Shen Hao

Biodata

Power Progression

Background and History

Shen Hao was a senior in Class Three at No. 1 High School in Zhongzhou. During his first Thriller Paradise instance, he discovered that he had become a Demon: rather than joining the other players, he replaced Qingshan Hospital’s dead Horse-Faced Butcher and hunted them 1 9.

After returning, he immediately queued for another instance and planned to infiltrate the Player Alliance for its resources and information. He joined after clearing Haunted Town, initially choosing an archives job in Internal Affairs before being transferred to Xia Bing’s Field Operations team 7 22 48.

Through the Three Lives Stone and his Eye of Cause and Effect, Shen Hao later learned that the Lord of the Netherworld had manipulated his reincarnation, sending him into the future to live a second life in the mortal world 202.

The Lord of the Netherworld had chosen Shen Hao as part of a plan to oppose an invading god. Earlier Demon-class players had served as decoys, while Shen Hao’s personality made him the chosen candidate to wield the Demon’s full power. The Demon was one half of the Lord of the Netherworld; the other half was a god 227.

Appearance

Shen Hao is thin, though his muscles became visibly defined after his first instance 7.

• Demon Eye: He replaced his left eye with the scarlet Demon Eye. After its stored Demon Power was exhausted, the eye looked normal again 44 46.
• Headless Knight form: In the Netherworld instance, he appeared as a headless skeleton in black armor, wreathed in green flames and mounted on a flaming black warhorse 50.
• Executioner form: He occupied a tall, thin corpse in a black cloak, carrying a long-handled scythe. A hood concealed its face 71.
• Mad Scientist form: His mutated body resembled a mass of rotting flesh, with exposed bone, tentacle-like muscles and embedded blue energy cores 155.
• Yan Jun form: He occupied the enormous corpse of Yan Jun, standing dozens of meters tall 178.

Personality

Shen Hao maintains a gentle, helpful public persona and has a reputation as a well-behaved student. Privately, he craves bloodshed and violence; before entering Thriller Paradise, he had tortured small animals to death 9.

He enjoys frightening people and treats their terror as both entertainment and a resource. He is also calculating about his safety and secrecy: he kept the Horse-Faced Butcher’s heart away from players who might destroy it and concealed his role in Jiang Zhennan’s death 3 46.

Shen Hao values freedom and refuses to submit to a higher power. He rejected Divine Authority despite the power it offered because becoming a god would bind him to duties and rules. He also refused the invading god’s offer to rule as its subordinate 229.

Abilities and Skills

Demon Class and Fear Points

Shen Hao replaces instance bosses, inherits their attributes and powers, and receives missions to hunt players 1.

• He gains Fear Points when creatures experience fear or despair; he can also collect them in the real world, including from non-players 1 8.
• Fear Points can be converted into experience or Demon Power. Demon Power can upgrade applicable abilities and items 44.
• At level 10, Demon Bloodline doubled his base Constitution 41.
• The Demon Heart enhanced his Demon abilities and allowed Demon Power to replace their usual resource costs while strengthening their effects 172.
• After obtaining all the Demon’s organs, he gained Demon Body, which removed the limit on stored fear and let him convert it into Demon Power. He no longer needed food or air, but would disappear if nobody feared or remembered him 228.

Immortal Body

Initially listed as Undying 1, this ability enhanced Shen Hao’s recovery and made damage to his heart nonfatal. He survived a blow to the heart during the bus incident 7 8.

• Repeated severe injuries within a short period can still kill him 7 9.
• He upgraded Immortal Body to level 2 during the Blood Banquet Ritual 44.

Possession

Shen Hao inherited Possession in Haunted Town and retained it as an instance reward 11 22.

• At its initial level, he could possess someone who feared him and screamed. The target came under his control and received half his Spirit attribute for the possession’s duration, while Shen Hao lost that portion temporarily 22.
• At level 2, a fearful and uneasy target could be possessed if Shen Hao’s Spirit was twice theirs; the possession also lasted longer 48.
• After gaining the Demon Heart, he could spend additional Demon Power to possess targets with higher Spirit or immunity to mental attacks 172.

Gaze into Death

The Demon Eye grants Shen Hao the ability to see and break a target’s death-line. He used it to destroy the Bloodied Sovereign’s manifestation and kill Jiang Zhennan 45 46.

