Lu Zhan

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Lu Zhan (陆湛)
Alias(es)	“Little baldy”; “Bald Lu,” informal nicknames used by others 13 45
Species/Race	Human; possesses unexplained abilities despite screening negative for Mutant Beast contamination 3 21
Gender	Male 1
Age	18 1
Origin	District 9, Yero City’s outer city; his consciousness transmigrated from another world and merged with the previous owner’s memories 5 22 26
Affiliation	Yero City military; Armored Warrior Training Center. Raised by the Wutu Gang, but excluded from adult gang membership as a factory laborer 1 6 14
Occupation/Role	Military recruit and Basic Class trainee; formerly an alchemy apprentice installing steam-locomotive wheels at the Black Star Steam Locomotive Factory 1 5 17
Status	Alive; selected for a practical Combat Class 50
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “Yero City” 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Armored Warrior aptitude confirmed	3	Hospital screening identifies his rare aptitude. He also hears his body report that it has recovered.
Basic Class trainee	14 16 17	Enlists through District 13 and enters military-funded training under a twenty-year service contract.
Enhanced hearing manifests	17 18	Can distinguish nearby conversations and individual heartbeats; suspects the Blood-Red Antenna is responsible.
Conscious Eye Art control	27	Recognizes that he transmits thoughts through his eyes and learns to control the effect.
First autophagy test completed	30 31 32	Endures nine waves of hunger without losing control. His body becomes smaller but substantially stronger, and the antenna’s red color fades.
Enhanced digestion and physical efficiency	33 36	Discovers rapid digestion, major gains in strength, speed, and flexibility, and the ability to reclaim heat generated during exertion.
Basic Combat “minor mastery”; stronger Eye Art	39	A day of intensive practice brings rapid combat improvement. “Minor mastery” is his own comparison to fantasy-novel terminology, not an official rank. Eye Art can now transmit complex verbal commands to the cat.
Antenna integration improves	41	Sleeps peacefully for the first time in a month; believes his body can now suppress the antenna during sleep.
Limited thought reception recognized	46	Realizes he can occasionally decipher thoughts inadvertently leaked by another person.
Practical Combat Class qualification	50	Liu Chenghu recognizes his improved movement and vigor and selects him among twenty students for practical instruction.

Background / History

Orphanhood and Factory Work

Lu Zhan’s predecessor was an orphan raised by the Wutu Gang, an organization founded by survivors of Wutu City’s destruction. Instead of receiving an aptitude test or becoming an adult enforcer, he was sold into factory labor. He installed locomotive wheels under the prestigious-sounding title of “alchemy apprentice,” with a twenty-year indenture tying him to his employer 1 5 6.

After being driven out of the gang’s living quarters, he rented a room elsewhere. His predecessor’s limited education and narrow understanding of the world left the transmigrated Lu Zhan dependent on inherited memories and information gathered from others 5 6.

Massacre and Hospital Recovery

Lu Zhan was an innocent passerby caught in the July 24 massacre, which also struck thirty-six armored-soldier trainees. He survived severe injuries, including an opened abdomen, and was questioned by Inspection Office commissioner Xin Ya at the Ninth Medical Security Center 1 2.

His recollection of two mechanical antennae on the attacker’s head gave Xin Ya a useful investigative lead. In return, she disclosed his Armored Warrior aptitude. His genetic screening found no contamination, but he began experiencing bodily messages and disturbing impressions of antennae inside his mind 2 3.

Advanced treatment healed his wounds within days but reportedly consumed approximately two years of cellular vitality. He refused to spend more vitality regrowing his hair. Discharged without savings or secure accommodation, he faced returning to an exploitative factory contract 5.

Escape Through Enlistment

The Wutu Gang renewed its interest once it learned of his aptitude. Ma Yancheng offered training through a 100,000-yuan loan carrying 1% daily compound interest and twenty years of unpaid service after repayment. Lu Zhan recognized the trap and invoked Xin Ya’s investigation to postpone signing 6 9.

