Gu Heng

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Gu Heng (顾衡)
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Class D
Occupation / Role	Class D strategist and internal coordinator; later confirmed as its final-stage leader, then formally serves as a source, schedule, and rule-compliance reviewer and is identified as an “Assessment and Proposal Recorder.” 21 72 74 176 182
First Appearance	Chapter 1: 100,000 Points

Power Progression

Stage	Development	Chapters
Initial manifestation	Gu Heng perceives translucent numerical labels reflecting a target's current traits, motivations, and emotional pressures, such as Horikita's Pride and Desire for Verification.	1 2
Early social assessment	He begins using the display to identify concealed intentions behind social behavior, including Kushida's Testing, Maintaining Persona, and Eliminate Threats values.	3 4 16
Tactical interpretation	He applies the display during inter-class probing to distinguish immediate purposes—such as fishing for Class D's positions or provoking Sudou's boastfulness—from the identities of those directing the operation.	26
Focused observation	By locking onto an individual target, he can perceive narrower labels such as Karuizawa's Secrecy and Dependence. Prolonging the observation causes physical discomfort and still does not identify the target or cause of a displayed trait.	88 92
Contextual restraint	Gu Heng treats the display as a guide to what he should or should not investigate rather than proof of hidden facts; Ayanokoji's Secrecy, Old Covenant, and Protected Subject labels do not establish whom he is protecting or what he has done.	100
Pressure assessment	During the public explanation period, the display identifies Ryuuen's immediate pressure tactics as Force Out and Lock On, helping Gu Heng recognize that Ryuuen is trying to turn him into Class D's single public point of failure.	176

Personality

Gu Heng is pragmatic, blunt, and intensely results-oriented. He assesses classmates according to the risks they pose, the influence they hold, and the role they can fill; he considers tact inefficient when directness will suffice. His default approach is to anticipate worst-case outcomes rather than rely on goodwill or appearances. 2 4 5

Although he describes relationships in transactional terms, he does not view utility and personhood as mutually exclusive. His effort to protect Sudou is calculated around creating loyalty and restoring a classmate who would otherwise be abandoned, rather than simply exploiting Sudou's physical ability. 6

He initially seeks to control Class D's direction through planning and information, but learns that carrying every decision himself makes him the focal point of blame. During the island exam, he begins delegating authority and accepts that the class must function without waiting for his instructions. 37 38 41

Gu Heng is capable of admitting fault when his calculations harm the class. After wrongly treating Yamauchi as a means to recover a lost point, he accepts responsibility, spends his own points to address the resulting supply shortage, and agrees to oversight by Horikita, Hirata, and Yukimura. 54

Later events make him increasingly cautious about imposing conclusions on others. While he continues to control Class D's information boundaries, he distinguishes verified facts from speculation and recognizes that he cannot decide what Karuizawa should say or whom she should trust. 85 93 98

During the Sports Festival preparations and public inquiry period, Gu Heng increasingly applies his standards of personal confirmation to himself. He accepts responsibility for proposals he originated and actions already carried out, but refuses to claim responsibility for unadopted plans or decisions made without an individual's consent. 176 177

He gradually relinquishes the authority to make Class D's decisions unilaterally. After refusing sole submission authority, he accepts a reviewer role in which he can identify contradictions, assess consequences, and offer recommendations, but cannot revise records or submit plans directly. 181 182

Gu Heng still gravitates toward statistically optimal solutions, but learns that optimization does not override stated limits. When Horikita rejects plans that would overload Sudou, he records them as unadopted proposals and accepts that a recommendation is not an order. 186 187

Abilities & Skills

Translucent Assessment Display

Gu Heng can perceive brief labels and numerical values associated with other students' motives, traits, and emotional states.

