Su Xuan

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Su Xuan (苏玄)
Species/Race	Former Merfolk; became an Eerie/Strange Creature after abandoning his original body and racial powers 357.
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Su family; later incorporated into Su Bai’s Vengeful Ghost Puzzle 352 653.
Occupation/Role	Su Bai’s older brother; creator and owner of the artificial Honghuai City; formerly considered a prospective leader of his people 357 358.
Status	Alive; part of Su Bai’s Puzzle, with his city serving as a refuge for their family 653 658.
First Appearance	Mentioned in Su Bai’s family history 1; appears in the artificial Honghuai City sequence 323.

Power Progression

The documented changes concern Su Xuan’s form and abilities rather than named cultivation ranks.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Merfolk with formidable racial powers	357 361	His ancestry made him a prospective clan leader. He later relinquished these powers following his civilization’s collapse.
Powerful Eerie	351 357	Abandoned his Merfolk body and emerged from the sea of blood as a wandering Strange Creature, powerful enough to possess a territory.
Power sealed within a humanlike Doll	352 355	The Ghost Shaman made a child-shaped shell with intricate restraints, allowing him to use a passage into the Real World that admitted very little power.
Creator of an isolated city-domain	358 361	Constructed a replica of Honghuai City and populated it with wooden Dolls. The domain’s weather and inhabitants responded to his emotions.
Vengeful Ghost Puzzle component	653	Su Bai incorporated both Su Xuan and Honghuai City into the Puzzle. This gave Su Xuan a way forward in modifying Fixed Point coordinates.

Background / History

Merfolk Origins

Su Xuan’s maternal grandfather had led their people before dying in the disaster that destroyed their civilization. His mother remained frail after giving birth to his younger sister, and some survivors consequently regarded Su Xuan as the next leader. He rejected that expectation after losing his closest family, refusing to devote his existence to people he scarcely knew 357.

After abandoning his Merfolk body and powers, he wandered the Nightmare World alone. Seeking relief from his solitude, he repeatedly approached the Ghost Shaman for help reaching another world. The Ghost Shaman eventually supplied a Doll shell and a passage to the Real World 351 352.

Becoming the Su Family’s Eldest Son

Su Xuan initially wandered the Real World in the body of a young child, finding it no less lonely than the Nightmare World. He changed course after encountering Lin Wan, a recently widowed mother holding her infant son, Su Bai 352.

With the Ghost Shaman’s permission, he used a small portion of his sealed power to insert himself into Lin Wan’s memories as her five-year-old eldest son. He encouraged her to rebuild her life and cared for Su Bai while she established her business. What began as a family role-playing game became a genuine attachment 352 356.

Su Xuan grew into a cheerful, academically gifted older brother. Before his apparent decline, he attended an exceptional university program, worked with an outstanding adviser, and participated in research projects. He remained especially attentive to Su Bai, who had been sickly and clumsy as a child 173.

The Childhood Fall

Su Bai remembered Su Xuan saving him after he fell from a third-floor window, losing his right little finger in the process. The recovered memories revealed a more complicated incident involving the Ghost Shaman, whose rescue strained the teenage Su Xuan shell until its hands began cracking 173 354 635.

Su Xuan subsequently explained that even the shell’s elaborate restraints could not prevent all leakage of Red Moon power. Over time, this power accumulated around their home and within Lin Wan and Su Bai. His presence kept nearby Strange Creatures away, but his absence left the family exposed to creatures attracted by those traces 355.

Departure and the Occupied Shell

The forces hunting the Merfolk Remnants learned of Su Xuan’s existence. Although he had already discarded the powers they wanted, they continued searching for him. Fearing that they would reach the Real World and endanger his family, he withdrew into an isolated replica of Honghuai City 357 358.

He left his old shell behind and knowingly allowed a wandering ghost to occupy it. The improved shell sealed the intruder’s supernatural power, tormented it, and was intended to collapse within two years. Su Xuan believed this arrangement would leave his family safe, failing to recognize that someone without supernatural strength could still destroy their lives 358.

