Wang Tai

Biodata

Background / History

Before the *Hope*

Before the apocalypse, Wang Tai owned a small startup. His management practices included demanding unpaid overtime, verbally abusing employees, delaying social-insurance contributions, and paying wages late. He regarded employees’ complaints and departures as betrayals despite these conditions 7 17.

Originally from western Hunan, he fled to the coast after anomalies made life on land untenable. He gave July 9, 2040, as the date he set sail 9.

According to Wang Tai, the Hope Fleet spent more than half a year reaching the Blood Moon Sea. A conflict with another fleet and an encounter with a giant anomaly destroyed its three large ships and killed its Sequence Transcendents, leaving the smaller Hope as the sole surviving vessel. The last surviving Transcendent entrusted him with [Just Verdict] and the responsibility of leading the remaining survivors 9.

When Qin Mao questioned the voyage’s apparently impossible timeline, Wang Tai explained that time flowed at different rates across the sea. Fleets had discovered the discrepancy by comparing incompatible sailing logs 9 10.

Captain of the *Hope*

Wang Tai maintained two principal rules aboard the Hope: no one could leave, and everyone received equal food and drink. His own meals and quarters were similarly austere. Beneath this appearance of fairness, however, he used executions to supply human souls as ammunition for [Just Verdict] 4 5 15.

The crew both feared and depended on him. His gun protected them from eerie creatures, but his prohibition against leaving made the ship a prison. He knowingly retained hostile survivors because they gathered supplies, provided ammunition, and could be sacrificed to delay supernatural threats 12 16.

Recruiting Qin Mao

Wang Tai stopped Qin Mao’s execution after Qin claimed he could repair the Hope’s damaged hull. He subsequently forced the newcomer to execute four escapees, then collected their souls with [Just Verdict] 2 4.

His attitude became markedly warmer when Qin presented himself as an Apocalypse Shipwright. Although initially suspicious, Wang Tai recognized the value of supernatural ship repair. After witnessing Qin transform a canoe into a raft, he appointed him first mate and arranged for them to become sworn brothers, hoping to bind him permanently to the ship 5 6.

Wang Tai treated Qin as an inexperienced young employee who could be won over through apparent intimacy and shared secrets. He did not realize that Qin’s friendliness concealed a determination to escape 7 18.

Stone Ape Island

On Stone Ape Island, Wang Tai organized the gathering of mulberry stalks and warned the survivors not to engage with its rule-based anomaly. When a coconut-selling eerie being attacked, he covered the retreat with [Just Verdict], though shots to its human body only stopped it temporarily 12 13.

He tripped over mulberry stalks Qin Mao had deliberately dropped to test whether he possessed additional hidden abilities. Qin then pulled him to safety and told him to shoot the coconut in the creature’s arms. The shot dissolved its humanoid body, leaving the coconut behind as wondrous material 14.

Back aboard, Wang Tai publicly tortured a survivor he accused of attracting the creature. He left Qin to finish the man, reinforcing their apparent alliance while adding another soul bullet to his gun 14 15.

Failed Awakening and Death

Wang Tai possessed a damaged, contaminated Sequence Potion. A Diviner had predicted that whoever drank it at sunrise fourteen days later would certainly awaken transcendent powers. Wang Tai interpreted this as a guarantee of his own success and planned to destroy the Hope and everyone aboard if his awakening failed 18 20.

On the final night, he dreamed of becoming a powerful Transcendent, avenging fallen companions, and founding an immense survivor settlement called Hope Base. While he slept, Qin Mao stole his potion and other valuables and replaced [Just Verdict] with a replica 16 17 18.

Their confrontation exposed Wang Tai’s manipulation of the crew and his explosives. Qin refused to surrender the potion, escaped on his raft, and survived the Hope’s explosion 18.

Wang Tai also survived the initial blast. He ambushed Qin with a wooden spike, impaling his shoulder, and celebrated the prospect of condemning him to death at sea. When Qin instead built a twenty-meter sailboat from the wreckage, Wang Tai abandoned his threats and begged to be rescued 19.

Qin refused and drank the stolen potion after secretly repairing it. Wang Tai died in the water with a large plank embedded in his body. Only at the end did he recall that the Diviner’s prediction had promised success to whoever took the potion, not specifically to him 20.

Appearance

• Age and face: Middle-aged, with facial stubble and prominent yellow teeth 4 5 16.
• Clothing: Wore a leather jacket, later pierced by the plank lodged in his body 20.
• Habit: Smoked cigarettes and lamented their dwindling supply at sea 4 9.

