Zheng Xiaofeng

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Before the apocalypse, Zheng Xiaofeng had received little schooling and worked in security until the disaster began. He regards staying with the convoy as his practical means of survival 15.

He awakened the Armorer Sequence without understanding how it happened and initially knew nothing about its advancement method. Cao Xianming later deduces that repeatedly breaking his armor tempers the life-bound liquid at the core of his power 37. His awakening is subsequently identified as natural, rather than the result of a Sequence Injection 157.

Within the convoy’s centrally distributed Transcendent supplies, Zheng receives a twenty-percent share—the same allocation as Yang Yong, compared with thirty percent each for Cao Xianming and Wang Ying 8.

Chen Gen is his childhood friend. The two lost contact after Chen Gen joined the army and unexpectedly reunite inside the Whale Lord 245.

Appearance

• Build: Burly and over two meters tall, large enough to nearly crush the flimsy stool he occupies during a meeting 8.
• Early markings: A black crack resembling a vein in stone appears on the back of his right hand. He conceals it in his sleeve when Yang Yong looks at it 1.
• Stone armor: Blue-gray patterns spread across his arms and neck before forming full-body armor. Its movement produces scraping and cracking sounds 2 4.
• Iron armor: Metallic plates emerge from beneath his flesh and completely envelop him, producing a steel-armored form over three meters tall 48.
• Further-tempered armor: During the Zombie King battle, his regenerated armor becomes a deeper iron-black, with more tightly fitted plates and a faint dark-red glow between them 593.
• Steel bones: During his Sequence Three awakening, his reconstructed bones change from ordinary bone white to dark silver with a metallic sheen 596.
• Increasing weight: His footsteps remain notably heavy, and Yang Yong observes that he has become heavier again following a breakthrough in density manipulation 791.
• Voice and mannerisms: Speaks in a deep, rumbling voice and frequently scratches his head when embarrassed or uncertain 1 5 8.

Personality

Zheng is unusually approachable among the convoy’s early Transcendents: Yang Yong initially observes that he is the only one who talks to ordinary people. He shares a biscuit with a child and gives Yang Yong compressed biscuits, explaining that he has seen more people starve than die to the Eerie. His generosity also serves a practical purpose, as he recruits Yang Yong to help carry supplies 1.

He is protective but impulsive. At Qinglongzhai, he tries to rush back into the village after hearing a survivor’s fatal scream, only stopping when Wang Ying restrains him and Cao Xianming forbids the rescue. During combat, he can become so carried away that he abandons caution; this is why Yang Yong is assigned to share his night watch 2 17.

His bluntness and apparent simplicity are partly the price of his Sequence, which affects his thinking. He asks questions others hesitate to voice and tactlessly asks Wang Ying whether he has been crying. Nevertheless, Xiao Ma considers him wiser than his careless exterior suggests 8 16 18 40.

His concern for ordinary survivors continues well beyond the convoy’s early searches. He is the first to volunteer for the dangerous medicine-retrieval operation in Yangcheng and openly admires the three ordinary people who join it. During the hospital escape, he throws the slower survivors through the closing rift before attempting to cross himself, suffering serious injuries in the process 67 68 75 77.

Zheng takes his role as the convoy’s shield personally. When Cao Xianming is trapped by a dream Eerie, he blames himself for failing to protect the team’s central strategist and keeps a guilt-stricken vigil beside him. He has also entrusted his life to the team sufficiently to follow Cao’s instruction to deliberately lose in the Beast Arena 94 166.

Despite his heedless manner, he can recognize opportunities to strengthen himself. In the supernatural buffet hall, his apparently mindless overeating is a deliberate attempt to expand his liquid armor’s power reserves. Yang Yong recognizes the calculation behind his behavior, although the food’s appetite-draining influence makes the method dangerous 156.

He becomes increasingly enthusiastic about taking blows as a means of advancement, repeatedly seeking sparring partners whenever the convoy stops. Against the Zombie King, this becomes a calculated willingness to endure lethal pressure: he recognizes that safe practice can no longer break his advancement barrier and deliberately uses the enemy’s brute strength to temper himself 476 594.