The occupant became the drunken gambler whom Su Bai blamed for the family’s ruin. It stole their savings, accumulated debts, borrowed money under the pretext of paying Lin Wan’s medical bills, and disappeared after her car accident. When it eventually entered the artificial Honghuai City, Su Xuan captured it and learned what had happened 1 173 358.

Previous-Life Timeline

In the previous-life timeline, Su Xuan returned to the Real World in a temporary shell and found Su Bai mourning Lin Wan’s death. Determined to repair the damage caused by his departure, he entered the Void Sea in search of a rift into the past, tethered to Fog Mountain by the Ghost Shaman’s white cord 359.

After enduring illusions and severe power loss, he reached the rainy night when creditors drove Su Bai from the family home. Too weak to intervene or return, he cut the cord and transformed his entire being into a coordinate anchor within Su Bai’s shadow. His final message asked the Ghost Shaman to give Su Bai another chance if his brother ever had no way out 359.

Reunion and Later Events

Su Xuan made his hidden city into a Nightmare Game scenario for Su Bai, despite the risk of attracting his pursuers. His indirect explanations initially made Su Bai suspect that he was another impostor. After learning the truth, Su Bai recognized him as the brother who had raised him, and the two embraced 349 351 361 362.

Su Xuan gave Su Bai a key that would return him to the city, while retaining the ghost occupying his discarded shell beneath Rainbow Locust Tenth Middle School. Su Bai completed the seven-day game and returned to the Real World, trusting that they would meet again 362 366.

During a later visit, Su Xuan explained the Red Moon Society’s use of Merfolk remains to construct a server connecting human Players through the Administrator. He was subsequently incorporated into Su Bai’s Puzzle alongside Honghuai City 622 653.

When Lin Wan visited the city as part of the family’s safe rear base, familiar streets and shops began restoring her memories of Su Xuan. He struggled to conceal his excitement as she remembered him 658.

Appearance

• Humanlike shell: Refined and clean-cut, with features resembling Su Bai’s but more angular 349 620.
• Missing right little finger: A defining feature associated with Su Bai’s childhood fall; the discarded shell shares this identifying injury 173 362.
• Wooden construction: His self-made shell can become stiff and show visible wood grain when he loses control. Its impact against the ground sounds like timber 349.
• Limited expressiveness: His own craftsmanship cannot reproduce subtle emotions as well as the Ghost Shaman’s Dolls 361.

Personality

Su Xuan was remembered as cheerful, considerate, and dependable. He patiently cared for Su Bai, carried him through the neighborhood when his younger brother could not keep up, and encouraged his studies even when that meant spending less time together 173 328.

His attachment to the Su family developed despite his insistence that their life together was merely a game. He initially underestimated the consequences of leaving, but learning of the family’s suffering produced profound regret. In the previous-life timeline, that regret drove him to sacrifice himself for a chance to change their past 356 358 359.

His protectiveness often takes the form of withholding information: he believes that knowing about dangerous forces encourages people to investigate them. He is also openly possessive of his role as Su Bai’s older brother, arguing with Wu Heng over the latter’s intimacy with Su Bai 362 627.

Abilities & Skills

Honghuai City Domain

Su Xuan created a hidden replica of the city as it existed around the time he left the Real World 358.

• Houses wooden replacements for its residents, including replicas of Lin Wan and Su Bai 359 361.
• Changes its weather in response to his emotions; anger and regret produce storms, while relief allows the sky to clear 358 360.
• Can exclude rainfall from a particular location, such as the rooftop where he speaks with Su Bai 358.
• Emotional instability causes its Doll citizens to mutate into dangerous freaks 361 366.

Doll Crafting and Sealed Power

Su Xuan can construct humanlike shells and other Dolls, although his craftsmanship is inferior to the Ghost Shaman’s 351 361.

