Bai Xiaoxiao

Biodata

Background / History

Bai Xiaoxiao has survived many Blood Gates and previously guided newcomers through them. She explains that veterans can accompany newcomers through their first six gates, usually for substantial fees because even easier scenarios remain dangerous. She offers to guide Ning Qiushui for free, citing his potential and the Haunted Lodge’s dwindling membership 15 31.

Her friend Zhizi died by suicide. When Bai discusses the importance of companions who can rescue one another, Ning Qiushui notices her expression briefly darken and suspects she is remembering that loss 14 25.

During an interrogation in Rain-Praying Village, Bai claims to have killed numerous people outside the Blood Gates. The supplied account does not establish the circumstances of those killings 35.

Appearance

Bai Xiaoxiao has a delicate, alluring face and usually wears little makeup apart from vivid red lipstick 15 19.

• Eyes: Described as languid, peach-blossom eyes 41.
• Hands: Small, pale palms and slender fingers 15 18.
• Clothing: Wears a nightdress at the lodge and changes into fitted athletic clothing before entering Rain-Praying Village 16.
• Birthmark: A conspicuous dagger-shaped mark on her left buttock, used to identify her severed body 41 48.
• After reattachment: A faint red line remains around her neck where the severed surfaces fuse 50.

Personality

Bai often presents herself with a languid, seductive manner, but readily shifts to cold authority when threatened. She teases Liu Chengfeng about his impulsiveness and sometimes deliberately unsettles her companions with ominous remarks 20 28 32.

Her caution is practical rather than passive. She discourages nighttime exploration without a compelling clue, advises against personally killing other participants, and refuses to spend a limited-use Ghost Artifact rescuing Tang Jiao after discovering her betrayal 18 28 32.

She recognizes Ning Qiushui’s potential and offers help without payment. She also sympathizes with Guang Xiu’s family after learning that the villagers destroyed both their lives and reputations. Following her rescue, she expresses deep gratitude to Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng for risking their lives for her 15 37 50.

Even while reduced to a living severed head, Bai remains composed enough to explain the Spirit Medium’s secrets and give precise instructions for her own rescue 41.

Abilities & Skills

Blood Gate Expertise

Bai’s experience makes her the trio’s principal guide to Blood Gate rules and survival practices 15 17.

• Explains recurring dangerous ghosts, Ghost Artifacts, and the hints supplied after the first gate 15 17.
• Warns that nighttime activity is especially dangerous unless a definite clue requires it 18.
• Explains that people murdered by other humans inside a gate can become resentful ghosts seeking immediate revenge 28.
• Identifies the need to remove wooden plaques marked “Ruan” from participants’ rooms 38.
• Her expertise does not make her immune to danger: the Spirit Medium captures and nearly kills her 41 50.

Investigation and Deception Detection

Bai combines close observation, specialized tools, and targeted questioning to uncover concealed evidence and inconsistencies.

• Finds thick dust and hair beneath an otherwise carefully cleaned bed, supporting the suspicion that the guesthouse had long been unused 18.
• Detects a recess behind an annotation and removes its screws using a coin, exposing two missing tourists’ bodies 22.
• Bluffs an ancestral-hall ghost by claiming that Guangchuan sent the group; Ning Qiushui then produces the spirit tablet, frightening it away 23.
• Recognizes that Tang Jiao’s claimed trip to Fangcun Pond does not fit the available travel time 24.
• Uses revealed footprints to confirm Tang Jiao entered their rooms 28.
• Exposes Luo Yan’s supporting lie by pressing her to explain when the supposed visit occurred 32.
• Questions the reliability of village attractions because they present only the history the villagers want outsiders to see 33.

Close-Quarters Combat

Bai demonstrates precise knife work when forcing Mi Lan’s husband to reveal the village’s sacrificial practices 35.

• Sidesteps his attack with a wooden stool and drives her knife into his neck without striking the artery 35.
• Holds him under threat of a fatal wound until he answers the group’s questions 35.
• Explicitly distinguishes fighting skill from protection against sinister arts, admitting that she cannot safely overpower the Spirit Medium 36.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Bloodstained wooden comb — Combing someone’s hair once prevents ghosts from pinpointing that person for one minute 15.
• Bloodstained Bronze Mirror — Breaks the force dragging Liu Chengfeng into the Everlasting Well, acquiring additional cracks during the rescue. Bai later leaves it beneath her pillow; its continuing supernatural activity allows Ning Qiushui to infer that she is still alive 25 39.
• Black Flashlight and Special Powder — Used to reveal footprints on apparently empty floors and investigate intrusions into the trio’s rooms 28 29.
• Knife engraved “Zhizi” — A sharp blade used to subdue and interrogate Mi Lan’s husband 35.
• Other life-saving Ghost Artifacts — Bai carries several protective artifacts. At Fangcun Pond, she has something capable of protecting herself, but immobilization prevents her from retrieving anything to save Ning Qiushui 27 41.

