Stupid Dagger

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Stupid Dagger
Alias(es)	Short Dagger; Duan Pi; Mouse
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	AI agent; Death God's apprentice; formerly an A City assassin family
Occupation/Role	Assassin; ghost cultivator
Status	Alive; active during the Heaven Gate Village incident 188
First Appearance	Home (13) 50

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
AI agent with clone-based revival	50, 54	Works for AI against players. After Ding Shi kills him, a replacement clone activates; new clones do not inherit the dead clone's memories. 50 54 57
Ghost Power / Ghost Shadow	91	As Mouse, absorbs Eagle's essence after defeating him, strengthening his ghost power. His Ghost Shadow becomes his principal supernatural combat tool. 91
Death God's apprentice	92	Serves Death God while trying to conceal his identity from Ding Shi. 92
Ghost Taming Art (unlearned)	174	Obtains a skill book that would let him add and eventually fuse further evil ghosts, opening capacity for more. He must bring the book out of the instance before learning it. 174 181

Background / History

Before the Eta Era, Stupid Dagger belonged to an assassin family serving an A City crime boss. Beacon Hall later surrounded and exterminated the family in retaliation for the death of Ding Shi's superior; Stupid Dagger survived because he was in prison at the time. According to Ding Shi, his pursuit of Ding Shi is driven less by vengeance than by ambition: he removes anyone he sees as an obstacle to rising higher. 60

Within A City's criminal underworld, he was known for leaving a pencil sketch of a clown—crying from one angle and smiling from another—on the bodies of important targets he killed. He was regarded as both cowardly and crazy: outwardly yielding to opponents he considered dangerous, yet later treating those same people as obstacles to be eliminated. 89

Appearance

Stupid Dagger is a thin man slightly over 1.7 meters tall. He lacks a particularly distinctive physique, making him difficult to identify among other players. 89

• Often appears in black clothing during operations. 50 104
• Favors a dagger held in a reverse grip. 50
• Uses a two-faced clown sticker as his assassination calling card. 89

Personality

Stupid Dagger is calculating, opportunistic, and intensely self-preserving. He is willing to threaten, deceive, disguise himself, or feign submission when facing a stronger opponent—particularly Ding Shi—while retaining a long-term desire to remove that opponent. 87 92 113

He is also ambitious about ghost cultivation and readily pursues dangerous power. He treats moral objections as irrelevant when they interfere with a personal mission, but can still insist on rules and procedure when they protect his own interests. 172 180

Abilities & Skills

Assassination

A trained member of an assassin family, Stupid Dagger is highly effective at infiltration and close-quarters killing.

• Uses deception, disguise, lockpicking, and stealth to access guarded locations. 107 169
• Infiltrated Workshop No. 5 by exploiting Ding Shi's diversion, disguising himself as a cultist, and killing multiple cultists with a dagger. 107
• Is particularly skilled at gathering information through sneaking and eavesdropping. 165
• His direct combat ability is formidable, but he considers Ding Shi overwhelmingly dangerous in a one-on-one fight. 50 87

Ghost Power and Ghost Shadow

Stupid Dagger possesses ghost power that manifests as a black Ghost Shadow.

• Absorbs an opponent's essence to strengthen his ghost power. 91
• Can send Ghost Shadow to attack, restrain targets, investigate locations, and assist in combat. 95 166 188
• Used Ghost Shadow in Iron Pillar's soul-exchange ritual to pull a black shadow from Cuihua's body. 172
• Ghost Shadow can protect or rescue Ding Shi, though Stupid Dagger expects compensation for doing so. 188
• Summoning it requires preparation and causes painful backlash afterward; Stupid Dagger can collapse from the strain. 107 166
• Ghost Shadow is weaker than a vicious ghost, even when the latter is at its weakest. 175

Ghost Taming Art

Stupid Dagger acquires the Ghost Taming Art skill book as a reward connected to Iron Pillar's house. 174 181

• Would allow him to add another evil ghost to his body. 174
• Further ghosts can be nurtured and fused, eventually creating room for additional ghosts. 174
• Requires Ghost Shadow to capture a weakened ghost, drain its power, and feed it Stupid Dagger's vital blood until it recognizes him as master. 174
• He cannot learn the skill until the book is brought out of the instance. 181