• Most ordinary city Dolls initially repeat fixed actions and dialogue 361.
• His original shell contained his power through restraints made by the Ghost Shaman 355.
• He helped improve that shell so it could completely seal an occupying Strange Creature’s power 358.
• His residual aura frightens Strange Creatures from the Nightmare World, explaining why they avoided the ghost using his abandoned shell 358.

Memory Alteration and Presentation

• Implanted himself into Lin Wan’s memories as her eldest son 352.
• Drew Su Bai into a presentation of past events by covering his eyes 353.
• Offered Su Bai access to blurred childhood memories through a game within the Honghuai City scenario 328 329.

Spatial Movement and Concealment

• Moves between positions without a perceptible warning or surge of Red Moon power 327.
• Appeared beneath the school almost immediately after seeing Su Bai off 362.
• Concealed Honghuai City in an isolated spatial rift, although gaps still allowed the discarded-shell occupant to intrude 358.

Coordinates and Fixed Points

Su Xuan retains knowledge of Merfolk methods for navigating and anchoring routes through the Void Sea, despite having relinquished his racial powers 359 653.

• A coordinate anchor directs travelers toward a specific rift in time or space 359.
• Suitable anchors require a close connection to the destination or special power of their own 359.
• In the previous-life timeline, his remaining strength allowed him to create only one final anchor 359.
• He knows the method for implanting a Fixed Point within the Red Moon, but carrying it out in his altered state is difficult 653.

Equipment / Items

• Communication mirror — Supplied by the Ghost Shaman to monitor the experimental shell. Su Xuan could speak through it, while the Ghost Shaman could see him and retrieve him through the passage in an emergency 352.
• Honghuai City key — Made from the severed little finger and given to Su Bai. It opens a route to the hidden city through a door with a keyhole, works only for Su Bai, and returns to him if lost 362.
• White cord and Silver Bells — Used during the previous-life expedition into the Void Sea. The cord linked Su Xuan to Fog Mountain, while its bell helped break through illusions and indicated a route home. He cut it before becoming an anchor 359.

Relationships

• Su Bai — Younger brother and the person Su Xuan devoted himself to protecting. Their reunion confirms that his nonhuman origins do not negate their family bond 173 362.
• Lin Wan — Mother within the family identity he created. His concern for her became genuine, and her later recovery of memories about him moved him deeply 352 658.
• Wu Heng / Ghost Shaman — Longstanding acquaintance who supplied his original shell, passage, mirror, and Void Sea tether. Su Xuan both fears his power and trusts his help; their relationship becomes contentious over Wu Heng’s Marriage Contract with Su Bai 352 359 627.
• Administrator — Formerly belonged to Su Xuan’s people and contacted him during his investigation of the Red Moon Society’s experiment 622.
• Wandering ghost in his discarded shell — Occupied the body he left in the Real World and ruined the Su family’s finances. Su Xuan later captured and confined it beneath the school 358 362.

Identity Distinction

Figure	Identifying facts
The real Su Xuan	The former Merfolk who raised Su Bai, created the artificial Honghuai City, and eventually became part of the Puzzle 352 358 653.
The ghost using “Su Xuan” as a Player identity	Occupied his discarded shell; became a gambling drunk; traveled with the Jin Family Brothers and joined Chen Hai’s team. Xia An’an read its diary and questioned whether it was truly human 184 185 358.

The nonhuman “Su Xuan” confronted inside the artificial city is ultimately recognized as Su Bai’s real brother. He is not the wandering ghost imprisoned beneath the school 360 362.

Notable Quotes

“If I succeed, though, I can mend the lives I ruined.” 359

“Once someone knows something, they instinctively start paying attention to it, pursuing it. So the best way to avoid danger is to know nothing at all.” 362

“Just like your useless older brother. Though I can't leave this false City for now, I've actually been here all along.” 362