Lu Yao

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Lu Yao (路尧)
Alias(es)	Doctor Lu; Team Leader Lu 155 156
Gender	Male
Origin	Huaxia 151
Affiliation	Formerly the United Association’s Research Team and a foreign research team in Germania; later Huaxia’s Special Person Base and Research Institute 151 152 153 156 161
Occupation/Role	Researcher with a doctorate; Research Team leader; weapons maker 73 156
Spouse	Lou Yu, also called Fox; their initially forced marriage later develops into mutual commitment 155 159 160 164
Status	Alive and living on W Island at the end of his side story 164
First Appearance	Chapter 51, the earliest appearance documented in the supplied context 51

Background / History

Childhood and research career

According to the history Lou Yu learns, Lu Yao grew up in an orphanage without enough food. His adoptive household offered little improvement: his adoptive father drank heavily, his adoptive mother had affairs, and his meals consisted of cold, hard bread. He began working part-time in middle school and learned to cook to save money, but the earlier deprivation had already damaged his stomach 159 162.

Ye Ruan’s mission briefing identifies Lu Yao as a former member of a United Association research team who killed two people before leaving. Three years before the zombie outbreak, he was working with a foreign research team in Germania, Country D. That organization valued him enough to surround him with squads of bodyguards 151 152.

Abduction and forced marriage

After a month of preparation, Ye Ruan and Lou Yu abducted Lu Yao from a banquet. Their assignment was to return him to the base, keep him under surveillance, and put him to work. During his confinement, Lou Yu’s taunts and attempts to force medicine on him escalated into violent confrontations; Ye Ruan intervened with tranquilizers when Lu Yao nearly strangled Lou Yu 151 152.

Lu Yao became attached to Lou Yu and jealous of his pursuit of Ye Ruan. After Ye Ruan rejected Lou Yu’s proposal, Lu Yao exploited Lou Yu’s drunken confusion and restrained him. He then revealed that he had offered to join the Special Person Base unconditionally if Headquarters arranged their marriage 153.

A mercenary ambush interrupted the teams’ departure from Country D. Lou Yu pulled Lu Yao to safety despite their conflict, and Lu Yao treated his gunshot wound. Following their evacuation, Headquarters threatened Lou Yu with imprisonment and forced him to sign an agreement and marriage application. Lu Yao offered him a ring and everything he would receive from the base, but Lou Yu understood the marriage as coercion rather than affection 154 155.

Within days of arriving, Lu Yao became Research Team leader, supervising more than a dozen researchers and two assistants. For nearly three years, his marriage remained unstable: Lou Yu spent long periods on missions, while reunions brought arguments, confinement, and increasingly overt possessiveness 156.

Outbreak and reconciliation

Lou Yu’s attempts to escape eventually forced Lu Yao to confront his conduct. When Lou Yu accused him of treating him as an object and never asking what he wanted, Lu Yao confessed his love, apologized, and asked to start over. His subsequent behavior remained inconsistent: he discarded a dangerous poison rather than use it after Lou Yu left for City H, but later mistook an attempted conversation for a demand to separate and again refused to listen 157 158.

After Chi Yuan’s death and the revelation that Headquarters planned to abandon nearly thirty Special Persons, Lu Yao chose to stay with Lou Yu and the others instead of using his privileged position to leave. He acknowledged that forcing Lou Yu three years earlier was his greatest regret and asked for a chance rather than demanding acceptance. Lou Yu responded positively and later admitted that Lu Yao’s decision to remain beside him had made him fall in love 159 160.

Evacuation and weapons production

Lu Yao approached Gu Cheng with a request to take him and his people along, offering crossbow bolts and homemade bombs. At the temple, he organized weapons production using nearby timber, estimating that sufficient help could produce twenty or thirty bows and crossbows and roughly three hundred arrows in five days 67 73.

