Sun Ya

Biodata

Background / History

Sun Ya served in the military and worked in the defense industry before moving into medical-device development. He attributed his departure from military research to disagreements with colleagues and claimed to have developed the country’s first MRI machine. He remained at Talent Residential Complex because he had grown accustomed to living there; twenty years earlier, it had been housing reserved for specialists 28 29 32.

After noticing people mutate during the rain, Sun Ya collected rainwater and tested it on his dog. The animal went mad, forcing him to shoot it. Fearing infected birds and other animals, he covered his windows and armed himself with a hunting gun. The government’s announcement that it had ceased functioning convinced him that organized rescue could no longer be relied upon 29.

He initially rejected Su Jin’s proposal to organize the residents, arguing that infected animals might already have overwhelmed military bases. Su Jin’s account of Fu Qingdai’s warning and his offer to establish a research-supported team restored some of Sun Ya’s interest. Sun Ya demanded that Su Jin prove his competence by clearing the zombies downstairs, lending him a shotgun and teaching him to use it. Afterward, he accepted Su Jin as the group’s leader and introduced his former colleague Wei De 28 29 30.

Personality

Sun Ya is blunt, skeptical, and quick-tempered. He immediately challenges Su Jin’s invented government department and repeatedly mocks his attempts to explain discoveries through fictional “zombie crystals.” He also acknowledges that his temper caused problems with his former colleagues 29 32 33.

His scientific caution extends to his own conclusions. He admits that zombie dissection lies beyond established knowledge, does not guarantee safety, and qualifies experimental results when sample sizes are small. After Su Jin’s awakening, he insists on observation rather than immediately declaring him safe 30 33 35 38.

Despite his early despair, Sun Ya becomes deeply attached to the group. He comforts the grieving Wei De and privately admits that Su Jin’s medical crisis distressed him more than his wife’s death. His loyalty does not prevent criticism: he admires Su Jin’s adaptability and ruthlessness while warning that those qualities could make him a tyrant 30 35 40.

Abilities & Skills

Scientific and Medical Research

Sun Ya combines medical-device expertise with practical experimental work 29 32.

• Directs zombie dissections, records observations, and compares abnormal tissues 32.
• Studies the infectious gray substance using laboratory mice, numbered samples, and a grayscale chart supplied by Su Jin 30 31.
• Examines Su Jin’s lucidity and physical condition after his unexplained coma 33.
• Limit: He knows some medicine but explicitly considers himself below a true specialist; his dissection experience includes observing a few procedures 30 32.

Firearms and Technical Preparation

• Owns a shotgun and teaches Su Jin how to operate it 29.
• Helps teach survivors to hot-wire cars and drive 45.
• Works with Wei De to inspect and refuel the expedition vehicle and prepare two improvised timed bombs 45.
• Limit: His age restricts strenuous work; he leaves moving the bombs to Su Jin 45.

Survival Planning

• Recommends isolating residents whose exposure to contaminated water is uncertain 38.
• Advocates moving to a military base for heavy weapons rather than establishing a vulnerable urban base 38.
• Helps devise a behavioral screening method for Disguised Infected 41 42.
• Supplies university-specific guidance based on having helped acquire laboratory equipment and delivered lectures there 43.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Zombie and Infection Research

The discovery of concealed infection changes Sun Ya’s explanation for civilization’s collapse. He reasons that infiltrating mutants could have broken institutional trust and compromised decision-makers, rather than military losses alone accounting for the government’s failure 40.

Dragon Mountain Medical University Expedition

• Screening proposal: Sun Ya and Wei De propose using rats marked with sodium fluorescein to expose people who act on the urge to kill them. The plan combines residents’ earlier contamination warnings, screenings, and fluorescent tracing 42.
• Supply destination: Sun Ya identifies the university’s underground laboratory as a likely source of surviving rats, sodium fluorescein, and portable ultraviolet lights. Its emergency power and environmental controls support his expectation that some rats remain alive 42.
• Strategic restriction: He considers safe recruitment feasible within the residential complex, but warns that broader recruitment would endanger the operation 42.
• Timing dispute: He urges an immediate expedition before thawing increases zombie mobility. Su Jin instead prioritizes obtaining Flesh Balls to strengthen Fu Hu and Cheng Du 43.
• Final preparations: He provides written instructions and Wei De’s medicine box, warns Su Jin to control Cheng Du’s rashness, and argues that the household must eventually learn the full threat posed by disguised infection 45.
• Departure: Su Jin leaves Sun Ya and Wei De behind with instructions to keep everyone indoors 46.

Equipment / Items

• Hunting shotgun and ammunition — Lent to Su Jin for his initial test; Sun Ya states that he has thirty additional shells 29.
• Collected rainwater — Retains half a bottle from his early experiments, though Su Jin warns that its infectious substance may already have dissipated 30.
• Research notes and screening plan — Records dissection observations and helps write the detailed recruitment-testing proposal 32 42.

Relationships

• Su Jin — Leader and research partner, known to Sun Ya as Li Haocheng or “Xiao Li.” Sun Ya progresses from skepticism to wholehearted support. Even when he suspects Su Jin might be an alien, he chooses not to confront him because he trusts his intentions 29 30 35 40.
• Wei De — Longtime friend, former colleague, and principal research collaborator. Sun Ya encourages him after his wife’s death and stresses the urgency created by his dwindling heart medication 30 38 41 43.
• Fu Qingdai — Her advance warning helps persuade Sun Ya to join Su Jin. He protects her from approaching the feverish Su Jin too closely during post-awakening observation 29 33.
• Cheng Du — Fellow survivor whose fire awakening astonishes Sun Ya. Sun Ya later warns Su Jin that Cheng Du’s rashness could jeopardize the expedition 44 45.

Notable Quotes

“No virus in nature can cross species and cause infection and mutation this quickly... This isn't a virus at all. It's a supernatural disaster.” 29

“You're the leader. You're our core. If you don't want to give up, we have no right to.” 40