Shen Yiwen

Biodata

Background / History

College Years

Shen Yiwen was Jin Bi’s college classmate and roommate. According to Jin Bi, she came from a well-off family, enjoyed working out, excelled at dancing, and earned numerous scholarships, including national scholarships. Jin Bi resented these advantages and interpreted Shen Yiwen’s reserved manner as contempt for others 46 120.

Meeting Lu Mi

Shen Yiwen spoke with Lu Mi by phone after an encounter in which she had bumped into him and Roman. They met again outside Wonderful Dream, where she warned that the game’s new emphasis on popularity-point spending might signal trouble for players 44 46.

Her reunion with Jin Bi became a public argument. When Jin Bi encouraged the crowd to mock her and Lu Mi, Shen Yiwen joined Lu Mi’s imminent dungeon entry rather than remain among the hostile spectators, insulting them as the countdown ended 46.

Bo’ai Academy

At Bo’ai Academy, Shen Yiwen noticed the discrepancy between the teacher’s claim that the class originally contained twenty students and the classroom’s forty desks. She also carefully memorized the dormitory rules and warned Xiao Yi to follow them 47 49 50.

Her investigation uncovered missing surveillance footage from October 28. Later, she recognized similarities between Feng Wentian’s handwriting and the handwritten dormitory rules. Through persuasion and pressure, she obtained his admission that he had written them, then warned Lu Mi against visiting the classroom building and urged him to watch Zhao Xiaoxiang 54 59 60.

At the bonfire performance, she danced in a red dress while Zhong Zixian played guitar and sang. During the final attempt to break Xie Ping’an’s Contract, she comforted a crying Zhong Zixian. Once the exit key appeared, she called the players whose contact details she possessed and gathered them at the School Gate before Lu Mi opened it 60 62.

Wonderful Dream and The Artist

During a beach dream with her companions, Shen Yiwen blushed when Zhong Zixian was dared to compliment her for three minutes. After the others left the bonfire, she privately questioned whether Roman was truly a player and encouraged Lu Mi to examine his own feelings toward him 64 65.

Following Roman’s departure, she insisted that the group bring Lu Mi into their next instance together. She had previously seen strong players collapse after losing someone they loved and die early in a subsequent instance 67.

In The Artist, she initially showed no signs of petrification and said Zheng Sinian had not forced her to drink his water. Lu Mi speculated that her genuine personality matched the sculptor’s ideal lover. She helped search for an antidote and divided the recovered medicine among petrified players 72 73.

She nevertheless became a white marble statue overnight. Her sculpture later disappeared, prompting Lu Mi to search for her. He suspected that the transformation was connected to her scuffle with Zhu Tong, who was actually Little Ma. Shen Yiwen was eventually found with the other petrified companions; Roman explained that opening the exit with the key would restore them 74 75 77 80 81.

Challenging the Exit Rule

After 2044 announced that instance exits would remain open for only thirty seconds, Shen Yiwen challenged the change despite another protester having just been publicly executed. She argued that the shortened window could kill players, including Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng. 2044 agreed to consider the issue and announce a decision that night 83.

Betrayal During the Human-Ghost Showdown

Shen Yiwen and Jin Bi were assigned to the same Human-Ghost Showdown group. Jin Bi later admitted that Shen Yiwen identified the ghost and found a way to clear the instance. At the exit, however, Jin Bi smashed her glasses, summoned the pursuing NPC, and pushed her back before escaping alone 104 120.

Shen Yiwen’s failure to return and her unanswered calls left her friends fearing the worst. Jin Bi’s account convinced them that she had died, and Zhong Zixian eventually accepted that apparent loss 101 102 103 120 125.

Survival in the Zidao Provincial Library

Shen Yiwen survived by following a voted-out ghost while evading the NPCs hunting her. When it approached a teleportation point, she used an item to lure it away and stole its Identity Card. The card reduced the pain of removing her player Wristband, allowing her to discard it and use the teleportation point to reach the Zidao Provincial Library 138.

She spent more than ten years there while her friends experienced only a few additional instances. Keeping the Identity Card protected her from NPC pursuit so long as she did not deliberately violate death conditions. She befriended the local NPCs and researched the Library’s restricted books, identifying its role as a teleportation hub and learning about the Mother Goddess 138.

When she reunited with Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng, she presented a damaged parchment describing the Divine Punishment Game’s origins: the Lord of Evil had created the game after becoming the vessel for the shattered Heart of Hell. She also supplied a diagram that appeared to explain how its fragments could be reassembled 137 138.

Researching the Heart of Hell

Shen Yiwen negotiated with the Mother Goddess to let Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng go directly to the great clock. After they completed that task, she reunited with Zhong Zixian but chose to remain in the Library to decipher the text explaining what was needed to repair the Heart of Hell. She considered the Library’s unusual connection to the Otherworld and its inaccessible information too valuable to abandon 140 141 142.

Roman later reported that she had translated the requirement as a human soul. Her revised translation clarified that the repair required pure souls 144 156.

By the gathering at Farewell Kiss, she was over sixty. She helped the group consider how to activate the completed Formation Diagram, suggesting they wait for a game exit to open in the plaza rather than enter another instance themselves 164.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and visibly muscular; Jin Bi also recalls her enthusiasm for working out 46 120.
• Glasses: Wears glasses when first described; Jin Bi destroys them during her betrayal 46 120.
• Distinctive tattoo: A Human-Faced Sunflower on her left upper arm, which Lu Mi recognizes as her trademark 46 64.
• Performance attire: A sleek bun and vivid red dress with layered ruffles during the Bo’ai Academy bonfire dance 60.
• Library attire: A blue-green robe with wide sleeves that conceal her tattoo 137.
• Later aging: Wrinkles appear at the corners of her eyes after her long Library residence; by Farewell Kiss, her hair includes white wisps 138 164.

