Chu Zu

Biodata

Background

The original Chu Zu grew up alongside Luciano. From the age of twelve, Luciano promised him the best things in return for his service. As a child, Chu Zu was small and thin and worked continuously; between Luciano’s ages of seventeen and twenty, he spent much of his time in the Lower Eighteenth District carrying out assignments and evading assassins 8 9 12.

The current Chu Zu is a novelist who died suddenly and became the host of a system tasked with correcting a side character in Crown of Neon Light. He spent six months learning to act before working with the system on the mission 7.

In the original story, Chu Zu eventually turned against Luciano but did not appear at Luciano’s final battle with Tangqi. The system warns the host that, while correcting a side character, he must not change the main storyline 7 11.

Appearance

Chu Zu has black hair, fair skin, and distinctive red eyes. He rarely showed expression as a child, though a photograph taken when he was twenty captured a brief smile 7 10.

• Eyes: Misty or scarlet red 7 9.
• Build: Tall; he was notably slender at twenty, before developing his present physique 10.
• Post-surgery: His fingers sometimes curled or twitched involuntarily, and he concealed wounds beneath his shirt 9.

Personality

Chu Zu is calm under pressure and uses that composure to manage dangerous relationships. When Luciano suspected him of betrayal, he deliberately provoked him by offering him a gun, calculating that Luciano’s remaining affection would give him a chance to restore his trust. He generally tells the truth while withholding what he cannot say 8.

His portrayal of the original Chu Zu centers on an uncompromising ambition: Luciano promised him the best things, and if Luciano cannot provide them, he intends to take them himself. He presents this ambition to Dai Xian with enough conviction to frighten her 9 10.

Chu Zu can also be protective, though his methods are often harsh. He takes Sydney in both because the boy is useful to his plans and because he believes Sydney would otherwise die. He gives Sydney considerable freedom, but insists that he take responsibility for his choices 11 12.

Abilities & Skills

Physical strength and combat

Chu Zu’s body possesses exceptional strength and is suited to Luciano’s violent assignments 7 10.

• Overpowered Hankao’s mechanical prosthetic arm and took his gun 7.
• Broke free of restraints during surgery, injuring himself in the process 9.
• Used a grappling gun to enter a high-rise through reinforced glass, then killed his assigned target 10.
• The current host initially lacks some of the original Chu Zu’s combat experience and relies on the system’s assistance; he nearly killed an ally during an assignment 10.

Strategy and manipulation

Chu Zu studies people’s motives and uses promises, leverage, and carefully chosen disclosures to influence them.

• Provoked Luciano into testing his loyalty, then concluded that the confrontation and subsequent operation had restored Luciano’s trust 8.
• Used Sydney’s assumed identity as his son to shelter him while considering how the child’s Esposito bloodline could provide leverage 11.
• Interpreted Luciano’s apparent guilt through cognitive dissonance and self-interest 13.

System assistance

Chu Zu’s bound system supplies information and support during his mission 7 10.

• Searches the novel’s background and reader responses, and monitors Chu Zu’s surroundings during assignments 10 11.
• Can be sold through the credit shop; the system sold the right to its use so Chu Zu could purchase an emergency item, while remaining with him until the mission ends 7.
• Warns Chu Zu against changes that would disrupt the main plot 11.

Equipment & Items

• Physics Divine Beast: A 3,000-credit drug also called Schrödinger’s Cat. It induces apparent death for three hours, though its instructions warn against sustaining fatal injuries while it is active. Chu Zu did not use it during Luciano’s confrontation 7 8.
• Grappling gun: Used to swing into the target’s floor during an assassination 10.
• Plasma cutters: Set as explosives to break through parts of a building during the same assignment 10.
• Neural implant: Mitoli technology implanted on Luciano’s orders. Luciano can use the device to stimulate Chu Zu’s nerves; activating it later leaves him in severe pain 8 10 13.

Relationships

• Luciano Esposito — Childhood companion and employer. Luciano relies on Chu Zu but suspects and controls him; Chu Zu plans to take what Luciano promised him, even if that means turning against him 8 9 10.
• The system — Chu Zu’s mission partner. It values him as a host and sacrifices the right to its own use to help him purchase the Physics Divine Beast 7.
• Dai Xian — An information broker Chu Zu rescues and brings home. She chooses to remain with him and tells him about Luciano’s hidden son 9.
• Sydney — Luciano’s biological son, whom Chu Zu takes in as his own. Sydney later comforts Chu Zu during an episode of severe pain 11 13.
• Tangqi — The Tang family heir, who tried to persuade Chu Zu to join him. Chu Zu’s apparent willingness to let him escape intensifies Luciano’s suspicions 8.

Story Role

Luciano’s suspicion and surgery

After Dai Xian is exposed, Luciano confronts Chu Zu about betrayal. Chu Zu takes Hankao’s gun and hands it to Luciano, who fires past Chu Zu and kills Hankao instead. Luciano subsequently orders Chu Zu to undergo a dangerous Mitoli neural procedure 7 8.

Dai Xian and Sydney

After recovering, Chu Zu collects Dai Xian from the medical department and takes her to an upper-district residence. She reveals that Luciano has a son, Sydney, in the Lower Eighteenth District. Chu Zu finds the boy, disguises his appearance, and brings him home for Dai Xian to help raise 9 11.

Chu Zu registers Sydney in the upper district using the Esposito name. Luciano accepts the boy as Chu Zu’s son and offers his support, unaware of Sydney’s true parentage 12.

Life under surveillance

Chu Zu divides his time between Esposito assignments and the household he shares with Dai Xian and Sydney. After Luciano activates the device in his body, Chu Zu returns home in severe pain. Sydney finds him in an icy bathtub and climbs in to hold him 13.