Gu Qing

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

University Life and the Labels

Gu Qing is a Haicheng local studying foreign languages at Haicheng University. His father, Gu Mingbo, works in advertising design; his mother, Wen Wanyi, teaches high-school Chinese. His younger sister, Gu Yao, is three years younger and preparing for the college entrance examination 6 11.

His discovery of floating labels coincides with his breakup with Bai Ningyu. While she explains that their futures belong to different worlds, he is preoccupied with the [Corpse] label above her head. She transfers him twenty thousand yuan, refuses to explain her recent activities, and warns that investigating her affairs could endanger him. She later blocks him, describing the separation from her old acquaintances as temporary 1 7.

Gu Qing discovers that shared activities with certain labeled acquaintances grant him skills and attributes. He builds a daily routine around gaming, eating, studying, basketball, and martial arts, initially hoping to grow stronger without attracting attention 2 3 8 10.

Knife Attack and Avoidance of Publicity

During a visit home, Gu Qing confronts a drunk who has attacked two people with a kitchen knife. His enhanced reactions make the man’s swings appear slow, allowing him to dodge and disable the attacker’s arm with a knife-hand strike. An officer later reveals that the blow shattered the arm’s bones 12 13.

Gu Qing refuses both media interviews and a commendation for bravery. Although his parents initially worry about his intervention, he declines time off from university because he wants to continue raising his reaction speed 13.

Discovering Other Supernatural Powers

Gu Qing initially doubts Xia Shuran’s account of her martial-arts school’s centuries-old ancestor. Her Mountain-Crushing Palm changes his mind: although it cannot move him, its force exceeds what he believes her body should ordinarily produce. He agrees to learn the ancestor’s martial arts and discovers that he already possesses the necessary qi-and-blood control 30 31.

Realizing that he may not be the world’s only supernatural individual makes him more secretive. He conceals his existing aptitude from Xia Shuran because he knows neither her ancestor’s strength nor their intentions 32.

His first encounter with an abnormal human occurs when a man labeled [Killer] follows and attacks Zhou Yuan. After being restrained and poisoned, the attacker transforms into a larger, hairy creature. Gu Qing defeats him easily, then tells investigators that the poison enabled the final subdual, concealing the extent of his own strength 33 34.

The University Rat Investigation

Oversized rats appear around campus, and an extermination effort uncovers human tissue matching the DNA of two missing people. Gu Qing later follows rats to the administration building, where security guards are feeding them chemically treated raw meat 22 37.

He calls public security, knocks out both guards, and assists the investigation. Rather than killing every rat he encounters afterward, he keeps them as potential informants through his animal-language ability 37 41.

Appearance

• Face and build: Exceptionally handsome, with fair skin and long arms; his appearance frequently attracts attention from women 18 23 26.
• Normal physique: Lean and sharply defined rather than bulky. Early Constitution gains give him eight clearly defined abdominal muscles 5 23.
• Knotted Muscles form: His body expands into a heavily muscular build. The initial transformation tears his clothes, but deactivating the ability restores his normal appearance within seconds 48 49.

Personality

Gu Qing approaches his ability experimentally. He times shared activities, compares gains, tests whether strangers qualify, and measures his own physical performance. Once he understands the rewards, he organizes much of his life around efficient attribute farming 3 5 6 32.

He prefers privacy to recognition. He refuses publicity after stopping the knife attacker, conceals his strength during the investigation into Zhou Yuan’s assailant, and invents a home address rather than disclose his real one during truth or dare 13 34 43.

His pursuit of strength can make him inconsiderate of his partners’ limits: Gao Fei and Xia Shuran repeatedly become exhausted by sessions he could easily continue. Nevertheless, he treats Xia Shuran’s sprained ankle, massages her sore muscles, and recognizes that he should stop overfeeding Qian Duole once the latter gains weight 11 24 35 47.

He is playful with friends and family but takes personal boundaries seriously. He teases Gu Yao and jokes with his roommates, while insisting on offering payment for Liu Zhiyi’s lessons rather than assuming their acquaintance entitles him to free help. Despite recognizing romantic interest from others, he prioritizes improving his attributes over dating 25 26 46.

Abilities & Skills

Label Perception and Attribute Acquisition

Gu Qing sees labels that can describe occupations, traits, abilities, or troubling conditions. They are not necessarily literal professions or accurate measures of their owners’ current skill: Chen Zijie’s [Professional Gamer] label, for example, exceeds his actual gaming credentials 1 2.

• Shared-activity rewards: Appropriate activities with eligible acquaintances typically grant skill and attribute points after an hour 2 3 16.
• Relationship requirement: Following a stranger labeled [Bodybuilding Champion] produces no reward. Training with Xia Shuran only begins yielding gains after they become closer 5 16.
• Simultaneous farming: He eats with Qian Duole while gaming with Chen Zijie to develop two sets of attributes at once 8.
• Beyond the source: His gains can make him much stronger or more skilled than the person whose label supplies them 7.
• Character panel: Displays acquired attributes and progress toward future unlocks. Upgrade and fusion options are visible, but he does not yet know how to use them when first discovered 14 25 32.

Devouring

Acquired after accumulating 100 digestion points, Devouring greatly enhances his digestive ability 11.

