Hu Zihao

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Liu Zunfu’s Disappearance

Hu Zihao attended Yishi No. 12 Middle School and shared a dormitory with Liu Zunfu, his closest friend since entering high school. When Liu Zunfu disappeared overnight without taking his clothes, Hu Zihao reported it to their homeroom teacher, Liu Zhipeng. He remained preoccupied with the disappearance while most classmates continued their day normally 1.

Shi Yu warned him that Liu Zunfu was probably dead and that the same danger had now targeted him. Hu Zihao initially reacted angrily, but Shi Yu’s emerging ability influenced him into believing the warning. When his roommates dismissed his fears and Liu Zhipeng abruptly disappeared from school, he increasingly relied on Shi Yu and Han He. Han He confirmed that an Evil Sin had marked him, gave him a handmade talisman, and told him not to be alone 1 3.

Bathroom Attacks and Awakening

Despite entering the bathroom with Shi Yu and Han He, Hu Zihao found himself isolated, with his memories and perception distorted. Han He’s talisman shattered while briefly freeing him from the Evil Sin’s control. Trapped in a washroom filling with foul water and human remains, he injured his hands trying to escape and climbed onto the door handle to stay above the rising liquid. Han He and Shi Yu eventually pulled him out; Han He then treated his wounds 5 7.

Although Shi Yu later sensed that his mark had vanished, Hu Zihao was attacked again. After returning to dormitory Room 225, he was drawn into the washroom by an apparition of Liu Zunfu. The apparition became a swarm of centipedes, subjecting him to an illusion that left him horrifically injured. He fought back by biting the insects, only to discover that he had bitten the sink 7 12 15.

The Evil Sin severed his leg tendons and crushed his body. His refusal to accept death triggered the awakening of Unyielding, but his injuries were too severe for him to stand or fight. Liu Yiyi rescued him and cauterized his chest wound; Shi Yu and Han He’s continued treatment kept him alive until further help arrived 14 15 16.

Hospitalization and Recruitment

While Hu Zihao recovered in a private hospital room arranged by his family, the Curtain-Caller Li Yan infiltrated the hospital as a nurse and injected him with a syringe. He survived, and his visitors subdued the attacker. His newly awakened Origin had leaked, allowing the Curtain-Callers to identify him as a Gifted 25 27 30.

At the police station, Hu Zihao struggled with both joining an organization that fought Evil Sins and explaining his awakening to his mother. He feared that remaining beside her would expose her to danger, but also worried that the authorities could use her to control him. After speaking privately with Feng Wanshu, he finally broke down in her arms. She supported his decision to join Liu Yiyi’s group 27.

Hu Zihao signed a contract alongside Shi Yu and Han He and was welcomed into Stars as a member of Unit 597, “Snow Cedar.” Shen Bai arranged protection for Feng Wanshu while allowing mother and son to continue seeing each other. The organization’s subsequent approval confirmed all three newcomers’ placement in Snow Cedar 28 45.

Beginning with Snow Cedar

During ability registration, Hu Zihao hesitated to submit an incomplete description because he had been told to report truthfully. At Shi Yu’s prompting, he listed self-healing, then later explained the full nature of Resilience to his teammates. Liu Yiyi welcomed him as someone who could fight on the front line alongside her and promised him physical training 30 33.

In the newcomers’ practical assessment, Hu Zihao took the front position because he could withstand the most punishment. He charged He Siying, but she redirected his strength and threw him beneath falling ironwork, forcing Shi Yu to intervene. Despite their decisive defeat, Hu Zihao immediately asked her to teach him her fighting techniques 48.

After their first day of training, Hu Zihao celebrated with Shi Yu and Han He over a meal. He also relayed news obtained through his mother that their hospitalized teachers and schoolmates were recovering 50.

Appearance

• Tall and long-legged: Before awakening, his height and stride helped him keep pace with Han He more effectively than Shi Yu could 12.
• Athletic build: He exercised regularly before awakening. Within days of gaining Resilience, he became visibly more muscular and a size larger than Han He 46.
• Family resemblance: He strongly resembles Feng Wanshu, appearing to Shi Yu like a taller, larger male version of her 25.
• Injured hands: During his early recovery, his fingertips were tender and covered in tiny scars from his struggle to escape the bathroom 27.
• Documented clothing: On his way to report for duty, he wears a red denim jacket with zigzag lines, jeans, and black combat boots 46.

