Zhao Shuying

Biodata

Background

Special Affairs Bureau liaison

Zhao Shuying first visits Yu Xunge alongside Wu Qingbai as a representative of the authorities, seeking access to Yu Xunge's Fate Gear talent. She and Wu Qingbai employ complementary negotiation tactics, but neither reveals why the Bureau needs the talent. 47

She subsequently becomes Yu Xunge's principal contact within the Special Affairs Bureau. Their early dealings cover the monetization of Fate Gear, proxy-shopping gold for gold coins, Instance rentals, skill-crystal purchases, and intelligence exchanges. Zhao Shuying negotiates aggressively—including demanding a 40% profit share in one contract—but reliably completes the deals she makes. 60 61 97 111

The Skill Stone agreement ultimately gives the Bureau 20% of the profits, while Yu Xunge obtains a one-percent commission if she exchanges at least 200,000 gold coins. Zhao Shuying later arranges the rental of Yu Xunge's Level 3 Instance outside its owner's daily five-hour access window in exchange for seven selected skill crystals. 60 97

She also represents the Bureau in negotiations involving Tulan's proposed role as China's representative Dragon and Su Yitong's Flood Dragon agreement. In both cases, she prioritizes institutional interests while working to secure a mutually acceptable contract. 136 143 145

By the time of Tulan's proposed endorsement, Zhao Shuying is assigned exclusively to liaise with Yu Xunge, while Wu Qingbai handles other contacts. She also profits from selling Bureau supplies through her internal purchasing quota and employee discounts, with Yu Xunge introducing clients such as Su Yitong and Yu Xunhuan. 106 137

Flood Dragon operation and strategic missions

Zhao Shuying serves as the primary person in charge of the operation against Black Jade. When the Flood Dragon reverses its contract with Yu Xunhuan, she steps forward under the protection of the nearby fighters and offers it a choice between negotiation and war. Afterward, she handles the consequences of the failed agreement with Su Yitong and keeps Yu Xunge informed about Black Jade and Yu Xunhuan's situation. 213 217 218

A later conversation with Zai Jiu reveals that, in the version of events erased by Yu Xunge's time reversal, Zhao Shuying had chosen to side with Black Jade against Yu Xunge for the sake of the Special Affairs Bureau and her career. Zhao Shuying accepts that this sounds like a choice she would have made; it is not the outcome of the surviving timeline. 1397

Her subsequent assignments include arranging the exchange of Yu Xunge's Legion Token for an A-rank skill and recruiting her for the mission to empty Time Unfixed's hands so that the Bureau can reseal unlocked Instance Barriers. She continues to facilitate purchases of unusual materials, skills, potions, and Instances for the authorities. 242 251 295

High Tower and independent team

During the High Tower's reincarnation cycles, Zhao Shuying forms the organization with Yu Xunge and Liang Yuchuan. She divides the group's externally obtained mission rewards so that 20% funds information gathering and the remaining 80% purchases requested skills for Yu Xunge and Liang Yuchuan; their independently acquired earnings remain private. 319 339

Her time in the High Tower reveals both her ambition and the strain of maintaining stability among competing Dinghai members. She begins to view events from the perspective of a “chess player,” believing that this is the only way to recognize when she herself is about to be discarded. 322 325

Securing work for the team is dangerous: foreign races frequently attack her on sight as an Oak Owl, sometimes pursuing her for hundreds of miles. She relies on There's a Motorcycle in My Throat during these pursuits. Across later reincarnations, she limits her intelligence-gathering work to roughly ten years for every forty years spent cultivating, rather than working continuously throughout the Tower experience. 323 339

She investigates the possibility of permanently closing Instance Barriers using designated items from alien races. An attempted entry with Yu Xunge and Liang Yuchuan is immediately rejected, leading Zhao Shuying and Yu Xunge to suspect that the Tower cannot load the reality beyond the barrier. After leaving the Tower, she reports their shared discovery to Dinghai and proposes continuing to collect the necessary items with her original teammates. 322 326 366

Dinghai and Zaijiu leadership

Zhao Shuying later assumes command of both S City's Special Affairs Bureau and S City's Dinghai branch. Her advancement is attributed to a combination of A-rank talent, High Tower resources, accumulated skills, political ability, and interpersonal skill. 588

Before this promotion, she communicates Dinghai's commitment to supporting Yu Xunge as a prospective leader of Zaijiu. Rather than offering her Dinghai's command, she tells Yu Xunge that she should become Zaijiu's legion commander, conveying the broader leadership role envisioned for her. 469 470

