Cheng Qi

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Childhood on Garbage Earth

Cheng Qi was found and taken in by the man he calls Grandpa. The unidentified Crystal Bracer was already attached to his hand when he was found; it grew with him, remained snug around his wrist, and continued glowing after more than a decade without charging. Grandpa speculated that it came from a level-13 civilization, but this was not established as fact 2.

He grew up scavenging technological ruins and learned basic equipment repair. Old Lin, a friend of Grandpa's, repeatedly helped them survive food shortages. After Grandpa died, Foolish Boy became Cheng Qi's only companion 2 8 9.

Awakening the Standard Template Construct

Cheng Qi paid to reserve Garbage Mountain 7-12-5, only for E Luo to seize it. E Luo launched a missile at him, and Foolish Boy shielded him, destroying his own body and memory core in the process. While Cheng Qi grieved, the Crystal Bracer offered its first synthesis prompt; Foolish Boy was subsequently restored and upgraded 1 2 3.

The bracer identified itself as the Standard Template Construct. Cheng Qi began testing its capabilities, discovering that technological scrap could be combined into advanced equipment while ordinary stones and paper could not. Flight shoes transformed his view of Earth's enormous garbage reserves from a means of subsistence into a source of extraordinary power 3.

The Limit Squad and Hyena Luke

Searching the Dane Group's medical waste, Cheng Qi discovered nearly thirty skeletons sealed inside a fuel tank. Their badges identified them as members of the celebrated Limit Squad, and cut marks on their neck bones showed that they had been murdered. He collected their nameplates, buried the remains beneath an unnamed headstone, and synthesized eight recovered exoskeletons into powerful armor 6 7.

Hyena Luke attempted to kill Cheng Qi for his valuable amorphous alloy and used the injured Old Lin as a hostage. Cheng Qi overwhelmed the enforcers with his new armor and carried Old Lin out of the burning bar. Hyena died in the fire, ending both his threat to Cheng Qi and the debts he held over other scavengers 9 10.

Trade and Genetic Ambition

Cheng Qi's encounter with Mo exposed the gulf between scavengers and higher-grade humans. After witnessing Hana's desperate attempt to obtain a higher-grade child, he redirected his ambitions toward genetic advancement. He traded twenty-three amorphous-alloy pieces, worth 4.6 million credit points, for Gene Catalysis Agent rather than cash 11.

He initially concealed his high-entropy alloy until Mo proved reliable. Once the first delivery arrived, he sold 410.23 grams for approximately 34.55 million credit points and requested more cheap gene agents, despite Earth's lockdown making deliveries a smuggling operation 23 24.

Muon Research and Xiao Qiong

Cheng Qi traveled to Kyoto with Foolish Boy and survived the Killer Rats guarding the buried Muon Research Center. Inside, he found Huo Linzhong's remains and final recording. Stable muons preserved in the professor's music box allowed the Standard Template Construct to overcome a technological blockade and produce working muon reactors. Cheng Qi promised to carry forward Huo's dream and left the center's entrance buried so the professor could rest there 15 16 19 20.

After Lord Pig and E Luo killed Xiao Qiong's mother, Cheng Qi unleashed the muon catalyst against them. With her enemies dead, he took Xiao Qiong's hand and reassured her. She became dependent on him, echoing his own childhood with Grandpa 21 22 23.

Shelter and Transformation

Cheng Qi organized a scrap-purchasing team, gave Monkey 200,000 credit points in operating capital, and promised the agreed 30% commission with daily settlement. As the Gray Storm approached, he combined drilling equipment and controlled muon energy to create an underground refuge, then moved there with Foolish Boy and Xiao Qiong 25 26 27 28.

In the shelter, he synthesized dangerous black-market gene agents into Valente Fantasy Drug and advanced to C-Level. A later delivery of 82 failed serum batches supplied enough material to synthesize the Tree of Life drug, granting him a second, silicon-based gene sequence 31 32 33 34 37.

Zhi Zhi and the Mo Family's Poisoning

The Standard Template Construct detected a slow-acting toxin in Mo's gift of High-Energy Protein Extract. Cheng Qi traced a possible remedy to Song Dayi's Gene-Completion Agent and returned to Kyoto. He used the Killer Rats' territorial reactions to locate the buried research institute 39 42 43.

