Ye Lin

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Ye Lin is an orphan taken in by an unnamed organization as a child. He grew up alongside more than a hundred other children subjected to intensive training, study, and selection. New recruits arrived monthly, while those who failed were buried. His upbringing left him accustomed to a life organized around training, eating, and resting rather than personal attachments 32.

His attempts to investigate the organization revealed that it had existed for hundreds of years, possessed immense wealth, and operated covertly within nations. Its members were united by a secret and appeared to be searching for a particular tomb and an answer they called “the truth” 32 34.

At eighteen, Ye Lin was taken into an operating room. After waking, he learned that the organization had found the Tomb and that he alone qualified to enter it. The military surrounded him just as he was about to open the burial chamber, leaving its contents unknown to him 32 34.

He was arrested in April on three felony charges, including manslaughter and illegal firearm possession. A Security Bureau officer accused him of taking four lives; Ye Lin maintained that the killings were self-defense. At Yong’an Prison, he exposed the officer’s supposed execution judgment as a frequently handled case file and correctly inferred that the Bureau needed his help with an outside crisis 1.

Appearance

• Complexion and features: Pale from prolonged confinement without sunlight, with delicate features described as resembling a girl’s 1.
• Build: Appears skinny before enhancement; Zhang Tie initially offers to carry him if danger arises 3.
• Hair: Normally black. It briefly turns white during bloodline fusion before returning to black 41.
• Eyes: Become blood-red during the Tyrant-induced killing frenzy, then clear as he regains control 41.
• Post-enhancement clothing: Wears an exchanged combat uniform and carries a black, cross-shaped longsword 41.

Personality

Ye Lin is observant, calculating, and unwilling to surrender control of decisions affecting his survival. His first confrontation with He Zheng is deliberate: he uses a gun threat to establish his value, tests the limits of teammate protection, and makes cooperation more attractive than retaliation 2.

His treatment of others is frequently utilitarian. He considers sacrificing companions if necessary, selects people to act as bait, and preserves capable fighters because losing them would weaken the group. His last pistol round in one encounter saves Zhang Tie—and consequently Hu Jia—because Zhang Tie remains valuable fighting strength 14 15 16.

His apparent composure does not mean he feels no fear. While arranging the spacesuit escape, his fingers whiten around his weapon as he privately questions how many companions are still human and whether his deductions are correct. He continues directing the team without revealing that uncertainty 26.

Ye Lin places survival above humanitarian obligations. He refuses Huang Liang’s request to fund a 120-point Communication Device because the expense could jeopardize their chances of living. He acknowledges Huang Liang’s pain but does not consider it sufficient reason to risk his own resources 39.

He is also deeply skeptical of convenient promises. He initially dismisses the escaped examinee’s letters and treasures as a likely trap, preferring to trust himself. The possibility that the escapee killed himself after learning the truth finally makes the mystery compelling enough for him to pursue 35 36.

Abilities & Skills

Observation and Deduction

• Identifies a false judgment document through its worn corners, paper thickness, and texture 1.
• Infers an outside emergency from interrupted prison broadcasts, deteriorating food supplies, and evidence of a prolonged high-level meeting 1.
• Reconstructs an armored vehicle’s route while hooded by counting turns and speed bumps; identifies Huang Liang’s two guns from the number of rounds loaded 1.
• Estimates the age and quantity of nearby corpses from their decomposition odor 3.
• Recognizes that the apparent underground base is actually floating in Venus’s atmosphere by combining environmental and structural clues 24.
• Notices exceptionally small details after obtaining the Observer bloodline, including the suspiciously new shoes on an apparently erased examinee’s remains 43.

