Zhang Youzhi

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhang Youzhi (张有志)
Alias(es)	Li Zhi — alias used in news coverage and his public funeral; Big Winter Melon — private nickname used by Li Douyu 25 30 34 40
Species/Race	Originally human; later a disembodied soul and then a physically active undead man 29 48 50
Gender	Male
Age	25 during his terminal illness 10
Affiliation	White Jade Capital Company 50
Occupation/Role	Former company employee; later employed by White Jade Capital for dangerous missions, with access privileges equivalent to a regional director 3 50
Status	Physically present and visible, but biologically and legally dead as of Chapter 50 50
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “I'm not dead yet” 1

Power Progression

Zhang’s changes come through White Jade Capital’s drugs and soul-preservation mechanisms rather than documented cultivation realms.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Temporary drug-supported vitality	2	Number Two supplies company painkillers that eliminate his cancer pain and temporarily make him feel healthy. Each dose lasts no more than six hours.
Disembodied soul	29	His spirit awakens during cremation, initially without memories. His body burns away, but his skull remains intact. A notice states that the Supervision Regulations remain in effect.
Memory-restored soul	30 31	Scattering his ashes into the Crane River restores his memories. He retains his identity but has lost his emotions; the Supervision Regulations sustain his existence.
Golden Pill revival and temporary “invincibility”	46 49	Takes part of the unfinished revival pill and returns to physical action. During its temporary effect, he protects Li Douyu and kills dozens of approaching attackers. His figure begins fading as the effect wears off.
Partially restored physical existence	48	Can eat, drink, handle objects, trigger automatic doors, and register on an infrared thermal imager. Only Li Douyu can directly see or touch him; recordings capture him only when she operates the camera.
Visible undead body	50	Corpse Floaty Yogurt makes him visible to others without restoring biological life. He remains cold, without heartbeat or breath, and cannot feel pain.
White Jade Capital mission access	50	Signs an employment agreement, receives 10,000 points, and gains mission-system and Points Mall access equivalent to a regional director’s privileges.

Background / History

Life before his diagnosis

Zhang grew up in a small county town and pursued the conventional goals of education, employment, marriage, and home ownership. His parents took out a loan to buy him a county-town home; his father drove long-haul routes, while his mother worked as a supermarket cashier. He had also hoped to buy a home in the provincial capital 1 4 31.

He met Li Douyu while recruiting for their university literary club. He was one year ahead of her and jokingly explained that he chose her because the club needed a mascot. Their relationship lasted five years, including a period of long-distance dating after his graduation. She followed him from Longnan to Yimeng, and her family asked for no bride price—only that he treat her well 1 3 5 12.

Terminal illness and funeral arrangements

After being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, Zhang encounters Number Two outside the hospital. His illness has spread to other organs, including his brain, and he increasingly depends on morphine and the company’s special painkillers 1 2 5 24.

He purchases a reduced funeral package for 12,888 yuan, payable after death. He rejects most traditional services, keeps the deletion of his online history—including a secretly written web novel—and requests that his ashes be scattered in a nearby stream. He signs the contract without reading its Supervision Regulations 3.

To conceal his condition, Zhang resigns from the company where he has worked for three years, telling colleagues that he will marry Li Douyu and become a county-town teacher. He appoints his childhood friend Zhou Mo as the funeral company’s “informed party,” empowered to stop its services if the concealment scheme goes wrong. Planned impersonation and fabricated videos are intended to delay his parents’ discovery of his death 3 4.

Leaving Li Douyu behind

Zhang accompanies Li Douyu to her family home in Maziping Village, caring for her through severe motion sickness while hiding his own weakness. Her grandmother notices his swelling, but he attributes it to weight gain and performs a show of strength to reassure her 5 6.

He privately tells Li’s father that he is dying and plans to leave alone. Because he and Li intended to marry, he asks permission to call her father “Dad,” then asks him to protect her and allow her to move on after his death. Zhang subsequently leaves under the fabricated pretext of visiting a dying friend 7 8.

Zhang also arranges professional help for Li’s future grief. After unsuccessful approaches by romance experts, he accepts a hypnosis plan designed to blur her memories of him. He buys her a replacement phone and plans to remove reminders of their relationship to reduce the chance of the hypnosis breaking 9 10.

Final days in Crane City

A severe bleeding episode on a bus brings Zhang to Crane City First People’s Hospital. After taking a company pill, he refuses treatment and outruns Hao Shanzhi and pursuing doctors. He settles beneath Old Crane River Bridge, throws his phone into the river, and destroys his ID card while company staff impersonate him online 10 11 12.

His attempt to remain isolated repeatedly fails. He stops He Min from attempting suicide, celebrates her birthday, escorts her home, and secretly purchases a romance-expert service for her because he fears she may try again. Before leaving the bridge, he scratches a message urging her to stay strong and live well 12 13 14 15.

