Zhao Zicheng

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Handsome, with a naturally gentle air and a gentlemanly manner 10.
• Presents himself with a friendly smile when first approaching Yu Sheng 10.

Personality

Zhao Zicheng is ambitious, sociable, and persistently optimistic. He initially imagines leading his classmates into the Ink Pavilion and eventually reaching its headquarters. His speeches imitate his father’s rhetoric, but his promises are presented as sincere, youthful idealism rather than calculated deception. Yu Sheng’s rejection embarrasses him without provoking lasting resentment 10.

His sheltered upbringing initially makes him reluctant to sit on the factory’s dirty floor, and he assumes that awakening talent should largely determine future success. Liu Qingfeng challenges both attitudes, emphasizing hardship, judgment, and survival over aptitude alone 14 15.

Despite being visibly frightened, Zhao repeatedly pushes himself to act. He stands beside Du Xu against the dog demon and later forces himself to sit beside a cultist’s corpse. During the demon fight, his fear gives way to stubborn resolve 17 20 24.

He enjoys boasting and theatrical gestures, but usually recovers quickly when his friends puncture them. Even after repeated setbacks, he continues proposing grand plans for their future 35 36 44.

Abilities & Skills

Sandbag

His Awakening Object can manifest as a punching bag in front of him 44 47.

• Defensive placement: Zhao summons it between himself and Yu Sheng during their training 47.
• Impact-triggered energy feedback: When Yu Sheng punches it, the bag becomes solid and glows faintly. A wisp of energy divides, with one portion entering Yu Sheng and the other returning to Zhao 47.
• Painful use: The training visibly hurts Zhao despite the pleasurable sensation accompanying the feedback; he repeatedly asks Yu Sheng to stop or let him rest 47.

Family Connections and Organization

Zhao uses his family connections to obtain information and arrange favors 10 30 36.

• Knows the assessment’s intended role in recruiting local talent for new Ink Pavilion branches 10.
• Arranges an extension of Yu Sheng’s father’s imprisonment and his placement in a private room 30.
• Organizes Du Xu’s early transfer from First High School to Second High School 36.

History

Interschool Assessment

Zhao meets Yu Sheng on the school bus and proposes that four students support a single candidate—himself—to improve their chances of entering the Ink Pavilion. He promises to help the others join afterward, citing his father’s position. Yu Sheng declines and instead asks him to keep his father imprisoned longer 10.

At the factory, Zhao warns Yu Sheng about Du Xu’s six-mark aptitude. He narrowly wins his own arena match, suffering a swollen face, and later cheers for Yu Sheng against Du Xu despite their earlier disagreement 11 12 13.

When the dog demon attacks, Zhao joins Du Xu at the front of the students’ defense. Both sustain injuries while holding it off. After Yu Sheng returns and asks the students to appear seriously injured, Zhao improvises a dramatic collapse, allowing Yu Sheng to take over the fight 17 20.

Zhao repeats the performance when a level-one cultist appears, leading the students in collapsing so Yu Sheng can confront him. After the cultist is killed, Zhao overcomes his fear sufficiently to sit beside the corpse with Du Xu. He remains there until dawn with three other students; Luo Yun subsequently identifies both Zhao and Du Xu as promising prospects 23 24 26 28.

Helping Yu Sheng

After the assessment, Zhao promises to handle Yu Sheng’s request concerning his father. He later reports that the man’s sentence has been extended for molesting women and that he has been moved into a private room without contact with women. Delighted, Yu Sheng calls Zhao his brother for life 28 30.

School Rivalries and Merger

When students from the other schools begin causing trouble at Second High School, Zhao waits for Yu Sheng’s return and urges him to fight back. He imagines their group becoming Mobei City’s “big bosses” after the schools merge 35 36.

Zhao also arranges Du Xu’s transfer ahead of the merger. Upon learning this, Yu Sheng remarks that it explains why First High School’s students have been coming to challenge them 36.

Awakening and Exam Preparation

Zhao initially boasts that his awakening occurred amid darkened skies, lightning, and thunder. Du Xu contradicts him, explaining that Zhao awakened in class after urgently needing the toilet and passing gas loudly. When Du Xu mocks his Sandbag, Zhao declares that he will enter Spirit Martial High School and become a Tank 44.

Before the national exam, Yu Sheng repeatedly trains with Zhao’s punching bag, discovering its energy-feedback effect. Du Xu eventually joins them. Their noisy, painful sessions lead other students to believe that Yu Sheng is bullying Zhao, while the principal declines to intervene 47.

Relationships

• Yu Sheng — Classmate and close friend. Zhao’s initial attempt to recruit him as a supporter develops into deference toward “Boss Yu,” practical favors, and shared training 10 28 30 35 47.
• Du Xu — Initially a feared rival, later a fellow defender and companion. Zhao arranges his transfer to Second High School; Du Xu frequently teases him, particularly about his awakening 11 17 36 44.
• Liu Qingfeng — Teacher whose lessons challenge Zhao’s assumptions about talent and hardship. Zhao addresses him respectfully during the assessment 14 15.
• Father — Mobei City’s Head of the Guard Department. Zhao imitates his public-speaking style and invokes his example to encourage himself when afraid 10 15 17 24.
• Li Kai and Yang Ruoxin — Classmates who accompany him to the assessment and initially treat him as their group’s leader 10.

Notable Quotes

“Follow my lead, and you'll go places!” 10

“What's wrong with a Sandbag? I'll get into Spirit Martial High School and be a Tank! Got a problem with that?” 44