Gu Cheng

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Gu Cheng (顾城)
Alias(es)	Big Gray Wolf; Big Bad Wolf; Captain Gu 20 29 47
Species/Race	Wolf Special Person; able to assume human, wolf, and partial-wolf forms 1 29
Gender	Male
Age	Nearly twenty-six; during his amnesia, he mistakenly believes he is eighteen 129
Affiliation	First Team of the Special Person unit 11 12
Occupation/Role	First Team captain; promoted to deputy commander-in-chief for the Arctic expedition 12 124
Ability Ranking	First among Special People in overall ability 52 123
Spouse	Ye Ruan 145
Status	Alive; married to Ye Ruan in the side stories 145 150
First Appearance	Chapter 1 1

Background / History

Childhood and Bai En’s Experiments

As a child, Gu Cheng played piano in a classroom while Ye Ruan secretly listened outside a window covered in morning glories. When Ye Ruan disappeared, Gu Cheng asked Ye Qingman about the timid rabbit boy. After she took her son abroad without saying goodbye, Gu Cheng stopped playing that piano 44 136.

At approximately ten years old, Gu Cheng was captured by Bai En, who cut open his abdomen to examine his organs and secretly implanted tracking and control chips. Fang Ci and the Headquarters Team found him on the third day. Destruction of the Central Control Console initially rendered the chips inactive 103.

About a month after his rescue, Gu Cheng suffered a period of uncontrolled aggression lasting more than a week. During this episode, he killed several of Bai En’s assistants by tearing out their hearts. Fang Ci later explains that repeated chip use produces increasingly severe aftereffects 130.

First Team Captaincy

Gu Cheng entered the First Team directly as captain, provoking objections from some members. Ye Qingman, then the deputy captain, supported him. When he meets her son during the outbreak, Gu Cheng says he has not seen her for seven or eight years 12.

At nineteen, Gu Cheng led the First Team through a disastrous Iceland mission. Teammates died or suffered disabling frostbite, and the mission failed. Yu Jingjing remembers it as the first time she saw him cry. Gu Cheng later admits that repeated losses have made him afraid of goodbyes 39.

Appearance

Gu Cheng is tall and muscular, with sharply defined features and a roguish smile. His expression appears cold when he is not smiling 3 29.

• Hair: Black, initially described as neatly cropped; he later brushes his fringe back while making explosives 3 77.
• Eyes: Long and narrow, with dark irises and deep-set sockets. A dangerous green gleam remains after combat in his partial-wolf form 3 29 77.
• Wolf features: Gray ears, a large furry tail, and elongated, pointed nails; his full animal form is a giant gray wolf 29 87.
• Build: Powerful muscle definition without excessive bulk 53.
• Hands: Rough and heavily calloused 150.
• Scar: A faint abdominal incision scar left by Bai En’s experiments 103.
• Clothing: Frequently wears camouflage trousers, combat boots, and fitted black shirts 3 53 75.

Personality

Gu Cheng is irreverent, sociable, and openly flirtatious. He answers commanders with sarcasm, jokes about disciplinary action, and handles the First Team’s social dealings through easy conversation and sweet-talking. His teammates regularly mock his shamelessness, especially when he boasts about Ye Ruan’s devotion 3 30 31 59.

His humor contrasts with a strong sense of responsibility. He prioritizes elderly survivors and children during an evacuation, arranges emergency drills for civilians, and refuses to abandon teammates selected for exclusion from the base’s evacuation. He also shares scarce food with survivors rather than reserving it for his own squad 8 30 31 67.

With Ye Ruan, Gu Cheng is affectionate, teasing, and frequently jealous. He lends him jackets, cooks for him, offers his salary, and openly declares their relationship. His protectiveness can become overbearing: Ye Ruan repeatedly insists on being treated as a capable comrade rather than someone helpless 12 24 36 50 79 86.

Gu Cheng becomes ruthless when others threaten his companions. He retaliates against armed attackers and infiltrates the Scorpion group after its trap injures Ye Ruan. Beneath that confidence, he carries unresolved grief and childhood trauma, often using jokes to soften painful disclosures 39 84 103 119.

Abilities & Skills

Wolf Transformation

Gu Cheng can shift into a giant wolf or retain selected animal traits in a partly human form 29 87.

• Uses his wolf body, claws, and weight to pin and tear into large monsters 29 87.
• Extends long, pointed nails while partially transformed, using them to destroy a monster’s internal flesh 29.
• Catches Ye Ruan during a pursuit and later carries him down a snowy slope in wolf form 47 131.
• Possesses night vision as a Special Person 75.
• Can be injured in animal form; his leg is cut by roadside metal during the giant-cat battle 87.

