Old Yang

Biodata

Background / History

Old Yang is the first person Zhou Ze meets after transmigrating and the first to show him kindness inside the Anomaly Containment Facility. Zhou Ze initially regards him as an eccentric roommate, tolerating his disturbing eating habits because he considers him a trustworthy companion 1 15.

His identity remains unexplained. Although he appears as a man sharing Zhou Ze’s room, guards do not perceive him, and he moves freely through heavily secured areas. Zhou Ze initially avoids investigating these contradictions; only after Old Yang reveals his role in restraining a sealed divinity does Zhou Ze seriously question what he is 2 10 40 45.

Appearance

• Face: Sharply defined and haggard, with sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones, and thick stubble 1.
• Eyes: Crimson and bloodshot, often accompanied by an amused or enigmatic expression 1 3 10.
• Voice: Hoarse and grating, compared to sandpaper; it becomes distant and ethereal during some of his cryptic speeches 27 30 37.
• Eating habits: Frequently seen chewing bloody flesh or bones, with dark red residue around his mouth. He calls his meals “beef sashimi,” “chicken-foot sashimi,” and “raw beef paste” 1 7.
• Weakened appearance: At Site 108, his face is pale with a sickly flush, while distorted human faces bulge beneath the clothing over his abdomen 40.

Personality

Old Yang combines practical concern for Zhou Ze with deliberately unsettling humor. He repeatedly supplies lifesaving instructions, but also mocks Zhou Ze’s fear, calls his lavish breakfast a “last supper,” and insists that he would never harm his companion 1 3 5 27.

He prefers riddles to direct explanations and openly admits that straightforward answers would spoil his entertainment. Zhou Ze finds him frustrating because his replies often avoid the most important part of a question 7. His assurances consequently coexist with evasiveness: when asked about Lu Fei, he claims that he cannot know anything Zhou Ze does not know 15.

Old Yang repeatedly tries to draw attention to Zhou Ze’s fear, excitement, and appetite for danger. When Zhou Ze experiences intense hatred toward Dai Yong’an, Old Yang appears intoxicated, sniffing the air and moving his fingers as though conducting music. His later admission that he feeds on cognition and negative emotions gives these reactions a concrete significance 10 25 36 40.

Abilities & Skills

Concealment and Unexplained Movement

Old Yang appears and disappears without a trace, including inside secured containment chambers 2 3.

• Stands beside a guard without the guard noticing him 10.
• Speaks behind Wang Lei, who finds nothing when she looks toward him 27.
• Claims that, in theory, only the Higher-Dimensional Observer can notice his conversations with Zhou Ze 29.
• Can apparently make physical contact: he pats Zhou Ze’s shoulder, their first documented touch 30.
• His physical nature is inconsistent with an ordinary body; the giant snail’s attack passes through him at Site 108 40.

Cognition and Negative-Emotion Consumption

Old Yang states that he has been feeding on portions of Zhou Ze’s cognition and negative emotions 40.

• Reacts visibly to Zhou Ze’s hatred of Dai Yong’an 36.
• Zhou Ze later accepts this explanation as true and connects it with his ability to remain composed and amuse himself despite the facility’s oppressive conditions 46.
• This source of nourishment proves insufficient: Old Yang describes himself as utterly weakened during the Site-108 experiment 40.

Restraint of the Sealed Divinity

Old Yang holds back a chaotic supreme divinity inside Zhou Ze, which he describes as being formed from different thoughts and desires 40.

• Warns that the seal has loosened and that he cannot endure much longer 37.
• Says that restraining the divinity already consumes his remaining capacity, leaving him unable to withstand another divine entity’s influence 40.
• Urges Zhou Ze not to lose himself or allow “Them” to take control 40 43.

Protection Against Memory Erasure

Zhou Ze attributes his retained memories to Old Yang’s ability to make the facility’s memory-erasure methods ineffective 28.