As S City's leader, Zhao Shuying arranges Black Jade's delivery to Yu Xunge, oversees the clearance of land around her villa, and coordinates personnel for the Old Blacksmith's workshop construction. She also negotiates the exchange of Moon Fox instructional books and delivers resources collected in gratitude for Yu Xunge's contributions. 589 590 597 746

She handles discussions over the 300,000 places Yu Xunge offers in her time-accelerated Game Console. Although Yu Zhaohai has granted her extensive authority, Zhao Shuying recognizes that the scale of this arrangement requires collective deliberation rather than an immediate personal decision. 746 747

During the war, she remains active in battlefield coordination and urgently procures equipment and the SS-rank Multi-Front Warfare skill for Yu Xunge. When Yu Xunge gives her large quantities of food and potions without wanting an account kept, Zhao Shuying accepts the supplies and refrains from applying the final emotional pressure Yu Zhaohai had wanted her to use. 900 903 904

She eventually leaves Dinghai's legion structure to become a Zaijiu Councilor, handling Zaijiu affairs on behalf of Arbiter Yu Xunge. 985 By this point, she has also served as one of Dinghai's eight Deputy Legion Commanders. 904

The Councilor appointment adds a new identity to her character interface and provides position-specific skills, two attribute points per day, a monthly random skill blind box of at least B-rank, and numerous other benefits. She immediately withdraws from Dinghai because serving the Arbiter requires her to remain unaffiliated with any faction. 985

Her Councilor duties include compiling strategic resource intelligence, preparing reports, and coordinating policy with legion commanders. After B80 also becomes a Councilor, Yu Xunge sends the two of them to discuss the next stage of Zaijiu's affairs with its commanders and produce a plan. 989 992 1053 1110

Wish and Arbiter Game

After approximately a century, Yu Xunge visits Zhao Shuying at home and offers to grant her a wish. Zhao Shuying immediately recognizes that the offer is unusual and asks whether a greater disaster is approaching. When Yu Xunge admits uncertainty about whether she can or should take all the worlds with her, Zhao Shuying asks to accompany her regardless of whether Zaijiu itself is included. Yu Xunge agrees. 1396 1397

Zhao Shuying subsequently tells Zai Jiu that her ideals matter most: the person who can give her life greater meaning and her career greater glory embodies those ideals. Having already fulfilled her ambitions on Zaijiu and surpassed the senior figure she once looked up to, she sees her future in following Yu Xunge. 1397

Yu Xunge honors this promise by allowing the Level 90 Zhao Shuying to return to the First Epoch and participate in the sole Arbiter Game, despite her comparatively limited combat strength. Her nightmare is a Battle of Zaijiu in which Yu Xunge never returns, leaving her confronted by a dying compatriot who accuses her of lying about the Arbiter's promised arrival. Yu Xunge wakes her, and Zhao Shuying expresses relief that she came back. 1409

During the prison portion of the game, Zhao Shuying establishes contact with a neighboring Moon Fox prisoner. She supplies a specially requested healing Wrist Guard through an opening between their cells and shares the intelligence she obtains in the group chat. Later, she and Yu Zhaohai compare their encounters with Mountains Xunge, who recognizes neither of them. 1412 1443

Appearance

Zhao Shuying presents herself with deliberate polish even during field operations, maintaining an elegant, composed image.

• At her first meeting with Yu Xunge, she wears her hair in a ponytail and is dressed casually. 47
• During the Flood Dragon operation, she wore a silk shirt, black mink shorts, and women's leather shoes. 150
• After years of High Tower work, two pronounced vertical lines appeared between her eyebrows, reflecting the pressure of holding her faction together. 325
• As an Oak Owl, she possesses large wings of light and is capable of flight. 588 904
• While reporting to Yu Xunge after becoming Councilor, she is shown wearing a long trench coat. 990
• In private, she wears glasses but may remove them at home. When Yu Xunge visits her much later, she answers the door in a loose nightgown and black linen slippers, with her long hair hanging loose and a hair tie around her wrist. Without her usual professional presentation, she appears warmer and less businesslike. 1396
• During the Arbiter Game, her appearance without glasses is described as gentle and harmless, resembling an inexperienced office worker despite her considerable political experience. 1412

Personality

Zhao Shuying is sharp, persuasive, and commercially minded. She treats negotiation as a specialized skill, confidently setting prices, leveraging information, and pressing for terms advantageous to her side. Her polished manner can make cooperation feel unavoidable, a quality that fellow Bureau members find both impressive and irritating. 62 145 182 235