Combat and Marksmanship

Gu Cheng ranks first in overall ability among Special People. Ye Ruan is identified as second only to him, though Ye Ruan defeats him in a spar by exploiting his response to apparent vulnerability 52 53 123.

• Firearms: Fights with guns and a submachine gun; Yu Jingjing identifies him as the team’s best shot 21 62.
• Blade combat: Switches to a dagger after exhausting his ammunition and kills several armed thugs within seconds 21 119.
• Thrown weapons: Kills the fleeing Jiang Guang by throwing a dagger through his heart from behind 119.
• Physical strength: Snaps his restraints at Haochuan Base and kicks Nan Han more than three meters away 54 82.
• Controlled restraint: Tries to subdue the fully zombified Ye Ruan without injuring him, despite the risk of infection 120.

Command and Tactical Planning

Gu Cheng leads evacuations, coordinates convoy travel, and makes rapid decisions under pressure 8 31 88.

• Restores order during a zombie-horde evacuation and directs the group toward a previously scouted hillside 8.
• Plans food, water, transport, and emergency training for a group of sixty-eight survivors 31.
• Pretends to be incapacitated during an abduction, then maintains apparent cooperation while assessing the captors 81 82.
• Orders a monster’s corpse burned so zombies cannot feed on it and mutate 88.
• Directs gate reinforcement using a jeep as an immediate brace 88.

Survival and Weapon Preparation

Gu Cheng gathers supplies, drives armored vehicles, and helps manufacture weapons when resources are scarce 39 67 70 77.

• Fills three Storage Wristbands with food and supplies before leaving the base 67.
• Spends a full day preparing explosives alongside teammates, with advice from Nan Han 77.
• Helps produce explosives, bows, crossbows, and arrows during the group’s stay at the temple 81.
• Makes a fishing rod and fishes at a nearby reservoir 81.

Cooking

Gu Cheng regularly cooks for Ye Ruan and the team, including during overseas missions 24 39.

• Makes sweet-potato porridge, egg pancakes, and mushroom-and-greens buns 28 39.
• Says he can prepare alfalfa and timothy-hay biscuits sold for Special People 24.
• Offers to cook Ye Ruan’s choice of meal and agrees to make scallion-oil noodles 36.
• Continues preparing food for the group in the final side story 150.

Piano

• Played piano during childhood, providing comfort to the withdrawn Ye Ruan 44 136.
• Stopped playing that piano after Ye Ruan left without saying goodbye 44.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Firearms and submachine gun — Used against zombie hordes and hostile survivors; he also offers Ye Ruan a suppressor 5 21 116.
• Dagger — Used for close combat, inspecting a monster corpse, and lethal throws 8 21 119.
• Storage Wristbands — Carry supplies and equipment, including a compound crossbow and entrenching shovel 67 87.
• Biohazard Vehicle — Drives it during the convoy’s journey toward Cloud City 39.
• Large armored vehicle — Provided through Xu Chu; has a steel exterior and three-meter-tall tires, but consumes substantial fuel 67.
• Entrenching shovel — Removes zombie remains jammed in the armored vehicle’s wheels 87.
• Location-sharing feature — Allows Ye Ruan’s rescue party to track him; its password is Ye Ruan’s birthday 82.
• Wedding ring — Becomes an important marker of his engagement during his memory loss; Ye Ruan puts it back on his finger after he rejects it 127 128 129.

Relationships

• Ye Ruan — Childhood listener, romantic partner, and eventual husband. Their relationship develops through shared rescues, travel, and mutual caretaking; each later supports the other through infection or chip-induced memory loss 44 79 120 129 145.
• Fang Ci — Childhood friend and exceptionally close teammate. Helps rescue Gu Cheng from Bai En, knows the history of his chip-related episodes, and assists when his memories become scrambled 103 127 130.
• Ye Qingman — Former First Team deputy captain and Ye Ruan’s mother. Supported Gu Cheng’s early captaincy and later trusts his ability to care for her son 12 141.
• Yu Jingjing — First Team member with a sibling-like bond to him. Teases his romantic boasting, helps track him after the apparent kidnapping, and frequently clashes with his favoritism toward Ye Ruan 59 76 82 86.
• Li Rang and Lu Jiayi — Trusted teammates who carry out his orders and fight alongside him against the giant cat 31 38 87.
• Xu Chu — Childhood friend, researcher, and practical ally. Supplies the armored-vehicle key and leads treatment efforts for Ye Ruan, although Gu Cheng’s desperation strains their friendship 67 122 124.
• Cai Hao — Superior officer and frequent target of Gu Cheng’s irreverence. Commands the Arctic expedition and later sends Ye Ruan to search for the missing group 46 124 127.
• Nan Han — Hostile authority figure and Ye Ruan’s father. Attempts to control Ye Ruan’s romantic future; Gu Cheng physically attacks him after seeing Ye Ruan’s distress 53 54.
• Bai En — Childhood tormentor responsible for his implanted chips. Later reactivates control over Gu Cheng, causing instability and memory disruption 103 125 127.
• Jiang Qing — Cooperative survivor leader. Works with Gu Cheng on compound defenses after the Scorpion leadership falls and later helps arrange his wedding 88 89 143.
• Yang Xiaomian — Ye Ruan’s teammate and expedition volunteer. Gu Cheng recognizes his feelings for Fang Ci and encourages him not to give up 89 124.