He completed a bow and twenty arrows, then worked with Ye Ruan to calibrate a wooden compound crossbow. He also considered lighter repeating crossbows for less experienced fighters. During this period, Gu Cheng identified him as the developer of the poison Nan Han had used; Lu Yao maintained that Nan Han had taken it without permission and that their group was not its intended target 77 81.

W Island and the Arctic

When Ye Ruan became fully zombified, Lu Yao tranquilized him so the group could continue toward G Province. He connected the possibility of a cure to Xu Chu’s examination of Li Tuantuan as a potential dragon Special Person. After reaching W Island, he resumed work at the Research Institute, helping Xu Chu research a way to save Ye Ruan 120 161.

Lou Yu’s Arctic assignment renewed Lu Yao’s fear of losing him. Although he considered asking Commander Li to keep Lou Yu behind, he recognized Lou Yu’s need for freedom and did not pursue that restriction. Later, instead of stopping the newly awakened Ye Ruan from seeking the missing Gu Cheng, Lu Yao accompanied him to the Arctic and reunited with Lou Yu 162 163.

After their return, Headquarters docked Lu Yao and Ye Ruan six months’ pay for breaking regulations. Lu Yao then returned home with Lou Yu. His side story ends at Ye Ruan and Gu Cheng’s wedding, where he and Lou Yu privately affirm their love; Lou Yu says he does not regret their lack of a wedding and is content with their shared life 140 164.

Appearance

• Eyes: Dark brown, appearing especially deep in dim light 151.
• Complexion: Markedly pale, with lips that become bloodless when he is ill or hungry 151 156 161.
• Glasses: Wears glasses, which he removes during several confrontations with Lou Yu 156 157.
• Height: Taller than Lou Yu, whose head reaches approximately his eyebrows 153.
• Body temperature: Often described as cold to the touch 159 161.

Personality

Lu Yao initially treats distance from other people as a means of remaining safe and having no weaknesses. He is cold, suspicious, and capable of extreme violence against perceived threats. Ye Ruan reports that Headquarters’ files describe him as having a mental illness and an extreme temperament; no specific diagnosis is supplied 152 153.

His attachment to Lou Yu exposes intense jealousy and fear of abandonment. Early in their relationship, he confuses giving material security and maintaining control with love, using restraints, forced marriage, and monitoring rather than respecting Lou Yu’s refusal. He eventually recognizes the harm he has caused, though reconciliation does not immediately eliminate his possessiveness 155 157 158 159.

His care is often practical: he prepares hot meals even during arguments, checks Lou Yu for fever, dries him after rain, and comforts him through grief. Later, he accepts Lou Yu’s care in return and shows greater willingness to protect him without denying his independence 76 117 159 161 162.

Lu Yao is also fastidious about cleanliness and analytical when assessing deception. He refuses pills handled with unwashed hands and avoids handling zombies himself, but makes an unusual exception to his cleanliness habits when he drinks from Lou Yu’s glass 105 152 153.

Abilities & Skills

Scientific Research and Chemical Development

• Leads a Research Team and conducts research into new Special Persons 156.
• Develops a poison specifically targeting Special Persons: it slows their accelerated healing and causes progressive skin decay, prolonging suffering for roughly half a month 158.
• Discards his last retained vial after considering it during Lou Yu’s unauthorized departure 158.
• Helps Xu Chu investigate a treatment for Ye Ruan’s infection 161.

Anesthetics and Sedation

• Carries anesthetic packets that can weaken people who come very close without their noticing 162.
• Has treated himself with medication so that this carried anesthetic does not affect him 162.
• Limit: This is not universal immunity to tranquilizers; Ye Ruan’s darts and a dart administered by Lou Yu both render him unconscious 152 153.
• Sedates the fully zombified Ye Ruan to make transport possible 120.
• Declines to use Xu Chu’s contingency tranquilizer gun against Gu Cheng, recognizing the danger of its dose 140.

