Ji Tan

Biodata

Background / History

Original World

Ji Tan was a top student in B University’s Turing Class before joining Xie Zhi’s startup. He knew Xie through his older brother, Ji Sinan, who had been Xie’s college classmate, roommate, and close friend. After Ji Sinan suddenly died, Xie invited Ji Tan to work for him and promised to look after him in his brother’s place 3 10.

Xie initially paid him generously, but their working relationship deteriorated as project deadlines intensified and performance bonuses went unpaid. Ji Tan led a three-year effort to develop A Qiang, a superintelligence intended to create novels, dramas, and games without human assistance. He gave his exhausted team a break while remaining at work alone to handle the project 1 3.

While testing A Qiang’s output against the 233rd version of his framework proposal, Ji Tan became enraged by its formulaic, melodramatic novel and collapsed at his desk. He then awakened inside that story as a character bearing his own name 1.

City A Counterpart

The original Ji Tan of City A came from a comfortable family in central Xili District. His father’s gambling consumed their home and savings, and his mother fled with the remaining valuables. When his father turned his attention toward selling sixteen-year-old Ji Tan, Ji Sinan took his younger brother away. Ji Tan later pieced together that the brothers had supported themselves while studying in the slums 12.

His counterpart trained in cooking but sold drinks at a karaoke club, where he met Huo Zhaixing. He moved into Huo’s Beichen District villa two months before the transmigration. Their marriage agreement promised payment, while Ji Sinan remained burdened by a loan-shark debt 1 4 7 10.

Appearance

• Face and build: His City A body looks almost identical to his original self, but thinner and frailer 5.
• Ears: Slightly prominent; Xie accidentally folds them down while putting a motorcycle helmet on him 8.
• Eyesight: Mildly nearsighted. He uses his phone camera’s zoom to inspect the cult’s ritual object 14.
• Clothing: Initially wears a blue-and-white hospital gown and an identically striped wool coat supplied by Xie. He later changes into ordinary, student-like casual clothes and a dark outdoor jacket 5 11 14.

Personality

Ji Tan is sarcastic, outspoken, and quick to challenge absurd behavior. Even while weak from anesthesia, he slaps Huo Zhaixing and rejects the claim that removing his heart is harmless. His internal commentary frequently compares City A’s dangers to melodramatic fiction, workplace exploitation, and familiar genre conventions 1 3 6.

His attachment to Ji Sinan outweighs his fear of hardship. Before knowing whether City A’s Ji Sinan resembles his deceased brother, he decides that occupying another person’s body obliges him to care for that person’s family. After their reunion, he accepts his brother’s memory loss and compulsions rather than treating them as reasons to reject him 6 9.

He values independence but is not recklessly proud. He refuses Xie’s black card and asks for his unpaid bonuses instead, yet readily accepts protection when entering the dangerous slums. He also recognizes that relying on Xie as a substitute for his deceased brother would be unfair to both of them 7 8.

Abilities & Skills

AI Engineering

Ji Tan led A Qiang’s development and worked through 233 revisions of its autonomous creation framework 1.

• Helped develop a characterization feature based on modeling fictional people after real or historical individuals 7.
• Recognizes that A Qiang might have drawn names and personal details from information stored on his work computer; this remains his hypothesis, not a confirmed explanation for City A 7.
• Identifies missing search and review services as potential business opportunities, though he has not built an app in the supplied chapters 11.

Observation and Information Gathering

Ji Tan uses conversation, online searches, and direct observation to investigate unfamiliar situations 11 12 14.

• Uses his youthful appearance and affectionate manner to encourage older neighbors to share local information 11.
• Provokes district pride on social media to obtain hospital recommendations 11.
• Works out that Ji Sinan generally repeats actions seven times and speech to other people three times, with less rigid behavior around Ji Tan himself 11.
• Connects the cult’s eye symbol to a drawing in Ji Sinan’s belongings and investigates a possible link to his brother’s condition 11 14.

Knife Handling

His new body retains practiced culinary muscle memory, allowing him to cut a potato into fine, even shreds with a large cleaver 10.

• The retained skill does not extend to cooking: he cannot recall the next steps and burns the potatoes into an inedible black mass 10.

Combat and Supernatural Limitations

Ji Tan has no formal fighting skills and relies on improvised resistance, escape, and Xie’s protection 1 6 8.

• Uses his stapled proposal as an improvised weapon and distraction during his hospital escape 1.
• Attempts a nose punch learned online, but it has no effect on the C-rank Huo Zhaixing 6.
• Can become dizzy or unconscious near an Orderly’s Grace 6 8.
• Has not demonstrated the ability to activate his proposal’s golden-book form himself; its deliberate uses are performed by Xie 3 11 16.

