Lu Rui

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Lu Rui (路蕊)
Alias(es)	Sister Lu Rui; Big Sis Lu Rui 33 42; “Sufen,” a name she uses when introducing herself to Cuihua 89
Gender	Female
Affiliation	The five-player team with Ye Chu, Pei Yanchuan, Su Fengzi, and Wu You 23 68
Occupation/Role	Former teacher; later a company employee; Hunter-role player 9 45 135
Status	Alive in reality. Her death in the final instance returns her to the Rest House rather than permanently killing her 124 128 130.
First Appearance	Earliest appearance in the provided excerpts: 6

Background / History

Lu Rui grew up in a family that favored boys over girls. During her childhood, she sometimes hid beneath a bridge. Meeting Tian Yatou, a girl subjected to similar discrimination, brings those memories back and makes Lu Rui feel as though she is looking at her younger self 23.

She previously worked as a teacher but disliked the profession. An encouraging online comment from Ye Chu strengthened her resolve to quit and live according to her own wishes. She identified him through his profile before their conversation about the incident, but did not tell him that he was the stranger whose words had helped her 45.

After changing careers, Lu Rui worked at the same company as Xiao Yu. They barely interacted for more than a year until he helped her resolve a problem and later left a handwritten confession on her desk. Both admitted they had no relationship experience and agreed that they could learn together 135.

Appearance

• Half-rim glasses: She adjusts them while analyzing the Werewolf round and later while briefing the team at Cannibal School 6 59.
• Bodhisattva disguise: During Ghost Opera Singer, she wears glittering golden clothing and a cinnabar mark on her brow while riding Pei Yanchuan’s enormous black wolf form 93.
• Final-instance condition: Before her sacrifice, hunger and thirst leave her with tangled hair, cracked lips, and a deathly pale face. She turns away because she wants her teammates to remember her looking beautiful 123.

Personality

Lu Rui combines nurturing care with firm authority. She prepares meals, comforts Wu You, and repeatedly warns the younger players against fighting enemies whose strength they have not assessed. Her concern extends to Ye Chu: after discovering his dangerous solo plan, she reprimands him for failing to discuss it with the team 9 31 33 45.

Her empathy is especially strong toward vulnerable children. She soothes Tian Yatou and tries to feed a starving boy despite his grandmother’s objections. Nevertheless, she is practical about danger: she initially withholds her account of a suspected murderer because an outsider’s accusation could bring retaliation rather than justice 19 87 88.

Lu Rui also enjoys gossip and affectionate teasing. She bets on who will confess first between Ye Chu and Pei Yanchuan, celebrates their relationship, and describes her own preferred partner as gentle and possessing strong “husband material” qualities 88 95.

Abilities & Skills

Hunter Skill: Live and Die Together

Lu Rui receives the Hunter’s ability when a system bug allows the players to retain powers corresponding to their previous Werewolf roles. The system describes its highest-level privilege as taking the instance boss down upon the Hunter’s own death 9.

• Activation cost: Its decisive effect requires Lu Rui’s death 9 124.
• First documented use: She activates Live and Die Together during No One Survives, sacrificing herself when the team is trapped and nearing death from deprivation 123 124.
• Observed result: An explosion occurs; Lu Rui dies, while Wu You’s strength returns and her hunger and thirst subside. The instance continues rather than immediately ending 124.
• Possible limitation: Lu Rui suspects that the presence of multiple bosses will weaken the skill’s effect. This is her assessment, not a confirmed system explanation 124.
• Excluded benefit: The system specifically excludes the Hunter skill from the side-effect exemption negotiated for Ghost Opera Singer, preventing a cost-free use against its boss 78.

Deduction and Investigation

• Werewolf analysis: She compares claimed Seer results, speaking order, and the information available to each player, correctly identifying the Villager-like perspective in Xie Fei’s speech 6 7.
• Breaking illusions: She finds the paradox in her initial Illusion Paradox experience and escapes it before discovering Tian Yatou 19.
• Reconnaissance: At Cannibal School, she identifies the task, Xiao Mei’s classroom, and her exact seat before the others arrive 59.
• Social observation: She recognizes that some Person-Eaters secretly feed or protect ordinary people and distinguishes these moderates from radicals 60.
• Memory-fragment mechanics: In Amnesia Maze, she explains how personality-trait fragments can be attached to guards to give them those traits 116.
• Limits: She remains vulnerable to supernatural mental interference. In the Laboratory Building, she confuses the group’s walking order and later appears to strangle herself while trapped in an illusion 42 43.

