Lin Shiming

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Lin Shiming (林时明)
Alias(es)	President Lin; “Miser”; “Legacy Bro,” a nickname used by Cheng Xin 90 301 390
Gender	Male
Affiliation	White Night Guild 90
Occupation/Role	White Night Guild president; researcher at a biology laboratory in the real world 90 390
Status	Alive; returns to reality and later handles much of the practical work concerning the Weird 390 391
First Appearance	Chapter 4, as an observer of Li Xian’s livestream 4

Background / History

Observing Li Xian

Lin Shiming first appears outside the Stone River Village instance, consulting his notebook after Li Xian survives the supposedly fatal rain through contact with Ji Xie. Recognizing that events contradict his existing information, he opens Li Xian’s livestream to investigate. He subsequently notices the censored Marriage Certificate and suspects that Li Xian has received a skill 4 5.

His interest continues throughout the instance. He tells Cheng Xin that it may be a TOD and later correctly deduces that Li Xian deliberately engineered not only his apparent death, but also Zhou Shan’s method of stabbing him. Afterward, he asks Cheng Xin to keep watching Li Xian and follows his progress through Miss Dolly’s Portrait Gallery 7 21 33 38.

Recruiting and Protecting Li Xian

When Li Xian reaches the Advanced Zone, Lin formally introduces himself as White Night Guild’s president. Rather than immediately requesting membership, he answers questions about guilds and explains the dangers of survival-hunt instances. Li Xian joins after learning about the protection offered by the guild’s Peace Agreements 90 91.

During later debriefings, Lin concludes that Li Xian’s experiences are not ordinary player difficulty: the system appears to be deliberately targeting him. He suggests that the system may regard Li Xian as a threat, gives him a danger-detecting Jadeite Rough, and recommends watching ordinary Novice Zone streams for comparison 123 124.

Lin also recruits Song Qingzhang after his advancement, presenting him with an Advanced Zone guide and membership agreement. The guide retains Cheng Xin’s blunt recruitment page because Lin considers reprinting it an unnecessary expense 176.

Preparing for the Guild’s Future

Concerned that accumulated instance difficulty will eventually kill the guild’s leaders, Lin places most of his points and the guild’s operating earnings in an interest-generating Piggy Bank. He arranges staggered instance schedules with Cheng Xin so that one of them can safeguard it, and asks Li Xian to inherit that responsibility if neither remains able to do so 238.

The separation also serves another purpose: Lin wants Cheng Xin to become accustomed to entering instances with other partners. His collected data suggests that Advanced Zone players clear an average of twelve instances—roughly four months of survival at ten days per instance and recovery period. The highest reported total he has found is twenty-one, which he cannot independently verify 330 331.

The Dream Instance

Despite Li Xian’s disabled team function, Lin enters the same instance as him. His objective differs from the other players’ goal of “liberation”: he must gain Fan Zhe’s trust and help realize his ideal of purifying negative emotions 303 363.

Lin secures a research position under Fan Zhe by rapidly understanding Candy-production machinery and solving a long-standing problem with gaseous Candy. Fan increasingly relies on him, but installs audio-recording cameras on his wristband and in his home. Under that surveillance, Lin communicates with Li Xian indirectly, deliberately leaving information and instruction manuals without openly acknowledging their cooperation 338 353 354.

Believing liberation means restoring residents’ suppressed emotions, Lin pursues gaseous Honey Shadow. An animal experiment fails, leading him to identify Ji Xie as the relevant “nonhuman” recipient. He supplies Ji Xie with a Candy Maker manual and leaves Li Xian a manual for Fan Zhe’s Bracelet 359 360.

The machine’s activation produces black fog, failed wristbands, widespread frenzy, and unexplained disappearances. Lin rescues Li Xian, provides a protective mask, and attempts to vent the remaining gas. He admits that the outcome does not fit his expectations 359 360.

Assuming their objectives cannot both be completed, Lin accepts his own death and asks Li Xian to apologize to Cheng Xin for him. Li refuses to abandon him and proposes another solution. After Fan Zhe is fed Candy, Lin completes his objective within Fan’s optimistic dream by helping rebuild a residential community filled with “happiness,” allowing him to return to the Player Center 363 370.

The Final Maze and Source Instance

After the Dream instance, Lin investigates an unexplained death in the Player Center and coordinates inquiries into the closed instance entrances. During Li Xian’s final maze challenge, he records the route and performs calculations from the livestream 369 372 373.

Lin uses repeated bets on Li Xian’s failure to manipulate the displayed victory odds into a signal: 3.60 and 3.61. Li Xian interprets these as 360 and 361, recognizes an angular clue, and discovers that the maze is inclined rather than flat. The unusually large betting funds come from points Li Xian entrusted to Lin before entering 376.

Following Li Xian’s success, Lin helps restore order in the Player Center. At Li Xian’s request, he uses his skill on the center itself, producing a structural diagram that reveals a lower section beneath the Novice Zone. The effort strains his mental value, requiring Jiang Qiuyue’s assistance 378 380.

Return to Reality

After returning to ordinary life, Lin resumes work at a biology laboratory and reconnects with the former players. Cheng Xin visits without warning and stays at his home. Noticing that Lin still behaves as though danger is imminent, Cheng asks him to stop always assuming the worst; Lin gives no explicit answer 390.

Lin later organizes a reunion in Li Xian’s city and privately asks whether Ji Xie is with him. As matters concerning the Weird are negotiated, Li Xian interprets the USB drive’s contents and participates in decisions, while Lin handles most of the actual work 391.

