Lin Rui

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

First Life

Lin Rui’s poor high-school results led his parents to sell possessions and borrow heavily to send him abroad. The study-abroad agent charged them $30,000, arranged a place at a poor New Jersey high school, and continued demanding additional money after Lin Rui arrived 1.

In his original life, Lin Rui suffered bullying, left school, and worked illegally in a Chinese restaurant. He spent roughly twenty years struggling at the bottom of American society, experiencing repeated robberies and concealing his difficulties from his family 1 2 31.

Essen Borg helped him during this period. Lin Rui volunteered in charity work for four or five years and eventually organized the pastor’s funeral. The wealthy mourners revealed Borg’s high-society connections, and those contacts finally gave Lin Rui an opportunity to improve his circumstances—shortly before his rebirth 2.

Rebirth in 2005

Lin Rui returns to his seventeen-year-old body upon arriving at Newark International Airport in 2005. He also receives a system identifying him as a trainee demon hunter in a world filled with evil spirits and fallen beings 1.

Refusing to repeat his original life, he abandons the exploitative agent and reports the man’s unlicensed transport business to airport police. His knowledge of the agent’s expired license, false plates, contraband, and tax problems prompts a thorough investigation 1.

He then deliberately seeks out Essen Borg’s church. Introducing himself as “Leon,” he pretends to have reached the neighborhood accidentally and obtains accommodation in exchange for helping with church work 2 3.

Appearance

• Height: Over six feet tall at his introduction 1.
• Face: Thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a strong, square face; his system states that his appearance has been optimized 1 5.
• Initial build: Slender and scholarly, with little muscular development and poor physical conditioning 1 32.
• Developed build: Training produces broader shoulders, a narrow waist, and increasingly defined muscles 34 36.
• Card-enhanced appearance: His muscles expand visibly within seconds, producing pronounced veins, sharply defined abdominals, and substantially larger arms and thighs 30.
• Demon-hunting gear: Usually wears leather armor and carries a longsword and lantern. Sophia’s later ice armor includes a helmet concealing most of his face 3 47.

Personality

Lin Rui is calculating, socially confident, and deeply skeptical of the opportunities that once drew him to America. His first-life experience makes him alert to exploitation, street danger, and the importance of influential connections. He initially approaches Borg’s church as both a refuge and a route to financial advancement 1 2 31.

His opportunism coexists with gratitude and family loyalty. He helps Borg with practical work, respects the pastor’s sincerity, and plans to send nearly all his disposable food-truck earnings home to relieve his parents’ debts 2 4 17. He also openly regards successful tutoring as a business opportunity rather than presenting himself as a selfless reformer 44.

He is ruthless when confronting threats. He kills severely corrupted fallen people, uses potentially lethal force against an armed robber, and considers eliminating a gang leader a practical solution to harassment. His restraint often comes from wanting to avoid escalation or police attention rather than reluctance to hurt an opponent 17 22 31 39 40.

Despite his confidence, he can recognize his mistakes. Being overwhelmed by the theater guard forces him to reassess demon hunting, while the battle with George leads him to invest in Agility rather than simply increasing his strength 23 24 48.

Abilities & Skills

Demon Hunter System

• Displays his attributes, class, equipment, cards, and other character information 1.
• Issues quests tied to patrols, tutoring, rehabilitation, and combat 3 14 30 47.
• Awards freely assignable attribute points and special items 4 30 37.
• Does not provide unlimited repeatable rewards: repeating an armed patrol does not trigger another copy of the original quest 17.
• An unfinished tutoring mission temporarily prevents new missions from appearing 9.

Nightmare Space

• Enters dreamlike versions of real locations, including Borg’s medieval sanctuary, Toby’s room, and Sophia’s magic tower 3 8 15.
• Can forcibly draw a target’s soul into Nightmare Space, as demonstrated against the theater security guard 22 23.
• Acts across a connection between dreams and reality: injuries, deaths, gunfire, and changes in behavior can have waking-world consequences 17 22 23 44 45.
• Can pass unnoticed by people who are not his targets; Andrea does not react when he walks directly past her during the theater confrontation 22.
• Faces genuine danger inside it: the fallen guard overwhelms him despite his enchanted equipment 23.

Steel Lungs and Viscera

• Strengthens cardiopulmonary function, oxygen delivery, endurance, and recovery severalfold without directly changing his stats 28.
• Allows him to recover rapidly between demanding exercise sets 30.
• Reduces the recovery time following heavy training, supporting repeated workouts with his enhancement card 36.
• Helps convert temporary card-assisted performance into lasting attribute growth through sustained training 43.

Suggestion Technique

• Uses an eye-shaped inscription on his palm to hypnotize a target and reinforce spoken instructions 15.
• Encourages Toby to study, lose weight, and change his habits 15 28.
• Guides Molly toward learning, self-control, and avoiding harm to others; the guidance persists after she forgets the dream 44 45.
• Relies on spells supplied by Sophia. She states that his Spirit is insufficient to master the magic himself or cast high-level spells 41.

Malice Detection

• Detects enemies within 100 meters and indicates their general direction 41.
• Is supplied as a single-use spell with a one-month duration 41.

Combat and Enchanted Weapons

• Uses a flaming longsword to produce extended flame strikes and cut through fallen creatures 4 34.
• Uses Sophia’s frost enchantment to launch thin, ranged ice blades 22 23.
• Employs ice armor and a shield for protection; during George’s fight, the shield freezes attacking tentacles and the armor gradually repairs its cracks 47.
• Improvises with ordinary objects, including a water bottle, dumbbell, and unloaded barbell, when attacked in the gym 37.
• Remains vulnerable to stronger enemies and concentrated attacks: the guard shatters his icebound armor with one shot, while George’s group nearly exhausts him 23 47.