• He observes values such as Horikita's Pride, Hirata's Responsibility, and Kushida's Eliminate Threats. 2 4 6
• The display helps him identify immediate intentions, including Class C's attempt to provoke Sudou and extract Class D's positions. 26 34
• The labels indicate apparent motives rather than complete answers; they do not identify the person directing an operation or replace evidence. 26
• He refuses to treat suspicious signs as proof, warning that an unfounded accusation could fracture Class D. 61
• He can focus the display on an individual, revealing more specific labels such as Karuizawa's Secrecy, Dependence, Control the Situation, and Cut off Questioning. 88 92
• Focused observation has limits: it causes him physical discomfort, does not reveal the target of a relationship label, and cannot prove the reason behind a person's actions. 88 100
• When observing Ayanokoji, he sees Secrecy, Old Covenant, and Protected Subject 94, but deliberately treats these as evidence of current pressure rather than proof of Ayanokoji's involvement in a specific scheme. 100
• He identifies Ryuuen's public pressure as Force Out and Lock On, recognizing an attempt to make him the sole target of scrutiny rather than treating the labels as proof of Ryuuen's full plan. 176

Risk Assessment and Information Analysis

Gu Heng rapidly identifies structural weaknesses, rumor patterns, and exploitable incentives.

• He predicts that Class D's initial 100,000-point allowance is a test and that reckless spending will result in a zero-point month. 1 2
• He prioritizes Sudou, Hirata, and Kushida as Class D's most consequential early variables. 3
• During Sudou's disciplinary crisis, he tracks the sequence of rumors, surveillance possibilities, duty records, and inconsistencies in Class C's narrative. 11 13 14
• He builds reporting systems that separate confirmed facts, timing, prompts, and abnormal contact from speculation. 85
• During the Rabbit Group investigation, he separates anonymous messages, cross-group citations, and Class D's shared page into distinct information layers, preventing unverified claims from becoming class conclusions. 98 100
• He investigates page versions, timestamps, permissions, and annotation layers after the answer window closes, preserving evidence even when Class D cannot immediately determine the meaning behind it. 104 106
• He freezes a false Rabbit Group record rather than deleting it, preserving the record for accountability while avoiding a premature conclusion about its origin. 97
• He establishes that behavior must be assessed before interpretations of motive, treating versions, anonymous claims, and verbal intentions as distinct from confirmed actions. 112 182
• He separates Ayanokoji's unverified Class C matchup chart into verified, unknown, and unconfirmed portions rather than accepting or discarding the entire document. 188

Strategy and Operations

Gu Heng specializes in converting broad goals into divisions of labor, contingencies, and tactical plans.

• He establishes Class D's early leadership structure: Horikita as the visible representative, himself as internal coordinator, and Hirata as the bridge to the wider class. 21
• When the island-exam refresh schedule changes, he discards the prior plan and restructures it around separate daytime and evening operations. 32
• He leads Class D's first zone capture by using Sudou and Ike as a visible decoy while the real team approaches by a shaded route. 34
• He creates substitute chains so that the loss or exposure of one leader does not collapse the entire operation. 68 69
• He uses compartmentalized instructions and genuine tasks to create a misleading impression for outside observers. 63
• At the start of the second phase, he divides responsibility between visible-leader protection, supply verification, and operational status rather than allowing any line to rely on him alone. 43
• Following the stronghold confirmation failure, he accepts formal accountability rules that prevent his strategic authority from going unchecked. 54
• Using Class A's observation record of Class C's movements, he proposes relocating Class D's public base without changing its other submitted information. 77 78
• During later event preparations, he divides Class D's work among event confirmation, training coordination, and external communication while remaining responsible for ensuring that the system functions. 120 121
• He protects confirmed training windows while allowing adaptable physical-capacity scheduling, moving Class D's fitness window in response to Class C without surrendering its logistics window or allowing Ryuuen to dictate its rhythm. 123 124
• He develops record fields for repeatability, personal confirmation, handover impact, and worst possible consequences, making the conditions and risks of each recommendation reviewable. 124 186
• After relinquishing submission authority, he operates as a procedural reviewer: he checks sources, schedules, contradictions, and rule compliance without altering records or imposing an implementation. 181 182
• He provides Sudou with the possible consequences of Class C's ultimatum without choosing for him, then helps Class D make a limited relay-handoff adjustment rather than a disruptive lineup change. 187
• He uses incomplete intelligence defensively, allowing Horikita's field judgment to prevent Class C from exploiting the relay exchange line despite Class D's eventual fourth-place finish. 188

Negotiation and Information Control

Gu Heng treats information as an asset that must be exchanged for verifiable value.

