Wan Qiu

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Wan Qiu (晚湫)
Alias(es)	Qiu — Gao Ming’s familiar address 35
Gender	Male 33 34
Affiliation	Saint Louis College; later Investigation Team One, Lishan Investigation Office 32 33 36
Occupation/Role	High school student; junior investigator recruited by Gao Ming; central character in Gao Ming’s crime game Born Psychopath 33 34 36
Status	Alive in the current storyline, last shown sheltering with Ghost Mom and her daughters in Sishui Apartments. In Born Psychopath’s underlying laboratory reality, only his preserved brain remains 33 49.
First Appearance	Named at Saint Louis College 32; appears directly during the bullying incident 33

Background / History

*Born Psychopath*

Gao Ming created Wan Qiu for Born Psychopath, a crime game developed during his early work with Nightlight Games. Its apparent protagonist is an abandoned infant with a brain disorder who, under the player’s guidance, becomes an accomplished investigator known as the “Shield of the City.” Corpses and bloodstains subsequently appear around him, and attempts at treatment only worsen the phenomena until he discovers the truth 33.

The playable story is actually a virtual experiment conducted on Wan Qiu’s brain. In the game’s underlying reality, he endured extensive childhood suffering before a psychopathic serial killer adopted him. The killer’s sustained stimulation and cruel training developed his extraordinary mental powers, turning him into Hanhai’s most dangerous supercriminal. He was eventually arrested as technology advanced, and researchers continued studying him 33.

The experiment tests whether Wan Qiu could overcome his childhood and build a different life without meeting the killer. It proves that he could, but cannot restore his freedom: by that point, he exists only as a brain immersed in a special laboratory container 33.

Gao Ming’s Intervention

In the current storyline, Gao Ming finds Wan Qiu being bullied at Saint Louis College. Recognizing the boy from his game, he intervenes both to recruit him and to make amends for the tragedy he designed. Gao Ming believes the Shadow World has imposed Wan Qiu’s original story as a predetermined fate and resolves to change it 33 34.

Unlike the serial killer, Gao Ming refuses to use torture to break through Wan Qiu’s psychological defenses. He considers gentler ways to develop the boy’s abilities, while accepting that an ordinary, safe life would also be a worthwhile outcome 34.

Appearance

• Build: Frail high school boy 34.
• Face and eyes: Good-looking, with notably beautiful eyes that attract Gao Ming’s attention 33 34.
• Usual expression: Vacant or blank, contributing to other people’s mistaken impression that he lacks intelligence 33 34.
• During severe distress: Bloody tears run down his face when he sees possible deaths in Ghost Mom’s apartment 48.

Personality

Wan Qiu’s apparent dullness conceals intelligence greater than that of most people. His childhood suffering has caused him to shut himself off emotionally, leaving him withdrawn, hesitant, and often struggling to speak. When Gao Ming brings him into the city, he stares through the car window as though searching for a home 34 39.

Kindness has an unusually strong effect on him. Ghost Mom’s household gives him his first experience of feeling at home, and he clings to its welcome despite its frightening appearance. He also tells the family his circumstances without lying because he feels guilty about having accepted their care under a misunderstanding 48 49.

He is frightened rather than fearless, but can act despite that fear. He volunteers to return to Sishui Apartments after collapsing there and later approaches Ghost Mom’s kitchen before Xian Xian can collect a dish, even though he anticipates being killed 40 48.

Wan Qiu does not believe in gods or ghosts as protectors. His prayers never brought help when he was bullied; even if a god exists, he feels it is not his god 48.

Abilities & Skills

Supernatural Perception

Wan Qiu can perceive presences and details that others miss.

• Sees the eight massacre victims watching Gao Ming from a photograph in which Gao Ming sees nobody 36.
• Notices eyes inside a doll, a bound child, strangers’ identification cards, blood around a rice cooker, and other suspicious details in Fat Sister-in-Law’s apartment 39.
• Identifies Building A as especially dangerous before entering it 39.
• Gao Ming uses his reactions to inspect Uncle Wu’s talismans, though Wan Qiu shows no response to them 37.

Death Sight

Under intense pressure, phantom images show Wan Qiu different ways he could die 48.

