Liu Chengdong

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Build and height: A middle-aged man standing slightly over 1.7 meters tall. He initially has a noticeable potbelly, but is much slimmer when Chen Jue returns from the moon 177 309.
• Facial features: A full forehead, broad square chin, and glasses 177.
• Bearing: Refined and scholarly, resembling an academic more than a high-ranking administrator. Chen Jue perceives an upright, cultured, and balanced spiritual imprint in him 177.

Personality

Liu Chengdong is courteous and earnest when approaching potential recruits. During his first visit to Chen Jue, he explains the institute’s compensation, reassures him that damaged equipment will not require repayment, and formally bows while extending the invitation. Chen Jue’s heightened perception confirms that Liu bears him goodwill and is sincere about the tests being harmless 177 178.

He is attentive to Chen Jue’s personal wishes as well as the project’s requirements. He accepts responsibility for safeguarding the cassette left by Chen Jue’s mother and later returns it alongside her diary, a phone charger, and other belongings. When collecting Chen Jue from his hometown, he waits overnight rather than disturb his requested rest 215 309 310.

Despite his scholarly manner, Liu has an excitable side. After Chen Jue destroys an expensive satellite with a cheap spear, he enthusiastically imagines further attacks until Elder Zhong tells him to focus on the mission. His admiration later becomes mixed with caution: learning about Chen Jue’s destructive actions after returning to Earth makes him nervous about provoking someone so powerful 218 309.

History

Recruiting Chen Jue

Liu first visits Chen Jue’s village home with Commissar Yao. Their knock inadvertently interrupts a dangerous episode of absorption in Chen Jue’s internal bodily universe, drawing him back to ordinary awareness and earning his gratitude 177.

Representing the XX Research Institute, Liu invites Chen Jue to physical testing that should have followed the Grand Martial Arts Competition. He offers at least one hundred thousand per visit, with housing and employment in Wenzhou available if Chen Jue is selected. His documents include field-camera photographs of Chen Jue climbing trees and evidence linking him to a damaged Second-Generation Force Tester 177.

Liu supervises Chen Jue’s passage through astronaut-training equipment. Chen Jue’s effortless performance in the swivel chair and eight-G centrifuge repeatedly astonishes him. He agrees to omit the remaining minor tests and takes Chen Jue to the neutral-buoyancy testing area, where Zhong Deyuan evaluates him as a Special Grade candidate 179 180.

Homeland Project Preparations

After Chen Jue decides to join the Homeland Project, Liu arranges staff to collect him and welcomes him back to the base. He explains the limits on transporting equipment to the unfamiliar planet and helps him select survival gear and weapons 201.

Chen Jue’s requests and demonstrations repeatedly overturn Liu’s expectations. A request for two five-hundred-jin hammers leaves him incredulous; after witnessing Chen Jue catch a bullet, he agrees to arrange flexible metal gloves instead. He also introduces Chen Jue to the other candidates as a Special Grade Candidate 201 204.

Liu assures Chen Jue that he will not have to pay for breaking the improved force-testing machine. Chen Jue promptly destroys it, leaving Liu worried about the equipment team’s reaction. Following Elder Zhong’s criticism of inadequate testing and materials, Liu arranges for the wreckage to be removed and improvements assigned 205 206.

At launch, Liu handles Chen Jue’s request to play his mother’s cassette over the communications system. He initially plays side A, then switches to side B at Chen Jue’s correction 215.

Bringing Chen Jue Back to the Base

Nearly half a year later, Liu eagerly joins the team awaiting contact with the returning Chen Jue. He thanks him for his contributions to the Homeland Project and, with Elder Zhong, promises to arrange the equipment and specialists needed to investigate his Radiation Mutation 269 270.

After the base’s Intelligence Group traces a login to Chen Jue’s grading account near Chen Village, Liu reports the discovery to Elder Zhong. He is sent to retrieve Chen Jue, bring his belongings, and take along unruly candidates who need to see what a Special Grade Candidate can do 304.

