Yuguang

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Yuguang (余光)
Alias(es)	Afterglow District 6 17
Location	The laborer district of Sun City, separated from Yaoguang/Radiance District by an underground river 8 43
Governance	Nominally administered by the Labor Union; heavily policed by the Sun City Police Department during the manhunt for Li Wei and Feng Zi 28 40
Status	Extant
First Appearance	Chapter 6 (as the Afterglow District) 6

Overview

Yuguang is Sun City's impoverished labor district. Its residents perform factory and Barrier Field District labor that sustains Yaoguang's wealth, while living amid smog, unsafe water, shanties, exploitative employment, and limited legal protections 27 40 43.

The district is socially and materially segregated from Yaoguang. Laborers are treated as a disposable workforce, while Yaoguang residents enjoy clean roads, gardens, modern services, and greater freedom of movement 28 43.

Geography

• Yuguang lies downstream in Sun City's water system; its water must be boiled before drinking because it is polluted 40.
• A fast underground river divides Yuguang from Yaoguang. The only crossings are tightly controlled eastern and western railway bridges 43.
• Its outskirts consist of gravel flats and sparse labor shacks, contrasting sharply with Yaoguang's gardens and residential neighborhoods 43.
• Morning smog is common and makes breathing difficult; the cleaner air across the river emphasizes the districts' inequality 43.
• The area includes at least a 1st District and 2nd District, as well as the Barrier Field District and Labor Block 27 6 40 41.

Society and Living Conditions

Laborers

Yuguang's inhabitants are primarily laborers whose work supports Sun City's industry. They must be at least fourteen and have a guardian's signature to obtain an identification card and legally enter factory work; children without a guardian risk becoming undocumented residents 27.

• Laborers receive food and conditions far below those available in the Twilight Church choir or Yaoguang 27 43.
• Factory deaths and injuries are routinely exploited, while compensation is withheld or reduced through fees and corruption 9 10 13.
• Over two or three years, more than 400 Yuguang residents were sold to Yaoguang through trafficking arrangements, leaving more than 12 million in unpaid debts 42.
• Women trafficked to Yaoguang are commonly sent to red-light districts, while men are sent to black-market factories 43.

Social Status

Yaoguang's elite openly regard Yuguang residents as inferior. Councilor Wang describes them as “base livestock,” illustrating the class prejudice that underpins trafficking and exploitation 50.

The district's residents initially come to hate Li Wei after police falsely blame him for the Church incident, the Empty Grave Case, and prior murders 40 42.

Institutions

Labor Union

The Labor Union functions as Yuguang's nominal government and is led by Li Ming 28 39.

• It attempts to negotiate compensation and recover unpaid trafficking debts for laborers' families 42.
• The Union previously bought families' unpaid IOUs at half value to provide immediate relief, but lacked the status to collect most debts from Yaoguang-backed companies 42.
• Li Ming helps Li Wei and Feng Zi cross into Yaoguang through a supply train, providing uniforms, passes, and access to the final carriage 43.

Twilight Church

The Twilight Church provides comparatively better living conditions for choir children, including daily baths, regular meals, literacy instruction, gospel study, and music lessons 27.

• The church maintains a cemetery behind its grounds where much of Yuguang's dead are buried 28.
• Its clergy cannot explain why every exhumed coffin is empty, triggering a mass public crisis 28.
• Bishop Twilight secretly uses stolen corpses and living victims in experiments involving organ fusion and life extension 35 37.
• After the Bishop's death, the Police Department conceals the Church's crimes by blaming Li Wei 40.

Police Department

The Police Department conducts repeated district-wide searches for Li Wei and Feng Zi after the Church incident 40.

• Officers raid residences without warning and arrest people found outside at night during the crackdown 40 41.
• Superintendent Tian Yuan brings police to the Church when the cemetery crisis threatens to become a laborer riot 28.
• Police pressure and widespread fear disrupt daily life and trafficking operations in Yuguang 40 49.

Major Events

Empty Grave Incident

The discovery of empty graves behind the Twilight Church causes laborers from more than forty nearby districts to exhume their relatives' coffins. Every coffin is found empty, bringing tens of thousands of people to the cemetery and raising fears of a riot 28.

Exposure of the Church Murders

The investigation into Wang Xiaole's death exposes Nanny Cheng as the perpetrator of Yuguang's torture-murders. The ensuing events reveal Bishop Twilight's corpse theft, organ experimentation, and monstrous body modifications 34 35 37.

Battle at the Twilight Church

Li Wei and Feng Zi battle and kill Bishop Twilight after Feng Zi identifies the Bishop's original heart beneath the right armpit of his first right-side arm 36 38. The Church is left in ruins, while the authorities alter the public account of the event to protect its reputation 39 40.

Debt-Recovery Agreement

Li Wei agrees to recover the unpaid trafficking debts held by the Labor Union. The final agreement grants him 70% of recovered funds and reserves 30% for the Union to support widows and orphans 42 43.

Notable Locations

• Twilight Church — A religious institution with a choir, public library, clergy quarters, and a cemetery behind its grounds 27 28.
• Cemetery Hill — The site of the Empty Grave Incident and the discovery that Yuguang's buried bodies had been removed 28.
• Station 76 — A Yuguang supply depot where Li Ming arranges Li Wei and Feng Zi's covert passage to Yaoguang 43.
• Barrier Field District — An industrial labor area whose workers return to Yuguang by train 28.
• Border Market — A black market community associated with undocumented residents and led by Feng Yanyi 14 15.