Abilities & Skills

Armor Manifestation

• Forms armor over his body through the Armorer Sequence, progressing from stone armor to iron armor 8 48.
• According to Cao Xianming’s deductions, the armor originates from a mass of life-bound liquid that produces armor appropriate to Zheng’s rank 37.
• Can activate full-body protection for close combat, including charges, punches, and attempts to withstand incoming blows 4 36.
• His iron-armored form can carry Wang Ying and Yang Yong on its shoulders while running fast enough to catch the departing convoy 65.
• Continued tempering allows his Iron Armor to resist an earth dragon’s fangs and sniper fire. A later bullet strikes his chest, exhausts its momentum against the armor, and falls away without injuring him 476 533 534.
• Limit: His armor is not unbreakable. The Slit-Mouthed Woman shatters most of his stone armor, while the giant treant destroys it with a single punch 4 36.
• Further limits: His Iron Armor is dented by the black goats and Xiao Xuan’s newly awakened Furious Iron Fist, shattered by the Beast Arena’s white-clad scissors woman, and repeatedly broken by the Zombie King 64 158 166 593 595.

Armor Tempering

• Each time his armor is broken, its underlying life-bound liquid is tempered, increasing the hardness and defensive strength of the next armor he forms 37.
• Cao Xianming identifies repeated armor destruction and pushing past his limits as the advancement method for the Sequence 37.
• Uses willing sparring partners to pursue this process. Yang Yong breaks his Iron Armor by concentrating more than ten thousand consecutive flying-dagger strikes on one point; Zheng later welcomes Xiao Xuan as another training partner because Wang Ying’s blade is too dangerous for him to accept casually 115 158.
• Can replenish and expand his liquid armor’s reserves by absorbing compatible supernatural energy. He exploits the buffet hall’s food for this purpose and confirms that Yang Yong’s refined blood bead contains purer, greater supernatural power than the food itself 156.
• During the Zombie King battle, shattered armor rapidly gives way to a darker, more tightly fitted replacement. Zheng deliberately receives blows across different parts of his body to continue tempering it 593 594.
• Limit: Tempering does not prevent bodily injury. The treant’s blow leaves him with a comminuted fracture in his right arm, three broken ribs, and extensive bleeding 37.
• Advancement barrier: By the time of the Zombie King confrontation, few convoy members can break his armor, and those who can are unwilling to strike lethally. He identifies genuine proximity to death as the missing pressure needed for his next breakthrough 594.

Strength and Close Combat

• Hauls both halves of an enormous carp ashore, carrying one half in each hand. He also helps land the seven- or eight-meter carp killed by Yang Yong 15.
• Uses his armored body as a battering ram, staggering the Slit-Mouthed Woman long enough for Wang Ying to retreat 4.
• Can physically overpower ordinary survivors, as demonstrated when he drags the love-letter victim off the bus and knocks him unconscious with one slap 49.
• Overwhelms the Sky Base’s armed harbor guards in his armored form, sending them flying with individual slaps while clearing the way for evacuation 202.
• Retains considerable physical strength when his supernatural abilities are suppressed, snapping his bindings without armor. The narration states that three to five ordinary people could not get near him even in this condition 234.
• Uses the enlarged Tortoiseshell Shield as a crushing weapon, reducing one attacking savage to pulp and driving through others with shield strikes and iron fists 236.
• Pulls Wang Ying’s off-road vehicle, weighing over two tons, back from the edge of the roadbed in roughly three seconds 330.
• Stops an Alloy House hurled at Yezi and throws it back at the Zombie King, although bearing its impact drives his feet more than ten centimeters into the alloy floor 593.
• Limits: His punch does almost no damage to the giant treant. A survivor controlled by the Mirage Lake anomaly can drag him along despite his efforts to pin the man down 17 36.
• Offensive limitations: Yang Yong judges his attack power insufficient compared with his exceptional defense and recovery. Zheng also lacks innate ranged attacks, leaving him unable to contribute effectively in some engagements 266 497.

Resilience and Self-Healing

• Survives a direct punch from the giant treant while still a Sequence One Stone Armor Master, despite being driven into the rear compartment of an off-road vehicle 36 37.
• Possesses powerful natural self-healing; Cao Xianming advises leaving him undisturbed to recover on his own 37.
• Breaks free of the ice produced by the tall, thin Sky Base accomplice and emerges unharmed before renewing his shield charge 213.
• His unarmored body also possesses enhanced defenses. An ordinary attacker’s steel harpoon strikes him with a metallic sound, and the narration notes that piercing his skin would require tremendous strength 244.
• Limit: Recovery is not immediate. His injuries keep him out of combat across several subsequent stops, and he does not return fully recovered until his Sequence Two debut 39 40 41 44 48.
• Further injuries: The closing hospital rift crushes his Iron Armor and leaves him seriously wounded. The Zombie King later breaks the bones throughout his body, rendering him unable to move despite remaining conscious 75 77 596.