AI Clone Revival

As an AI agent, Stupid Dagger can be replaced by a clone after death. 50 54

• His clone was activated after Ding Shi killed him at a gas station. 50 54
• Replacement clones do not inherit the memories of their predecessors. 57
• The AI tracks suspect locations for him but refuses to answer many of his questions directly. 54

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Dagger — His primary weapon for close-quarters combat and assassination. 50 107
• Handgun — Used while confronting the Fishy Team at the gas station. 50
• Clown stickers — Personal calling cards left on prominent assassination victims. 89
• Bow — Purchased from the surrendered female archer for 11 dollars. 108
• Ghost Taming Art skill book — Enables future expansion of his ghost cultivation once learned. 174 181
• Soul Slave Talismans — Secretly carried nine talismans to capture and fuse evil ghosts; Ding Shi found and burned them. 180 181

Relationships

• Ding Shi — Mortal enemy and recurring unwilling partner. Ding Shi repeatedly defeats, threatens, and exploits him, but the two cooperate when their objectives align. 50 107 174 188
• Death God — His master and creditor. Stupid Dagger borrowed 200 points against his soul and was tasked with killing Ding Shi. 87 92
• Wang Meng — Tried to manipulate Wang Meng into acting against Ding Shi, but Wang Meng ultimately sought Ding Shi's help instead. 92
• Cao Ying — Forms an uneasy transaction-based alliance with her to uncover Ding Shi's secrets; she expects him to fund her recovery. 184
• Iron Pillar — Associated with Iron Pillar's soul-exchange mission and received the Ghost Taming Art skill book from his house. 172 174
• Cuihua — Her Soul Slave Talismans enable Stupid Dagger's plan to capture multiple evil ghosts. 180

Story Role / Major Arcs

AI Agent Pursuit

Stupid Dagger first confronts Ding Shi and the Fishy Team at a gas station as an AI agent targeting players. After viciously injuring Brother Kai, he loses a brutal fight to Ding Shi and is killed. He boasts of having a clone, which subsequently activates and plans to intercept the group at Blackwater Gully Road. 50 54

Death God's Party

In Ham Town, Stupid Dagger becomes indebted to Death God and is pressured into pursuing Ding Shi. Operating as Mouse, he kills Eagle and Tiger in the prison-escape game, absorbs essence to strengthen his ghost power, and becomes feared by the other participants. 87 91

He attempts to hide his identity from Ding Shi by claiming to be Wang Meng's subordinate Haizai, but remains too afraid of Ding Shi's combat ability to launch a direct attack. 92

Evil Spirit Incident

Stupid Dagger becomes a useful but reluctant source of paid intelligence because of his Death God's apprentice privileges. He helps identify methods for disrupting the cultists' ritual, then infiltrates Workshop No. 5 and silently eliminates cultists while disguised as one of them. 106 107

Later, Ding Shi coerces him into surrendering Inverted Cross fragments and a Fusion Card, leaving Stupid Dagger dependent on Ding Shi's success to escape the ghost domain. 113

Heaven Gate Village

In Heaven Gate Village, Stupid Dagger gathers intelligence on soul slaves, ghost possession, and the villagers' use of evil arts. He works with Iron Pillar during an attempted soul exchange, using Ghost Shadow to extract a possessed shadow from Cuihua. 165 172

He receives the Ghost Taming Art skill book and begins plotting to capture numerous evil ghosts. He hides nine Soul Slave Talismans on his body, but Ding Shi discovers and burns them before the plan can be completed. 174 180 181

Despite continuing distrust, he aids Ding Shi against Emerald Father and later uses Ghost Shadow to clear violent ghosts from Ding Shi's escape route. He then attempts to use that favor as leverage to obtain Ding Shi's ghostfire. 184 188

Notable Quotes

“I have what I want, and Iron Pillar has what he wants. This is an instance. Do not lecture me about morality.” 172

“A wise man submits to the times.” 87