Rather than wait for the gang to reclaim him, he chose military enlistment despite warnings about wilderness postings and misleading recruitment promises. Xu Dayong verified his aptitude and arranged immediate enrollment. The military would provide training and Life Essence in exchange for twenty years of service 11 12 14 16.

At the Training Center, his District 13 recruitment route caused classmates to associate him with the Bloodline Group, even though he came from District 9. He befriended fellow recruit Wen Shiyan, pursued independent study, and later used the Center’s disciplinary rules to repel two Wutu Gang seniors without fighting 18 20 22 24 26.

Appearance

• Handsome, initially shaven-headed teenager: His head is heavily bandaged during his first appearance. After recovery, he remains bald because he declined restorative hair treatment 1 5.
• Improving physique: A month of high-energy meals noticeably strengthens his body, though his hair still has not returned 26.
• Compact post-training build: His first completed autophagy exercise reduces his body size while increasing his strength 32.
• Training uniform: Wears the uniform issued when he enters the Center 17.

Personality

Lu Zhan is survival-minded and distrustful of apparent generosity. He cooperates with Xin Ya when threatened by medical debt, performs gratitude for Ma Yancheng while recognizing the gang’s predatory intentions, and later accepts Lu Guanhong’s patronage without believing the teacher’s explanation for his changed attitude 1 3 9 45.

His ambition is supported by genuine curiosity and disciplined study. He questions hospital staff, seeks books on the world’s origins, completes a secondary-school curriculum independently, and tries to explain his bodily abnormalities through biology and Life Alchemy. Classmates’ rejection matters less to him than becoming an Armored Warrior 5 21 22 23 24.

He mixes determination with vanity and teasing humor. Private pep talks, exaggerated confidence, and his quarrels with the black cat provide outlets for frustration. Nevertheless, he remembers practical kindness: he continues sitting with Wen Shiyan after learning that his true origins might let him escape their shared stigma 25 28 39.

Abilities & Skills

Blood-Red Antenna

A mysterious antenna-like presence in his mind receives life information and other signals. Lu Zhan suspects a connection to the massacre’s attacker, but its origin remains unconfirmed 4 18 21.

• Cellular communication: Receives his cells’ assessments of recovery, hunger, danger, digestion, and preferred foods 3 8 33 41.
• Contact-based probing: Detects “hungry” from Baruk’s hand cells and distinguishes that controlled instinct from Ma Yancheng’s “predator” and “eats people” signals 27.
• Range limitation: Earlier attempts to read Armored Warrior apprentices from a distance fail; physical contact provides useful information 27.
• Electromagnetic reception: During sleep, receives surrounding electromagnetic signals, causing prolonged sleep disturbance. A signal-blocking helmet does not solve the problem 24.
• Uncertain interpretation: His suspicions about contamination, resurrection, and Ma’s abnormality are deductions, not fully established explanations 21 27.

Enhanced Hearing and Thought Reception

His hearing exceeds normal human limits, allowing discreet information gathering 17 18.

• Hears conversations clearly from several dozen meters away, including the gang seniors’ discussion after their retreat 26.
• Distinguishes heartbeats as well as speech 17.
• Can occasionally capture thoughts leaked by Lu Guanhong. This is highly situational and is not reliable, unrestricted mind-reading 46.
• Recognizing thought leakage prompts him to guard his own mental reactions around powerful people 46.

Eye Art

An eye-based ability transmits thoughts directly to another mind. Its earliest demonstrated recipient is the Training Center’s black cat, which repeatedly receives his unflattering opinions 27.

• Becomes consciously controllable after he identifies the cause of his quarrels with the cat 27.
• Following autophagy training, conveys more complex commands and makes the cat perform tricks 39.
• Cannot transmit images at the demonstrated stage 39.
• Does not guarantee comprehension: transmitting his improvised breathing technique fails to teach the cat how to use it 39.

Hunger and Autophagy

Golden Corn training induces cellular competition, consuming stored energy and eventually the body’s own cells. Lu Zhan experiences the process with exceptional intensity 30.