Personality

Wang Tai combined practical leadership with coercion. He understood that survivors needed food, ships, and protection, but treated their dependence as justification for absolute control. He openly acknowledged that his followers were useful as labor, ammunition, and expendable distractions for eerie beings 5 16.

His generosity toward useful people was calculated. Promotions, sworn brotherhood, equal rations, and private confidences helped him secure loyalty while preserving his authority. He was particularly wary of Qin Mao’s potential combat strength and visibly relaxed when Qin claimed his abilities offered little personal fighting power 5 6 7.

He considered himself a benefactor and reacted furiously to perceived ingratitude. This outlook carried over from his business career: employees leaving his company and Qin abandoning the Hope struck the same emotional nerve. His confidence in his luck and the Diviner’s prediction ultimately blinded him to the prediction’s actual wording 17 18 20.

Abilities & Skills

Wondrous-Item Combat

• Used [Just Verdict] despite being an ordinary human, relying on its Equal Treatment effect and soul ammunition 22.
• Killed a Rotgill Corpse with a single shot 7.
• Broke a Sound Charm’s sleep-inducing influence through gunfire, awakening survivors across the ship 10.
• Held off the coconut-selling anomaly during the retreat from Stone Ape Island, then destroyed its humanoid manifestation by shooting its coconut 13 14.
• Had no demonstrated innate transcendent abilities; without the real gun, he remained an ordinary man 18 19.

Maritime and Supernatural Knowledge

• Used the Hope Fleet’s log to identify islands, food sources, and known anomaly rules 12.
• Explained Sequence categories, awakening costs, wondrous-item rankings, and differences in the flow of time at sea to Qin Mao 5 9 10 11.
• Knew the Hope lacked the repair expertise needed to install cannons, despite carrying cannonballs salvaged from the fleet’s lost large ships 16.
• His knowledge was not wholly reliable: his claim that a Chang-Driving Pufferfish without thralls was easy prey proved to be secondhand boasting 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• [Just Verdict] — A wondrous flintlock ranked 2879, with a walnut stock, brass barrel, shark-tooth-shaped flint, green patina, and silver skull markings. Its Equal Treatment effect allowed Wang Tai to exchange human souls for bullets; soul bullets had no firing interval. Qin Mao stole it and substituted a replica before their confrontation 4 10 18 22.
• Contaminated Sequence Potion — Stored in a cracked test tube containing pale-green liquid, with mold and a rotten smell around the damage. Wang Tai intended to use it to awaken, but Qin stole and repaired it before drinking it himself 15 16 20.
• Hope Fleet ship’s log — Recorded islands, anomalies, and the fleet’s experiences at sea 12 15.
• Oval bone fragment — Kept in his hidden compartment and stolen by Qin; subsequently identified as the Bone of Zor-Magru 15 16 22.
• Parchment scroll — Stolen alongside the bone and potion; later examined as a Blood Flea Skin map bearing a burning heart and red cross 16 22.
• Thousand-Faced Eerie Coconut — Recovered on Stone Ape Island and stored with his valuables 14 15.
• Hidden explosives — Prepared as a means of destroying the Hope if his awakening failed 18.

Relationships

• Qin Mao — Recruited shipwright, appointed first mate, and sworn younger brother. Their apparent alliance concealed mutual calculation and ended with theft, the Hope’s destruction, and Qin refusing to rescue him 2 6 18 20.
• Zhang Qing — Fawning subordinate and trusted attendant who publicly defended Wang Tai’s authority. He inadvertently alerted Wang Tai to Qin’s theft by mentioning Qin’s supposed errand to fetch a blanket 3 4 17.
• Zhu Yu — Dissident survivor who hated Wang Tai but feared his gun. His group targeted Qin because repairing the ship prolonged their confinement under Wang Tai’s rule 11 12.
• The Diviner — Predicted a successful awakening fourteen days later. Wang Tai wrongly understood the prediction as a personal guarantee 17 18 20.
• The Hope Fleet’s last surviving Transcendent — Entrusted Wang Tai with [Just Verdict] and leadership of the survivors, according to Wang Tai’s account 9.

Notable Quotes

“Aboard the Hope, people can join, but they can't leave. If you want to leave... the ship will have to sink first!” 4

“They fear [Just Verdict], but they also need [Just Verdict].” 16

“The apocalypse is here. Staying alive comes first. What does freedom matter?” 18