As his condition worsens, Duoduo shares steamed buns with him. Zhang repays her mother generously, but later becomes entangled in a dispute over stolen corporate evidence. With no identification or medical report, he is detained despite claiming to have only days left. Fellow detainee Zhang Shuke helps him attempt an escape; White Jade Capital ultimately secures his release 17 18 19 20.

Gang attack and death

Gao Fu orders gang members to kill Zhang and abduct He Min. After both are captured, Zhang is stabbed while bound to a chair. Wu Fuzhang fights into the building to rescue him, giving Zhang an opportunity to free himself 21 22.

Rather than simply escape, Zhang returns to help Wu and, if possible, save He Min. He kills Master Fang with a dagger even after a thug nearly cuts him in half. Four company embalmers preserve him long enough for armed authorities to storm the building 23.

His actions help concentrate the criminal leadership in one place, accelerating the crackdown on Crane City’s network of gangs, businesses, and corrupt officials. He becomes a public hero, but leaked footage threatens to reveal his condition to Li Douyu. Still trying to protect her, he accepts the company’s expanded Gold Medal Support Plan while insisting that previously canceled funeral services remain canceled 24 25.

By the cremation ceremony, Zhang has died. His spirit nevertheless awakens inside the furnace and follows He Min as she carries away his urn 29.

Afterlife and reunion

When his ashes are scattered, Zhang recovers his memories and observes his own funeral. Number Two explains that White Jade Capital prevents emotional disasters and that Li Douyu is the first known individual S-rank carrier. Zhang declines recruitment and the possibility of resurrection, preferring disappearance to another life of work and obligation 30 31 35.

Despite his emotional numbness, he travels to Songjiang to find Li. Unable to call her or communicate with ordinary people, he follows the distribution of her “Big Winter Melon” notices and overhears company employees discussing her location. Number Two gives him an unfinished revival pill, which Zhang initially refuses to use 39 40 42.

During the trafficking-compound crisis, Zhang takes part of the Golden Pill and reaches the critically wounded Li. He gives her the remaining portion and protects her through the drug’s temporary invincibility effect. She survives a bullet wound to the heart, while he remains only partially restored 46 47 48 49.

The couple later confront Number Two at White Jade Capital. With no second revival pill available, Zhang receives Corpse Floaty Yogurt instead. He and Li sign employment agreements, with Zhang assigned hazardous missions and Li excluded from dangerous work because of her special circumstances 50.

Appearance

Zhang is described as handsome after his partial revival. During his terminal illness, his appearance deteriorates sharply; his final undead body is cold and lacks ordinary signs of life 4 48 50.

• Illness: Poor complexion, substantial weight loss, and swelling that Li Douyu’s grandmother notices 4 6.
• Time beneath the bridge: Dried blood, facial cuts, and unwashed hands make him look frighteningly ghostlike before his actual death 12.
• Final decline: His skin begins turning blue and stiff 26.
• Undead state: No heartbeat or breathing, despite being physically active 50.

Personality

Zhang is practical, frugal, and determined to control the consequences of his death. He trims his funeral package, budgets his remaining money, and organizes elaborate deceptions to spare his loved ones an abrupt shock. His concern is especially focused on Li Douyu, although he badly underestimates her perceptiveness and ability to protect herself 3 4 10 42.

His consideration often appears in small acts: caring for Li during travel, refusing an elderly stranger’s money, thanking the bus passengers who help him, and paying for Duoduo’s food. With He Min, the same concern takes an abrasive form—insults, exaggerated scare stories, shared food, and blunt advice rather than conventional reassurance 6 11 12 13 18.

He uses dry humor in frightening situations, including catastrophic injury. His apparent fearlessness is not absolute: he does not want to die prematurely on dangerous mountain roads, and he nervously asks whether his final death will hurt 6 23 26.

As a soul, Zhang recognizes that his hard work had served expected milestones rather than personal aspirations. He calls himself a born slacker and refuses a world-saving career despite appreciating the company’s mission. His continued pursuit of Li, and eventual willingness to use the revival pill for her, prevents that withdrawal from becoming complete 31 39 42 46.

Abilities & Skills

Drug-supported endurance

White Jade Capital’s medicine lets Zhang function despite terminal illness and later catastrophic injuries.

• Company painkillers suppress pain and temporarily restore vigorous activity, including running faster than a school athlete 2 11.
• His last painkiller keeps him conscious and pain-free after his body is nearly severed at the waist 23.
• Frequent use consumes his remaining vitality rather than curing the illness 9 18 20.
• The Golden Pill grants a temporary “invincibility window”; its effects are not permanent 46 49.

Soul existence

After cremation, Zhang can move through the world without a living body.

• Can pass through objects or choose to touch their surfaces 35.
• Cannot move objects or change their state, even something as light as a balloon 32 35.
• Cannot make phone calls or communicate with ordinary people in his phantom state 40.
• Number Two can see him, and Gray Kitten appears able to perceive him 30 32.
• The Supervision Regulations prevent his soul from dissipating while the company’s work remains unfinished 31 39.