• Foresees being killed in the kitchen, attacked by the sisters, pursued if he runs, or confined if he stays 48.
• Experiences severe distress and bloody tears while receiving these images 48.
• The visions do not make death inevitable: Ghost Mom comforts him instead of carrying out the killing he anticipates 48.

Danger Intuition

Wan Qiu has an extraordinary instinct for approaching threats.

• Senses that danger lies ahead when he becomes separated from his companions 47.
• Receives an urgent warning to leave his hiding place in the corridor and enters Room 506 shortly before the building manager arrives 47.
• Observes the manager through the peephole and discovers a rat’s face beneath its rat mask 47.

Intelligence and Latent Mental Power

• His withdrawn behavior masks unusually high intelligence 34.
• In Born Psychopath’s original history, prolonged stimulation gives him mental powers beyond those of ordinary people 33.
• Gao Ming believes his present potential is restricted by psychological self-defense mechanisms, but rejects the killer’s coercive methods of unlocking it 34.

Equipment / Items

• Black Ring — Reads the Sishui anomaly briefing through his ring while traveling with Team One 37.
• Protective charm — Receives one of Uncle Wu’s charms and clutches it upon entering the anomaly. It is left behind when he disappears into the shadows 41.

Relationships

• Gao Ming — Creator, rescuer, and team leader. Removes him from the school, feeds him, provides a bed and contact number, and promises protection while seeking to change his scripted fate 33 34 35 36.
• Zhu Miaomiao — Supportive teammate. Agrees to bring him to the Bureau and privately plans to house him herself if the office cannot take him in 34.
• Yan Hua — Fellow recruit. Treats him patiently despite her intimidating appearance and reads the case briefing alongside him 37.
• Xuan Wen — Companion during the Sishui investigation. Recognizes the importance of his observations and helps Gao Ming retrieve him after the rice-eating episode 39 40.
• Ghost Mom of Room 506 — Gives him unexpected maternal comfort. Her kindness leads him to imagine her as family 48.
• Nannan — Welcomes him to the family’s table, comforts him, and proposes asking Gossip to locate his missing friend. Her affection makes him reluctant to leave 48 49.
• Xian Xian — Ghost Mom’s older daughter. Shares the household’s meal with him and explains the danger posed by investigators who have eaten the Ancestral Hall Restaurant’s meat 48 49.
• The psychopathic serial killer — Adoptive guardian in Born Psychopath’s original history. Uses cruelty to develop Wan Qiu’s powers and trains him into a supercriminal 33 34.

Story Role / Major Arcs

School Rescue and Recruitment

Four students trap Wan Qiu in the girls’ bathroom, film him, repeatedly prevent his escape, and prepare to beat him. Gao Ming attacks the bullies and offers him protection through the Lishan Investigation Office. Wan Qiu accepts his outstretched hand, leaves the school with him, and later joins the rebuilt Investigation Team One 33 36.

Sishui Apartments Reconnaissance

Wan Qiu’s perceptions help expose the danger concealed in the apartments. After the group enters Building A while pursuing Bai Xiao, a scarred arm drags him into a room containing a table set for eight. His eyes cloud over, and he begins eating rice intended for the dead 38 39.

Something apparently speaks through him, delivering warnings about people, ghosts, and flesh before he collapses. Gao Ming carries him out. After recovering, Wan Qiu insists on returning because “eight people” are waiting for him 40.

Separation and Room 506

During the nighttime operation, Wan Qiu vanishes from Gao Ming’s group, leaving his charm behind. Later isolated in a changed corridor, he follows his danger intuition into Room 506 and discovers the building manager’s rat face 41 47.

Inside, he meets Xian Xian, Nannan, and their dead mother. Although his death visions make the meal terrifying, Ghost Mom responds to his breakdown with tenderness. The family offers help finding his missing friend, but their welcome also makes him hesitate to leave. Their refuge is threatened when corrupted investigators begin marking apartments and knock at the door 48 49.

Notable Quotes

“I want to go too.”
“Eight people... are waiting for me...” 40

“You can't all pick on me... Mom, where's my mom...?” 48