Li Xijiu

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Li Xijiu comes from a wealthy family. His older brother, Wang Dongcheng, inherits their father’s surname and takes responsibility for the family business, while Li uses their mother’s surname and lives largely free of those obligations. He grows up alongside Qin Manjiang and later pays almost all of Qin Manyi’s initial treatment costs 1.

He gains admission to Fucheng University through his own examination results, but is expelled shortly after beginning his freshman year. While watching a confrontation from a wall beside the sports field, he falls between the two groups. Both sides attack him, assuming he belongs to their opponents; he retaliates and inflicts most of the injuries recorded when the police arrive. His brother could have resolved the trouble, but Li no longer wants to study and leaves without attempting to return 1 4.

Appearance

• Human appearance: Tall, handsome, and cheerful-looking, with neatly cropped hair 1 4.
• Emerging ghost features: Bulging black veins around his eyes, spreading across his face as malice overtakes him 8 9.
• Fully manifested ghost form: Countless eyeballs emerge from his flesh and cover his exposed skin 9.
• After absorbing the other ghosts: His limbs twist beyond recognition, the Tall Wraith’s head remains embedded in his chest, and Little Ghost’s face leaves an outline on his left arm 9.

Personality

Li Xijiu is contented, impulsive, and intensely optimistic. He enjoys almost anything except studying, and his apparent foolishness often reflects laziness rather than an inability to think: Qin Manjiang explicitly notes that he earned his university place without special arrangements 1 2 4.

His loyalty is practical as well as emotional. He funds Qin Manyi’s treatment, gives Qin Manjiang glasses before the university entrance examination, and tries to care for him after Old Qin’s death. On that occasion, both friends are drunk, and Li dismantles a restaurant tabletop to cover Qin so he will not catch a chill 1.

Despite his bravado, Li is frightened of ghosts, murderers, dogs, snakes, and numerous other dangers. During the cinema game, he uses jokes and banter to conceal his terror because he is even more afraid of holding Qin Manjiang back. He repeatedly takes the dangerous decoy role and shields Qin from attacks 4 6.

As a ghost, his affection and murderous impulses coexist. He admits that he still wants to kill Qin despite trying to resist, yet continues protecting him even as his humanity disappears 9.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Fitness and Fighting

• Defeats members of both groups involved in the confrontation that leads to his expulsion 1.
• Has substantially better stamina than Qin Manjiang, allowing him to lead the Tall Wraith through several screening rooms while continuing to shout 5.
• Uses railings and rapid changes of direction to evade pursuit 6.
• Can briefly block the Tall Wraith’s machete with a wrench, but the impact splits his hand and forces him to his knees; he cannot sustain the contest of strength 5.

Danger Awareness

• Pushes Qin Manjiang away immediately before a machete strike 5.
• Pulls him from beneath the ticket counter just before the Tall Wraith splits it apart 6.
• Shields the back of Qin’s head with his forearm without looking behind him, intercepting a thrown cleaver 6.
• Warns Qin not to meet the Tall Wraith’s gaze, explaining that it can injure its target by injuring itself 8.

Qin later identifies four inexplicable instances of Li sensing danger, each of which saves him. No formal name or complete explanation for this ability is given 9.

Ghost Absorption and Transformation

• Merges with the Tall Wraith when its blade and hand sink into his flesh, eventually devouring it 9.
• Fixes every pupil on Little Ghost as its shadow freezes in midair, then swallows it through a slit in his left arm 9.
• Possesses strength Qin Manjiang cannot resist, enabling him to throw Qin through the restroom window 9.
• Speaks directly inside Qin’s mind after the fusion 9.

Drawing Pursuers Away

• Deliberately attracts the Tall Wraith’s attention so Qin can investigate the cinema 4 5.
• Repeats the tactic in the first-floor lobby, buying Qin time to read the work log and locate Theater 3 6.
• Relies on speed, stamina, and obstacles rather than defeating the pursuer outright 5 6.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mobile phone — Connects him with Qin Manjiang despite their apparent one-day separation; he uses it to call for help and send the “Save me!” message. The connection is supernatural, but is not established as an innate ability of Li’s 1 2.
• Borrowed wrench — Thrown to him by Qin Manjiang during their confrontation with the Tall Wraith; used to block its machete 5.

Relationships

• Qin Manjiang / Abyss — Childhood friend who trusts him enough to enter the cinema to attempt a rescue. Li becomes both the ghost drawing Qin into danger and the protector who ultimately saves his life 1 4 9.
• Wang Dongcheng — Older brother responsible for the family business. Wang takes their father’s surname, while Li takes their mother’s 1.
• Qin Manyi — Qin Manjiang’s younger sister; Li covers almost all of her initial treatment expenses 1.
• Old Qin / Qin Linghan — Qin Manjiang’s adoptive father. Li stays with Qin when he becomes drunk following Old Qin’s death 1 13.
• Tall Wraith — Pursues and wounds Li during the cinema game; ultimately absorbed into Li’s ghost body 5 6 8 9.
• Little Ghost — The child ghost encountered during the cinema game; also absorbed by Li during his final transformation 9.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Threshold Cinema

Li calls Qin Manjiang while watching a film at Threshold Cinema, where he believes it is August 11 at 10:31 p.m. Qin is already in the following morning and hears news that the cinema has burned down. Li initially treats the patrons’ unnatural movements as curiosities, but becomes frightened when the audience turns to stare at him 1.

After receiving Li’s plea for help, Qin investigates the ruins and enters the Ghost Story Game. They reunite in the restroom, and Li agrees to distract the machete-wielding figure while Qin searches for clues. He helps collect the old floor plans, finds the work log, and protects Qin from multiple attacks before they reach Theater 3 3 4 5 6.

The screening reveals the tragedy behind the father and son ghosts. When the fire begins, Li suffers both a severe forearm wound and an abdominal injury inflicted through the Tall Wraith’s self-harm. Qin carries him toward escape, refusing his requests to be left behind 7 8.

Li finally admits that he cannot return. Qin realizes that his friend has been dead since before the rescue message, and that the ghost’s efforts to endanger him have repeatedly conflicted with its surviving affection. Li absorbs both cinema ghosts, carries Qin to the restroom window, and throws him outside before the building explodes. Qin believes the familiar consciousness within Li has vanished completely 8 9.

Unresolved Disappearance

Police find no body whose DNA matches Li Xijiu and continue investigating him as a missing person. The absence of remains gives Qin renewed hope, despite having witnessed his transformation 10.

Qin later wonders whether Li’s contribution explains why he received no Spirit Pupils for the beginner game, but cannot reconcile that possibility with Li’s apparent loss of consciousness 18.

When Yang reports a vengeful ghost repeating the names “Abyss” and “Qin Manjiang,” Qin suspects it may be Li and joins the investigation at Guanyin Lake. The connection remains unconfirmed. By Chapter 49, finding Li is still one of Qin’s explicit goals 46 47 49.

Notable Quotes

“You said it.”
— His reason for believing Qin Manjiang’s explanation of the death game 4

“Qin Manjiang, I can't go back.”
— Revealing that escape is no longer possible for him 8

“Stay alive...”
— His final words as he throws Qin Manjiang to safety 9

Trivia

• His given name, Xijiu, means “western success,” paired with his brother Dongcheng’s “eastern accomplishment” 1.
• “Huh?” is such a frequent response that Qin wonders whether it has become his catchphrase 6.
• His description of Qin as “ridiculously standardized,” like an anatomical model, later becomes relevant when Qin notices a mismatch between his emotions and his outward responses 49.