Chen Fan

Biodata

Background / History

Previous Life and Original Identity

Before transmigrating, Chen Fan graduated from a Project 985 university, gained experience managing a company, and reached director level at twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His annual after-tax salary was 350,000 yuan 16 17.

The original Chen Fan grew up in rural Wuzhou and began travelling with his father at fourteen. He studied southern boxing under a former Qing military official surnamed Tao, then learned Bajiquan and the great spear from Huo Yuanlong, one of his father’s sworn brothers 5 16.

His family had longstanding Shanghai underworld connections. Before the transmigration, Chen Fan and Huo Yuanlong helped rescue Cao Youshan from danger at the docks. On another occasion, Chen Fan entered Old Knife Handle’s office alone and defeated eight bodyguards in less than two minutes. After being driven out of Shanghai, he and his father went to Jinling, where his father subsequently died 4 6.

Discovered in Jinling in the twenty-third year of the Republic, Chen Fan joined the Fuxing Society’s Operations and Training Department. He graduated after a year of training and was later selected for an undercover assignment in Shanghai. Although considered for the Special Operations Research Office, he was rejected because his temperament was judged unsuitable for long-term undercover work 3 28.

Destruction of the Shanghai Team

Chen Fan learned that he was agent Buddy on his first day after transmigrating. On the second day, the Tokkō killed his team leader, Guo Mu, and deputy leader, Lu Ming. The remaining team was wiped out the following day, leaving him its sole survivor 1.

He escaped through disguise, arson, and the use of a local thug’s corpse to conceal his survival. After sheltering in a Zhabei brothel, he entered the French Concession and delivered intelligence through a Luban Road dead drop. He feared that surviving alone would make headquarters suspect him of betrayal 1.

Boss Dai ordered him officially listed as killed in action, invalidated his previous contact channels, and assigned him the new codename God of Wealth. Lin Su was tasked with posing as his partner while secretly investigating his loyalty, with authority to execute him if he betrayed the organization. Chen Fan received only an instruction to lie low and await activation 3 4.

Establishing Chen Trading Company

With little capital and no active assignment, Chen Fan approached Old Knife Handle for business. His first job was recovering three seized crates containing 120 American-made detonators. He recruited Brother Bao and Ma Xiaotian, completed the warehouse theft, and received a thousand-silver-dollar fee and a five-thousand-dollar loan 5 6 7 8 9.

He then hired Ma Xiaotian to lead the Cleaners, a covert team intended to handle emergencies, create diversions, and remove operational traces. His first deal with Yoshino Tomokazu involved three thousand bolts of cotton cloth, with Yamada Ryosuke helping transport the shipment to Shiliupu Wharf 10 13 14 15.

Following Yamada’s advice to look the part of a successful businessman, Chen Fan bought Western clothing and luxury accessories. He purchased three Wusong Road storefronts from Inoue Shinichi, renovated them, and established Chen Trading Company. Brother Bao and his men joined him after a violent break with Old Qiu 16 17 19 21 22.

Chen Fan recruited Long Wu and supplied ten large gold bars to free her imprisoned brother, Long Si. Both attended the company’s opening, where Chen Fan encouraged Long Si to consider reclaiming the Four Seas Gang rather than accepting defeat 25 27.

Conflict with Old Knife Handle

Old Knife Handle introduced Jin Xiangyu to Chen Fan while treating him as a greedy, expendable intermediary. Chen Fan became suspicious when his system identified Old Knife Handle as hostile. Rather than accepting Cao Bin’s offer to kill him immediately, he investigated whether the older man had also helped arrange his father’s downfall 24 25.

Jin Xiangyu subsequently offered Chen Fan five thousand silver dollars to move an undisclosed shipment. He uncovered a plan to use him as a diversion and scapegoat, took control of the cargo boat, and diverted it to Yangshupu. There, his men discovered opium concealed beneath salt and exchanged the entire cargo 29 31 32 33.

Old Knife Handle confronted him at the warehouse with seventy or eighty men and numerous weapons. Chen Fan had already secured A Xiang’s defection and Cao Bin’s support; A Xiang turned his knife on his former employer. Chen Fan later incorporated Old Knife Handle’s assets and transport channels into his own business 36 37 47.

Conflict with Rui Qingrong

Recognizing that his existing force could not match Rui Qingrong, Chen Fan sought a secret arms supply through Yamada. He requested long guns and heavy firepower within twenty-four hours, then received weapons diverted through Yoshino Tomokazu’s military connections 37 38 42 44.