Appearance

• Glasses: Wears silver-rimmed glasses at his first formal meeting with Li Xian 90.
• Clothing: Keeps his clothes impeccably neat; wears a white laboratory coat, mask, and rectangular glasses while researching Honey Shadows 90 338.
• Eyes: Described as dark and intensely focused when his curiosity is engaged 239.
• Expression: His smiles can be almost imperceptible. On one occasion, he has to tell Li Xian, “I’m smiling” 123 313.

Personality

Lin is formal, restrained, and analytical. He keeps extensive records, separates conjecture from established facts, and can become so absorbed in a debriefing that he overlooks his guests’ needs. Li Xian recognizes that his pursuit of truth comes from a straightforward desire to know rather than personal obsession 123 239.

His reserve does not prevent generosity or loyalty. He accepts Peace Agreements regardless of another guild’s strength, gives Li Xian a valuable protective item, and ultimately prioritizes Li Xian’s group over his own apparent chance of survival. He is particularly concerned that losing a companion might lead someone he knows to make fatal mistakes 91 124 331 363.

His planning frequently centers on the worst possible outcome. He prepares succession arrangements, anticipates his own death, and continues to show tension after returning to reality. Cheng Xin directly challenges this habit. Lin’s frugality also produces dry humor: he retains an awkward recruitment document to avoid reprinting costs and furnishes the guild lounge with the cheapest available options 176 238 301 390.

Abilities & Skills

Instruction-Manual Generation

Lin’s skill produces an instruction manual for a specified object by consuming mental value 359.

• Each manual lists five random pieces of relevant information 359.
• The amount of detail and mental-value cost vary with the object 359.
• He generates manuals for Fan Zhe’s Bracelet and the Candy Maker, enabling covert cooperation with Li Xian and Ji Xie 353 359.
• Using the skill on the Player Center produces a structural diagram rather than written instructions. The activation visibly strains him 380.

Research and Technical Analysis

• Understands the basic principles of Fan Zhe’s complex Candy machinery in less than an hour, without an explanation 354.
• Solves the technical obstacle preventing successful production of gaseous Candy 354.
• Handles Honey Shadow samples with practiced precision and identifies Li Xian’s dark-red sample as a new Anger variant 338.
• Tests competing interpretations of the machine’s “nonhuman” condition and openly acknowledges when experimental results remain unexplained 360.

Observation and Deduction

• Maintains instance records containing death patterns and other operational information 4 33 38.
• Recognizes Li Xian’s deliberate manipulation of Zhou Shan’s killing method 21.
• Identifies the system’s apparent targeting of Li Xian and later warns that it may restrict him personally, not merely increase instance difficulty 124 238.
• Corroborates Ji Xie’s unusual identity through livestream observations and Song Qingzhang’s conspicuous attempts to lie 360.
• Uses maze mapping, calculations, and manipulated betting odds to convey information across the livestream’s constraints 373 376.

Leadership and Resource Management

• Maintains 72 Peace Agreements for White Night Guild and accepts agreements with guilds regardless of strength 91.
• Explains how alliances, coordinated teams, and witnesses discourage attacks and sabotage, despite the agreements lacking formal enforcement 91.
• Plans custody and succession for the guild’s accumulated points 238.
• Uses his established authority to calm the Player Center during the final crisis 380.

Cooking

• Prepares teriyaki chicken, scallion-oil shredded chicken, braised eggplant, and broccoli with careful timing 330.
• His cooking impresses Li Xian enough that Li expresses interest in visiting him for a home-cooked meal in reality 330.

Equipment / Items

• Notebook and black pen — Used for instance records, debriefings, sketches, and calculations. Lin later explains that recording information helps maintain his internal sense of order 4 238 370.
• Piggy Bank — Stores points and earns interest. Holds most of Lin’s savings and the guild’s operating earnings; also stores Li Xian’s points before the final wager 238 376.
• Protective masks — Specialized masks that temporarily filter gaseous Honey Shadow. Lin gives Li Xian a replacement after rescuing him 338 359.
• Insulated flask — Regularly carried in the Player Center for hot water 303.
• Jadeite Rough — An A-quality danger detector that turns green and warms up at the cost of durability; given to Li Xian as a protective gift 124.

Relationships

• Li Xian — Initially an intriguing livestream subject, later a guild member and trusted collaborator. Lin warns him about the system, entrusts him with guild succession, and helps him survive the Dream and maze instances. Li, in turn, refuses to let Lin accept an avoidable death 124 238 363 376.
• Cheng Xin — Longstanding instance partner and fellow White Night Guild leader. Lin separates their schedules partly to prepare Cheng for life without their partnership. Their friendship continues in reality, where Cheng challenges Lin’s pessimism and stays at his home 238 330 390.
• Jiang Qiuyue — Guild colleague who supplies detailed instance accounts, teases him about his stinginess, and restores his mental value during the Player Center mapping 123 124 380.
• Song Qingzhang — Recruited into White Night Guild after reaching the Advanced Zone. Lin also uses Song’s inability to lie convincingly to corroborate information about Ji Xie 176 360.
• Ji Xie — A subject of Lin’s investigation and a covert ally during the Dream instance. Lin supplies him with a Candy Maker manual and later asks Li Xian whether they remain together in reality 359 360 391.
• Fan Zhe — Research employer and central figure in Lin’s Dream-instance objective. Fan values Lin’s technical ability but surveils him; Lin betrays his interests to help the other players, then fulfills his objective within Fan’s dream 354 363 370.

Notable Quotes

“When something tries every possible means to destroy you, that means you have the potential to destroy it, too.” 124

“Make bold guesses, then verify them carefully. I can only do the former. You’ll have to think through the rest yourself.” 239

“Keeping records isn’t really about gathering information so much as maintaining a sense of order within myself.” 370