• He trades assessments and assistance for Hirata's records of Class D's relationships, volatility, and spending habits. 5 6
• He uses Kushida to trace the origin and spread of rumors surrounding Sudou while openly acknowledging that she is both an informant and a test subject. 12 16
• He refuses to provide Class A with information for free, demanding route preferences and a verifiable supply-window assessment in return. 36
• He later negotiates further with Hashimoto for Class C intelligence in exchange for Class D's short-term strategic tendencies. 39
• When Hashimoto offers Class A's observation record during the final phase, Gu Heng rejects both of Hashimoto's initial terms and instead trades mixed intelligence about Class C's leader guess. 77
• He restricts outside references to Class D's shared page to read-only access and keeps sensitive observations in personal records until they can be verified. 88 93
• He records only provable actions—such as delivery times, page views, and submission attempts—rather than presenting anonymous claims as facts. 94 100
• He recognizes that records can themselves become coercive pressure, leading him to preserve permission changes and withdrawal times without converting them into a public accusation. 102 106
• He supports exchange rules requiring both parties to use their own accounts, supply only verifiable times and figures, and retain the right to withdraw before delivery. 114
• He publicly opens his own actions to scrutiny through Class D's Public Ledger, listing his proposals, refusals, judgments, incomplete confirmations, timestamps, and responsible executors. 176
• He distinguishes an adopted decision from an unadopted recommendation, preserving rejected proposals and uncertain anonymous material for comparison without turning either into an accusation or command. 182 186
• He refuses to manufacture credibility for Ayanokoji's partial intelligence, allowing continued cooperation only if the source, scope, and reliability of future information remain traceable. 188