Weapons Crafting

• Makes bows, arrows, crossbows, crossbow bolts, and homemade bombs 67 73 77.
• Works with Ye Ruan to calibrate a wooden compound crossbow and considers lighter repeating models for inexperienced users 81.
• Requests bird feathers for arrow fletching 77.
• Limits: Production depends on available materials and assistance; his first bow is too long for some shorter users 73 77.

Close-Quarters Combat

• Overpowers and pins Lou Yu despite appearing physically unwell 151 152.
• Disarms Lou Yu and catches his falling tranquilizer gun 152.
• Continues restraining Lou Yu after suffering deep claw wounds to his hand 152.
• Lou Yu later questions how Lu Yao can defeat him despite his fourth-place Special Person ranking; Lu Yao discloses his use of proximity anesthetics 162.

Medical Care and Analysis

• Treats Lou Yu’s gunshot wound during the Country D ambush 154.
• Detects manipulation in Li Luo’s account of the research team’s infection, arguing that an implausible first story was used to make the later confession seem credible 105.
• Connects the virus’s dragon origin with the possibility of an antidote, offering Lou Yu a reason to hope for Ye Ruan’s recovery 117 120.

Cooking

• Learned to cook while supporting himself through part-time work 162.
• Regularly prepares Lou Yu’s meals, including porridge, custard buns, and claypot rice 156 159 162.
• Uses Lou Yu’s favorite dishes in an attempt to repair their estrangement 158.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Anesthetic packets — Carried to weaken people at close range; Lu Yao has medicated himself against their effects 162.
• Special-person poison — An orange liquid that suppresses healing and causes skin decay; his last retained vial is discarded 158.
• Tracking anklet and display — Used to monitor Lou Yu, including during field training 51 159.
• Contingency tranquilizer gun — Secretly supplied by Xu Chu for use if Gu Cheng became dangerous during his memory crisis; never fired 140.
• Homemade weapons — Crossbow bolts, bows, arrows, compound crossbows, and bombs produced for the evacuation group 67 73 77 81.
• Marriage ring — One of the rings Lou Yu originally bought for Ye Ruan; Lou Yu rejects it when Lu Yao first offers it after their forced marriage 153 155.

Relationships

• Lou Yu / Fox — Husband and central relationship. Their marriage begins through coercion and prolonged conflict, then develops into reciprocated love after Lu Yao acknowledges his wrongdoing and chooses to face danger beside him. Lou Yu later monitors his meals and health, while Lu Yao promises lifelong care 155 159 160 161 164.
• Ye Ruan — One of his abductors and an early focus of jealousy because Lou Yu pursues him. They later cooperate on weapons, the evacuation, and the Arctic journey; Lu Yao also helps pursue a cure for his infection 151 153 81 120 161 163.
• Gu Cheng — A cautious ally during the escape. Gu Cheng resents Lu Yao’s earlier treatment of Ye Ruan, but accepts his participation in the group’s preparations. Lu Yao later refuses to administer Xu Chu’s dangerous contingency tranquilizer to him 67 73 105 140.
• Xu Chu — Research collaborator who works with him on saving Ye Ruan and entrusts him with the contingency tranquilizer gun 140 161.
• Nan Han — Uses poison developed by Lu Yao. Lu Yao claims it was taken without permission and was not intended for their group 77.
• Headquarters — Values his research highly, secures his service through the marriage arrangement, and rapidly promotes him to Research Team leader 153 155 156.

Notable Quotes

“I'm sorry. … Could you give me a chance? Let us start over.” 157

“The greatest regret of my life is forcing you against your will three years ago.” 159

“I'll live a little longer and take care of you for the rest of your life.” 161

Trivia

• Lu Yao likes soft, chewy cream-filled mochi; Lou Yu remembers this and buys him a box on W Island 161.
• Cold food and exposure to chills can aggravate his stomach trouble for an entire day 159.
• Despite their legal marriage, Lu Yao and Lou Yu never hold a wedding of their own 155 164.