Gaoyang

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Before transmigrating, Gaoyang was an orphan. On his sixth birthday, he ate a cupcake supplied by his dorm supervisor and fell asleep wishing to find his parents. He awoke at a dining table in another world, surrounded by unfamiliar parents, a grandmother, and a younger sister. Over twelve years, he adapted to that life and merged with his host body 6.

His host’s family originally lived in a two-story house in a county town outside Licheng and operated Happy Gao Supermarket. After Gaoyang finished elementary school, his father earned enough money to move the family to Licheng and partnered with a friend to open a soybean-product processing plant 34.

Before awakening, Gaoyang regarded his new life as the fulfillment of his childhood wish. His expectations were ordinary ones: university, employment, marriage, and children. Learning that the people closest to him might be Beasts destroyed that sense of security 6 10 13.

Appearance

• Initially unremarkable: Niu Xuan remembers him as average-looking but later notices that he seems increasingly handsome and more distant 36.
• Concealment clothing: Wears a black hoodie, baseball cap, and face mask for covert work with Qingling 13.
• No obvious immediate transformation: After a 20-point Charisma increase, Qingling says his face looks unchanged 26.

Personality

Gaoyang is cautious, observant, and quick to improvise. He detects danger in details others overlook, including the absence of cleaning-cart sounds when Aunt He approaches the hotel room. His internal commentary is frequently sarcastic, especially about the system’s limitations and his companions’ behavior 17 26 31.

His fear does not prevent him from protecting others. When he believes Gao Xinxin is a Horn Caller, he offers to hold off the danger so Qingling can escape. Later, he charges at Uncle Zhang after Qingling is captured, despite believing that fleeing would be his only sensible option 19 32.

Gaoyang remains emotionally attached to his family even while fearing they may be Beasts. He comforts his mother and sister after his father’s accident and takes hospital shifts so they can rest. His mother interprets his changed behavior as maturity; he privately recognizes it as increased caution 13 34 35.

Abilities & Skills

Fortune

Fortune is a passive Talent, Serial Number 199, associated with the Miracle/Divine Miracle rune type. It rewards continued survival with points that can permanently improve attributes 8.

• Base income: One Fortune point for every 60 minutes survived 8.
• Danger multiplier: Real danger increases earnings; greater danger produces larger multipliers. White Rabbit’s test does not trigger the bonus, while entering the unknown village domain raises earnings to 2× 39 41.
• Attribute enhancement: Points can permanently increase physical, mental, social, and Luck attributes. Allocations cannot be reversed 8 13.
• Luck rewards: Raising Luck can grant bonuses to other attributes. Bonus points obtained this way cannot be recursively assigned to Luck 13 26.
• Talent comprehension: Points can fund attempts to acquire new Talents, but success is not guaranteed. Attempts initially cost 30 points; later attempts cost 60 26 35 50.
• No direct emergency activation: Fortune cannot be actively used to stop an attack or immediately rescue him 8.

System Interface

Gaoyang accesses the system through a faintly golden six-pointed star, initially by touching it and later through mental commands 8 13.

• Displays his identity, attributes, Talents, and accumulated Fortune points 8.
• Records copied-Talent eligibility and upgrades 32 44.
• Checks vital signs and identifies entry into an unknown domain 41.
• Cannot reveal unexplored Talent information or explore the unknown village domain for him 8 41.
• Triggers a hidden panel at Luck 30, but refuses to unlock it because his Luck is insufficient 13.

Copy

Copy, identified by Officer Huang as Serial Number 18, temporarily reproduces another person’s eligible Talent through physical contact. It supplies the relevant experience, knowledge, intuition, and muscle memory rather than merely duplicating an outward effect 32 33 40.

• Blade God: Copies Qingling’s level 3 Talent and immediately handles her Tang Dao as though he has extensive experience with it 32.
• Gun God: Copies Officer Huang’s level 3 Talent, gaining firearms knowledge and smoothly checking and loading a borrowed handgun 40.
• Eligibility restriction: The system only permits eligible Talents; it explicitly provides an eligibility cutoff when Copy reaches level 2 32 44.
• Short combat window: Even at level 2, copied Blade God lasts only ten seconds, leaving Gaoyang dependent on his own attributes afterward 50.

Observation and Persuasion

• Threat detection: Recognizes Aunt He’s suspicious arrival because he never hears a cleaning cart 17.
• Tracking awareness: Notices followers and uses his schoolbag as bait while hiding behind a vending machine 22.
• Managing Wang Zikai: Invents a “chosen one” identity and cultivation instructions to keep his friend cooperative and unaware that he is a Beast 18 19 22.
• Negotiation: Persuades Qingling that maintaining close relationships with Beasts can provide cover for Awakened humans 20.
• Investigation: Develops the theory that Gu Family Village is a repeating domain rather than a simple journey into the past 42 50.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Small dagger — Concealed in his pocket; ineffective against Pang Jun’s tumorous hand, but later readied for use with copied Blade God 23 47.
• Qingling’s Tang Dao — Borrowed during the Uncle Zhang battle and used with copied Blade God 32.
• Type 92 handgun — Supplied by Officer Huang for the village investigation; holds fifteen rounds and has an effective range of fifty meters 40.
• Golf club — Taken from Officer Huang’s car trunk as an improvised weapon 31 32.
• Specialized medicine — Supplied by Qingling; heals most of his injuries overnight 9.
• Brass key — Given for the Twelve Zodiac’s third test, which requires finding and entering the door it opens 39.

