Yang Fan

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Before the apocalypse, Yang Fan was a high school senior in Lu City, ranked near the top of his class, and captained his school’s swim team. By the time he described his escape to Qin Mao, he was the only one left from the people he had fled with 26.

He met Ye Xuanyin and Yan Qi while their survivor groups were putting out to sea. After traveling together, the three established the Hope Fleet. Ye and Yan unanimously chose Yang Fan as its leader because of his abilities and foresight, despite his being the youngest of the three. He named both his ship and the fleet Hope, intending the name to be positive and uplifting 24 26.

Appearance

• Build: Thin, slight, frail-looking, and not particularly tall 25 36.
• Face: Ordinary-looking and visibly youthful; he appears younger than the other founding captains 25.
• Glasses: Wears glasses, which he adjusts while explaining his forensic knowledge 50.
• Usual expression: Often maintains a cold or serious expression while trying to project the bearing of a mature leader 33 36.

Personality

Yang Fan deliberately presents himself as composed and authoritative. After the island expedition, he conceals his growing fear because he knows that visible panic from the fleet’s leader would frighten the crews. His earnestness gives him a commanding presence despite his unimposing appearance 36 40.

His survival ethics are pragmatic rather than indiscriminately compassionate. He places the fleet above any individual, explicitly values Transcendents over ordinary people, and accepts that sacrifices may be necessary. During the captains’ private discussion about Qin Mao, he suggests imprisoning him for ship repairs as an alternative to killing him 24 36.

With trusted companions, Yang Fan is considerably more bashful. Praise for the name Hope Fleet nearly makes him jump with excitement, and he struggles to negotiate for his share of valuable loot. He initially mistakes mutual courtesy for a sufficient distribution system, but accepts Qin Mao’s criticism and helps establish clearer rules 26 47.

Abilities & Skills

Navigator — Lookout Tower Sailor

• Disaster sensing: Detects ocean hazards such as storms and tsunamis, helping the fleet choose safer routes 36.
• Island location: Senses the locations of islands where survivors may gather supplies 36.
• Survival knowledge: Has a special talent for identifying edible wild foods and surviving on deserted islands 36.
• Limit: Cannot sense eerie auras or determine what eerie creatures inhabit an island and how powerful they are 36.

Seawater and Current Perception

• Detects a pursuer through nearly imperceptible disturbances in ocean currents, confirming that the creature remains behind the fleet even after hours of flight 41.
• Locates the submerged Chang-Driving Pufferfish and calls out its position for Qin Mao and Yan Qi to attack 45.
• Limit: This is indirect tracking through water movement, not eerie detection. When the pufferfish dives deeper, he can no longer locate it reliably 45.

Observation and Deduction

• Recognizes Qin Mao’s Eerie Coconut as an Anomalous Object Vehicle before the other captains notice 24.
• Identifies two infiltrating corpses by their clothing: the fronts are wet and the backs dry, revealing that they have been running through the rain 44.
• Deduces that a mental-type Transcendent corpse has suppressed the captains’ thoughts, explaining why they failed to consider obvious countermeasures or use their wondrous items 44.
• Notices the eyes as the Bloodfang Warthog’s weakness while observing it through his telescope 40.

Basic Forensics

• Learned elementary forensic knowledge online after developing an interest in mystery novels during his first year of high school 50.
• Identifies Wang Laosan’s remains using clothing, height, build, and information gathered by Zhang Licheng 50.
• Estimates that two other sets of remains have been dead for at least a year or two 50.

Limitations

• Limited combat strength: His documented combat role centers on locating targets and coordinating allies rather than dealing damage 40 45.
• Sequence-related inability to swim: Despite having captained his school’s swim team, he cannot swim after entering his Sequence. He nearly drowns when a railing breaks beneath him 26 45.
• Vulnerability to mental interference: Fu Qingshi’s abilities suppress his reasoning alongside the other captains’; he is not immune to such influence 44.

Fleet Leadership & Rules

Yang Fan explains and enforces the Hope Fleet’s survival rules, while allowing additions when new problems arise 33 36 47.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• The Hope — His flagship, approximately thirty meters long. Like the Rose and Yaximu, it has a wood-and-metal hull with special metal cladding underneath to resist seawater corrosion and marine organisms 25 26.
• Old-fashioned telescope — A wood-and-brass instrument used for observation. He reverses it while examining the Bloodfang Warthog before identifying its vulnerable eyes 38 40.
• Flashlight — Uses it to show Yan Qi that the Eerie Coconut is a boat rather than an island 24.

Relationships

• Qin Mao — Fleet shipwright and fellow Transcendent. Yang Fan initially considers him dangerous and later mistakenly suspects that he intends to destroy the Yaximu. Qin Mao’s successful repairs secure his public welcome; their trust deepens after they settle the fleet’s loot-distribution rules 24 28 29 47.
• Ye Xuanyin — Co-founder and captain of the Rose. She supports his appointment as fleet leader and saves him from drowning during the pufferfish battle. He offers her his loot share in gratitude 26 45 46 47.
• Yan Qi — Co-founder and captain of the Yaximu. He endorses Yang Fan’s leadership and follows his target calls during the pufferfish fight 26 45.
• Zhang Licheng / Uncle Zhang — First mate of the Hope, assisting with everyday fleet management, headcounts, and inquiries about the dead 39 49 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Qin Mao’s Recruitment

• Encounters Qin Mao at sea with Ye Xuanyin and Yan Qi, supplies him with food and water, and privately assesses the risk of admitting him 24.
• Introduces himself as captain of the Hope and leader of the Hope Fleet, formally welcoming Qin Mao aboard 25.
• Evacuates the Yaximu after wrongly concluding that Qin Mao’s repair request may conceal an attempt to blow up the ship 28.
• Publicly announces Qin Mao as the fleet’s new shipwright after witnessing the restored hull 29.

Island Expedition and Corpse Infiltration

• Leads the fleet to an island for supplies, then orders a retreat when disappearances and the Bloodfang Warthog expose the danger 38 39.
• Suspects that an eerie creature is following the departing fleet. When flight fails, he orders the ships to anchor and the survivors to stay together, conserving strength and limiting opportunities for further attacks 40 41 42.
• Identifies the corpse infiltrators and explains how mental interference prevented the captains from acting effectively 44.

Chang-Driving Pufferfish Battle

• Directs Qin Mao and Yan Qi’s attacks by tracking the pufferfish through surface disturbances 45.
• Falls overboard when the railing breaks. Ye Xuanyin keeps him afloat and hauls him back aboard while Qin Mao and Yan Qi fight the creature 45 46.
• Raises the danger of unfair loot division after the victory, then helps turn Qin Mao’s proposal into standing fleet policy 46 47.

Investigating the Apocalypse

• Presents a classification of marine threats into eerie beings, Eerie Mutation creatures, and Initial Mutation creatures. The meeting also addresses the steep decline in normal fish catches 49.
• Connects the old corpses’ deaths with earlier signs of the apocalypse. He recalls that navigation, practical ship handling, and swimming entered entrance-exam requirements in 2038, before the apocalypse’s full arrival in June 2040 50.
• When Qin Mao proposes remaining in relatively safe waters, Yang Fan produces a written note in response. Its contents are not revealed in the supplied passage 50.