Equipment / Items

A Qiang’s Autonomous Creation Framework Proposal, Version 233

• Origin: A thick, stapled stack of A4 pages that accompanies Ji Tan from his original world. He considers it his last memento of Earth 1 3.
• Supernatural nature: Xie identifies it as a high-Authority supernatural item belonging to his Sequence and possessing the power of rules 16.
• Activated form: Becomes a floating golden book when Xie uses it, returning to ordinary papers afterward 3 16.
• Documented uses: Enables Xie to declare “Opening doors is permitted here” and, during the warehouse battle, “Death is permitted here” 3 16.
• Hazard: Contact with Grace causes its rule power to spill out. Its golden light awakens the Ghoul corpse and draws the infected neighbors toward Ji Tan rather than safely shielding him 15 16.
• Ownership: Ji Tan refuses Xie’s request to surrender it, despite learning that it can endanger him 16.

Other Possessions

• Gold bank card: Supplied by Xie after Ji Tan demands his overdue bonuses; its PIN is Ji Tan’s birthday 7.
• Phone and identification: Provided by Xie after the hospital escape. Xie saves separate North and West District contact numbers on the phone 5 9.
• Portable sanity monitors: Purchases regular models for himself and Ji Sinan on Xie’s advice. They continuously display sanity readings with a stated margin of error below one percent 14.
• Argus invitation card: Given to him by Sister Xu; its eye symbol becomes a lead in his investigation 11 14.

Relationships

• Ji Sinan — Older brother and the person Ji Tan most wants to protect. The living Ji Sinan in City A has his deceased brother’s face and familiar habits, but lacks memories of their original world. Ji Tan accepts him despite this unresolved difference and seeks treatment for his declining sanity 8 9 13.
• Xie Zhi — Former boss, his brother’s close friend, and his principal protector in City A. Ji Tan resents his overwork and unpaid bonuses but relies on his help and advice. Calling him “A Zhi-ge” briefly restores the familiar address from their earlier relationship 3 7 14.
• Huo Zhaixing — Nominal husband and captor. Huo intends to give Ji Tan’s heart to Qiao Qiao and repeatedly tries to reclaim him after his escape. Ji Tan consistently refuses to return 1 5 6.
• Qiao Qiao — Huo’s first love and intended recipient of Ji Tan’s heart. Qiao Qiao accuses Ji Tan of using Xie to make Huo jealous after the hospital escape 1 4.
• A Qiang — The AI Ji Tan helped develop and the author of the novel he enters. Ji Tan blames its poor writing and questionable use of personal information for his predicament 1 7.
• Sister Xu — Neighbor who provides local information and directs him toward the followers of Argus 11.
• Xia Wanqing and Dr. Zheng — Ji Sinan’s former colleagues. Their discussion of his sanity and memory loss makes Ji Tan suspect that they know more about his condition than they admit 12 13 14.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Escape from Huo Zhaixing

Ji Tan awakens on the way to heart-removal surgery, tears out his IV needles, and flees. Xie eventually intervenes with his Orderly powers, helping him reach the hospital rooftop and then escape by slowing their fall from the building 1 2 3.

At the Public Security Bureau, Ji Tan discovers that Huo authorized the heart donation and purchased an expensive mechanical replacement. Learning that a real heart may be necessary to become an Orderly gives him another reason to resist the operation. Huo attempts to seize him again, but Xie defeats him and takes Ji Tan away 4 5 6.

Reunion in Xili District

Rather than remain at Xie’s home, Ji Tan travels west to find Ji Sinan. A contract reveals a one-million-yuan loan requiring thirteen monthly payments of one hundred thousand yuan. Ji Tan realizes that Huo’s payments had kept the collectors at bay and that his escape has placed his brother at risk 6 7.

He reaches the family home during a beating by debt collectors. After Xie intervenes, Ji Tan recognizes his brother, only to discover his memory loss and severe compulsive behavior. The familiar taste of Ji Sinan’s noodles convinces him to cherish the reunion despite those changes 8 9.

Sanity Treatment Investigation

Ji Tan takes his brother to Chengming Life Center and learns that Ji Sinan previously worked there. Director Yuan explains that an earlier injection raised Ji Sinan’s sanity from 39% to 53.23%, but erased a random stretch of memory. Another dose costs one million yuan 12 13.

After overhearing Xia Wanqing and Dr. Zheng discuss that memory loss, Ji Tan begins investigating. On Xie’s advice, he postpones another injection and buys continuous sanity monitors instead 13 14.

Argus Warehouse Ritual

Following the eye-symbol lead, Ji Tan spies on a warehouse gathering and is caught alongside Xie. The supposed sacred food is Ghoul flesh, which Xie warns would turn those who eat it into Ghouls. When the flesh touches the proposal’s light, the corpse awakens and the neighbors attack 14 15.

Xie uses the proposal to kill the Ghouls, and the TS unit treats surviving civilians. Ji Tan brings the weakened Xie home, where he learns that his apparent advantage is a dangerous rule-based item rather than a reliable personal defense 16.

Notable Quotes

“People die when you take their hearts out. Are you a fucking idiot?” 1

“Ji Sinan, I’m riding a motorcycle. Come back to life and hit me if you can!” 8