• Allows him to consume repeated bowls of food with extraordinary speed 11.
• Fundamentally changes his cells’ energy storage, enabling him to eat heavily without gaining weight 49.
• Its initial description supplies no numerical measure of the enhancement 11.

Lightning-Fast Reflexes

Acquired at 100 reaction-speed points, this attribute greatly enhances his reactions. Like Knotted Muscles, it can be activated and deactivated 14 49.

• Produces a subjective slow-motion effect, making rapid attacks easy to follow 14 34.
• Lets him evade the transformed killer’s grab while perceiving fine details of the attacker’s movement 34.
• Earlier reaction-speed gains already allow him to dodge a knife-wielding attacker 12.

Physical Constitution and Knotted Muscles

Physical Constitution improves his strength, speed, senses, endurance, defense, and healing. At 100 points, it unlocks Knotted Muscles, an active transformation that substantially increases his constitution 21 23 24 48 49.

• Transformation limit: Enlarging his body can destroy ordinary clothing 48 49.
• Unverified resistance: He believes he can withstand ordinary gunfire and might survive a sniper-rifle hit, but no firearm test is shown 50.

Martial Arts and Qi-and-Blood Control

Training with Xia Shuran directly improves his technique, turning awkward spear practice into precise, fluid movements 6 16.

• Uses the Red-Tassel Spear, including thrusts, flicks, chops, and sweeps 16.
• Instinctively senses and mobilizes qi and blood, including concentrating it in his right fist 31.
• Practices the Mountain-Crushing Palm, whose principles involve gathering and explosively releasing qi-and-blood power 31.
• Performs advanced calisthenics, including planche push-ups, an Archangel Muscle-Up, and a bar planche supported only by his thumbs 9 18.

Beast Language and Beast Taming

Training with Liu Zhiyi allows Gu Qing to understand animal calls as readable messages and improve his handling of animals 27.

• Understands cats, hamsters, squirrels, foxes, mosquitoes, and rats 27 31 41.
• After a second skill point, understands calls from several meters away rather than needing close proximity 27.
• Quickly identifies how to stroke animals comfortably and win them over 27.
• Uses campus rats as potential sources of investigative information 41.
• Blood Essence Enslavement remains locked: The requirement is 100 Beast Taming Skill; his recorded progress is 2/100. Its exact effect is not established 27 32.

Learning and Biochemical Research

• Enhanced learning: Repeated study sessions make him faster at solving questions; his learning ability reaches 66/100 toward Exceptional Comprehension 8 49.
• Research skill: Laboratory work with Zhou Yuan grants research-related gains 40.
• Toxin resistance: Drinks several experimental solutions without apparent illness, including a black solution whose residue causes Zhou Yuan to collapse 40.
• Uncertain mechanism: Gu Qing cannot determine whether his early toxin tolerance comes from biochemical resistance, Physical Constitution, or both. Immune to All Poisons has not yet been unlocked 40.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Red-Tassel Spear — Training weapon used during Xia Shuran’s lessons 6 16.
• Testing supplies — Uses nail clippers, toothpicks, a steel needle, a lighter, and toilet cleaner to investigate his physical resistance 23 24.
• Improvised restraints — Twists clothes hangers into bindings for Zhou Yuan’s attacker 33.

Relationships

• Bai Ningyu — Ex-girlfriend. Her [Corpse] label and warnings leave him concerned about her unexplained activities; she later blocks him along with her other old acquaintances 1 7 19.
• Xia Shuran — Junior schoolmate, martial-arts instructor, and major source of Constitution gains. She develops romantic feelings for him; he recognizes her interest but is not seeking a relationship 6 16 46.
• Gao Fei — Roommate and basketball partner. Helps him develop Constitution, but struggles with the increasingly exhausting sessions 4 10 47.
• Chen Zijie — Roommate and gaming partner. Their extended ranked sessions take them to Challenger and help unlock Lightning-Fast Reflexes 2 14.
• Qian Duole — Roommate and eating partner whose label helps Gu Qing acquire Devouring 8 11.
• Yang Yuntong — Classmate and study partner. Develops romantic hopes; Gu Qing avoids responding to her movie invitation because he wants their study arrangement to continue 7 22.
• Zhou Yuan — Biochemistry doctoral student, gaming companion, and laboratory collaborator. Gu Qing saves him from a transforming attacker and cultivates their friendship to access new attributes 19 32 34 40.
• Liu Zhiyi — Former high-school English teacher and current pet-shop owner. Teaches him animal training for free; he offers help and customer referrals in return 26 27.
• Gu Mingbo — Father. Supports his independence while urging him to put his safety first 11 13.
• Wen Wanyi — Mother. Worries about his dangerous intervention and questions his refusal of official recognition 11 13.
• Gu Yao — Younger sister. Shares an affectionate but combative teasing relationship with him and introduces him to Liu Zhiyi’s pet shop 11 25 26 27.
• Huang Xiaoyue — Freshman acquaintance whose [Feces] label attracts his curiosity. He adds her on WeChat to investigate, without intending to date her 42.

Notable Quotes

“I don't want any media interviews, and I don't need any commendations for bravery either. I just want to live a quiet life.” 13

“With my Physical Constitution, I can already be said to have bronze skin and iron bones.” 49