Partial restoration and restricted visibility

Taking only part of the revival pill leaves Zhang physically functional but perceptually dependent on Li Douyu.

• Can manipulate objects, eat, drink, and activate elevators and automatic doors 48.
• Registers on infrared thermal imaging 48.
• Only Li can directly see or touch him; cameras capture him when she operates them 48.
• A video call lets other company employees converse with him face-to-face indirectly 49.

Undead resilience

Corpse Floaty Yogurt makes Zhang visible without returning him to biological life.

• Does not breathe, feel pain, or require rest 50.
• Number Two states that he cannot suffocate and is not afraid of radiation 50.
• Number Two claims another bottle can restore him even if he is blown apart; this is not demonstrated in the supplied events 50.

Improvisation and deception

Zhang repeatedly solves immediate problems through improvised tools and false explanations.

• Uses fabricated stories to hide his illness and explain his blood-covered appearance 8 12 14.
• Frees himself from restraints using the knife embedded in his upper chest 22 23.
• Plans to locate Li by mapping the concentration of her notices 40.
• Once used a voice changer and a fake online romance to recover money from a scammer, then extract an additional 294 yuan 32.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Morphine and syringes — Used to manage severe cancer pain; Zhang develops a dependence while trying to ration his supply 1 5 13.
• Company painkillers — Initially receives ten from Number Two; additional pills cost 1,000 yuan each and last no more than six hours 2.
• Funeral contract and Supervision Regulations — Signed without reading the regulations; later govern the persistence of his soul 3 31 39.
• Dagger — Taken from his captors and used to free himself and kill Master Fang 22 23.
• Golden Pill — Unfinished revival medicine supplied by Number Two; Zhang divides it between himself and Li Douyu 42 46 48.
• Corpse Floaty Yogurt — Makes his undead body visible to others and is said to permit reconstruction after destruction 50.
• Company phone and account — Issued upon employment, with 10,000 starting points and regional-director-equivalent access 50.

Relationships

• Li Douyu — Girlfriend of five years and his strongest remaining attachment. His attempts to protect her through concealment fail when she detects the impersonation and searches for him. They reunite through his partial revival and join White Jade Capital together 3 5 33 46 50.
• Number Two — Funeral salesman, protector, and persistent recruiter. Supplies Zhang’s medicine, coordinates rescue efforts, explains the company’s supernatural purpose, and eventually becomes his employer 2 21 31 42 50.
• He Min — Woman Zhang dissuades from suicide. She searches for him, risks her life trying to rescue him, and organizes his funeral so he will not depart alone 12 13 19 21 32.
• Zhou Mo — Childhood friend and designated informed party. Agrees to oversee the funeral company’s plans, but his dismissive response to Li’s concerns makes her suspect he is concealing the truth 4 33.
• Parents — Zhang conceals his illness and arranges delayed disclosure of his death. Their hopes for his marriage and family life shape his earlier goals 1 4.
• Li Douyu’s father — Receives Zhang’s confession and agrees to protect Li. Zhang asks to call him “Dad” because of their intended marriage 7.
• Wu Fuzhang — Initially turns Zhang away, then seeks to repay that mistake after learning of his illness and his rescue of Gray Kitten. Fights through the gang to save him 20 22 23.
• Hao Shanzhi — Student who helps Zhang after the bus crisis and unsuccessfully tries to persuade him to accept treatment. Later attends his funeral with Wu 11 32.
• Zhang Shuke — Fellow detainee who believes Zhang’s terminal diagnosis, helps him attempt escape, and promises to burn paper offerings for him 19.
• Yang Donglin — Detective who initially doubts Zhang’s claims, later releases him, recognizes his contribution to the crackdown, and regrets failing to protect him 18 20 24.
• Duoduo — Child who repeatedly feeds Zhang steamed buns during his final days; later attends his funeral 17 18 32.
• Gray Kitten — Injured cat Zhang saves and intends to leave to Li Douyu. Appears to recognize his ghost at the funeral 17 20 24 32.

Notable Quotes

“Don't. Just let me die in peace.” 11

“Terminally ill, with little time left. Stay strong and live well.” 15 19

“Kill me if you can.” 20

“I do have human rights, right?” 50

Trivia

• A QR code on his enormous headstone opens a mini app containing seven edited “Highlights from his life” videos 32.
• The videos preserve a gaming pentakill, seventeen stone skips, an escape from seven dogs, an accidental backflip after being hit by a car, a long-distance basketball shot, his scammer retaliation, and his attack on the crime boss 32.
• He enjoys instruments with low, mellow tones, including the hulusi 32.
• His unburned skull glows after cremation. A company employee admires it as artwork and secretly takes it home 30.
• Number Two suspects Zhang is the second Grade S emotional-disaster carrier detected during the Songjiang crisis; the passage presents this as his inference, not an independently confirmed rank 46.
• By the seventh day after his funeral, Zhang’s grave has become a tourist attraction, while his official identity has been removed from public records 50.