Social and Business Skills

• His high Charm helps him influence others, including the airport police officer investigating the agent 1.
• Understands permits, charitable arrangements, and operating expenses well enough to negotiate a workable food-truck business 10 11 13.
• Uses church backing and donated food to lower costs while arranging income for himself and struggling partners 8 10 13.
• Recognizes criminal threats quickly through extensive first-life experience 31.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Longsword — Initially ordinary white-grade equipment; receives flame enchantments from Borg and frost enchantment from Sophia 3 17 22.
• Leather armor — Ordinary white-grade armor that Sophia can reinforce with ice 22.
• Lantern — Given by Borg for patrols. Its light protects against the surrounding darkness; Borg warns him not to let it go out 3.
• Ice armor and shield — Gifts from Sophia used against George’s group; provide substantial protection and freezing effects 47.
• Lesser Attribute Enhancement Card — “Toby” — Grants half of Toby’s recorded attributes for six hours, once daily, for one month 30.
• Prepaid Nokia phone — Given by Mrs. Jones when she hires him as Toby’s tutor 5.
• Food truck — A former film-prop vehicle secured by Linda. Lin Rui has permission to use it but does not own it 10.

Relationships

• Essen Borg — Benefactor, host, and demon-hunting mentor. Lin Rui remembers his charity from his first life; in Nightmare Space, Borg equips him for patrols and enchants his sword 2 3 17.
• Sophia Kaman — Magical instructor and protector whose dream identity is a witch. She supplies spells, enchantments, and Steel Lungs and Viscera, and helps him survive the fallen guard. Her attachment deepens until she demands more frequent visits; he promises at least three visits each week 15 23 24 27 40 41.
• Lin Rui’s parents — Their debts motivate his early money-making plans. He keeps them informed through frequent messages and intends to remit most of his earnings; they prioritize his safety and lawful conduct 1 17.
• Linda — Church volunteer, journalism student, and food-truck partner. She secures the truck in exchange for observing the project for her social-assistance paper, while agreeing not to identify him directly in her reporting 5 10.
• Mrs. Jones — Hires him to tutor Toby for $20 an hour and helps supply the food project through her supermarket work 5 8 9.
• Toby Jones — Student, business helper, and training partner. His academic and physical improvement earns Lin Rui quest rewards, including the card bearing Toby’s name. He suspects Lin Rui has supernatural powers and feels inexplicably afraid around him 14 28 30 50.
• Andrea Jones — Introduces him to the Gershwin Theatre’s meal-delivery business and warns him about Doyle’s criminal connections 14 21.
• Samantha Jones — Joins the food-truck operation after Linda steps back from regular work 28.
• Molly Anderson — Entrusted to his care by her mother. He treats her as a younger sister, shows her the consequences of gang involvement, and uses Suggestion Technique to guide her behavior 34 44 45.
• Adrian and his wife — Food-truck workers and later allies in the gym project. Adrian recruits neighborhood children and offers to work for Lin Rui after suspecting his involvement in George’s death 19 45 49.
• Agent Robin — Narcotics agent who questions Lin Rui’s unusually successful arrival in America and his connection to Borg 26.
• George — Gang leader who attacks the gym and later becomes Lin Rui’s first solo elite-fallen opponent 37 39 47.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Charity Food-Truck Business

• Proposes selling donated near-expiration food through a church-backed charity project to assist the Jones family 8 9.
• Secures a truck through Linda and negotiates a temporary vendor permit 10.
• Draws large crowds near Central Park and expands into late-night theater deliveries and additional shifts run by other workers 12 14 19.
• Negotiates an initial two-month period without handing business proceeds to the church, allowing the partners to divide the earnings 13.
• Reports a personal daily share of $700–800 and later collects $5,400 in profits after another week of work 17 28.

Patrols and the Gershwin Theatre

• Learns that the real world and Nightmare Space affect one another after finding Borg wounded by the nightmare counterpart of the relief-station robberies 17.
• Kills severely mutated fallen people around the sanctuary, strengthening its light; the resulting deaths attract police attention in reality 17 19 22.
• Rejects Doyle’s demand for $500 a day in protection money and accepts Sophia’s quest to eliminate him 19 22.
• Punishes the theater manager’s assistant, then encounters a fallen guard far stronger than expected. Sophia’s intervention allows him to survive 22 23 24.
• Tells Borg about the extortion and kickbacks, after which Agent Robin approaches him at the food truck 25 26.

Gym Project and Conflict with George

• Reopens part of the abandoned church gym for training and uses Toby’s card to support increasingly demanding workouts 29 30 36.
• Defends the gym when George’s group arrives to reclaim influence over Toby and threaten the students 37 39.
• Develops a student-focused gym project funded at $200 per student per month, recruiting Adrian to help prevent gang harassment 45.
• Confronts George and three lackeys in a nightmare courtyard, survives his first solo elite-fallen trial, and spends the reward on Agility 47 48.
• Welcomes hungry neighborhood recruits with donated food. Adrian subsequently offers him his allegiance, impressed by his intelligence, ruthlessness, and decisiveness 49.

Notable Quotes

“Some mistakes are all right to make, like getting a question wrong on a test. Others aren’t, like joining a gang.” 34

“They don’t need to understand how I do it. They only need to know that I’m a decent ‘teacher.’ Someone will definitely be willing to pay for that.” 44