Caregiving and Practical Support

• Cooking: Regularly prepares the team’s meals, including breakfast noodles and Pei Yanchuan’s requested braised pork 9 64.
• Basic wound care: Bandages Pei Yanchuan’s injured hand after he attacks Tian Fuguo 19.
• Childcare: Calms Tian Yatou when she wakes expecting to be beaten, then carries her to the hospital with Wu You’s help 19.
• Risk management: Restrains Wu You from impulsively attacking the PE Teacher and reprimands both wolf-transforming players after their unauthorized confrontation 32 33.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Knife: Carries one behind her waist and draws it when she suspects an unfamiliar person is holding her hand in the Laboratory Building 42.
• Face drawings: Uses several sheets bearing drawn faces to identify Su Fengzi during the same encounter 42.
• Invisibility Cloak: Hands it to Ye Chu before the Cannibal School task. The one-use item conceals its user from Person-Eaters for thirty minutes 58 59.
• Gun: Readies a firearm alongside Su Fengzi during the confrontation in Run for Time 63.
• Golden bodhisattva costume: Used in the team’s staged supernatural intervention at the Town Chief’s wedding feast 93.

Relationships

• Ye Chu / Star — Teammate and confidant. He listens to her childhood experiences and reassures her that protecting Tian Yatou was not a mistake. His earlier online encouragement also helped her leave teaching, though he does not know this 23 45.
• Wu You — Close teammate whom Lu Rui comforts and keeps from acting rashly. Wu You defends her during the murder-mystery game and cradles her fading body after her sacrifice; Lu Rui also knows where to find her in reality 31 32 73 124 130.
• Pei Yanchuan — Younger teammate who calls her “Big Sis Lu Rui.” She scolds his recklessness, cooks for him, and warmly accepts his relationship with Ye Chu 33 64 88.
• Su Fengzi — Teammate and fellow participant in the confession bet. He helps with meals and is visibly emotional when he discovers that Lu Rui and Wu You survived their instance deaths 88 128 135.
• Xiao Yu — Boyfriend and coworker. Their relationship begins with his handwritten confession and their mutual willingness to learn how to date 130 135.
• Tian Yatou — Child she protects in Illusion Paradox. The girl’s treatment reminds Lu Rui of her own childhood 19 23.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Werewolf and the Rest House

• Analyzes the competing Seer claims and the wolves’ apparent plan to eliminate Villagers 6.
• Receives the Hunter ability through the system’s compensation and becomes a dependable caregiver at the Rest House. Even wolf-form Pei Yanchuan immediately obeys her stern instruction to release Ye Chu 9.

Illusion Paradox

• Breaks her initial illusion, discovers Tian Yatou beneath a desk, and takes responsibility for the frightened child 19.
• Later admits that the girl’s situation revived memories of her own family. The team responds with reassurance and a shared embrace 23.

Rules of the Strange Tales

• Urges the team to assess the school monsters before attacking and questions Pei Yanchuan and Wu You about the PE Teacher’s strength after their fight 32 33 34.
• Falls victim to the Laboratory Building’s illusions 42 43.
• After the instance, confronts Ye Chu over his concealed solo mission and thanks Xiao Xiao for the information that helped the players understand the school 45.

Run for Time

• Scouts Cannibal School, provides Xiao Mei’s location, lends Ye Chu the cloak, and keeps watch during the exam task 59.
• Supplies evidence of compassionate Person-Eaters and corrects the proposed rebellion’s target from all Person-Eaters to the radicals 60.
• Joins the team’s armed resistance 61 63.

Murder Mystery Game

Her marriage and factory ownership belong to her scripted character, not her real-life biography 68 73.

• Plays Huang He’s wife and the original founder of Jiangnan Leather Factory; Wu You plays her younger sister 68 73.
• Investigates the factory’s 350 million debt and Huang He’s planned flight with his lover. A recording reveals that he married her for revenge and intends to leave her with the debt 73 74.
• Admits knocking out Ye Chu’s merman character to test whether his tears become pearls. Her account places Huang He alive at 15:52 74.
• Searches Wu You’s room and presents its clues during the group investigation 74 75.

Ghost Opera Singer

• Stays with Aze’s family and tries to feed the starving surviving child despite his grandmother’s fear of supernatural punishment 87 88.
• Provides a description of the man she saw entering Aze’s mother’s home, contributing to the murder investigation 88.
• Wins the team’s bet after learning that Pei Yanchuan confessed first 88.
• Poses as a bodhisattva during the final operation, distracting the Town Chief and his father-in-law 93.

Amnesia Maze

• Meets Pei Yanchuan and Qi Yu after spending days without encountering another player 113.
• Prompts Pei to examine his remaining memory fragments, leading him to recover the trauma associated with “I hate guns” 114.
• Helps the group understand the use of personality fragments on maze guards 116.

No One Survives and Return to Reality

• Leaves the hut and activates Live and Die Together, choosing to sacrifice herself rather than let the entire team die. Her final thoughts concern their breakfasts and ask Star to keep guiding them 123 124.
• Awakens at the Rest House and discovers that instance deaths are not permanent. She explains this to the returning teammates 128.
• Returns to reality, recovers her memories, and helps reconnect the friends. They wait until Pei Yanchuan finishes his entrance exams before approaching him 130.
• Continues attending their gatherings and shares the story of her relationship with Xiao Yu during a reunion meal 131 135.

Notable Quotes

“That goes for all of you. Don't rush in before you know how strong your opponent is.” 33

“The dead can't come back to life. I thought the buns he'd left behind should go to the living.” 88

“A Hunter's role is to protect, isn't it?” 123