The agent had been consumed by a laboratory mouse who had evolved silicon-based traits and become the Killer Rat King. Cheng Qi revealed their shared nature, befriended her, and named her Zhi Zhi. Her blood supplied a potent antidote, while her rat subjects helped him recover enormous quantities of alloy 44 45 46.

After synthesizing the haul, Cheng Qi showed Mo 12,450 high-entropy-alloy ingots. Mo offered a 500-million-credit-point credit line. Cheng Qi then warned him about his family's poisoning, suggested investigating their physician, and handed over a drop of Zhi Zhi's blood 48 49.

Appearance

• Original clothing: A worn blue scavenger's cloak, often ragged or stained during expeditions 3 5 20.
• After C-Level advancement: Fairer, smoother skin, more sharply defined features, and emerging muscle definition 32.
• Human-form eyes: Three luminous blue rings. After gaining his second sequence, the innermost area contains triangular crystal patterns with faint gold and purple light 38.
• Silicon-based form: A diamond-like crystalline body capable of growing armor and sharp spikes around the shoulders, elbows, knees, and other joints 36 37.
• Concealed eyes: Can make his pupils appear ordinary black, hiding both the crystalline patterns and the rings identifying his genetic grade 40.

Personality

Cheng Qi combines ambition with a scavenger's caution. He anticipates Hyena's ambush before attending their meeting, withholds his most valuable materials until Mo establishes trust, and consistently treats discarded equipment as an opportunity rather than worthless debris 4 5 11 23.

His compassion is strongest toward people whose helplessness resembles his own. He shares scarce fruit with Xiao Qiong, takes responsibility for her after her mother's death, and approaches Zhi Zhi through their shared experience of abandonment. He also respects the dead, burying the Limit Squad and protecting Huo Linzhong's resting place 7 13 20 23 45.

He can be ruthless toward active threats. Hyena's likely retaliation factors into his decision not to let him survive, while Xiao Qiong's loss provokes overwhelming anger against Lord Pig and E Luo. His humor remains irreverent: he bickers with the Standard Template Construct, teases Mo, and openly admits that protecting his trading partner also protects his income 10 21 42 47 49.

Abilities & Skills

Technological Synthesis

Through the Crystal Bracer, Cheng Qi can disassemble matching technological constructs and fuse them into repaired or more advanced products 3 7.

• Produces advanced alloys, combat equipment, repair robots, transport systems, and gene drugs from scrap or defective supplies 4 7 13 28 34.
• Can realize technology that its original inventors failed to complete, including Valente's envisioned drug 31.
• Can overcome technological blockades and access designs originating from a parallel Earth 19 27.
• Cannot synthesize ordinary non-technological objects or Zhi Zhi's naturally derived blood serum 3 45.
• The construct reports that it currently contains every design blueprint from civilizations below level 4 47.

C-Level Physical Enhancement

His human sequence grants unusually high speed, improved coordination, and better control of wearable equipment 33 42.

• Records 28 m/s with the armor's speed assistance set to zero 40 41.
• Charges, slashes a Red-Haired Killer Rat, and withdraws before its wound opens visibly 41.
• Exceeds the XXX-01 armor's speed limit; its core performance rises by a reported 284% after his advancement 33.
• Jumps nearly twenty meters through the combined strength of his body and armor—not unaided physical strength 33.
• Has not undergone systematic training or fully developed his C-Level enhancements 32.

Dual Gene Sequences and Crystalline Body

Cheng Qi can switch between a human body and a silicon-based crystalline body while retaining both sequences 34 38.

• Grows and retracts protective crystals, including a cone-shaped cocoon used to bore through buried waste 43.
• Withstands violent impacts during underground penetration without observed damage 43.
• Possesses silicon-based resistance to heat and radiation; his tests on Garbage Earth do not establish its upper endurance limit 36 40.
• His silicon-based body lacks conventional digestive and circulatory systems 42.
• The XXX-01 armor automatically disengages when his crystalline transformation creates incompatible conditions 37 38.

Electronic Resonance

His silicon-based sequence lets him perceive blue connections to machines and influence their control systems through thought 37.

• Moves Iron Mom and adjusts the shelter's floating lights remotely 37.
• Makes Foolish Boy dance against his will 37.
• Interprets Zhi Zhi's communication and responds through a blue connection to her head crystals 45.
• Cheng Qi attributes machine control to resonance with silicon chips; no maximum range is documented 37.