Despite her calculations, she generally respects capable independent players' autonomy. She warns Yu Xunge about factional struggles rather than forcing her into an organization, accepts Yu Xunge's decision to travel abroad, and later supports her without pressing for explanations she is unwilling to give. 60 272 904

She is ambitious without being careless about it. Zhao Shuying understands that institutional loyalty can be conditional, so she builds influence, information networks, and mutually beneficial alliances to avoid becoming expendable herself. 319 322 588

Her institutional professionalism does not amount to unconditional personal loyalty. Yu Zhaohai values her ability to fulfill her duties without letting friendships interfere, while Yu Xunge regards her as a politician loyal above all to her own cause. Her subtle warnings can express genuine concern while also preserving future options for herself. 985 1015

Nevertheless, her affection for Yu Xunge becomes increasingly significant. She worries that overwhelming strength might make Yu Xunge cold and intolerant, then feels relieved when their familiar joking relationship remains unchanged. She particularly admires that Yu Xunge does not bully the weak or use strength and talent as the sole standards for friendship. 588 589

She combines meticulous work habits with theatrical humor. Her exaggerated deference, displays of attentiveness, and playful flattery often deliberately embarrass Yu Xunge. Even after becoming Councilor, she opens an umbrella against Yu Xunge's intangible golden rain, then replaces it with one matching the Arbiter's colors when the first fails to stop the rain. Yu Zhaohai recognizes the performance as intentional teasing. 235 992

Her eventual decision to follow Yu Xunge beyond Zaijiu does not erase her ambition. Zhao Shuying explicitly frames that choice through her ideals and her desire for a meaningful life and a glorious career, finding their greatest future possibilities in Yu Xunge rather than in remaining on Zaijiu. 1397

Beneath her professional composure, she is capable of sorrow, guilt, and helplessness. Her Arbiter Game nightmare exposes these feelings through the prospect of failing her people while waiting for Yu Xunge's return; her reflexive smile appears before she consciously drops the professional mask. 1409

Abilities & Skills

Elegance Never Goes Out of Style

Zhao Shuying's A-rank God-Bestowed Talent is built around evasion, survival, and rapid disengagement. 149

• Sweating Profusely — Passive effect triggered when her HP falls below 60%.
  • Increases Agility by 200%.
  • Increases Movement Speed by 150%. 149
• Elegance, Never Goes Out of Style — Places her in bullet time for 30 seconds.
  • Cooldown: 5 minutes. 149
• Her exceptional escape capability allows her to outrun multiple Level 7 players specialized entirely in Agility. 182

Oak Owl light wings

After the High Tower, Zhao Shuying possesses Oak Owl light wings. She can fly and remains active in aerial battlefield coordination. 588 904

She is among the six participants identified as having obtained the wings through the floating-island experience, alongside Yu Chan, Xia Leisheng, Yu Xunge, Su Yitong, and Liang Yuchuan. Dinghai publicly releases photographs of winged players, including Zhao Shuying. 349

Additional skills and professions

• There's a Motorcycle in My Throat — A skill she uses while fleeing hostile foreign races in the High Tower, accompanied by prolonged rapping. She also uses her distinctive rap during the Hundred Skulls battle, turning its lyrics into insults directed at Yu Xunge. 323 391
• Enchantment — Can melt crystals into liquid and draw magical patterns onto weapons. Before fighting Hundred Skulls, she applies resistance and attack-speed enchantments to Yu Xunge's guns and Haste to Liang Yuchuan's claw blades. She explains that dragon scales and the hides of most exotic beasts resist enchantment. 390
• Unnamed S-rank portal skill — Opens a portal to a place where she has spent more than an hour, or which she has visited more than five times within the preceding thirty days.
  • A portal can remain open for no more than an hour.
  • Any player who sees the active portal can pass through it in either direction.
  • Its restrictions make it useful for organized relocation rather than immediate escape. 594
• Persistent Handcrafting (SS-rank) — Her strongest skill acquired over the subsequent century. During the Arbiter Game, she uses it to create a top-quality Wrist Guard meeting a Level 19 Moon Fox's requirements and carrying two Healing Skills. 1412
• Zaijiu Councilor skills — Her official position grants its own skills, although their individual effects are not specified in the appointment passage. 985