Liu travels overnight to An County with four Level One Candidates. He witnesses Chen Jue repair a minivan door barehanded and later calls for assistance when all four tires burst and Chen Jue stops the vehicle with his feet 309 310 311.

Back at the base, Liu coordinates Chen Jue’s expert consultations and introduces him to Academician Huang. When Chen Jue subsequently leaves to pursue a breakthrough, Liu and Elder Zhong receive electronic and handwritten cultivation material from him 315 316 332.

Void-Level Breakthrough and Industrial Research

Chen Jue’s breakthrough causes an international nuclear alert, prompting Liu to travel overnight again. In their subsequent exchange, Liu explains how close the incident came to triggering a global crisis; Chen Jue’s assurance that he could intercept every nuclear weapon only leaves him more bewildered 340 343.

When Chen Jue returns to the base at over Mach 100, Liu recognizes the flight as evidence supporting the cultivation theories previously entrusted to them. He then helps coordinate the proposed atomic-precision lithography machine, contacting the Optoelectronics Institute and urging Lin Weiguo to bring materials and personnel 355 356 360.

During these experiments, Chen Jue entrusts Liu with an artificial Imperial Heirloom Seal that displays images of the First Emperor’s Fengshan rites. Liu is instructed to safeguard it and have the research-and-development department study its information-recording technology 363.

After learning that the lithography machine’s casing uses an unprecedented five-layer single-crystal material, Liu asks whether Chen Jue can mass-produce it. Chen Jue declines, explaining that its production depends on his unique ability 368.

Abilities & Skills

Ten Body-Tempering Forms

• Practices Chen Jue’s system and reaches its Fifth Form 309.
• Shows a substantial reduction in his former potbelly 309.
• Claims improved tolerance for sleeplessness, but still displays dark circles and bloodshot eyes after an overnight journey 308 309.

Recruitment and Project Coordination

• Recruits martial artists for institute testing and explains payment, selection benefits, and safety arrangements 177 178.
• Coordinates Chen Jue’s testing, equipment requests, transport, and meetings with specialist teams 179 201 204 315.
• Connects the aerospace base with outside research institutions, including arranging materials and technical support for the lithography-machine project 356 360.
• Handles equipment feedback and improvement assignments following failed weapons and force-tester demonstrations 202 206.

Items Entrusted to Him

• Chen Jue’s mother’s cassette — Safeguarded during the lunar expedition and played during launch; later returned with her diary and Chen Jue’s other belongings 215 310.
• Cultivation documents — Electronic and handwritten methods supplied to Liu and Elder Zhong before Chen Jue leaves to pursue the Void Level 332.
• Artificial Imperial Heirloom Seal — Given to Liu for safekeeping and research after it reveals recorded historical imagery 363.

Relationships

• Chen Jue — Recruit, friend, and principal research collaborator. Liu becomes his recurring contact for travel, equipment, expert consultations, and personal requests, while remaining repeatedly astonished by his abilities 177 215 309 315 360.
• Zhong Deyuan / Elder Zhong — Former director and old superior, whom Liu treats with considerable deference. Zhong advises him on research standards and frequently reins in his more excitable reactions 206 218 304.
• Commissar Yao — Accompanies Liu on his first visit to Chen Jue and introduces the purpose of his approach 177.
• Zhang Feipeng — Candidate instructor whom Liu introduces to Chen Jue while attempting to ease an awkward confrontation 202.
• Zou Ying — Colleague who works with Liu to confirm Chen Jue’s capabilities to Lin Weiguo and coordinate the lithography-machine project 360 364.
• Lin Weiguo — Optoelectronics Institute contact whom Liu urges to bring raw materials and a research team to the base 360.

Notable Quotes

“Just think of him as Superman!” 179

“Yes, Elder Zhong! It’s been nearly half a year. The man leading this era’s transformation is finally coming back!” 269

“Surely not! Comrade Chen Jue seems pretty honest and well-behaved to me...” 304