Relationships

• Suzune Horikita — Co-leader and frequent ideological opponent. Gu Heng chooses her as Class D's public face while handling planning, resources, and negotiations behind the scenes; they later formalize separate public-representative and final-stage-leader roles. 1 21 22 72 During the second phase, Horikita also gains authority to hold Gu Heng accountable for decisions that harm the class, and later independently represents Class D in public negotiations after his final-leader role is guessed. 54 73 74 Their later arrangement becomes more explicitly equal: Horikita serves as Class D's independent official submitter, while Gu Heng reviews evidence and procedure without submission power. She can reject his recommendations, particularly where they exceed a classmate's stated consent. 176 181 182 186
• Yousuke Hirata — Strategic ally and Class D's stabilizing intermediary. Their first deal pairs Hirata's influence over class morale with Gu Heng's handling of Sudou; Hirata later gains independent authority over morale and physical limits. 5 6 23 37 Hirata also establishes conditions requiring Gu Heng to disclose the bottom line and human cost of large-scale pushes, making him an active restraint on Gu Heng rather than a mere messenger. 23 54 In Class D's later procedural system, Hirata confirms personal reviews and records distinctions between individual, class, proposal, and implementation responsibility, while refusing authority to decide for others. 176 181 182 188
• Ken Sudou — A volatile classmate whom Gu Heng identifies as both a high-priority risk and a valuable asset. Gu Heng protects him during the disciplinary dispute and gradually channels his aggression into disciplined tactical use. 5 6 10 34 Sudou later serves as a rear guard, decoy, temporary training coordinator, and reliable responder to provocation without automatically escalating to violence. 38 43 121 During the Sports Festival, Gu Heng shifts from directing Sudou's use to presenting him with confirmed risks and options; Sudou independently sets workload limits, rejects Class C's demand to be labeled Class D's sole fighter, and personally confirms his participation. 186 187
• Kiyotaka Ayanokoji — Wary collaborator. Ayanokoji probes Gu Heng's unusual foresight, temporarily agrees not to undermine him over Sudou's case, and later supports his decision to investigate an anonymous summons alone. 13 25 75 76 Their relationship remains guarded during the Rabbit Group investigation, as Ayanokoji warns Gu Heng not to approach Karuizawa and later refuses to explain the meanings behind his own displayed labels. 97 100 Ayanokoji later gives Gu Heng partial, unverified intelligence on Class C's relay matchup; Gu Heng accepts it only as a lead and establishes that further cooperation requires clear limits on what Ayanokoji actually knows. 181 188
• Kikyo Kushida — Transactional information partner whom Gu Heng distrusts. He recognizes her social reach and hidden hostility, using her access to gather leads while refusing to treat her as wholly reliable. 4 12 16 During the later ship investigation, he permits her access only to Class D's outer-layer reports and continues to require source attribution before accepting her information. 85 87 98 As Class D strengthens its confirmation rules, Kushida loses her Class B channel and later provides an unsigned warning about Gu Heng; he records its delivery but refuses to attribute authorship or allow it into the official plan without evidence. 114 181 182
• Kei Karuizawa — A Class D classmate whose anomalous private-page activity becomes relevant to the Rabbit and Snake Group investigations. Gu Heng observes her cautiously but declines to publicize unverified labels or decide her responses for her, instead protecting Class D's shared information boundary. 88 93 98 She later asserts her independence in the Sports Festival preparations by volunteering for a substitute role and continues to be treated as an individual whose permissions and participation require personal confirmation. 121 124
• Kakeru Ryuuen — Rival from Class C who identifies Gu Heng as “Class D's new brain” and repeatedly seeks to expose or isolate him. 15 39 73 Ryuuen continues challenging Gu Heng and Class D's internal structure during later event preparations, attempting to provoke Sudou and force Class D into a public response. 121 During the public inquiry and Sports Festival, he tries to make Gu Heng the class's sole accountable authority, then exploits the gap between Gu Heng's proposals and Horikita's independent power to reject them. 176 177 186 188
• Hashimoto — Class A negotiator and recurring information-trading counterpart. Their exchanges are based on mutually verifiable terms rather than trust. 35 36 39 Hashimoto later meets Gu Heng at the observation point, trades Class C's movement record for mixed leader-guess intelligence, and tests whether Horikita will surrender her public authority after Gu Heng is correctly guessed. 77 74
• Arisu Sakayanagi — Class A observer who takes an interest in Gu Heng's potential and later credits his contingency planning for Class D's stability. 28 70 Through Hashimoto, she continues to assess whether Gu Heng can withstand the attention he has drawn away from Ayanokoji. 70 77 She later questions whether his exclusion from Class D's representative column is protection or strategic positioning and observes Horikita's growing capacity to reject him. 176 182
• Honami Ichinose — A strategic foil whose more empathetic outlook clashes with Gu Heng's willingness to provoke Class C and spend Sudou's stamina for Class D's long-term position. 34 35 During the ship investigation, she also challenges his tendency to prioritize risk control over the answers and reassurance others seek. 93 94 She later highlights the emotional cost of Gu Heng's blunt refusal to claim premature victory, while Gu Heng protects her right to refuse disclosure of Class B's source information. 177 184
• Kakeru Yukimura — A logistical and analytical support figure. Gu Heng places him in Class D's substitute relay chain, trusts him with supply-related responsibilities, and later accepts him as one of the students overseeing Gu Heng's accountability rules. 68 85 54

Story Role

Class D's Early Reorganization

On his first day, Gu Heng warns Horikita that Class D's point allowance is a trap and proposes an information exchange rather than trust. After the class's points are reset, his prediction gives his assessments greater weight. 1 2 7

He then focuses on Sudou's instability, Hirata's ability to calm the class, and Kushida's social influence. His first alliance with Hirata establishes a system of tracking favors, volatile students, and potential fault lines in Class D. 3 5 6