Relationships

• Gao Xinxin — Younger sister whom he dotes on. Her confrontation outside the hotel initially makes him fear she is a Horn Caller, but she is upset about his apparent secret romance; his later assessment states he has not encountered a Horn Caller 18 19 35.
• Qingling — Classmate, rescuer, and principal combat partner. Their cooperation develops from threats and distrust into mutual reliance; her younger-sister personality takes his hand and rests against him in the village. Both deny being a couple 8 10 33 48.
• Officer Huang — Awakened police officer, information source, and organizational contact. Introduces him to Wu Dahai, lends him weapons, and helps investigate Gu Family Village 12 21 26 39 40.
• Wang Zikai — Best friend who calls Gaoyang his best and only friend. Gaoyang conceals the truth of his Beast identity; Wang Zikai returns to rescue him from Pang Jun and refuses to abandon him at the village well 10 18 23 41.
• Li Weiwei — Childhood friend and brief romantic partner after Wang Zikai’s prank confession. Her transformation and attack expose him to the Beast world; her death causes genuine grief despite his terror 7 8 9 10.
• Wan Sisi — Concerned classmate with romantic interest in him. Checks on him after Li Weiwei’s death and invites him to her birthday party 22 35 36.
• Pang Jun — Hotel proprietor and later investigation companion. Calls Gaoyang his “real big brother” after the Aunt He fight; Gaoyang and Officer Huang later restrain and observe him when his arm mutates 17 23 25.
• Baili Yi — Awakened surgeon who saves his father. Explains how Red-Eye distinguishes humans from Beasts but refuses to disclose his family’s identities 34.
• White Rabbit — Twelve Zodiac examiner who identifies Niu Xuan as a Lost One and orders Gaoyang to kill him as the second test 37.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Awakening and the Beast World

• On his eighteenth birthday, a bloodied psychiatric patient warns him that monsters are everywhere and no one can be trusted. Officer Huang shoots the man at close range 6.
• A nightmare revives his host’s memory of strange sounds in his grandparents’ room and his grandfather’s covered corpse, which appeared to be missing a hand 6.
• Li Weiwei accepts the confession sent from his phone by Wang Zikai. During their date, Gaoyang describes the scaled arm he remembers; she reveals a similar transformation and attacks him 7.
• Gaoyang activates Fortune, but the passive Talent cannot stop the attack. Qingling rescues him and destroys nearby surveillance footage 8.
• Li Weiwei’s death becomes a murder investigation. At her funeral, Qingling tells him that only one person in ten thousand is human and that nearly everyone around him is likely a Beast 9 10.

Pink Hotel and Wang Zikai

• Gaoyang and Qingling follow Officer Huang’s notes, retrieve a hidden M82A1 sniper rifle, and prepare to shoot the woman accompanying him. Wang Zikai drops in front of the muzzle and takes the bullet 14 15.
• During the ensuing hotel fight, Gaoyang helps Qingling against Aunt He, a Slayer-type Wrath Beast 17 18.
• To prevent Wang Zikai from becoming a threat, Gaoyang convinces him that he is a special human destined to defeat the “lizard people.” He later persuades Qingling to spare him 18 20.
• Pang Jun’s uncontrolled mutation nearly suffocates Gaoyang. Wang Zikai returns to save him, transforming his own arm and crushing the attacking mass 23.

Twelve Zodiac Assessments

• Officer Huang arranges an organizational interview at an old arcade. Gaoyang defeats Wu Dahai’s 820-point slot-machine score with 1,248 points after repeatedly betting on “big” 25 26 29.
• Uncle Zhang transforms into a tentacled Beast after the character assessment. Gaoyang acquires Copy during the fight, enabling him to use Qingling’s Blade God 30 32 33.
• At Wan Sisi’s birthday party, Niu Xuan’s attempts to humiliate him escalate into violence. White Rabbit intervenes and begins the second assessment 36 37.
• By the third test, Gaoyang has a brass key and instructions to locate its door somewhere in Shanqing District. Officer Huang traces the location 39.

Gu Family Village

• Gaoyang enters the abandoned village with Qingling, Officer Huang, Wang Zikai, and Pang Jun. Hair emerging from a dry well traps Pang Jun, and the collapsing ground drops all five into an unknown domain 40 41.
• He discovers that the village boundary cannot be crossed: however far he walks, the exit remains ahead of him 42.
• The group investigates Hua Zi’s family massacre and considers killing the Beast responsible for the domain as a possible escape route 45.
• Gaoyang concludes that the village has repeated the massacre and funeral for thirty years. An air-raid siren signals the next repetition, and villagers gather to reenact the slaughter 50.
• After failing to unlock another Talent, he increases Agility and prepares to defend the house with his companions 50.

Notable Quotes

“Of course I don't want to die, but everyone dies. Even if you live to a hundred, you'll still die. … But living can't just be about eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom. Surely there's something you want to do?” 20

“Stay calm. Stay calm. The worse things get, the more I need to stay calm.” 32