Qin Mao

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Betrayal and Escape

Qin Mao fled from Bashu toward the coast with Su Miaomiao during the first three months of the apocalypse. After he risked his life to rescue her from an Eight-Eyed Ice Weird Spider, she pushed him into its mouth. Trapped inside its icy stomach, he upgraded a lighter into a source of transcendent flame and escaped. He then transformed a rotten trunk into a dugout canoe and fled the island after the fleet had departed 1 15.

While pursuing the fleet, he rescued Uncle Zhang, who had previously shared food with him. Wang Tai’s Hope intercepted their canoe, but its crew killed Uncle Zhang and nearly executed Qin Mao. He survived by claiming he could repair the ship’s damaged hull, concealing his connection to the dead man 2.

Aboard Wang Tai’s *Hope*

Forced to execute four would-be escapees, Qin Mao discovered that human deaths also earned Kill Points. He then invented the “Apocalypse Shipwright” Sequence to make himself too valuable to expend. His construction and repair work secured him the position of first mate, a private cabin, and a nominal sworn brotherhood with Wang Tai 4 5 6 8.

Qin Mao learned that Wang Tai’s wondrous pistol, Just Verdict, used human lives as ammunition. After killing Zhu Yu, who had tried to assassinate him, he investigated the crew’s warnings of a fourteen-day deadline. Wang Tai’s contaminated Sequence Potion and concealed explosives revealed the danger: if the captain failed to awaken, he intended to destroy the ship with everyone aboard 8 11 12 15 18.

Using copied keys and a replica pistol, Qin Mao stole the potion and disarmed Wang Tai without his knowledge. During their confrontation, he released his prepared raft and escaped beneath it as the Hope exploded. He regarded Uncle Zhang as avenged, though he later felt a brief melancholy over the dead crew 15 16 18 19.

Awakening and Return to the Fleet

Wang Tai survived long enough to ambush Qin Mao after the explosion, leaving him badly wounded in the shoulder. Qin Mao subsequently perfected and drank the stolen potion, awakening as a Lone Walker while Wang Tai died in the water. He also discovered that his upgraded vessel had incorporated the Thousand-Faced Eerie Coconut and become a wondrous ship 19 20 21.

After struggling with thirst, injury, and Cable Blood Leeches, Qin Mao encountered his former fleet and rejoined it. His new mental resistance exposed Su Miaomiao’s attempts to influence him, prompting him to investigate her abilities rather than immediately attack her. Repairing the supposedly unsalvageable Yaximu established his value to the fleet and publicly secured his position as its Shipwright 23 24 25 27 29.

Consolidating His Position

Qin Mao completed Just Verdict’s bonding ritual by exploiting its requirement for mutually accepted, fair judgments. With the pistol claimed and his shoulder healed, he renamed his vessel Ten-Thousand-Li Divine Radiance. His improved circumstances briefly backfired when eating his fill violated his current Sequence taboo and sharply weakened him 33 35 37 38.

During the Chang-Driving Pufferfish crisis, Qin Mao exposed the apparent schoolmate aboard his ship as a corpse. The man identified himself as Fu Qingshi, a Sequence 4 Heartmare who had manipulated memories and perceptions. Qin Mao resisted the manipulation through his Sequence abilities, physical clues, and a blood-written reminder about his gun 40 42 43.

Meanwhile, Su Miaomiao continued trying to seize his ship through blood offerings. Qin Mao knew about her nightly visits and planned to turn her expectations against her. At a later fleet meeting, he privately suspected that his vessel was attracting eerie creatures and contributing to the decline in normal fish catches 48 49.

Appearance

• Height: Close to 180 centimeters 3.
• Features: Described by others as refined or genteel, contrasting with his alarming enthusiasm for killing fish 8 9.
• Attractiveness: Considers himself above average in appearance and recalls being the best-looking man in his college class 25.
• Eyesight: His nearsightedness disappeared after awakening as a Transcendent 20.