Sudou's Disciplinary Crisis

When Class C's conflict with Sudou becomes a rumor campaign, Gu Heng gathers accounts, tests reactions through Kushida, and challenges the opposing narrative in a face-to-face meeting. The incident is provisionally classified as a mutual conflict rather than one-sided violence. 11 12 14

His role in the reversal draws Ryuuen's attention, placing Gu Heng on Class C's list of threats. 14 15

Establishing Class D's Leadership Structure

Before the uninhabited-island exam, Gu Heng argues that Class D needs a recognized public leader and divides responsibilities among Horikita, Hirata, and himself. Horikita accepts the arrangement while retaining the right to challenge his decisions. 21 22

As the island exam progresses, Gu Heng becomes increasingly visible as Class D's operational leader. After the strain of pushing the class too hard, he delegates morale to Hirata and discipline to Horikita, allowing the class to operate with greater independence. 33 37 38 40

Island Exam and Final Phase

Gu Heng leads Class D's successful first-zone capture through deception, route selection, and restraint rather than direct confrontation. He subsequently negotiates with Class A, manages Class C's attempts to bait the class, and develops replacement lines to prevent Ryuuen from breaking Class D by targeting individual leaders. 34 36 39 68 69

For the final phase, he registers himself as Class D's hidden final-stage leader while Horikita remains the publicly confirmed representative. When Class C suspects his role, Class D maintains the separation rather than allowing Gu Heng to take over the public stage. 72 73 74

After receiving an anonymous invitation, Gu Heng meets Hashimoto at an observation point and trades mixed intelligence for Class A's record of Class C's movements. He uses that record to propose a change to Class D's public base, while leaving Horikita to weigh and submit the public decision. 75 76 77 78

Second-Phase Failure and Accountability

At the beginning of the island exam's second phase, Gu Heng tests how Class D's movements affect its risk prompt by splitting the class into multiple groups. The experiment produces immediate danger when three students disappear at a fork, reinforcing the need for distributed responsibility. 43

Later, his suspicion of Yamauchi contributes to a stronghold confirmation timeout and a class-point deduction. Gu Heng openly acknowledges that he prioritized the result over the person, covers the resulting supply shortage with his own points, and accepts an accountability system supervised by Horikita, Hirata, and Yukimura. 54

Rabbit Group and Ship Investigation

During the Rabbit Group examination, Gu Heng classifies participants by whether they are tradable, misleadable, or untouchable, then develops a reporting system for anonymous messages, early submissions, and abnormal contact. 82 85

As anonymous claims increasingly involve Karuizawa, Kushida, Hayakawa, and the privileged-person question, he refuses to force a conclusion from incomplete evidence. He separates anonymous channels from cross-group citations and verified Class D records, keeping sensitive observations private when disclosure would create unsupported suspicion. 88 93 98 100

After the answer window closes, Gu Heng focuses on page revisions, timestamps, permission changes, and public annotations rather than opening his personal result. Although the investigation ends with the message that he investigated the wrong thing, he preserves the evidence and continues tracing the actions that anonymous messages were meant to guide. 99 104 106

Later Event Preparations

Following the archive of the prior examination, Gu Heng helps Class D prepare for a new event by dividing responsibilities between Horikita, Sudou, and Hirata rather than placing himself at the center of every task. 120

When Ryuuen and Ishizaki provoke Class D during its initial training preparations, Gu Heng keeps Sudou focused on the registration form and official rules, preventing Class C from determining Class D's response through provocation alone. 121

When Class C occupies space near Class D's preparation area, Gu Heng protects personally confirmed schedules first. He permits changes to Class D's fitness window but preserves its logistics window, records the movement, and refuses to let Class C characterize the adjustment as its result. 123

He then helps formalize Class D's first-round preparation around repeatability, personal confirmation, and handover impact. Rather than pursue the fastest initial group, he supports a sustainable second group and makes Class D's self-managed windows public without naming participants or disclosing internal reasoning. 124 125