• Initially, it worked on one target at a time and cost 10,000 Demon Power per use 45.
• The eye initially held enough Demon Power for two uses; both were exhausted in the school confrontation 45 46.
• Gaze into Death cannot be upgraded with Demon Power 48.
• The Demon Heart enhanced the ability, allowing him to see the deaths of multiple targets at a greater cost 172.
• During his battle with the invading god, he saw and broke the death of a space the god had created, escaping it. He could not see the god’s death because he had not truly seen the god itself 232.

Demon Domain

Shen Hao first released Demon Domain unintentionally after absorbing Demon Blood. Its blood-red aura covered nearly all of Zhongzhou, terrified its inhabitants and let him perceive everything within it 94.

• With enough Demon Power, he can expand the domain and control the flow of time within it 172.
• He incorporated the Lord of the Netherworld’s hells into the domain, bringing their tormenting environments with it when he released it 204.
• During his clash with the invading god, he reshaped and expanded the domain to collect Fear Points, weaken the god’s hold over its followers and teleport within the domain. Fear from a population could diminish when its members died or their minds collapsed 232.

Mental Perception

Shen Hao retained Mental Perception after acting as the Headless Knight. He upgraded it to sense everything within 75 meters at level 2 and 100 meters at level 3, with higher Spirit consumption at each level 50 63 81.

At its maximum level, Mental Perception could track auras and replay past events. Shen Hao used it to locate players and discover their plans 159.

Other Demon Abilities

• Eye of Cause and Effect: Lets Shen Hao trace events and their origins from faint clues, with a Demon Power cost determined by the complexity of what he seeks. He can also use causal connections to contact and affect distant targets 172 175.
• Ruler of All Things: Lets him manipulate objects he sees, unless their mass far exceeds his mental power 172.
• Demon’s Left Hand: Can tear objects apart at a distance and turn living beings it touches into absorbable energy, with a chance to obtain their special abilities. It can also tear through spatial barriers 228 229.
• Demon Curse: A Demon ability awakened as his Demon Blood fused more deeply with his body. Its use consumes Demon Power and a drop of Demon Blood 150.

Inherited Instance Powers

• Horse-Faced Butcher: Shen Hao inherited enhanced physical attributes and Throwing Axe Mastery, which he retained after the instance 1 7.
• Haunted Town ghost: His ghost form had no Constitution but gained 100 Spirit, Possession and limited control over objects through spiritual power 11.
• Headless Knight: He gained Soulfire, Mental Perception and Undying Will. The knight’s attributes were halved during the day and strengthened at night 50.
• Executioner: He inherited a powerful corpse and Soul Hooking, which could draw a target’s soul into an execution chamber where fifteen minutes passed in the equivalent of one second outside. The corpse’s Zombie ability made mental attacks ineffective against it 71.
• Devotion: Retained after an instance, this ability protects a faithful follower of the Lord of the Netherworld from his resentment and curse 120.
• Warden: In the Home of Evil Ghosts, he could control guards and mechanisms, see through the guards’ eyes and bind souls with chains 124.
• Mad Scientist: The scientist’s body relied on an energy core for power and rapid recovery. Its abilities included summoning a pet, modifying enemies and resisting mental attacks. Shen Hao retained Monster Maker, which lets him modify enemies into obedient creatures 155 170.
• Yan Jun: As Yan Jun, he inherited immense Constitution, authority over the Land of Reincarnation and an Undying Will that could briefly move the dead body 178 204.

Equipment and Items

• Bloodthirsty Axe — A D-rank axe that grows by absorbing enemies’ blood and fear. Shen Hao initially struggled to lift it without the Butcher’s inherited attributes 7.
• Demon Blade — A C-grade blade that inflicts wounds that cannot heal and can devour spirit entities. Its use carries risks, including permanent Spirit loss and potential death if its power grows too strong 13 22.
• Xiaobai — The Avenger’s Doll from Haunted Town, named by Shen Hao. Her level 2 upgrade increased her attributes by 50% and gave her an aura that gradually weakens nearby enemies’ Spirit and makes them easier to frighten 22 48.
  • Shen Hao later raised her to level 10, her limit for Demon Power upgrades. Her Doll Core could fuse with extraordinary beings or items 120.
  • After absorbing a transcendent shadow, she gained Shadow Controller. She later absorbed an evil ghost, raising her Mental Attribute to 900 and gaining the ability to shift between tangible and intangible forms 121 149.
• Substitute Doll — A revival item supplied by Xia Bing. After revival, its user is severely injured and suffers a 99% attribute reduction until healed 24 38.
• Fallen Deity’s Blood — Blood collected after the Bloodied Sovereign’s manifestation was destroyed; it can turn a person into a mindless monster 45.
• Demon Blood — Demon blood that Shen Hao introduced into his body, greatly increasing his power and precipitating his first release of Demon Domain 93 94.
• Demon Heart — A Demon organ Shen Hao transplanted into his body. It enhanced his Demon abilities and granted him new powers 170 172.
• Demon’s Left Arm — A Demon organ that had belonged to the Lord of the Netherworld. Shen Hao recovered and fused with it, completing his collection of Demon organs 216 227.

