Zhou Tai

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhou Tai (周泰)
Alias(es)	Aberrant Insect; numbered personalities/identities, including First through Eighth and the later-claimed Number Nine 32 43
Species/Race	Originally human; later a collective of Zhou Tai’s personalities operating through Aberrant Insects, Neural Worms, and other living hosts 8 28
Gender	Male in his original identity; has used hosts of different sexes and species 8 9 28
Affiliation	Aberrant Insects; the Ancient Sages Society through Number Two’s alliance with Plato 25 38
Occupation/Role	Former psychiatric patient; leader and strategic threat among the Aberrant Insects 8 25
Status	Unknown. Number Two escaped with Plato, while several other incarnations were killed or captured during the Gold Nugget Mountain operation 38 42 46
First Appearance	Chapter 8

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Networked Aberrant Insect possession	8	After an Aberrant Insect replaced Zhou Tai’s primary personality, his alternate personalities infected and suppressed the parasite’s consciousness, gaining access to the insects’ shared network.
Zhu Yan bloodline awakening in a white-ape host	29	Zhou Tai amplified the host’s rage and killing intent to force a deep Zhu Yan awakening, greatly increasing its heat, speed, strength, and heartbeat-based “war drum” effect.
Dragon-Level threat classification	32	His assessment was raised from Snake Rank to Dragon Level after authorities confirmed that his personalities could switch hosts and activate the bloodline potential of supernatural creatures.
Blood of the Death Curse transformations	38	Most of the personalities accepted Plato’s cursed blood, obtaining distinct demonic forms and powers for one day.

Background / History

Cangshan Psychiatric Hospital

Zhou Tai was held at Cangshan Psychiatric Hospital as its most dangerous patient. His primary personality was considered relatively normal, but the hospital had documented eight other identities with violent and aberrant compulsions; restraint straps normally limited his movement almost constantly 8 32.

During the Silver City outbreak, an Aberrant Insect replaced Zhou Tai’s primary personality. Instead of being fully consumed, Zhou Tai’s remaining personalities invaded the parasite’s consciousness and suppressed it. They then spread through the Aberrant Insects’ collective consciousness network, allowing them to hide in, command, or seize the bodies of other insects 8.

Zhou Tai confronted hospital director Chen Qingsong, displayed tentacles emerging from his face, and insisted that he was still human. Chen died from terror shortly afterward 8.

Main Body and Numbered Identities

The personalities were initially recorded as First through Eighth. Number Two later occupied Zhou Tai’s original body, which the personalities treated as their main body: if it died, all of them would die as well 32 37.

The numbering became unreliable during the Gold Nugget Mountain operation. An incarnation initially treated as Number Three later claimed to be Number Nine, while identifying another entity as the “real” Number Three 43.

Appearance

Zhou Tai has no fixed appearance because he can operate different hosts.

• Original body — a thin man in a hospital gown during the Cangshan Psychiatric Hospital outbreak 8.
• Human hosts — used a tall woman in business attire while fighting Yu Xian at Silver City No. 3 Middle School 9 10.
• Aberrant Insect form — tentacles can erupt through a host’s skin, reshape the body, and imitate limbs or nerves 8 10.
• White-ape host — controlled a captured giant white ape through a Brain-Hugging Neural Worm; its Zhu Yan awakening gave it crimson markings, extreme heat, and enlarged red limbs 28 29.
• Cursed forms — the Blood of the Death Curse produced varied demonic bodies, including a horned, scaled war general, a bone-bladed brute, a spider-like creature, and an invisible tail-bearing assassin 38 40 42.

Personality

Zhou Tai’s behavior depends heavily on which personality is controlling a host. The identities share survival instincts and access to the Aberrant Insect network, but their motives, methods, and temperaments differ sharply 8 32.

Identity	Known traits
First	Zhou Tai’s primary personality; described as a comparatively good person before being replaced by an Aberrant Insect 32.
Second	Taciturn and calculating; collects fingers. He chose to ally with Plato rather than be hunted or experimented on 32 38.
Third	Recorded as talkative, playful, emotionally unstable, and domineering; dreamed of ruling the world and used a white ape to pursue greater power 28 32.
Fourth	A gloomy “skinning artist” obsessed with beautiful human skin 32 42.
Fifth	A homicidal, self-harming maniac who is difficult to communicate with but follows the others’ orders 32 40.
Sixth	Initially undocumented in detail; later used advanced invisibility and a poisoned tail to ambush targets 32 42.
Seventh	Initially undocumented in detail; later reported killed by Lion Light 32 42.
Eighth	Initially undocumented in detail; later displayed deception-focused behavior and a loudspeaker-like mouth 32 43.
Number Nine	Claimed the Number Three identity during the operation. Overbearing and ambitious, he used demon summoning and sacrificed another identity to summon Deimos 43.

Abilities & Skills

Collective Consciousness Possession

Zhou Tai’s personalities behave like a contagion within the Aberrant Insects’ shared consciousness network.

• Can move between Aberrant Insect bodies, hide within the network, and issue commands to infected creatures 8.
• Can switch hosts, making the destruction of one body insufficient to kill the collective 32.
• The personalities’ crucial vulnerability is their main body: destroying it would kill all of them 37.
• Number Two’s original-body host was concealed from Huaxia’s tracking methods through Plato’s golden lotus substitute 38.

Aberrant Insect Physiology

When inhabiting an Aberrant Insect host, Zhou Tai exploits its body more completely than ordinary parasites.