Tactical Planning and Leadership

• Solves the first exam’s “Choice” question by rejecting the obvious upward route and identifying the group’s actual basement level 4 5.
• Proposes using sulfuric acid carried in Huang Bin’s skull to corrode a chain after the Fire Axe becomes unusable 5.
• Chooses the laboratory route because it offers a possible solution, rather than merely temporary shelter 11.
• Uses bait, ventilation ducts, anesthetic, and controlled retreats to navigate superior enemies 14 18 25.
• Sends Huang Liang to rescue Wang Yuanyang partly to test spacesuit protection and narrow down the hidden monster’s possible host 26 29.
• Does not know how to pilot a spaceship; activates the transport because he expects it to follow preset coordinates 28.

Firearms and Combat Training

• Uses a pistol effectively before receiving any enhancement, coordinating shots at Species’ eyes with teammates who restrict their movement 9 13 14.
• Combines close-range evasive movement with point-blank gunfire during the defense against mutants 19.
• After enhancement, simultaneously cuts down nearby infected and lands successive headshots on more distant targets 47.
• Has mastered the languages of several major countries before entering the Death Exam 41.

Tyrant Bloodline

The Grade C Tyrant (Test Subject) provides unusually strong physical enhancement for its grade, alongside regeneration and Rampage 37 41.

• Strength: Flips a heavy sedan with a kick and later crushes a zombie’s skull barehanded 44 49.
• Speed and coordination: Twists in midair to evade a giant mutant’s punch and immediately exploits its exposed flank 49.
• Rampage risk: Can erase rational thought and the distinction between allies and enemies. Immediately after enhancement, Ye Lin nearly strikes He Zheng 37 41.
• Documented advancement path: Tyrant Test Subject → Tyrant Gene → Aberrant, Virus King, or Corpse Emperor. These later stages are available paths, not attained upgrades 41.

Observer Bloodline

The Observer improves perception and allows Ye Lin to control himself from a third-person perspective. It supplies no direct physical-strength increase 37.

• Suppresses the Tyrant’s initial killing frenzy before his punch reaches He Zheng 41.
• Offers immunity to most external interference and is recommended by An Ke for paranormal encounters 37.
• Its initial use leaves Ye Lin mentally exhausted despite his enhanced body remaining strong 41.
• Documented advancement path: Observer → Interferer → Mind Controller, Spirit Controller, or Thought Controller. No advancement beyond Observer is shown 41.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Type 77 pistol — Taken from Huang Liang just before his first teleportation. It gives him leverage over He Zheng and remains with him after returning from the exam, unlike the other guns he carried 1 2 31.
• Fire Axe — Borrowed from He Zheng during the acid escape; also used to obstruct a Species’ jaws 4 5 9.
• Scavenged firearms and anesthetic vials — Obtained in the first exam and used to kill or slow pursuing creatures 18 25.
• Spacesuit — Taken from the Equipment Room for protection during the Venus-base escape; its oxygen supply limits how long he can remain safe 25 28.
• Ancient Blade — A 25-point black, cross-shaped longsword with exceptional hardness and a size adjustable at the wielder’s will 41.
  • Burns blood at wounds; reduces an infected body to charcoal 47.
  • Provides Flame Flash, a rapid movement skill used to get behind a mutant and destroy its second head 49.
  • Can release its remaining ancient power in a building-flattening strike equivalent to an upper Tier 2 fighter’s all-out attack, at the cost of destroying the weapon 41.
• Translator earpiece — Given by An Ke; translates 99 percent of languages 41.
• Communicator — Used repeatedly to attempt contact with the rival team; later handed to An Ke when he leaves to stop the spread of the zombie warning 45 47.