Bai states that every Ghost Artifact brought out of a Blood Gate has a limited number of uses, never exceeding three 32.

Relationships

• Ning Qiushui — Newcomer she chooses to guide without payment. She respects his mental fortitude; he later retrieves her body and helps restore her before sunset 15 25 48 50.
• Liu Chengfeng — Companion she frequently teases and cautions. She saves him at the Everlasting Well, and he later helps recover and reconnect her body 18 25 48 50.
• Zhizi — Deceased friend who died by suicide. Bai carries a knife engraved with the same name, though the supplied passages do not explain its provenance 14 35.
• Meng Jun — Fellow lodge veteran with whom she discusses Mang’s death before meeting Ning Qiushui 15.
• Tang Jiao — Adversarial participant whose lies and intrusion into their rooms Bai exposes. Bai declines to expend a Ghost Artifact when Tang Jiao is attacked 24 28 32.
• Luo Yan — Tang Jiao’s associate. Bai challenges her false testimony and regards her apparent timidity as compatible with calculating intentions 32.
• Spirit Medium Ruan — Enemy responsible for severing Bai’s head and keeping it alive while her body hangs in the Back Mountain Temple 41 48.

Story Role / Major Arcs

The Second Letter

• After hearing about Ning Qiushui’s first Blood Gate, Bai identifies the red-clothed woman as an unusually dangerous ghost and introduces him to Ghost Artifacts 15.
• She offers to accompany him through his second gate. After returning home, Ning receives an anonymous letter containing an old, yellowed photograph of Bai, who appears the same age as she does in person 15.
• The photograph bears the warning: “She must not die in your second gate.” The sender’s identity and the photograph’s age remain unexplained in the supplied chapters 15.

Investigating Rain-Praying Village

• Bai enters the gate with Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng, directs their initial investigations, and helps connect Guangchuan to Guang Xiu’s family 17 20 22.
• Her group survives encounters at the ancestral hall, Everlasting Well, and Fangcun Pond while uncovering evidence that the village’s official history conceals atrocities 23 25 27 28.
• After detecting Tang Jiao’s interference, the trio retaliates by planting a “Ruan” tablet beneath her pillow. Bai also pressures her to disclose the clues she has withheld 28 30.
• Bai’s interrogation of Mi Lan’s husband reveals that the Temple ceremonies require human sacrifices and are directed by the Spirit Medium 35.

Identifying the Survival Conditions

• Bai proposes a route to survival: help the Benevolent One take revenge, defeat the Spirit Medium identified as the Evildoer, and recover the Compassionate One’s head before the Temple festival 37.
• Ning Qiushui subsequently realizes that the sacrificial ritual began when the participants arrived, rather than on the announced festival date. Bai instructs everyone to stay indoors and remove the “Ruan” plaques 38.
• She disappears by the following morning. Her undisturbed room and missing backpack lead Ning to conclude that she probably left voluntarily, though her reason is not established 39.

Decapitation and Rescue

• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng find Bai’s living head in a jar at the Spirit Medium’s residence. She directs them to a hidden book containing the village’s history and a safe route to the Back Mountain Temple 41.
• Bai explains that her body must be returned before sunset and gives Ning the location of her identifying birthmark 41.
• The two retrieve her body from the Temple and flee Guang Xiu, bringing it back to the residence as daylight fades 48 49 50.
• Following her instructions, they break the jar and place her head against her body. Her neck immediately reconnects, and she regains consciousness just before sunset 50.
• After recovering, Bai learns that only five participants are likely still alive and that they have two days to restore the monk’s head before Guang Xiu becomes a vengeful ghost 50.

Notable Quotes

“When you enter your second blood gate next week, I'll guide you through it for free.” 15

“No snowflake in an avalanche is innocent.” 32

“I thought I'd been cautious enough, but I still nearly got myself killed...” 50