Story Role / Major Arcs

South City Rescue and Convoy Journey

• Frees Ye Ruan’s rabbit form from a net and shields him from a teammate joking about eating him 1.
• Refuses survivor-arranged intimate “services,” stating that protecting civilians is his duty 5.
• Leads the evacuation from a recycling yard when a massive zombie horde approaches 8.
• Promises Ye Ruan the protection of both himself and Team One, while their growing affection becomes increasingly apparent to the squad 11 12.
• Reunites with injured teammates, plans the survivors’ journey to S City, and shares the history of the failed Iceland mission with Ye Ruan 30 31 39.

Return to the Base

• Returns injured and is hospitalized; waits three days for Ye Ruan, who initially avoids him because of Nan Han’s threats 44 46.
• Pursues Ye Ruan after the team assembly and reassures him that they will face the consequences of their relationship together 47.
• Publicly holds Ye Ruan’s hand before the team competition and offers him his paycheck card 50.
• Loses their spar after falling for Ye Ruan’s feigned plea for help, then confronts Nan Han over his treatment of Ye Ruan 53 54.

Escape from Institutional Control

• Learns that the supposed field exercise is an elimination process tied to evacuation. Five First Team members are slated to be abandoned 67.
• Initially intends to stay behind with those teammates, but agrees to leave together after Ye Ruan rejects separation 67.
• Drives the group out of the base and continues toward Lin City after helping rescue Xia Yue 70.

Temple and Scorpion Base

• Organizes weapon production after the group encounters a gigantic Level Three cat monster 76 77.
• Connects the trap that injured Ye Ruan to an organized group using a scorpion emblem 79 80.
• Uses his apparent kidnapping to infiltrate Haochuan Survivor Base and confront Shang Xiong’s plan to extort the armored vehicle 81 82 84.
• Helps repel the giant cat, clears the immobilized armored vehicle, and coordinates defense against a Level Three gecko 87 88.
• Cooperates with Jiang Qing after the compound’s abusive leadership is removed 89 90.

Ye Ruan’s Infection and Treatment

• Kills Li Luo when the researcher tries to trap the group, then helps fight through the institute’s self-destruction crisis 110 111.
• Gives his own blood to ease Ye Ruan’s hunger as the infection worsens; fears that Ye Ruan may eventually forget him 118.
• Refuses to abandon the fully zombified Ye Ruan and approaches him despite explicit warnings about infection 120.
• Breaks down over the treatment decision, but agrees after Fang Ci asks whether Ye Ruan would want to remain a mindless husk 122.

Arctic Expedition and Memory Loss

• Is promoted to deputy commander-in-chief and leaves for the Arctic while Ye Ruan remains unconscious. Information he sends back assists development of the enhanced vaccine 124.
• Falls under Bai En’s renewed chip control after the researcher escapes. His companions struggle to protect and restrain him during a blizzard 125.
• Forgets his relationship and engagement to Ye Ruan. Fang Ci attributes the disruption to the chip’s effects 127.
• Receives care from Ye Ruan after the rescue; despite denying their relationship, he again responds with attraction and protective instincts 128 129 131 132.
• Instinctively calls Ye Ruan “your sister-in-law” during a snowball fight, briefly suggesting the return of an old memory 136.

Wedding and Side Stories

• Celebrates Ye Ruan’s acceptance of his proposal and entrusts wedding arrangements to Jiang Qing 143.
• Marries Ye Ruan; their bridal suite is Gu Cheng’s two-bedroom captain’s apartment 145.
• Remains affectionate, mischievous, and devoted to cooking for his companions in the final side story 150.

Notable Quotes

“Ye Ruan, I've lost a lot of people in my life. I'm actually terrified of goodbyes, because I always feel that once we part, we'll never meet again.” 39

“What do I need shame for? The guys who have it are still single.” 29

“Scared, my ass. That's my wife.”
“Even if he really turns into a zombie, I still want him.” 120