save the Refined Man 50 52 53.

Relationships

• Xu Xi — Initially regarded him as observant and useful, while joining the Burly Man in testing him. After Xu Xi trapped the White Humanoid and confronted the group, the Refined Man recognized that he had underestimated him. He later followed Xu Xi into the cellar, believing his composure indicated confidence 37 40 43 48.
• Burly Man — Competed with him for leadership but acknowledged his ability and investigated alongside him. The Refined Man later restrained him from attacking Xu Xi 31 33 43.
• High-Ponytail Woman — Worked with her to interpret the inn’s clues and identify the passage as a trap 38 44.
• The young man posing as Yang Wu — Captured and questioned him, then concealed his suspicions while following him to the cellar. The young man had lured the players there as part of an experiment 45 46 49.

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