Negotiation and operational management

• Handles high-stakes contracts involving talents, Instances, skills, resources, and mystical beasts. 47 145 229
• Coordinates solo players on behalf of the Special Affairs Bureau, with Yu Xunge identified as the strongest among those under her responsibility. 181
• Managed the external affairs and reward distribution of her three-person High Tower team. 319
• Quickly procures requested skills and equipment for Yu Xunge during emergencies. 302 903 904
• Has memorized professional recipe catalogs across Alchemy, Tailoring, Forging, Engineering, Jewelry, Enchanting, and other fields, as well as approximately 98% of the Bureau's recorded skill crystals, Skill Books, and special items. The remaining gap reflects continually updated records. 200
• Excels at balancing factions and calming public sentiment, making her better suited than Yu Xunge to the routine political work of governing Zaijiu. 985
• Maintains friendly relations with powerful independent players through adaptability, tact, and sincerity at important moments. Yu Xunge considers their eventual cooperation likely even if their first meeting had never occurred. 1409

Equipment

• Orange epic staff — Obtained from her Nightmare Chest after the victory over Hundred Skulls in the Ten Thousand Races Arena. Its level and attribute requirements allow her to equip it immediately, and it is described as exceptionally well suited to her. 391

Power Progression

Relationships

• Yu Xunge — Initially a difficult negotiating counterpart and Bureau contact; their repeated transactions develop into mutual trust, teasing familiarity, and a close political alliance. Zhao Shuying later serves directly under Yu Xunge as a Zaijiu Councilor. 47 60 588 985
  • Her early institutional priorities could conflict with Yu Xunge's interests, including in the erased timeline where she sided with Black Jade. Yu Xunge nevertheless understands her nature and entrusts her with Zaijiu's administration. 1015 1397
  • She comes to admire Yu Xunge as a leader she would willingly follow indefinitely. Much later, she uses her granted wish to ask to accompany Yu Xunge beyond Zaijiu, and Yu Xunge honors that promise by bringing her into the Arbiter Game. 596 1397 1409
• Tulan — Proposed Tulan's public endorsement as China's representative Dragon and later maintains a familiar rapport with her. Tulan calls her “Sister Shuying.” 136 302
• Zhao Xianyin — Her biological younger sister, who seeks Zhao Shuying's advice on negotiation. Zhao Xianyin worries about being associated with her sister's provocative bargaining style, only for Zhao Shuying to tell her that everyone knows they are sisters and that she should hurry to level up. 228 229
• Wu Qingbai — Early Special Affairs Bureau negotiation partner. They jointly handle talks with Yu Xunge and Su Yitong, though Zhao Shuying frequently has to correct his failed attempts at mediation. 47 143 145
• Su Yitong — Professional counterpart in several difficult contracts, including the Flood Dragon and Green Wine agreements. 143 145 229
• Liang Yuchuan — Fellow member of the High Tower team and co-founder of . Their relationship is tense, particularly after Liang Yuchuan killed three Dinghai members. 319 325 339
  • They continue cooperating after the Tower, including in designated-item collection plans and the successful battle against Hundred Skulls. 366 391
• Yu Zhaohai — Dinghai Legion Commander and senior political figure who promoted Zhao Shuying for her capability, emotional intelligence, and ability to remain task-focused despite personal relationships. 588 985
  • Zhao Shuying leaves her command to serve the Arbiter, then maintains a familiar, sometimes barbed rapport with her former superior. By the time of her wish, she considers herself to have surpassed the senior leader she once looked up to. 985 992 1397
• B80 — Fellow Zaijiu Councilor. Yu Xunge assigns them to coordinate with the legion commanders and prepare plans for Zaijiu's next steps. 1053
• Zai Jiu — Questions whether Zhao Shuying values the world or Yu Xunge more and reveals her choice in the timeline erased during the Black Jade incident. Approximately a century later, Zhao Shuying answers through her wish to follow Yu Xunge and points out that Zai Jiu itself also places special importance on her. 1397
• Black Jade — Target of the Flood Dragon operation she commands and a dangerous negotiating counterpart after its contract reversal. She later arranges its delivery to Yu Xunge without demanding an explanation of its intended fate. 213 589

Notable Quotes

“This is called negotiation skills, thank you.” 145

“Because only by doing so can I discover it the moment it's my turn to be discarded as a chess piece.” 322

“How wonderful. You're still you.” 588

“Whether or not you take Zai Jiu with you, please be sure to take me along. That is my wish.” 1397

“My ideals matter most. Whoever can make my life more meaningful, whoever can make my career more glorious, is my ideal.” 1397

“I'm glad you came back.” 1409

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