Hundred-Fold Forging Steel Bones

• Cao Xianming identifies strengthening the bones through continuous hammering by tremendous force as Zheng’s next, Sequence Three development 594.
• The Zombie King’s blows shatter his armor and bones, but Zheng survives further direct punches even after the armor has flowed back into his body 595.
• Once Yezi pulls him to safety, energy rises from his marrow and begins crushing, melting, bonding, compressing, and reshaping the broken bones 596.
• The reconstructed bones become denser, harder, and dark silver, with a metallic sheen. The process turns the bones themselves into weapons through repeated forging 596.
• Limit: The transformation is excruciating and does not restore him to immediate combat readiness. Its duration is uncertain, and he is sent for emergency treatment while it continues 596.

Density Manipulation

• Cao Xianming confirms that Zheng has recently achieved a breakthrough in density manipulation 791.
• Yang Yong notices that Zheng has become heavier again. The passage does not specify the ability’s full applications, operating limits, or associated Sequence rank 791.

Suppression and Countermeasures

• The mysterious Island’s Mist interferes with supernatural abilities, while its food and water intensify the suppression. After eating a sweet potato and drinking spring water, Zheng can produce only disconnected metal fragments rather than complete Iron Armor 232.
• Brings out his tortoise-shell shield before his supernatural power is completely sealed, preserving a physical weapon 233.
• A Brown Blood Bead supplied by Yang Yong restores his ability to manifest full Iron Armor, allowing him to lead a charge toward the Island’s raised platform 234.

Equipment

• Tortoiseshell Shield: A blood-bound, size-changing shield forged by Yang Yong. It can shrink to palm size for carrying and expand into a heavy shield over two meters tall. Zheng uses it for defense, crushing attacks, demolition, and blocking a cave entrance 169 170 236 240 534.
• Later shield refinement: In the desert, he agrees to let Yang Yong refine the shield despite being warned of sinister side effects. The refinement uses eerie black blood; afterward, Yang Yong discovers that he will suffer an electrical shock every thirty minutes 177.
• Flesh-and-Blood Submachine Gun: Temporarily receives the gun from Yang Yong to compensate for his weak offense while guarding Xiao Xuan. It converts the user’s flesh and blood into ammunition, a cost that would rapidly drain an ordinary person. It is later used by Lei Hong rather than remaining Zheng’s permanent weapon 266 497.
• Brown Blood Beads: Uses Yang Yong’s refined supernatural-energy beads to supplement his power and overcome the Island’s suppression 156 234.

Relationships

• Cao Xianming — Convoy captain and source of guidance about his Sequence. Zheng follows his survival decisions, guards him in the new world, and becomes excited when Cao discovers his advancement method 16 17 37. He later blames himself for Cao’s vulnerability to the dream Eerie and maintains a vigil beside him. During the Zombie King battle, Cao recognizes the conditions for Zheng’s next breakthrough and repeatedly delays Yang Yong’s intervention 93 94 594 595.
• Wang Ying — Fellow combatant and regular supply-search partner before Zheng’s serious injury. Wang Ying restrains his attempted rescue at Qinglongzhai; Zheng later charges the Slit-Mouthed Woman to cover Wang Ying’s retreat 2 4 41. He considers her blade too dangerous for routine armor-tempering practice, conveys Cao’s escape instructions to her in the Beast Arena, and later saves her off-road vehicle from going over the roadbed’s edge 158 166 330.
• Yang Yong — Fellow convoy Transcendent. Zheng initially recruits him as a porter, later shares night watch with him, and is eager to test his Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors. Yang Yong admires Zheng’s strength and survival against the treant 1 7 15 17 37. Yang Yong becomes a sparring partner, forges his shield, provides restorative blood beads, and rescues him from the Zombie King during the earlier Light Gate escape. In the later battle, Zheng holds the Zombie King’s attention while Yang Yong cultivates, and Yang Yong eventually intervenes to draw the enemy away 115 169 234 533 593 596.
• Xiao Ma — Convoy assistant whom Zheng is assigned to protect during the covert refueling operation near the Coffin Temple. Xiao Ma privately believes Zheng possesses wisdom beneath his unassuming manner 30 40.
• Xiao Xuan — Fellow combatant and armor-tempering partner after her awakening. Her first test punch dents his Iron Armor, to his surprise and delight. They later cooperate against the Human-Faced Owl Bats, with Zheng protecting her flank, and he remains behind to guard her when the group fears a Sea Demon attack 158 168 219 265.
• Chen Gen — Childhood friend whom Zheng calls “Shu Gen.” Their unexpected reunion prevents a confrontation between Chen Gen and the convoy. Zheng repeatedly vouches for him, and Chen Gen regards Zheng as one of the convoy’s most approachable members 245 248 281. Zheng greets Chen Gen and Yang Yong with bear hugs after their Forced Dispatch Mission and eagerly asks to join a future fight 290.
• Yezi — Zheng shields her from the Alloy House thrown by the Zombie King and reassures her that the enemy cannot hit her while he is present. After his subsequent beating, she uses newly regrown ivy vines to drag him out of the battlefield and sends him back for medical treatment 593 596.
• Zhu Yuhao and his wife — Receive Zheng in the Core Area’s conference room and begin emergency treatment while his steel-bone transformation is underway 596.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Early Supply Searches