Personality

Hu Zihao is straightforward, sociable, and unusually quick to adapt. Shi Yu repeatedly notices how readily he resumes chatting after frightening experiences, including the morning after his first near-fatal attack. Once the immediate danger passes, he becomes cheerful and teasing, jokes with Shi Yu in their group chat, and quickly begins calling Shi Yu and Han He his brothers. Shen Bai describes him as upright but simple in his thinking 7 34 42 45 46.

His resilience does not mean he is fearless. He feels isolated when others dismiss his concerns, envies his friends’ supernatural abilities, and struggles with guilt over whether reporting Liu Zunfu’s disappearance contributed to Liu Zhipeng’s fate. He initially hides his experiences from his mother to avoid worrying her. During the second bathroom attack, fear gives way to fury and a stubborn refusal to surrender—the disposition reflected in his Staircase 12 15 27 30.

Abilities & Skills

Staircase of Resilience: Unyielding

Hu Zihao’s first step strengthens both mind and body, with its effectiveness increasing as his circumstances worsen 33.

• Enhanced strength: His physical power exceeds that of an ordinary person. During his charge at He Siying, he crushes cracked floor tiles beneath his foot 33 48.
• Will-to-strength conversion: He can turn his will into additional strength 33.
• Adversity amplification: The worse his situation becomes, the stronger his abilities grow 33.
• Resistance to submission: Resilience does not permit a submissive heart or retreat from a path its holder has chosen 33.
• Enhanced toughness: He withstands repeated blows during He Siying’s assessment and springs back up afterward, impressing Shi Yu 48.

Self-Healing

His regeneration begins working even while he is unconscious after the school rescue 14.

• Small wounds visibly close, while tiny growths of flesh appear around his chest wound 14.
• His recovery continues rapidly during hospitalization 25.
• Healing is not instantaneous: immediately after awakening, his crushed body remains unable to fight, and he still requires rescue and extensive treatment 15 16 19.

Frontline Combat

• Protective positioning: He places himself ahead of Shi Yu during the team’s assessment, recognizing that he is the most durable of the three newcomers 47 48.
• Direct attacks: He uses his enhanced physique for forceful charges and punches 48.
• Limited technique: He Siying neutralizes his charge through martial skill without needing her ability for the initial throw. He responds by asking her to teach him 48.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Han He’s talisman: A handmade protective charm tied to his wrist. It briefly breaks the Evil Sin’s control during the first bathroom attack, then shatters 3 5.
• Standard-issue firearm: Issued by Snow Cedar while his fighting style is still developing. Its specially made ammunition can injure and kill low-level Evil Sins 49.

Relationships

• Feng Wanshu — His mother. He tries to spare her worry by concealing his ordeal; she comforts him, supports his recruitment, and receives protection from Stars 25 27 28.
• Liu Zunfu — His roommate and closest friend since entering high school. Liu’s disappearance draws him into the school incident, and the Evil Sin later uses Liu’s likeness to torment him 1 12 15.
• Shi Yu — Initially a classmate he barely knows; later a trusted friend and teammate. Shi Yu warns him, helps rescue and sustain him, and guides him through recruitment 1 5 16 27.
• Han He — Classmate, protector, and eventual teammate. He supplies Hu Zihao’s talisman, helps rescue him, and repeatedly treats his injuries 3 5 7 16.
• Liu Zhipeng — His homeroom teacher. Hu Zihao reports Liu Zunfu’s disappearance to him and later feels guilty about the teacher’s death 1 12 30.
• Liu Yiyi — His rescuer and Snow Cedar captain. She values his suitability for frontline combat and intends to train him 14 27 33.
• Shen Bai — Snow Cedar’s deputy captain. He treats Hu Zihao’s injuries, helps arrange his mother’s protection, and oversees the newcomers’ induction 19 28 33 49.
• He Siying — Senior colleague whose combat skill overwhelms him during assessment. Rather than becoming discouraged, he asks her for instruction 48.