Personality

Shen Yiwen usually speaks calmly and maintains an expressionless face, even when delivering threats or insults. She refuses to tolerate harassment and meets Jin Bi’s provocations with cutting remarks rather than visible distress. Her composure does not mean she is indifferent: she gently comforts Zhong Zixian and shows unusual urgency when she discovers his petrification 46 62 72.

She is cautious, observant, and willing to question both NPC explanations and the game’s administration. She takes written rules seriously, rejects unnecessary separation during dangerous investigations, and challenges a policy that could endanger other players 47 49 73 83.

Her years in the Library demonstrate sustained curiosity and commitment to her friends. Rather than merely settle into relative safety, she studies restricted material in anticipation of their eventual arrival. She later accepts continued separation and accelerated aging to finish the research needed to destroy the game 138 139 142.

Her sternness also has a playful side. At Farewell Kiss, she answers teasing about her age by circling the room and hitting everyone with a pillow, then orders the group to sleep 164.

Abilities & Skills

Investigation and Handwriting Analysis

Shen Yiwen uses small inconsistencies to identify leads 47 60.

• Notices the mismatch between classroom capacity and the teacher’s stated student count 47.
• Detects handwriting habits that persist despite attempted disguise, identifying Feng Wentian as the dormitory rules’ author 60.
• Obtains information through both persuasion and pressure 60.

Instance Survival and Coordination

Her survival methods emphasize preparation, cooperation, and exploiting documented mechanics rather than demonstrated supernatural combat powers 49 62 73 138.

• Memorizes dormitory rules and warns others against taking risks 49 50.
• Refuses to split an investigation party in a dangerous house 73.
• Uses collected contact information to assemble players before opening an exit 62.
• Identifies the ghost and an escape route during the Human-Ghost Showdown, according to Jin Bi’s confession 120.
• Escapes player status using a stolen ghost Identity Card and a teleportation point 138.

Ancient-Language Research

Shen Yiwen studies the Mother Goddess’s language and translates material concerning the Heart of Hell 138 156.

• Learns limited spoken communication through research, observation, and guesswork 138.
• Deciphers ancient writing gradually; her initial understanding is incomplete 138 139.
• Produces an abridged translation of the game’s origin account and interprets the Formation Diagram 138.
• Revises the repair requirement from a human soul to pure souls 144 156.
• Cannot rely on the Mother Goddess to read the text for her, because the deity cannot read 139.

NPC Diplomacy

She establishes friendly relationships with the Library’s NPCs, including the Mother Goddess 138.

• Communicates with the Mother Goddess in brief phrases 140.
• Secures permission for Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng to access the great clock directly 140.
• Explains that people swallowed by the Mother Goddess’s vortices enter a parallel world rather than die 141.

Dance and Physical Fitness

• Performs a rhythmic dance with castanets while Zhong Zixian accompanies her on guitar 60.
• Continues to value exercise and dancing during her Library residence, regretting the absence of a gym and a piano accompanist 138.
• Remains physically vigorous enough to chase her companions around with a pillow after sixty 164.

Equipment / Items

• Glasses — Worn during her early appearances; deliberately smashed by Jin Bi at the Showdown exit 46 120.
• Player Wristband — Removed and discarded after she steals a ghost’s Identity Card 138.
• Ghost Identity Card — Eases Wristband-removal pain and helps her avoid NPC pursuit, provided she does not deliberately violate death conditions 138.
• Unspecified lure item — Used to draw the voted-out ghost away from its teleportation point 138.
• Damaged parchment — Preserves an account of the Divine Punishment Game’s origins; shared with Lu Mi alongside her translation 138.
• Formation Diagram — Shows a possible arrangement for the Heart of Hell’s fragments; later used to position the collected keys 138 142 164.
• Canvas Bag — Given to Lu Mi at their farewell at the South Gate 142.

Relationships

• Lu Mi — Close friend and research collaborator. She advises him about Roman, supports him after Roman’s departure, and provides crucial information for repairing the Heart of Hell 65 67 138 142.
• Zhong Zixian — Romantic partner. Their early attraction develops into an explicitly acknowledged love; after their reunion and another separation, they later sleep beside each other with their fingers intertwined 64 72 142 164.
• Cheng Cheng — Friend and frequent target of her blunt reprimands. Their identity-checking joke uses “the world’s biggest asshole” as the prompt and “Cheng Cheng” as the answer 67 72 138.
• Roman — Initially someone whose identity she questions for Lu Mi’s sake. She later embraces him as a companion, and he agrees to visit her between instances and relay her research 65 142 144.
• Jin Bi — Former college roommate and hostile rival. Jin Bi’s resentment culminates in an attempt to strand her with a man-eating NPC 46 120.
• Mother Goddess — Trusted NPC ally. Shen Yiwen learns to communicate with her and obtains her assistance for Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng 138 140 142.
• 2044 — Game administrator whose shortened exit policy she publicly challenges 83.

Notable Quotes

“Even the monsters in the dungeons understand respect better than you do.” 46

“First, there’s no gym here. Second, when I dance, there’s no one to play the piano for me.” 138

“You go find the fragments. I need to stay here and keep deciphering the Ancient Text.” 142