When Chang Jiu led dozens of attackers into his warehouse, Chen Fan’s men ambushed them with firearms and two machine guns. Chen Fan interrogated Chang Jiu to locate Rui Qingrong’s main warehouse, then deliberately allowed Yue Zheng to escape so that he could lead them to Rui 44 45 46.

Chen Fan captured Rui Qingrong at Fushengji, forced him to sign over businesses and property deeds, and invoked the water torture Rui had inflicted as an outstanding blood debt. He ordered Long Si to kill Rui, Yue Jialing, and Yue Zheng together. A subsequent newspaper report attributed Rui’s death to a warehouse fire, a story Shanghai’s experienced underworld figures did not believe 46 47.

Reactivation and Consulate Approach

Using the assets seized from his enemies and increasingly close dealings with Yamada, Chen Fan expanded his smuggling business. His account gained tens of thousands of silver dollars in less than ten days, though former associates of Boss Du began investigating his background 47.

In March, he decoded an activation order hidden in a prose poem in Shen Bao. It directed him to Yuexiang Restaurant, where he met Lin Su and reported under his new codename 47 48.

Chen Fan then used information supplied by Lin Su to approach the Japanese consulate’s Logistics Department as a liquor seller. Initially refused entry, he unexpectedly encountered Fujiwara Kyoka, who offered to arrange access to Yamazaki through a side entrance 49.

Appearance

• Build: Physically sturdy and energetic from intensive training; approximately 1.78 metres tall 4 6.
• Business attire: Adopts tailored Western suits, shirts, and waistcoats to support his merchant identity 16 17 47.
• Opening-day outfit: Wears a navy-blue suit with a white silk handkerchief folded into a triangle in the breast pocket 27.
• Operational clothing: Uses a coolie disguise for dockside work and black night clothes during the warehouse operation 5 7.

Personality

Chen Fan is calculating, profit-minded, and willing to exploit both legal commerce and criminal opportunities. His superiors describe him as greedy, lustful, and ruthless, recalling his barracks trade in cigarettes and liquor and his visits to Qinhuai pleasure boats. Old Knife Handle initially believes these appetites make him easy to use, but Chen Fan recognizes the manipulation and turns the scheme against him 3 24 25 32.

He increasingly favours planning over brute force. Cao Bin notices that the formerly impulsive fighter has become much more calculating; Chen Fan answers that he cannot keep relying on his fists forever. He refuses premature revenge without evidence, uses decoys against surveillance, and lets an enemy escape when pursuit offers a better result 25 30 46.

His generosity toward associates coexists with coercion and brutality. He feeds Ma Xiaotian’s children, promises to keep them from going hungry, and supports Brother Bao’s displaced men. Against enemies, he threatens mutilation, forces Chang Jiu to kill a wounded companion, and orders multiple executions 7 10 21 45 46.

Abilities & Skills

System Interface

Chen Fan possesses a system panel described as a built-in script, with mapping, voice synchronization, information deduction, and friend-or-foe identification functions 6.

• Locating people: Confirms Ma Xiaotian’s presence inside his home before approaching 7.
• Relationship assessment: Sees Ma Xiaotian as a dark-green dot with fifty points of favourability; recognizes Old Knife Handle’s red marker as hostility 10 25.
• Personal information: Receives detailed information identifying Fujiwara Kyoka’s official positions 40.
• Analysis: Uses a function originally intended for battlefield simulations to manage his trading company’s business in roughly ten minutes 47.

Martial Arts and Physical Conditioning

His body combines childhood martial training with intensive operative conditioning 4 5.

• Southern boxing: Trained by Master Tao in a style compared to Great Sage Pigua Palm, emphasizing long-reaching strikes and power from both arms 5.
• Bajiquan and great spear: Learned from Huo Yuanlong; his fighting style is described as hard and forceful 5.
• Close combat: Defeated eight underworld bodyguards in less than two minutes before the transmigration and later overpowered Jin Xiangyu in a concealed strength contest 4 24.
• Physical limits: Carrying a single crate of detonators strains him, while Brother Bao carries two 8.

Espionage, Escape, and Counter-Surveillance

Chen Fan’s training emphasizes evasion, concealment, and operational discipline 3 7.