Relationships

• Huang Liang — Security Bureau escort turned teammate. They repeatedly clash over sacrificing others and spending resources, but recognize each other’s combat value. Huang Liang risks himself against Alesi, and later promises to protect Ye Lin like any other teammate 1 25 30 38 39.
• He Zheng — Veteran teammate who initially tries to dominate the newcomers. Ye Lin wins his cooperation through confrontation and problem-solving; He Zheng eventually pledges to charge or cover the rear whenever Ye Lin orders it 2 5 40.
• An Ke — Experienced examinee and eventual partner. Ye Lin exposes her concealed experience through coercion; she subsequently explains ratings, recommends his bloodline combination, and shares information about the escaped examinee’s belongings 31 35 36 37.
• Zhang Tie — Teammate who trusts Ye Lin early and offers to carry him to safety. Ye Lin later spends his final pistol round saving him, while Zhang Tie struggles to reconcile those rescues with Ye Lin’s ruthlessness 3 15 31.
• Hu Jia — Teammate whose translation skills assist the first exam. Ye Lin orders him to act as bait, and Hu Jia later remains cautious around him despite thanking the group for his survival 11 14 32 38.
• Wang Yuanyang — Hostile member of Huang Liang’s group whom Ye Lin forces into a diversion. Ye Lin later identifies him as the hidden monster’s host and compels the creature to reveal itself 25 29.
• Unnamed organization — Raised and trained Ye Lin as a tool for its search. His unanswered questions about its Tomb remain a personal motive after entering the Death Exam 32 33 34.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruitment and First Exam

• Forced entry: The Security Bureau offers freedom and rewards for information, then sends him into crisis-stricken Linjiang City with Huang Liang. A school vortex captures him as an eligible examinee 1.
• Acid escape: Establishes himself as the group’s strategist and finds the correct exit despite misleading floor assumptions 2 4 5.
• Species investigation: Leads the search through religious corpse murals and laboratory areas, initially looking for a “God” capable of saving the group 8 11 16.
• Venus revelation: Reinterprets the murals’ gods as astronauts and connects spacesuits, the airlock, and the planet’s hostile atmosphere into an escape plan 24.
• Transport escape: Finds the hidden ship and uses its engine exhaust to destroy surrounding attackers before leaving the base 28.
• Alesi confrontation: Exposes the intelligent Species inside Wang Yuanyang. After losing an arm to its bite, kills it with a grenade detonated inside its body; the system reports a 90-point reward and 21 percent completion of a hidden question 29 30.

Rest Period and the Tomb Mystery

• Learns that his first-exam earnings have produced an unusually early Grade B rating 31 34.
• Searches for the occupant of the Tomb at 31°2 north latitude, 104° east longitude. The answer requires Grade A access, so the system blocks the query and refunds its five-point cost 33 34.
• Agrees to cooperate with An Ke after learning that the sole escaped examinee reportedly committed suicide upon discovering the Death Exam’s truth 35 36.
• Rejects Huang Liang’s request to spend points contacting the outside world, then prepares for the next exam with fused bloodlines and the Ancient Blade 39 41.

Second Exam: Zombie Meme Outbreak

• Evades police and pressures a wealthy businessman to locate scientist Carlton, the team’s selected lead for preventing the outbreak 44.
• Investigates Carlton’s prion research and his assistant’s theory that cannibalism drove human evolution 46 47.
• Realizes that knowledge of zombies can trigger the Virus meme and that the rival team’s planned warning could spread it worldwide 47.
• Fights through the outbreak as the infected population drives the scenario to A-rank difficulty; defeats a giant mutant by destroying both its heads 48 49.
• Identifies the ancient stone tablet as the next objective and plans to evade pursuit while awaiting contact from its holder 50.

Notable Quotes

“Things are going to get dangerous. I don't like leaving the decisions in someone else's hands.” 2

“God is the Astronaut. Find a spacesuit. Open the airlock. Game over.” 24

“I can understand your pain. But. What... does it have to do with me?” 39

Trivia

• Chooses Room 7 and recreates a dark, cramped space with an iron bed and desk resembling a prison isolation cell, because it is familiar rather than comforting 32.
• Dislikes drinking because alcohol impairs his judgment 38.
• Tightens An Ke’s ponytail and promises her a new hair tie shortly before someone reports a ghost on the team’s car; his unusually intimate behavior unsettles her 50.