Public Inquiry and Procedural Reform

When the school requires public explanations for Exchange Privileges, Gu Heng presents three distribution models and favors project-by-project confirmation over concentrated authority. Ryuuen attacks the approach as an attempt to evade blame, prompting Gu Heng to publish his own proposals, refusals, judgments, and incomplete confirmations in Class D's Public Ledger. 176

Gu Heng then publicly explains that unused privileges remain unassigned because no individual has explicitly accepted their consequences. He accepts responsibility for the origin and judgment of carried-out proposals, while refusing to claim responsibility in advance for actions that were never adopted. 177

When asked to identify Class D's most exploitable member, he instead identifies its tendency to convert individual choices into supposedly unanimous collective answers. This argument helps establish Class D's rules for using its Grade-Wide Public Inquiry Authority: proposed questions, protected information, confirmation, and responsibility must all be recorded separately. 177

Reviewer Role and Sports Festival Authority

Gu Heng deliberately skips Class D's first proposal meeting and instructs Horikita not to wait for his explanation without personal confirmation. The class completes an initial review without him, after which he refuses sole submission authority and elects to serve as a reviewer instead. 181

Horikita becomes Class D's official representative under a two-tier system: she submits plans and makes final decisions, Gu Heng reviews sources, schedules, and rule compliance, and Hirata confirms personal reviews. Gu Heng identifies errors and timing contradictions but no longer changes records or submits plans himself. 182

When Gu Heng proposes overloading Sudou for the best projected Strength Event result, Horikita rejects the recommendation because it violates Sudou's confirmed limits. Gu Heng accepts the decision, records the recommendation as unadopted, and agrees that all future recommendations must state their worst possible consequence. 186

During Class C's subsequent ultimatum to Sudou, Gu Heng explains the consequences without deciding for him. After Sudou independently rejects being framed as Class D's sole fighter, Gu Heng helps identify Ryuuen's attempt to exploit a dramatic lineup change and supports Horikita's limited relay-handoff adjustment. 187

Before the relay, he accepts Ayanokoji's matchup chart only as unverified intelligence. Although the chart accurately predicts Class C's first-leg pressure on Sudou, its omission of the second-leg trap prevents Class D from turning the intelligence into a win; Gu Heng nonetheless preserves the chart's verified and unknown portions as separate records. 188

Notable Quotes

“I want to win. But I can't win on my own.” 5

“A tool and a person aren't mutually exclusive.” 6

“If you account for the worst first, then when things really do go bad, you won't need to pretend to be surprised at the last minute.” 4

“First, let them know what they can ask for, and what they can't take for free.” 36

“To decide what I shouldn't ask.” 100

“The form needs someone watching it.” 120

“Losing would still be Class D's result. But people who never agreed cannot be written down as losers.” 176

“A choice that was not carried out cannot be written in advance as my responsibility.” 177

“You can propose the optimal solution, but you can't write the optimal solution as something that must be carried out.” 186

Trivia

• Gu Heng's early priority list for Class D consists of Sudou, Hirata, and Kushida. 3
• He repeatedly describes alliances, favors, and information exchanges as “deals” or transactions. 5 6 16
• Hirata and Ayanokoji both compare Gu Heng's foresight to someone who has already experienced the situation before, though Gu Heng does not explain its source. 6 13
• Gu Heng distinguishes between a public representative and a final-stage leader, regarding the separation as a functional boundary rather than an attempt to hide behind Horikita. 72
• He maintains separate personal, shared, anonymous, and cross-group information records when investigating the Rabbit Group incident. 98 100
• He freezes questionable records rather than automatically deleting them, preferring to preserve potentially relevant evidence for later verification. 97
• Gu Heng's public role during the Exchange Privilege explanation is formally recorded as “Assessment and Proposal Recorder,” rather than Class D's representative or sole decision-maker. 176 182
• After Horikita's rejection of his Strength Event recommendation, Class D's review system requires every future recommendation to state its worst possible consequence. 186