Personality

Qin Mao prioritizes survival, independence, and revenge against those who betray him. After escaping the ice spider, he resolves to live for himself rather than repeat his unquestioning trust in Su Miaomiao. Nevertheless, he still recognizes personal debts: he rescues Uncle Zhang because the older man once helped him when he was starving 1 2.

He is secretive and opportunistic, using flattery, false identities, and carefully prepared substitutes to survive stronger opponents. His “Apocalypse Shipwright” persona hides both the Upgrade System and his actual Sequence. He also invents costly drawbacks to his repair ability so that others will not treat his work as an unlimited resource 6 15 18 26.

His ruthlessness grows more pronounced aboard the Hope. Although killing Zhu Yu leaves him frightened afterward, he later executes another man without emotional turmoil. He often frames violence as necessary self-preservation, but also bullies weaker survivors, manipulates children to complete his gun’s ritual, and shoots a bereaved father who continues insulting him 12 15 19 33 35 48.

Qin Mao’s humor is sarcastic and frequently self-congratulatory. He calls himself an embodiment of fairness while exploiting Just Verdict’s rules, yet his confidence does not eliminate caution: even after becoming comfortable with the fleet’s leaders, he remains prepared for them to turn on him over valuable materials 33 35 46.

Abilities & Skills

Upgrade System

• Repair and transformation: Spends Kill Points to repair damaged objects, improve existing equipment, or transform raw materials into usable items 1 6 30.
• Kill Point sources: Normal fish of sufficient size provide points; small fish, shrimp, and contaminated fish do not. An ordinary human earns 500 points, while one Cable Blood Leech earns 333 1 8 15 23.
• Material efficiency: Supplying suitable materials dramatically reduces upgrade costs. His canoe upgrade dropped from 5,000 to 800 points when materials were included 5.
• Flexible pricing: Successfully reduced the quoted cost of repairing the Hope from 600 to 400 points by bargaining with the system 6.
• Wondrous crafting: Wondrous items cost more to upgrade than ordinary objects. Added wondrous materials influence the resulting item’s abilities 21 49.
• Identification: System prompts revealed the name Bone of Zor-Magru when ordinary inspection returned only unknown information 22.
• Reserve management: Established a plan to set aside ten percent of his Kill Points for emergencies; the system displayed the savings separately 49.

Enjoying Loneliness

• Enhances his physique and basic physical attributes, with the enhancement growing as his Sequence level rises 20.
• Doubles his attributes when he spends more than two-thirds of each day alone 20.
• Helped expose Fu Qingshi: Qin Mao retained his solitude benefit despite the supposed companion’s presence, showing that the man could not be alive 43.

Free Running

• Greatly increases stamina, endurance, and recovery speed 20.
• Raises running speed to three times its normal value and ignores terrain obstacles 20.

Escape Restraints

• Allows him to escape physical bindings such as ropes, shackles, and handcuffs 20.
• Freed his wrist and ankle from tightly coiled Cable Blood Leeches through unusual twisting movements 23.

Yearning for Freedom

• Greatly increases mental power and strengthens with Sequence advancement 20.
• Grants immunity to lower-tier mind control, resistance to same-tier control, and brief resistance to higher-tier control 20.
• Allowed him to recognize and resist Su Miaomiao’s control while pretending to obey her 25 32.
• Repeatedly nullified the affection increases caused by her Heart Link 48.

Combat and Investigation

• Transcendent contact: His awakened body can touch and harm eerie creatures; he tore three Cable Blood Leeches apart with his hands 23.
• Limited technique: Has no formal fighting techniques or set moves, and Lone Walker provides no active attack skill 23 24.
• Deduction: Combines behavioral clues, resource accounting, and Sequence mechanics. Fu Qingshi’s lack of eating and failure to interrupt the solitude bonus helped expose him 43.
• Countermeasures: Uses decoys, copied keys, replica equipment, and written reminders to counter assassination, confinement, and mental manipulation 11 15 18 43.

