Burly Man

Biodata

Appearance

The Burly Man is tall and muscular, with a large build 30 44.

• After mutating, he grows taller, his arms lengthen, and his body comes to resemble the White Humanoid 47.

Personality

Hot-tempered and overbearing, the Burly Man assumes leadership early and openly challenges people who irritate him. He takes particular offense at Xu Xi’s silence and apparent disregard for the group 31 36 39.

Despite his temper, he can recognize others’ competence and put cooperation first. He accepts the Refined Man’s reasoning about conserving candles, acknowledges his ability despite their leadership conflict, and shares his own clues when the group needs to work together 31 33 37. The Refined Man considers him intelligent but impulsive, warning that his tendency to act recklessly when angry could lead to a setback 44. Xu Xi later assesses him as having brains and decent abilities 54.

History

The Mountain Inn

A livestream viewer familiar with the Burly Man described “Mountain Inn” as his fourth instance and called him strong 30. The Burly Man himself later thought that he had cleared four instances 43. He led Xu Xi and three other players through the forest toward an abandoned inn, then ordered everyone to enter together when a thunderstorm broke 30 31.

Inside, he and the Refined Man found a guest register, pen, and keys. The Burly Man proposed splitting up to investigate occupied rooms, choosing the Refined Man as his partner; the Short-Haired Woman with Glasses joined them. After the woman was killed by a humanoid creature, he shared a missing-person notice found in Room 202 and helped the group reason about the inn’s threats 32 33 35 37 38.

Conflict with Xu Xi

When the Refined Man proposed trapping the White Humanoid with a candle, the Burly Man singled out Xu Xi to light it, citing his lack of participation in the discussion. Xu Xi accepted and locked the creature in Room 106, but the Burly Man then prevented the others from opening Room 103, suspecting Xu Xi had been replaced. Xu Xi frightened them by knocking repeatedly before leaving for Room 101 alone 39 40 41.

The others caught up with Xu Xi, who threatened to release the creature unless they entered Room 101 first. The Burly Man exposed a passage beneath a wardrobe by pulling up its floorboards, but argued with Xu Xi over his warning that going down would be fatal 42 43.

Capture and mutation

The group used the passage as bait to catch whoever intended to seal it. The Burly Man hid beside the bed and restrained a young man who entered the room, questioning his claim to be Yang Wu. During the struggle, the young man gave him a small wound on his wrist 44 45 46.

Soon afterward, the Burly Man began itching uncontrollably, scratched himself bloody, and mutated. The others fled, and the young man locked him inside Room 101 47. The young man later admitted that he had injected him with a toxin extracted from the White Humanoid 49. Xu Xi concluded that the mutated Burly Man and the White Humanoid fought and devoured each other, producing the Evolved Body 50. After clearing the instance, Xu Xi counted the Burly Man among the three players who had died 54.

Later analysis

Reviewing the instance on his livestream, Ji Yang argued that the Burly Man had made an enemy of Xu Xi by refusing to let him back into Room 103. Ji Yang interpreted Xu Xi’s behavior around the passage as an attempt to provoke the Burly Man into remaining aboveground, where he could confront whoever appeared 52 53.

Ji Yang also claimed that Xu Xi deliberately kept silent about the wrist wound so that the Burly Man’s condition would reveal what the young man could do 53. Xu Xi, however, had privately reflected that he noticed the wound but did not pay it any mind at the time 50.

Abilities & Skills

Physical strength

• Pulled up the thin floorboards beneath Room 101’s wardrobe with his bare hands 43.
• Pinned the young man posing as Yang Wu to the floor despite his resistance 45.
• While mutating, repeatedly struck Room 101’s door hard enough to make it shudder 47.

Investigation

• Found a missing-person notice in Room 202 and identified the possibility that a creature could mimic human voices 37 38.
• Helped deduce that the inn’s creatures could imitate appearances and that noticing their deception might be dangerous 38.

Relationships

• Xu Xi — Teammate with whom he repeatedly clashed. He tested Xu Xi by assigning him the dangerous candle task, then suspected him of being a creature after his return 39 40 41. Ji Yang later interpreted their conflict as a factor in the Burly Man’s death, though his account of Xu Xi’s intentions differs from Xu Xi’s private recollection 50 52 53.
• Refined Man — Teammate and early rival for leadership. The two respected each other’s abilities and investigated rooms together, though the Refined Man later restrained him from attacking Xu Xi 33 43.
• High-Ponytail Woman — Teammate who volunteered to light the candle in Xu Xi’s place and helped expose the passage beneath Room 101’s wardrobe 39 43.
• Short-Haired Woman with Glasses — Teammate who joined his investigation group and was killed by the White Humanoid 33 35 40.
• Young man posing as Yang Wu — Captive whom he restrained and questioned; the young man infected him with the toxin that caused his mutation 45 46 49.