• Recruits Yang Yong before the Qinglongzhai search and orders scavengers to work in pairs, leave promptly, and avoid greed 1 2.
• Attempts to rescue trapped survivors, but Wang Ying and Cao Xianming stop him from entering the lethal village again 2.
• Helps cover the escape from Huiwanjia Supermarket by charging the Slit-Mouthed Woman. He emerges with shattered armor and a shoulder wound deep enough to expose bone 4.

Mirage Lake and the New World

• Uses his strength to bring the convoy’s giant fish catches ashore, supporting its three-day effort to prepare and preserve food 15.
• Votes to enter the unknown world and volunteers to lead through the mist in his off-road vehicle 16.
• Shares the second night watch with Yang Yong and helps restrain survivors drawn toward the lake by an anomaly’s chanting. Knocking the victims unconscious fails to stop their controlled bodies from moving 17.

Coffin Temple Escape

• Is assigned to protect Xiao Ma while the bus is secretly refueled as part of Cao Xianming’s escape preparations 30.
• Defends the final off-road vehicle as the opening between worlds closes. His attack provokes the giant treant, whose counterblow shatters his armor and leaves him embedded in the vehicle’s metalwork 36.
• Survives with serious injuries. Cao Xianming’s examination reveals both his exceptional resilience and the armor-breaking mechanism behind his advancement 37.
• His prolonged incapacity weakens the convoy’s available fighting force; when Yang Yong is also incapacitated, Cao postpones travel rather than send Wang Ying out unsupported 40.

Return as an Iron Armorer

• Rejoins the group fully healed and demonstrates his new Sequence Two iron armor 48.
• During the love-letter Eerie incident, activates his armor, removes the targeted survivor from the bus, and knocks him unconscious so Yang Yong can confront the entity away from the vehicle 49.

Yangcheng Medicine Retrieval and Hospital Escape

• Fights three powerful black goats before Yang Yong and Wang Ying reinforce him. When the convoy withdraws, he carries both companions on his shoulders and catches up with Yang Yong’s pickup 64 65.
• Is the first to volunteer to retrieve medicine despite the danger and praises the ordinary survivors who join the operation 67 68.
• Accompanies the group to Yangcheng First People’s Hospital. After an Eerie blocks their first-floor approach, he opens a second-floor window, releasing an unsettling sweet smell 69.
• Helps locate the Foreign Woman Ghost in the purchasing department and escapes with the others after the hospital’s supports are destroyed 75.
• Throws Xiao Xuan, Xiao Wei, and the middle-aged survivor through the closing rift. His own attempt to force through in armor leaves him trapped under crushing pressure before Mang Dabiao pulls him free 75.
• Returns to the convoy seriously wounded, temporarily leaving its protection dependent on Yang Yong while Wang Ying is also unconscious 77.

Dream Eerie Rescue and Convoy Security

• Takes responsibility for guarding Cao Xianming while Wang Ying seeks a holy-light Transcendent to help release him from the dream Eerie 93.
• Keeps vigil beside Cao, blaming himself for failing to protect the convoy’s strategist 94.
• Spars with Yang Yong to temper his Iron Armor. That night, he spots paper figures stealing supplies beneath floating lanterns and raises the alarm 115.
• Supports Cao Xianming’s proposal to ambush the Wild Wolf Gang and seize its Sequence Injection 135.

Supernatural Buffet and Beast Arena

• Uses the buffet hall’s food to increase his liquid armor’s supernatural reserves while recognizing that it is draining his appetite. Yang Yong pulls him away and has him test a refined blood bead 156.
• Helps assess Xiao Xuan’s unusual awakening and eagerly serves as the target for her first Furious Iron Fist test, which dents his chest armor 157 158.
• Leads the group into the passage associated with the Buddhist Cultivator Society after Cao confirms that they can proceed 161.
• Enters the Beast Arena to tell Wang Ying to lose deliberately, then becomes the next challenger. A weak opponent cannot meaningfully hurt him, but the white-clad scissors woman shatters his Iron Armor and defeats him, triggering his teleportation out 166.
• Receives Yang Yong’s blood-bound shield and later permits its further refinement during the convoy’s fuel crisis in the desert 169 177.