• Reminds Zhou Ze to pretend that Class-A Amnestics erased his memories of the Game Box experiment 7.
• Enables Zhou Ze to accept Wang Lei’s proposed memory wipe without expecting to lose his knowledge 28 29.
• Does not fully prevent Alice’s effects on Zhou Ze; he acknowledges that he can conceal only a little of her influence 30.

Limited Mind Reading

Zhou Ze concludes that Old Yang can read relatively superficial thoughts, rather than communicate through unrestricted telepathy 25.

• Responds to Zhou Ze’s unspoken doubts about whether he can be trusted 27.
• Despite this apparent ability, the two still rely on spoken conversation 25.

Hazard Assessment and Anomalous Knowledge

Old Yang provides precise instructions and explanations that Zhou Ze cannot obtain independently.

• Directs Zhou Ze beneath the Game Box’s green beams and through its black-light attack 4 5.
• Recommends pretending to faint during the subsequent breach 5 6.
• Describes Designation-682’s adaptation, hostility, and failed execution attempts, while qualifying his explanation as applying to “the one you’re seeing” 25.
• Explains that the nanorobots inside Zhou Ze will destroy his tissues if Dai Yong’an’s heart stops for more than three minutes 37.

Relationships

• Zhou Ze — Companion, adviser, and source of nourishment. Zhou Ze trusts his survival instructions while resenting his riddles and emotional provocations 4 7 25 40.
• Alice / SCP-239 — Her influence exceeds what Old Yang can fully shield Zhou Ze from. He identifies the unpaid price of her gift as a decisive problem when his restraint fails 30 40.
• Wang Lei — Warns Zhou Ze that she cannot read the mind of someone who distrusts her, while advising him not to provoke her. She does not visibly perceive Old Yang during this exchange 27.
• Dai Yong’an — Explains the doctor’s nanobot safeguard and interprets it as an attempt to bind Dai Yong’an’s fate to Zhou Ze’s 36 37.
• Higher-Dimensional Observers — Describes them as beings drawn to extreme emotions who influence lives, deaths, and fate. He delivers a prayer-like declaration toward the void, but his exact relationship with them remains unexplained 30 31.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Game Box Experiment and Breach

• Warns Zhou Ze that the experiment is dangerous and promises to intervene if necessary 3.
• His instructions allow Zhou Ze to survive both the green-beam barrage and the sweeping black beams 4 5.
• Leaves to “play” with an escaped entity, while telling Zhou Ze to leave and feign unconsciousness. He later reappears looking unusually radiant after the escaped subjects have been recaptured 5 6.
• Explains that changing fate incurs a cost and confirms Zhou Ze’s interpretation that his good luck can mean another person’s bad luck 7.

Illusion Butterflies Aftermath

• Identifies the apparent Designation-682 and points out that Zhou Ze’s escape route is open before departing to find food 25.
• Helps Zhou Ze navigate Wang Lei’s scrutiny and subsequently explains the limits of his protection against Alice’s influence 27 30.
• Warns that the Higher-Dimensional Observers will be disappointed if Zhou Ze does not grow stronger 30.

Nanobot Bomb and Site 108

• Reveals the bomb’s connection to Dai Yong’an’s heartbeat, warns that the internal seal is weakening, and disappears for the following two days 37.
• Reappears after Liu Xin’s death and explains that the price of Alice’s gift remains unpaid. He says he has deceived “Them” once, but cannot do so again 40.
• His inability to keep holding back the sealed divinity precedes Zhou Ze’s transformation during the giant snail’s attack 40.

Blood Sea and Disappearance

• Calls to Zhou Ze within the blood sea and urges him to resist control by the overwhelming thoughts and desires around him 43.
• Is absent when Zhou Ze awakens at Site-17, leaving the nature of the sealed entity—and Old Yang himself—unresolved 45.

Notable Quotes

“Fate's gifts already come with a price tag. Any attempt to change a predetermined course demands an additional cost.” 7

“Where's the fun in that? A guy's got to find some entertainment.” 7

“Remember, powers of the mind are born of the mind, and they perish with it. Don't lose yourself...” 40