Sequence Costs

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Eerie Coconut / Ten-Thousand-Li Divine Radiance — His wondrous vessel, later described as twenty meters long. Its coconut-tree mainmast can devour powers, attack through a bloodthirsty coconut, and use roots for movement and steering. Qin Mao claimed it through a blood-feeding ritual 21 37 49.
  • Its special effect requires someone to willingly feed it large quantities of their blood for fifteen consecutive days, then willingly sacrifice themselves on the final day. This offers a chance of an unknown effect—not a stated transfer of ownership 21.
• Just Verdict — Ornate, single-barreled flintlock pistol ranked 2879, stolen from Wang Tai and later bonded to Qin Mao through three accepted fair judgments 10 18 35.
  • Wang Tai generated ammunition through human deaths; Qin Mao also replenished ammunition by pouring in Transcendent Power. Its maximum capacity is seven bullets 8 38.
• Ram’s Horn Hammer / Claw Hammer — His preferred hand tool and improvised weapon. He favors its impact over a blade, but the unmodified hammer cannot damage eerie creatures 23 24.
• Three-Minute-Heat Lighter — His first documented upgrade, producing a massive low-level transcendent flame for up to three minutes. The lighter itself is not fireproof 1.
• Bone of Zor-Magru — An unidentified-purpose bone fragment stolen from Wang Tai’s stash. The system reports that it is already at its highest level, while repairing it would require an enormous number of Kill Points 16 22.
• Survival equipment — Repaired or upgraded desalination equipment, a hand-crank flashlight, a solar-powered cooker, a wok, and a warm blanket 30 38.
• Premium Fishing Rod — A heavy, reinforced rod with self-repairing line and all-purpose bait capable of regenerating 1,000 times. Cost 1,000 Kill Points to upgrade 49.
• Stored wondrous materials — Holds a Soul-Binding Evil Pearl and three portions of Cable Blood Leech Remains 49.

Relationships

• Su Miaomiao — Former partner and principal revenge target. She betrayed him to the ice spider and later tried to control him and obtain his ship. Qin Mao concealed his resistance while planning retaliation 1 25 32 48.
• Uncle Zhang — Benefactor who once shared bread and milk with him. Qin Mao rescued him at sea and regarded the destruction of Wang Tai’s Hope as revenge for his murder 2 18.
• Wang Tai — Former captain, nominal sworn elder brother, and enemy. Their outward camaraderie concealed Wang Tai’s desire to control his labor and Qin Mao’s preparations to escape 6 17 18.
• Zhang Qing — Crewman who killed Uncle Zhang and nearly killed Qin Mao. Later courted Qin Mao’s favor and declined to expose his role in an incident on Stone Ape Island 2 3 14.
• Zhu Yu — Assigned attendant and suspected minder. Tried to assassinate Qin Mao because Qin Mao’s repairs prevented the ship from sinking and taking Wang Tai with it; Qin Mao killed him after questioning him 8 11 12.
• Yang Fan, Yan Qi, and Ye Xuanyin — Fellow Transcendents and fleet leaders who accepted Qin Mao as their Shipwright. Cooperation remained mixed with caution and questions of trust 24 25 29 46.
• Zhao Yuechuan — Ship-repair rival who conceded Qin Mao’s superiority after the Yaximu was restored. Qin Mao made him serve as bait before accepting supplies to end the punishment early 27 29.
• Zhong Baoguo — Elderly survivor who warned him about Su Miaomiao’s association with Zhou Hao and suspicious behavior 38.
• Fu Qingshi — Enemy who appeared as Qin Mao’s supposed schoolmate Zhang Yu. After being exposed, requested that Qin Mao kill another Free Person and deliver an apology to Zhang Jiayi; Qin Mao’s agreement was deliberately noncommittal 40 43.

Notable Quotes

“It’s precisely because freedom is so hard to come by that I demand it!” 18

“What kind of Free Person is this? These are all escape skills. Person Fleeing for His Life would be more like it!” 20

“The ability has no flaws, but the person using it does!” 43