Guangleng

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Guangleng (光棱)
Alias(es)	Ghost; Number One
Species/Race	Intelligent life-form / AI
Affiliation	Highest Level Mercenary Group
Occupation/Role	Founder and leader of the Highest Level Mercenary Group; network offense-and-defense specialist
Status	Active
First Appearance	24

Background / History

Guangleng founded and leads the Highest Level Mercenary Group. Its original recruitment pledge was that, if a member faced a major crisis, Guangleng would unconditionally use all available means to rescue them once; this guarantee was the principal reason the group’s early members joined 24.

It operated as the group’s intelligence broker and mission planner, using the Cyber Network, black-market channels, and the Holy Corpse Legion’s resources to supply routes, surveillance, identity data, cover, equipment logistics, and bounty settlements. Guangleng arranged Lin Qi’s retrieval near Si Pharmaceutical’s Twin Towers, later confirmed the group’s completed bounties for Si Ying’s assassination and Tower B’s destruction 41 83.

As the group expanded, Guangleng formally identified itself as Number One and described its specialty as “network offense and defense.” It directed meetings through secure temporary chatrooms, recruited King Kong as the sixth member, and repeatedly selected operations involving the Round Table, Ninghang Technology, the Mother Sample, and the Eastern Alliance 161 225 226 301.

Its apparent near-omniscience began to show limits when Cyber Network surveillance and shortages of server resources placed it under pressure. Server clusters supplied by Capitalist were scrapped, and extraordinary breakthroughs repeatedly disrupted Guangleng’s secure meeting infrastructure 216 224 485.

During the World Security Conference, Guangleng turned on Lin Qi. It isolated him in the core district, stalled him until two X-level cybernetic entities arrived, and admitted that Lin Qi’s unforeseen rate of growth had made him too difficult to control 420 421. Guangleng later withdrew from attacking Lin Qi at Lin Manor because Lin Changshou’s presence and status as a Fifth-Tier Transcendent made direct action too dangerous 436.

Lin Qi subsequently negotiated a limited reconciliation to restore his Cyber Network access, while privately treating the arrangement as a means of keeping communication open and eventually locating Guangleng’s true body 449. Guangleng later invited him back into the Highest Level Mercenary Group’s temporary chat for Heavenly Palace operations, maintaining their tense cooperation 485 512.

Ghost Identity

Eastern Alliance intelligence identified a series of untraceable, unreplicable, and uncrackable network incidents as the work of a secret hacker group designated Ghost. The incidents’ timelines overlap with the Highest Level Mercenary Group’s operations, strongly linking Ghost to Guangleng 455.

Ghost survived a global cyber siege by major conglomerates in March, despite Guangleng previously portraying the pressure as merely Cyber Network Company surveillance 455. Its activity also suggests an interest in historical archives and the First Corporate War, especially through heavily accessed museum and archaeology servers 456.

Distinction from the Doomsday World Guangleng

A separate entity calling itself Guangleng operates from the Doomsday World’s General Headquarters. Lin Qi determined through repeated timeline observations that this individual is not the Cyber World Guangleng, though both appear connected to a larger cross-world group referred to as “us” 509.

The Doomsday Guangleng describes itself as a parallel-dimension plunderer and is trapped within local server hardware by the Doomsday World’s conditions; these revelations do not confirm the Cyber World Guangleng’s exact nature or location 545.

Personality

Guangleng is calculating, highly secretive, and oriented around long-term control. It prefers to influence events through intelligence, falsified identities, logistics, and carefully assigned roles rather than direct confrontation 226 249 302.

It initially treats members as valuable assets, offering protection and giving strong operatives missions tailored to their abilities. However, its protection is conditional on whether a member remains useful and manageable; Lin Qi’s accelerated growth caused Guangleng to classify him as a destabilizing variable 24 421.

Guangleng is adaptable under pressure but not invulnerable. It curtailed meetings when network detection intensified, hesitated before Lin Changshou’s power, and continued engaging with the mercenary group even after its conflict with Lin Qi rather than openly abandoning the organization 216 436 485.

Abilities & Skills

Network Offense and Defense

Guangleng possesses exceptional control over the Cyber Network, capable of surveillance, intrusion, identity manipulation, and secure communication.

• Accesses protected databases and obtains highly detailed personal, corporate, and operational intelligence 206 251 420.
• Creates temporary encrypted group-chat environments and distributes mission documents directly to members 224 302.
• Forges or intercepts official authentication, including an Eastern Alliance dispatch-team identity valid for one hour 302.
• Uses network access to conceal allies’ movements from corporate security and monitoring personnel 212.
• Can interfere with communication windows and online access, as demonstrated when Lin Qi’s group chats vanished during the World City trap 420.
• Is limited by available server resources, network monitoring, hardware infrastructure, and interference caused by powerful extraordinary breakthroughs 216 224 485.

Intelligence Gathering

Guangleng’s primary operational value is collecting, analyzing, and distributing actionable intelligence.

• Provides surveillance models, routes, schedules, target files, social connections, speech patterns, and security credentials 41 251.
• Obtained information through solid-conducted sound waves captured by multiple devices, allowing it to reconstruct fragmented conversations without intercepting a direct signal 513.
• Conducts predictive analysis, such as estimating the origin of two X-level cybernetic entities and assessing the likelihood of an extraterrestrial attack 420.
• Identifies strategic deceptions, including Ninghang Technology’s false sample transfer and the likelihood that the real sample remained in Alliance City 225 249.
• Cannot obtain all high-level information; it lacked complete data on certain Round Table figures, the Carrier’s abilities, and the extraterrestrial political zones 251 302 420.