• Ignores a host body’s instinctive safety limits, allowing it to use its full physical strength despite self-damage 9.
• Caught and returned Nora’s bullets, explaining that ordinary Aberrant Insects are slowed by ingrained human habits rather than lack of reaction speed 9.
• Deforms hosts into tentacle masses to evade attacks, squeeze through narrow gaps, and rapidly reform 10.
• Uses tentacles to imitate flesh and nerves, including controlling Yu Xian’s severed arm as a weapon 10.

Neural Worm Host Control

Zhou Tai can use the Brain-Hugging Neural Worm to control living creatures without hollowing out their bodies.

• The parasite replaces and controls cranial nerves, filtering a host’s senses and turning the victim into a puppet 25.
• Used a Neural Worm to control a living transcendent white ape, rather than an ordinary tentacle-based Aberrant Insect host 28.
• The ape’s corpse confirmed the parasite’s presence after Tang Dali killed it 31.

Bloodline Excavation

Zhou Tai learned to stimulate and develop the bloodlines of supernatural creatures.

• Sacrificed numerous Aberrant Insects to exhaust and parasitize a powerful white ape 25.
• Used rage and killing intent to force the ape’s Zhu Yan bloodline into a deeper awakening 29.
• The awakened host generated immense heat and a heartbeat-based attack capable of fatally rupturing spectators’ hearts 29 30.
• This capacity to create high-level monster hosts was a key reason his threat classification rose to Dragon Level 32 33.

Blood of the Death Curse

Plato supplied the personalities with Blood of the Death Curse before the Gold Nugget Mountain operation.

• Grants temporary demonic strength and a personalized supernatural ability for one day 38.
• Number Five gained a body armored with bone blades and exceptional durability 40.
• Number Four became a spider-like creature with scissor hands and six legs 42.
• Number Six gained near-perfect invisibility that concealed his body, scent, sound, shadow, and tracks 42.
• Number Nine received demon summoning, using a blood array and another personality as a sacrifice to bring Deimos into the human world 43.

Demon Eye

An incarnation operating under the Number Three identity awakened Demon Eye during its cursed transformation.

• Perceives the hidden “truth” or properties of Yu Xian’s Bubbles, allowing it to distinguish hard, elastic, sticky, corrosive, and vibrating variants 41.
• Repurposed Yu Xian’s elastic and sticky Bubbles for movement and approach routes 41.
• Could not account for Yu Xian’s concealed Blood of Silver, which ultimately bound and captured the incarnation 41.

Relationships

• Chen Qingsong — Former hospital director. Zhou Tai revealed his possession to him and frightened him to death 8.
• Yu Xian — Primary enemy. Zhou Tai attacked him at Silver City No. 3 Middle School, later recognized his rapid growth as abnormal, and repeatedly sought to fight him 9 40 41.
• Nora Rex — Enemy. Her gunfire disrupted Zhou Tai’s fight with Yu Xian, leading him to promise that he would kill her 10.
• Aberrant Insects — Hosts, subordinates, and consciousness-network vessels controlled or infiltrated by Zhou Tai’s personalities 8 25.
• Plato — Recruiter and collaborator. Plato accepted Number Two into the Ancient Sages Society, enabled his escape, and armed the remaining personalities with the Blood of the Death Curse 38.
• Tang Dali — Destroyed Zhou Tai’s Zhu Yan white-ape host with a single axe strike 31.
• Jin Dajun — Crushed and killed Number Nine when it attempted to murder the immobilized Monster-Slaying Squad 46.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Silver City Aberrant Insect Incident

Zhou Tai’s possession transformed the Aberrant Insect outbreak from a mass parasitism event into a coordinated crisis. After leaving Cangshan Psychiatric Hospital, he sought out Yu Xian, severed Yu Xian’s arm, and nearly killed him during their fight before retreating with the limb 9 10.

Gold Nugget Mountain and the Silver General Arena

After his school-battle setback, Zhou Tai organized surviving Aberrant Insects at Gold Nugget Mountain and focused on gaining supernatural hosts 25. His strongest white-ape host was captured and displayed at Silver General Arena, where he forced its Zhu Yan bloodline awakening and caused a mass-casualty disaster before Tang Dali destroyed the ape 28 29 31.

The host’s death did not end Zhou Tai. Investigation revealed that his personalities could move between bodies, prompting Qilin to classify him as a Dragon-Level crisis 32.

Qilin Encirclement Operation

As Qilin’s forces surrounded Gold Nugget Mountain, Number Two escaped with Plato and joined the Ancient Sages Society. The remaining personalities accepted the Blood of the Death Curse and attacked Qilin teams across the operation zone 38 40.

• Number Five was defeated and contained by Yu Xian 40.
• The incarnation using the Number Three identity was captured by Yu Xian after being bound with silver threads 41.
• Number Four was killed by Gong Qian, while Number Six was killed by Gan Jiang and Mo Ye 42.
• Number Seven was reported killed by Lion Light 42.
• Number Nine escaped Deimos’s restraint, attempted to massacre the Monster-Slaying Squad, and was killed by Jin Dajun 46.

Notable Quotes

“Of course I’m human!” 8

“Little brother, I’ll come play with you again next time.” 10

Trivia

• Zhou Tai’s medical file documented eight personalities, but the later emergence of Number Nine shows that the original count was incomplete or deliberately obscured 32 43.
• The collective’s greatest weakness was kept secret from Chen Qingsong: all personalities depended on the survival of the original main body 37.
• Yu Xian’s lack of a heartbeat made him immune to the Zhu Yan host’s war-drum ability 30.