• Escaped all three capture exercises held by the Operations and Training Section 3.
• Could slip out of a locked-down camp despite watch-room surveillance 3.
• Uses disguise, false death evidence, dead drops, reconnaissance, and discreet financial arrangements 1 5 13.
• Positions Long Wu as an office decoy while leaving by the rear entrance 30.
• Decodes his team’s newspaper cipher mentally without external aids 47.

Business Management and Negotiation

His previous-life education and management experience give him skills beyond the original owner’s limited schooling 16.

• Negotiates fees, loans, and credit while short of capital 5 16.
• Builds a merchant persona through clothing, premises, and professional presentation 16 17 19.
• Trains sales staff and establishes workplace rules, rewards, and penalties 27.
• Coordinates covert shipping, port labour, cash collection, and resale channels 13 16 47.

Tactical Planning and Recruitment

Chen Fan combines hired specialists, intelligence gathering, and prepared positions rather than relying solely on personal combat 10 32 44.

• Recruits Ma Xiaotian for observation and covert support, Brother Bao for transport and armed manpower, and Long Wu for administration 6 10 21 32.
• Establishes the Cleaners to intervene during operations, not merely clear up afterward 10.
• Defeats the warehouse assault through advance warning and concentrated firepower 44.
• Uses Yue Zheng’s escape to locate a concealed enemy 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Brotherhood token: A copper coin inherited through his father’s sworn-brother relationship with Cao Youshan. It bears “righteousness” on one side and “live and die together” on the other; Chen Fan uses it to identify himself to Cao Bin 5.
• Dagger: Carries one at his waist and uses it to open a detonator crate 8.
• Firearm: Holds the cargo-boat skipper at gunpoint while redirecting the shipment 33.
• Pocket watch: An inexpensive second-hand watch bought for three dollars, used to time the warehouse operation 7.
• Luxury accessories: Purchases leather goods, a limited twentieth-anniversary wristwatch, a lighter, and Havana cigars as part of his improved business presentation 17.
• Armed organization: Acquires long guns and heavy firepower through Yamada; two machine guns form part of the warehouse ambush 42 44.

Relationships

• Chen Zhongnian / Chen Zhongming — Father, whose death and suspected betrayal motivate Chen Fan’s investigation. The supplied passages use both names for him 4 5 6 25.
• Master Tao — Childhood martial teacher and former Qing military official; taught him southern boxing 5.
• Huo Yuanlong — Second martial master and his father’s sworn brother; taught him Bajiquan and the great spear. Died at sea years earlier 5.
• Cao Bin — Close family ally, addressed as “Second Brother.” Provides money, dockside manpower, intelligence, and support against Old Knife Handle 5 6 32 37.
• Brother Bao — Initially a hired transport specialist; later brings his men into Chen Fan’s service and participates in armed operations 6 21 44 46.
• Ma Xiaotian — Recruited lookout and leader of the Cleaners. Chen Fan values his caution and promises that the children in his care will not go hungry 7 10.
• Long Wu — Employee and secretary with extensive gang-management experience. Chen Fan comes to regard her as overqualified for the role 32 47.
• Long Si — Former Four Seas Gang leader whose release Chen Fan finances. Becomes an ally in confrontations with Old Knife Handle and Rui Qingrong 27 36 46.
• Lin Su — Intelligence contact and assigned partner, secretly charged with testing his loyalty. Later supplies information for his consulate approach 3 48 49.
• Boss Dai — Superior who suspects Chen Fan’s survival, orders his official death classification, and authorizes his continued undercover service 3.
• Old Knife Handle — Initial financier and business partner who attempts to make Chen Fan a scapegoat; becomes an enemy 5 24 31 36.
• Jin Xiangyu — Kunqu performer and intimate acquaintance connected to Old Knife Handle’s attempt to manipulate him 24 25 29.
• Yamada Ryosuke — Business intermediary and arms contact. Their increasingly profitable dealings connect Chen Fan to Yoshino Tomokazu 19 38 44 47.
• Yoshino Tomokazu — Japanese business partner operating behind Yamada; supplies access to diverted goods and military weapons 14 44 47.
• Fujiwara Kyoka — Tokkō Cipher Section chief with whom Chen Fan spends a drunken night. She demands secrecy, then later offers to help him enter the consulate 40 41 49.
• Rui Qingrong — Powerful underworld enemy whom Chen Fan captures, dispossesses, and orders executed 37 46.

Notable Quotes

“Having principles is good, but people with principles still need to eat!” 7

“That’s because I know you can’t keep punching forever.” 30

“Get all your cargo escorts off the boat. I call the shots on this boat now!” 33