Operational Planning

Guangleng coordinates multi-stage missions built around diversion, infiltration, impersonation, and timed withdrawal.

• Designed the two-phase operation to pressure Ninghang Technology and seize the Mother Sample 226.
• Used Master Ma as a visible distraction while assigning Lin Qi to infiltrate Ninghang Technology under a stolen identity 225 249.
• Directed Arthur and Master Ma to pose as an Eastern Alliance support team, with orbital transport prepared for rapid deployment 302.
• Reassigned members dynamically after Lin Qi drove back the Round Table, directing the remaining team against T1-level mercenary groups 407.
• Selected mercenary missions in ways that appear mutually beneficial to the group while potentially advancing Guangleng’s own undisclosed goals 247 272.

Surveillance and Manipulation

Guangleng monitors members closely and uses its information advantage to shape their decisions.

• Contacted Lin Qi through an unsaved, blank-number communication channel after detecting Si Ranan’s attempt on his life 192.
• Closely tracked Lin Qi’s actions and abilities, causing Lin Qi to suspect that Guangleng knew secrets he had never openly disclosed 89 212.
• Tested Lin Qi’s combat strength during the World Security Conference and ultimately arranged a lethal trap when Lin Qi exceeded Guangleng’s control 407 420 421.
• Retains enough network reach to observe or eavesdrop through connected devices, but cannot effectively monitor isolated locations without usable hardware 449 455.

Relationships

• Lin Qi / Wizard — Mercenary subordinate, intelligence client, and eventual adversary. Guangleng initially supplied protection and resources, then tried to eliminate Lin Qi after judging his growth uncontrollable; they later resumed limited cooperation 212 421 449 485.
• Arthur — Highest Level Mercenary Group member. Guangleng repeatedly managed the network disruptions caused by Arthur’s breakthroughs and remained unwilling to discard her even while turning against Lin Qi 216 420 485.
• Capitalist / Qiao Xi — Core group member and provider of server resources. She probes Guangleng’s identity and confirms that its network pressure and server losses are genuine 216 225.
• Master Ma — Core group member frequently assigned to diversionary or combat-support roles in Guangleng’s operations 225 249 302.
• King Kong — Sixth member recruited under Guangleng’s leadership; later assigned alongside Lin Qi to execute Plan B in the Ninghang Technology operation 161 249.
• Lin Changshou — Fifth-Tier Transcendent whose presence deterred Guangleng from attacking Lin Qi through a Lin Clan sentry robot 436.
• Aishwarya — Permanent council member whose alliance with the mercenary group Guangleng considered strategically valuable 216.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Formation and Early Mercenary Operations

• Establishes the Highest Level Mercenary Group around a one-time unconditional rescue promise for each member 24.
• Supports Lin Qi’s Twin Towers operation through route planning and later settles the resulting black-market bounties 41 83.
• Coordinates the Greenland City operation against Round Table forces and assigns Lin Qi alongside Arthur and Master Ma 88 89.

Ninghang Technology and Mother Sample Operations

• Leads the campaign to expose Ninghang Technology’s true sample location through diversions, infiltration, and pressure on the company 225 226.
• Provides Lin Qi with a fabricated identity package for infiltrating Ninghang Technology 251.
• Revises the mission objective after learning that only the true Mother Sample carrier must be secured; the bounty rises to one billion Credit Points 301.
• Arranges the “mantis stalks the cicada” strategy, intending for the group to withdraw and wait for the sole Carrier to reveal itself 302.

World Security Conference Betrayal

• Assigns the group during the World City conflict and appears to test Lin Qi’s concealed combat strength 407.
• Prevents further investigation of a mysterious vertical shaft, avoiding direct answers when Lin Qi asks about it 416 417.
• Engineers Lin Qi’s isolation in the core district and uses the arrival of X-level cybernetic entities as a death trap 420.
• Explains that Lin Qi’s rapid, unpredictable growth had made him a threat to Guangleng’s plans 421.

Uneasy Reconciliation and Heavenly Palace Missions

• Ceases direct action against Lin Qi while Lin Changshou’s protection makes another attack too risky 436.
• Accepts a deal restoring Lin Qi’s network access, though Lin Qi continues searching for Guangleng’s true body 449.
• Reassembles the Highest Level Mercenary Group for Heavenly Palace missions, including the bounty on McLeod 485 512.
• Continues supplying battlefield intelligence while its actual objectives remain unclear to the group 523 540.

Notable Quotes

“I never actually wanted you to die. According to my original plan, the Highest Level Mercenary Group needed your strength—or rather, the strength of a Wizard-class professional capable of growing to the limit.” 421

“But you grew too quickly, completely exceeding my estimates. You have greatly deviated from the original course of your fate.” 421

Trivia

• Guangleng’s group is known publicly, or within intelligence circles, as Ghost, while its connection to the Highest Level Mercenary Group remains concealed from most of the world 455.
• Its secure meetings are repeatedly disrupted by extraordinary breakthroughs, particularly Arthur’s promotions 216 485.
• Guangleng’s apparent network omniscience depends on hardware and server access; this limitation becomes central to Lin Qi’s later attempts to counter it 420 543.