Lu Qing

Biodata

Background and History

Lu Qing is Lu Zihan’s mother and has long looked after his friend Ren Yi. Before the youths’ awakening, she and her husband staged a frightening scene in which she appeared to lose control of her monstrous form; they teased Lu Zihan about his reaction afterward 7 15.

She owns the Lu Family Courtyard, an Instance nested within a much larger Instance space belonging to Lu Zihan’s father. Her courtyard is staffed by weird beings who oversee its various areas 27 43.

Appearance

Lu Qing appears as a beautiful woman with a commanding presence and curly brown hair 15.

• She wears a long black dress when Ren Yi meets her at the Endless Game Hall 15.
• As the courtyard’s madam, she wears a dark green brocade qipao with pearl knot buttons 41.
• She keeps qipaos, Western-style dresses, hats, and jewelry in a room at home, describing them as a personal hobby 26.

Personality

Lu Qing is gentle and generous toward Ren Yi and Lu Zihan, but she also enjoys teasing them. She praises and indulges her son while readily scolding him when he misunderstands the family’s affairs 26 43.

Her warmth contrasts with her attitude toward human participants. She describes the weird beings’ task as crushing resistance and eliminating participants, and calmly helps Ren Yi replace one for his experiment 15 28.

Abilities and Skills

Lu Family Courtyard

Lu Qing is the central figure and boss of the Lu Family Courtyard, a harvest Instance whose inhabitants include ghosts serving as household staff 27 43.

• Identity rules: Ghosts, NPCs, and participants must act according to their assigned identities. Lu Zihan’s role is fixed as the young master because of his relationship to Lu Qing 27.
• Rule constraints: Lu Qing is also bound by the Instance’s rules. She can conceal and mislead others about rules targeting an infiltrating Ren Yi, but cannot remove them entirely 28.
• Staffed areas: Little Wutong guards the medicinal garden; Little Watermelon and Little Marten oversee parts of the melon fields; A-Mu and Master Fu run the kitchen and study 43.
• Larger setting: The courtyard is one of many interconnected Instances in a vast space maintained by Lu Zihan’s father. Its residents pay rent toward maintaining that space 43.

Ren Yi suspects that a servants’ rule against using names is aimed at Lu Qing, but her own rule and ability are not confirmed in the provided account 29.

Equipment and Items

• Hibiscus hairpin — An Eerie Artifact Lu Qing uses to peel a participant’s skin and transform him into a protective talisman. Its sheen dims considerably afterward 28 29.
• Antique mirror — A carved full-length mirror hidden among her clothes that serves as an entrance to the Lu Family Courtyard 26.
• Knowledge-bearing Energy Crystal — A crystal made by Lu Zihan’s father that Lu Qing gives Ren Yi; swallowing it transfers knowledge directly into his mind 43 44.

Relationships

• Lu Zihan — Her son. She supervises his Instance work, teases him, and assigns him the role of young master in her courtyard 26 27.
• Ren Yi — Lu Zihan’s friend, whom she has long cared for. She mentors him, helps him conduct an experiment, and gives him the means to learn how to make Energy Crystals 15 28 43.
• Lu Zihan’s father — Her husband and the owner of the larger Instance space containing the courtyard. He makes the knowledge-bearing crystal she gives Ren Yi 43 44.
• A-Mu — The family’s nanny and a longtime servant in Lu Qing’s Instance 27.
• Master Fu — A household servant who acts as the courtyard’s steward and oversees its study 32 43.

Story Role

Escape Room internship

At the Endless Game Hall, Lu Qing explains to Ren Yi and Lu Zihan that Instances harvest energy from other worlds to sustain the Alliance World. After their first Instance, she and Lu Zi explain how its recovered energy is divided and tell Ren Yi to prepare for another job 15 23.

Lu Family Courtyard

Lu Qing accompanies Ren Yi and Lu Zihan into the Three-City World harvest operation because Ren Man lacks the necessary qualifications. She explains its two stages: the younglings must first meet a work target in an Instance, after which they can descend into the world until the Alliance recalls them 24 26.

Ren Yi asks to enter her livestreamed Instance as a participant to test whether his rule can draw positive emotions from viewers outside it. Lu Qing agrees, uses her hairpin to make a protective talisman from a participant, and warns Ren Yi that the Instance will still generate rules against him 27 28 29.

After Ren Yi completes enough servant work to meet the hidden clearance condition, Lu Qing is compelled to question him in person. He avoids the servants’ name trap, and she makes him Lu Zihan’s study attendant. When the Instance ends, she explains that the failed participants went toward paying its rent 41 42.

Preparing for descent

With Ren Yi’s E-Rank progress full, Lu Qing explains that he must return to the Alliance before advancing. She offers to teach him to make Energy Crystals and gives him a knowledge-bearing crystal made by her husband. She later hosts a meal for the courtyard’s weird beings and thanks them for looking after the youths 43 44.

Before Ren Yi and Lu Zihan descend into the Three-City World, she warns Ren Yi to keep his protective amulet with him and remember that he may be separated from Lu Zihan 46.