Zero

Biodata

Appearance

• Build: Petite, with an appearance resembling a fourteen-year-old; her youthful looks do not reflect the nineteen years described in her backstory 111.
• Hair: Long, pale blond to platinum-blond hair, worn loose over her shoulders or pinned into a bun 25 57 172.
• Eyes: Blue, also described as ice-blue 111 140.
• Expression: Usually cool and expressionless. Her rare blushes and smiles are especially noticeable to Lu Mingfei 71 153.
• Clothing: Wears a white shirt and navy-blue pleated skirt in class, a medic’s uniform during a campus drill, and formal gowns at college celebrations 25 31 72.

Personality

Zero is quiet, methodical, and unusually direct. She largely ignores campus gossip, works with precise movements, and maintains a strict routine. Her baking leaves both uniformly shaped cookies and a spotless workstation; Chu Zihang likewise praises her concentration and efficiency 25 26 36.

Her reserve conceals intense attachment. She initially watches over Lu Mingfei as an extension of Lu Mingze’s will, but explicitly distinguishes that obligation from her later concern for Lu Mingfei himself. She recognizes his tendency toward self-neglect and fears that, left alone, he will exhaust himself rather than merely encounter danger 39.

Her protectiveness can become overbearing. She monitors his meals, insists on treatment, and takes away his bank card when he uses it to remain indoors ordering takeout. Lu Mingfei sometimes feels controlled, while Chu Zihang interprets her conduct as an effort to prevent his withdrawal from college life 28 35 66.

Zero approaches romance with the same seriousness as practical work, studying a psychology text and fifteen romance films before attempting a carefully scripted date. She later adapts Selma’s advice rather than simply repeating it 35 140. Although openly possessive, she also urges Lu Mingfei to resolve his feelings for Nono instead of continuing to torment himself through indecision 108 109 172.

Background / History

Childhood as Renata

Before becoming known as Zero, she was Renata Yevgeny Checheryn. As a small child, she was taken from her home while her parents walked away and the neighbors remained behind closed doors. Her memories of her family are fragmentary: a father who drank and a beautiful mother 111.

Known as Number 38, Renata concealed her pain from nurses through expressionless lying. At thirteen, she met a boy who called himself Number Zero because he occupied Room Zero. He became her first friend and told her the full name she had been too young to remember when she was taken away 111.

Number Zero asked her to escape with him, promising that they would neither abandon nor betray one another. Her recollections span a long winter, the borders of a fallen empire, and nineteen years of loneliness. She remembers him dissolving into golden dust in her arms in a dance hall 111 171.

Zero separately tells Lu Mingfei that she lived in Siberia until thirteen and that meeting her boss marked the point when she began to count herself as a living person. Prolonged isolation had left her afraid to speak and increasingly unable to understand her own pronunciation 39.

Arrival at Cassell College

Before Zero approaches Lu Mingfei at Cassell, Lu Mingze tells him that a Russian girl named Zero will enroll in his year and can connect him to the resources Lu Mingze left behind. Zero deliberately sits beside Lu Mingfei in class and does not agree when he tells her she need not keep watching him 25.

Their early closeness attracts immediate attention. Students notice that they submitted their 3E Exam papers early together, eat together, and sit together. Zero’s homemade cookies, public feeding, and forcefully organized evening walk turn that interest into widespread dating gossip 25 26 28 35.

Kui Gate Operation

Zero accompanies Lu Mingfei to the Three Gorges, explains the Bronze City retrieval objective, and makes him study the mission briefing before resting. During the flight, she tells him that her care is now motivated by him rather than solely by her boss 38 39.

After Lu Mingfei’s return from the Bronze City, she takes him directly to treatment and cleans blood from his face. When the ship is threatened, she initially refuses evacuation because his infusion is unfinished, then gives him concentrated nutrient solution to prepare him for further combat 45 48.

During the final torrent of wreckage and water, she casts a second Realm of Dust around Lu Mingfei after Professor Mans deploys his own defensive domain 52. The team’s return to Cassell brings public celebration and further romantic speculation about their partnership 55 61.

Constantine’s Emergence and the Return to Bronze City

At Ye Sheng and Aki’s engagement ceremony, Zero leaves the dance floor according to plan. She subsequently reunites with Shadw amid campus explosions; Shadw confirms that large outdoor structures between Amber House and the lake have been demolished 80 84.

After Lu Mingfei kills Constantine, Zero treats his burned knee and warns him that the academy will scrutinize his behavior. Having noticed his abnormal metabolism, she suggests that they eat away from observers 97.

During the later Bronze City expedition, Zero locates a fissure used by Lu Mingfei and Nono. When the two disappear inside, she and Caesar descend through water approaching fifty degrees, enter using a blood sample, and restore communications with an adapter cable 116 123.

Organization and Summer Plans

Zero becomes Lu Mingfei’s link to Su Enxi’s financial and administrative resources. When he requests a verifiable identity for Samsonia Shen Jiang, she proposes employment records through Su Enxi’s newly acquired aerospace supplier 148.