Repair Knowledge and Tactical Improvisation

Cheng Qi understands basic equipment repair from growing up amid technological ruins, but initially has no combat experience; the armor supplies targeting and movement plans 8 16.

• Identifies the repair robots hidden in Xiao Qiong's handmade necklace 13.
• Targets the Killer Rats' strategists rather than fighting the swarm indiscriminately 16.
• Uses changes in rat agitation as a navigation system to locate a buried institute 42.
• Repurposes destructive muon technology for shelter construction and combines gravitational fields with crystalline armor for excavation 27 43.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Crystal Bracer / Standard Template Construct — Lifelong wrist-mounted construct responsible for his synthesis ability; its main body struck him by chance, according to its own account 2 47.
• Jet Turbine-Powered Shoes — Eighteen miniature turbines, a gyroscope, and tilt detection; rated for 300-meter altitude and Mach 0.208 3.
• Gravitational Field Adjustment Gloves — Violent, initially unadjustable fields affect an area of 40–70 square meters, levitating objects with a risk of shattering them 5.
• XXX-01 memory-metal powered armor — Concealable armor with tactical analysis, life support, radar, and 0.4 cubic meters of expandable memory metal for weapons and support limbs 7 8.
• First-Generation Muon Catalyst, “Wrath of the Creator” — Handheld reactor capable of releasing energy equivalent to 1,010 tons of TNT; heavy output requires armor-assisted recoil bracing 19 21.
• Ink-Blue Marz Edition Superconducting Electronic Assistant — Integrates with the catalyst to regulate energy release and enable targeted excavation 27.
• Repair robots / Quantum Repair Cluster — Synthesized repair systems used for research-facility equipment and later moved into his shelter 13 16 28.
• Earth Dragon King and Expansion Dock — Drilling and habitation equipment used to establish the underground refuge and maintain its oxygen and temperature 26 27 28.
• Iron Mom transport platform — Originally synthesized as the K443 Integrated Transport Platform; autonomously sorts and loads his belongings 28.
• Miniature Directional Stargates — Removable X14 transport modules that transmit cargo and people between endpoints, allowing a direct return to his shelter 39 46.
• Zhi Zhi's blood — A naturally derived gene-repair and detoxification serum that cannot be synthesized; Cheng Qi gives a drop to Mo 45 49.

Relationships

• Grandpa — Deceased guardian who found and raised him; Cheng Qi later recognizes the same guardian–child bond in his responsibility for Xiao Qiong 2 22 23.
• Foolish Boy — Nanny Robot, closest companion, and scavenging partner. Sacrifices himself to save Cheng Qi, is restored, and helps build and conceal their new home 1 2 3 28 48.
• Xiao Qiong — Young child under his protection after her mother's murder. Her handmade necklace supplies the repair robots he synthesizes 13 21 23.
• Mo — Trusted merchant and supplier of gene agents. Cheng Qi values their commercial partnership and obtains an antidote for Mo's poisoned family 11 23 42 49.
• Zhi Zhi — Former laboratory mouse and semi-silicon-based companion. Their shared nature ends their initial hostility; she supplies the antidote and commands more than 145 million rat subjects 44 45.
• Old Lin — Grandpa's friend and a longtime source of help during hunger; Cheng Qi rescues him from Hyena's bar 9 10.
• Monkey and Bear — Loyal scavenger followers in his purchasing operation. Monkey manages procurement and commission payments 25.
• Crow — Transport pilot who admires Cheng Qi's survival in Kyoto, waives his return fare, and offers further help 15 20 40.
• Hana — A woman who initially attracts him; learning her reasons for pursuing a higher-grade human changes his priorities rather than establishing a romance 11.
• Huo Linzhong — Deceased researcher whose preserved muons enable Cheng Qi's breakthrough. Cheng Qi pledges to realize his dream and honor his final request 19 20.
• Hyena Luke — Predatory creditor who attempts to murder him for alloy; dies after Cheng Qi defeats his enforcers 4 9 10.
• E Luo and Lord Pig — Enemies responsible for stolen salvage and Xiao Qiong's mother's death; killed during Cheng Qi's muon attack 1 20 21 22.

Notable Quotes

“What you are isn't the most important thing. What matters is that I'm going to make full use of you!” 3

“From this day on, I'll break free of the genetic hierarchy's contempt!” 29

“Being weak isn't a sin.” 45

“We're both incredibly special beings. We shouldn't kill each other. We should become the best of companions.” 45