Relationships

• Xu Xiaonan — A fellow student and player whom Shen Hao terrified in Qingshan Hospital. She later admired him after the bus incident, unaware that he had been the instance’s killer 8 9.
• Xia Bing — An Alliance member who recruited and supported Shen Hao. He later joined her Field Operations team 9 22 48.
• Xiaobai — Shen Hao’s doll and companion, who helped him hunt players and frighten his classmates. He repeatedly strengthened her and used her core to fuse her with powerful entities 22 34 41 121 149.
• Jiang Zhennan — A Blood Banquet elder who sought revenge after Shen Hao killed his son and offered Shen Hao to the Bloodied Sovereign 39 41.
• Sun Wanli — Head of the Alliance’s Zhongzhou Branch. He arranged a shared cover story and took the main credit for Jiang Zhennan’s death 47.
• Lord of the Netherworld — The former ruler of the Netherworld arranged Shen Hao’s second life and chose him to inherit the Demon’s power and oppose an Outer God. His final remnant helped Shen Hao reach Divine Authority, though Shen Hao declined it 202 227 229.
• Outer God — A god from another world whose followers sought to bring it into Shen Hao’s world. Shen Hao opposed its descent, absorbed its avatar and pursued its true body into its own world 203 228 234.

Story Role and Major Arcs

• Qingshan Hospital: Shen Hao replaced the Horse-Faced Butcher, exploited players’ expectations from existing guides and completed his first hunt 1 3 6.
• Haunted Town: As the dollmaker’s ghost, he rearranged the instance’s dangers. The four players died, and he returned with Possession, the Demon Blade and Xiaobai 11 21 22.
• Water Sky Paradise: As the park’s director, he added a rule protecting his property and hunted visitors while another entity contested his control. He later collected the Demon Eye and wrote a highly rated Alliance guide 25 26 38 39.
• Blood Banquet Ritual: Trapped at school with other students, Shen Hao used their fear to reach level 10. He destroyed the Bloodied Sovereign’s manifestation and killed Jiang Zhennan, then concealed what had happened 41 45 46.
• Netherworld: Entering as the Headless Knight, he destroyed the Bloodstained Holy Grail to prevent players from completing their quest, then rode out during the day to surprise them. He later used Possession during the hunt and killed Lin Feng with Soulfire 50 59.
• Executioner’s Prison: As an executioner guarding a cage, Shen Hao entered its prison to confront the Moon Goddess before intruders could free her. He killed her and continued hunting the intruders 71 81 87.
• Demon Blood and Zhongzhou: After exchanging his blood for Demon Blood, he inadvertently covered Zhongzhou with Demon Domain and gathered enough Fear Points to reach level 20. He later attended an Alliance emergency meeting about the threat of the Lord of the Netherworld 93 94 95.
• Home of Evil Ghosts: As its warden, Shen Hao hunted the players, had Xiaobai absorb a powerful evil ghost and destroyed the prison’s core. A strange mist encroached on his domain as the instance collapsed 124 149.
• Mad Scientist: Shen Hao hunted players in the scientist’s modified body, maxed out Mental Perception and returned with Monster Maker and the Demon Heart. He transplanted the heart, triggering another fear-inducing phenomenon 155 159 170 171.
• Land of Reincarnation: As Yan Jun, Shen Hao defended the realm and sought to restart it. After completing his tasks, he used the Three Lives Stone and Eye of Cause and Effect to discover the Lord of the Netherworld’s role in his reincarnation, then incorporated the hells into Demon Domain 178 202 204.
• Special Instance and Divine Authority: Shen Hao entered a special instance to stop the Outer God’s descent, destroy its believers’ holy city and recover the Demon’s Left Arm. After becoming a true Demon, he seized the crystal of Divine Authority but rejected it rather than accept its restrictions 210 227 228 229.
• Final Battle: Shen Hao expanded Demon Domain to harvest fear and undermine the invading god’s followers. He absorbed the god’s avatar, crossed into its world and killed its true body. Having seen the Kingdom of God through the Eye of Cause and Effect, he resolved to hunt its gods as well 232 233 234.

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