Sky Base Evacuation and Sea Voyage

• Clears armed guards from the warship during the Evil Eye outbreak, enabling the convoy to prepare its escape from the Sky Base 202.
• Shields Cao during the confrontation with concealed troublemakers. When ordered to attack the tall, thin accomplice, Zheng is frozen, breaks free unharmed, and resumes his assault with his shield 212 213.
• Protects Xiao Xuan’s flank while her Furious Iron Fist destroys Human-Faced Owl Bats aboard the ship 219.

Suppression Island and the Whale Lord

• Loses the ability to form complete Iron Armor after consuming the Island’s sweet potato and spring water 232.
• Retains his physical strength despite the suppression, breaks his bindings, and regains his armor after Yang Yong supplies a Brown Blood Bead 233 234.
• Leads the rush toward the raised platform, fights the savage chieftain, and later uses his enlarged Tortoiseshell Shield to crush attacking savages 234 235 236.
• Blocks a cave entrance with his shield during the group’s monster-hunting operations 240.
• Recognizes Chen Gen during a potential confrontation, embraces him, and introduces him as his childhood friend. Chen Gen then reveals that the island lies inside the enormous whale Eerie known as the Whale Lord 245.
• Repeatedly assures the convoy that Chen Gen will not harm them 248.
• Remains behind to protect Xiao Xuan when the others consider the possibility of a Sea Demon diversion, and receives the Flesh-and-Blood Submachine Gun to supplement his offense 265 266.
• Welcomes Yang Yong and Chen Gen back from the Forced Dispatch Mission and asks to accompany them on a future fight 290.

Later Convoy Defense

• Spots a silent, unlit vehicle approaching during his night watch with Yang Yong and wakes the convoy. The vehicle proves to be the pursuing Route 14 Bus 322 323.
• Saves Wang Ying’s off-road vehicle by dragging it back from the edge of the roadbed 330.
• Takes a separate supply-search route during the Song Family Ancient House operation. When the village encounter becomes overwhelming, he and Xiao Xuan call for retreat, and he fights off the Eerie while urging survivors not to look back 346 353.
• Manifests Iron Armor while falling after the bindings around the tree’s captive “fruit” are cut 421.
• Continues seeking sparring partners during convoy stops; his improved armor withstands an earth dragon’s bite 476.

Mechanical City and the Steel-Bone Awakening

• Carries a captured Zombie toward the Light Gate under sniper fire. The Zombie King intercepts him, but Yang Yong knocks it away and forces Zheng through the gate to safety 533.
• Joins Liu Hong in confronting the hidden gunman, demolishing the gunman’s hiding place with his shield while his armor stops a bullet to the chest 534.
• Later helps clear Zombies from the convoy’s path by fighting from an off-road vehicle’s roof 562.
• Shields Yezi from an Alloy House thrown by the Zombie King and returns it to the attacker. He then asks Yang Yong to continue cultivating while he engages the enemy in close combat 593.
• Repeatedly suffers shattered armor and serious injuries but regenerates tougher armor and returns to the fight 593 594.
• Deliberately uses the Zombie King’s uncomplicated brute strength to pursue a breakthrough, receiving blows on different limbs and across his torso. Cao explains that the next Sequence level requires tremendous force to awaken strengthened bones 594.
• Endures the complete destruction of his Iron Armor and further direct punches while Cao insists that Yang Yong wait for the necessary final pressure 595.
• After Yang Yong engages the Zombie King, Yezi extracts Zheng with ivy vines. His broken bones begin reconstructing into Hundred-Fold Forging Steel Bones, but he remains unable to fight and is sent to Zhu Yuhao and his wife for emergency treatment 596.

Later Density-Manipulation Development

• Is active with the convoy again by the time it is settling into a village. Yang Yong assigns him a warehouse with a wide door after his bundles catch in a low doorway 791.
• Yang Yong notices that Zheng has become heavier, prompting Cao to explain that Zheng recently achieved a breakthrough in density manipulation 791.

Notable Quotes

“Eat. I've seen plenty of people starve to death. More than I've seen killed by the Eerie.” 1

“I don't know anything about peace. All I know is that sticking with the convoy keeps me alive!” 15

“I'll go find medicine.” 67

“Don't worry. With me, Zheng Xiaofeng, here, he can't hit you.” 593

“It's not over! I can keep going!” 593