• The antenna initially amplifies his perceived hunger at least fivefold 30.
• Concentrated thought reduces the amplification from roughly five times normal to three times normal, rather than removing the underlying hunger 31.
• Endures the exercise without deceiving his body into feeling full, avoiding the appetite problems he observes in classmates using that shortcut 31 33.
• Gains rapid digestion and increased physical performance; he attributes heat recovery to his hunger talent 33 36.
• Future exercises are expected to impose stronger hunger, according to Su Yuyan 32.

Basic Combat and Independent Study

He initially lacks combat aptitude and ranks last in Basic Combat, but sustained practice allows him to capitalize on his transformed body 24 34 36.

• Uses Snake Form to catch the black cat 39.
• Earns Liu Chenghu’s recognition through improved footwork, vigor, and perseverance 50.
• Completes secondary-school coursework independently and impresses librarian Old Wang 24.
• Applies previous-world scientific concepts to Life Alchemy, while remaining unsure whether this world follows Blue Star’s microscopic rules 21 24 46.

Equipment / Items

• Training uniform — Issued upon entering the Training Center 17.
• Basic education textbooks — Borrowed to repair gaps in his academic foundation 23 24.
• Signal-blocking helmet — An unsuccessful attempt to prevent the antenna’s nighttime reception 24.
• Bedtime diary — Used to manage stress and poor sleep; he resolves to abandon it once his sleep improves 24 41.
• Introduction to Material Fundamentals — A personally annotated introductory Matter Alchemy book given to him by Lu Guanhong 45 46.

Relationships

• Xin Ya — Investigates his survival, rewards his testimony, and reveals his aptitude. He appreciates her help but remains wary of concealed surveillance and possible motives 1 3 46.
• Wen Shiyan — Senior trainee, guide, and friend. Their shared recruitment route brings them together under classmates’ suspicion; she advises him during the hunger exercise and worries about his health 18 24 28 31.
• Xu Dayong — Recruitment director who verifies his talent, accepts his enlistment, and arranges immediate training and Wen’s assistance 14 18.
• Ma Yancheng — Wutu Gang branch leader who tries to bind him through debt and labor. Lu suspects Ma’s cellular signals reveal a dangerous abnormality; Ma treats his enlistment as betrayal 9 27 35.
• Lin Kexian — Fellow gang-raised orphan and childhood antagonist. His hostility alternates with flattery; after lending Lu 100 yuan, he pursues repayment and considers forcibly selling him for blood 6 7 11 23.
• Lu Guanhong — Life Alchemy instructor whose interest in Lu shifts from approval to rejection and back to public patronage. Lu accepts the protection while questioning the reversal 21 24 45 46.
• Su Yuyan — Food appreciation instructor who monitors his unusually intense autophagy, warns him against hunger-deception shortcuts, and recognizes his endurance 31 32.
• Liu Chenghu — Demanding combat instructor whose baton corrections frustrate Lu. The instructor respects his fighting spirit and eventually rewards his improvement 41 50.
• Old Wang — Librarian impressed by his rapid academic progress 24.
• Black cat — Recurring rival and Eye Art test subject. Its disdain motivates Lu during training; he later commands it to perform flips and unsuccessfully teaches it a breathing method 27 31 39.
• Ajak, Zhou Qi, and Vikem — Guarded classmates whose secret radio activities concern him. Lu checks their cellular condition and plans to report them if it worsens 25 41 50.

Notable Quotes

“Wen Shiyan, I came here to become an Armored Warrior, not to make friends.” 22

“Only by enduring the bitterest hardships can you rise above others!” 7

Trivia

• His “Sun and Moon Breathing Method” is an improvised technique based on a fantasy novel from his previous life; it has no demonstrated cultivation effect 39.
• His drawing of the attacker is crude, but its mechanical antennae remain a valuable investigative clue 3 15.
• Other trainees begin envying his combat progress while he is too absorbed in his cells’ food preferences to notice their changed opinion 41.