She participates in the Chicago meetings used to construct the organization’s public-facing explanation. In the rehearsed account, she has completed basic compatibility experiments for Unit-00 and evaluates Lu Mingfei as a Children candidate; these statements belong to the group’s cover story rather than an independently demonstrated advancement 152 164 165.

By the end of term, Zero asks to accompany Lu Mingfei to meet his family and visit Hakone. She explains that she originally intended to remain an ordinary classmate, but could not leave him alone after seeing his pain. She also admits that she does not want anyone else taking the place beside him 172.

Abilities & Skills

Word Spirit: Realm of Dust

Zero reproduces the syllables of Mans’s Realm of Dust and manifests a second protective domain 52.

• Shields Lu Mingfei from the torrent and sharp debris striking the ship 52.
• The passage demonstrates this use but does not explain the underlying mechanism of her ability 52.

Medical Care and Hybrid Physiology

Zero treats injuries and monitors the physical consequences of Lu Mingfei’s exertion 28 45 48 97.

• Estimates his meal’s caloric value and cites Hybrid Physiology when explaining the risks of inadequate nutrition 28.
• Handles saline cleaning, intravenous recovery supplies, burn care, and bandaging 45 48 97.
• Recognizes his unusual metabolism and the danger of exposing it to academy observers 97.
• Questions whether an uncontrolled enhancement effect could be consuming his life force, rather than accepting apparent good health at face value 138.

Dragon Lore and Languages

Zero helps Lu Mingfei research Dragon Kings using historical records and alchemical texts 27.

• Reads and translates Latin passages from the Book of the Sea 27.
• Explains the King of Oceans and Water through change, pressure, tidal force, and increasing authority at depth 27.
• Uses sign language while addressing her reflection as Renata 111.

Field Operations

Zero remains capable under hazardous mission conditions 52 123.

• Dives with Caesar through dangerously heated water to reach the Bronze City 123.
• Uses a blood sample to gain entry and an adapter cable to restore communications 123.
• Displays conduct that the Board of Trustees’ intelligence interprets as evidence of military training 58.

Cooking and Practical Care

Zero is an accomplished cook whose food becomes central to her relationship with Lu Mingfei 26 66 67.

• Bakes pork-floss cookies with carefully measured ingredients and consistent preparation 26.
• Prepares three meals a day when Lu Mingfei begins avoiding the cafeteria 66 67.
• Arranges his formalwear, orders fitted suits, and helps him dress for college events 72 97 170.

Access to Financial and Identity Resources

Zero can coordinate with Su Enxi to provide resources beyond Cassell College 148.

• Reports that their network holds approximately US$100 billion in assets, including several billion in cash 148.
• Explains that the fortune comes from Su Enxi investing on Lu Mingze’s information about future economic trends and company events 148.
• Offers a route to an identity supported by employment history and other verifiable records, rather than documents alone 148.

Equipment / Items

• Medical kit — Contains treatment supplies and Equipment Department nutrient solution used during Lu Mingfei’s recovery 45 48.
• Diving equipment — Used during the Bronze City rescue attempt with Caesar 123.
• Blood sample and adapter cable — Enable entry into the Bronze City and restoration of communications 123.
• Lunch boxes and thermos — Regularly carry meals and recovery drinks for Lu Mingfei 66 97 136.

Relationships

• Lu Mingfei — Boyfriend and mission partner. He credits her presence with making his current world feel real; she says she waited nineteen years for him. Their relationship deepens during the Chicago visit, and she later calls him both her past and her future 54 128 153 172.
• Lu Mingze — Her boss and the person whose instructions initially bring her to Lu Mingfei. She describes meeting him at thirteen as the beginning of her life as a person 25 39.
• Number Zero — Renata’s first friend, who knows her forgotten full name and asks her to escape with him. His disappearance remains a source of fear when she dances with Lu Mingfei 111 171.
• Nono / Chen Motong — Romantic rival and later organizational colleague. Zero challenges her advances but also helps put her to bed after she becomes drunk 129 131 158 173.
• Selma — Dormitory companion and romance adviser. Zero discusses her attempts to approach Lu Mingfei with her and adapts her advice about physical closeness 72 140 141.
• Su Enxi — Teammate and financial contact. Su Enxi teases Zero about prioritizing Lu Mingfei over their former trio 148 153.
• Shadw — Teammate involved in the engagement-ceremony operation. Zero objects to her physical familiarity with Lu Mingfei and considers her approach to relationships unreliable 77 84 108.
• Ye Sheng and Shide Aki — Fellow Kui Gate participants who try to offer her romantic advice. Zero takes an interest in their plans for a quieter life after active service 56 72.
• Caesar — Diving partner during the attempt to follow Lu Mingfei and Nono into the Bronze City 123.

Notable Quotes

“It's not that something will go wrong. It's that without someone watching you, you'll use yourself up.” 39

“Now, it's because of you.” 39

“Lu Mingfei, you are my past. … And my future, too.” 172