Bai Xu

Biodata

Background / History

Encounter at the Phoenix Bar

During the 2008 Olympic opening celebrations, Bai Xu approached Zhang Tianyuan at the Phoenix Bar because he suspected that Zhang’s apocalypse warnings might lead to a criminal case. Believing him to be a cult recruiter, Bai wrote down his real phone number before restraining him for questioning 1.

While Bai was escorting him through a corridor, Zhang said “Return” and vanished directly from his grasp. Authorities sealed the bar, examined surveillance footage, and investigated the disappearance without finding an explanation. After discovering that Zhang had pocketed his phone number, Bai was instructed to preserve the number, keep it private, and report any contact 1.

Task-Force Appointment

Following half a month in isolation, Bai became the leader of a task force assigned to the incident, working undercover as the bar’s bartender. Zhang called approximately one month after disappearing, prompting Bai and his colleagues to meet him at a farmhouse restaurant 3.

Bai remained certain that the disappearance was genuine but distinguished it from Zhang’s unproven prediction of a global catastrophe. He requested further evidence, recorded Zhang’s recommendation to monitor a deep Indian copper mine, and arranged accommodation for him in a villa 4.

When Zhang requested timber for what he called a reading pavilion, Bai and his colleagues personally felled and hauled trees into the backyard. Bai subsequently discovered the supernatural construction of the Elementary School and summoned Wu Yisi to witness it, overturning the team’s assessment that Zhang had shown no clear supernatural characteristics 5 6.

Joining the Mutual Aid Society

Zhang invited Bai and his colleagues to become the first members of the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society. Bai initially declined to commit without authorization, explaining that regulations prohibited him from joining another organization independently. His report helped arrange an urgent meeting between Zhang and senior officials 7 8.

After receiving approval, Bai’s five-person group signed naturalization agreements, becoming both territory residents and individual Society members. They tested the Elementary School’s learning benefits and relayed Zhang’s request for laboratory facilities and production of 100,000 KV Vaccine doses 11 12.

Expedition to the *I Am Legend* World

Bai accompanied the advance expedition through the Spacetime Tunnel into the I Am Legend world. The convoy encountered Darkseekers almost immediately and survived the attack using modified ultraviolet headlights 13 14.

While searching a shopping mall, Bai helped collect human remains rather than supplies. His investigative knowledge allowed him to recognize bones belonging to children, women, and infants. The experience transformed the apocalypse from an abstract death toll into a personal understanding of mass suffering 17.

He supported the search for remaining survivors using rooftop fires and nighttime fireworks. At Tong Wenshi’s grassland settlement, he helped coordinate the inspection of the expedition’s command systems and explained why his own world needed temporary refuge from its predicted catastrophe 20 22 23.

Establishing the Second Branch

When Zhang returned to the 2012 world with Tong Wenshi and the settlement’s pregnant women, he left Bai behind to help establish the Society’s Second Branch. Bai addressed the forty thousand survivors from a loudspeaker truck, explaining the evacuation, proposed medical treatment, and purpose of the Society. A recording showing the women safely in the other world helped persuade the crowd, after which membership applications were distributed 26 29.

As the absence approached two months, winter conditions and declining morale made the settlement increasingly difficult to administer. Bai helped clear the return site, checked it every few hours, and concealed his own fear of being stranded while reassuring the remaining officials 36.

He recognized the returning convoy by its sound and rushed out to greet it. Reunited with Zhang and Instructor Yin, he embraced both men before introducing the Second Branch members 36 37.

Appearance

Bai is introduced as a young man and later described as having an unremarkable face 1 36.

• Callused hands: Noted when he restrains Zhang during their first encounter 1.
• Dark circles: Visible after the disappearance leaves him suffering from disturbed sleep 3.
• Winter clothing: Wears a military overcoat and a large military hat covering his ears in the grassland settlement 36.

Personality

Bai is cautious about extraordinary claims without dismissing what he has personally witnessed. He rejects the suggestion that Zhang’s disappearance was a magic trick, yet still asks for concrete evidence of the predicted apocalypse. He also credits State Security’s psychological experts rather than claiming their deductions as his own 4 5.

His compassion becomes especially apparent while collecting victims’ remains. Rather than focusing only on saving his own world, he concludes that no world should suffer the same fate and urges the expedition to find isolated survivors before they die 17 20.

Bai remains dutiful under uncertainty. Although privately afraid that Zhang might never return for him, he continues helping administer the settlement and tries to sustain confidence among its officials 36.

Abilities & Skills

Criminal Investigation

Bai’s professional background includes suspect restraint, surveillance review, and basic knowledge of human skeletal anatomy 1 17.

• Restrains Zhang by twisting his arms behind his back during their first encounter 1.
• Reviews footage of the disappearance and notices Zhang taking the paper bearing his phone number 1.
• Recognizes the categories of victims represented by skeletal remains in the mall 17.

Coordination and Public Communication

As task-force leader and a Society representative, Bai connects Zhang with officials, specialists, and survivors 3 8 25 29.

• Organizes personnel and accommodation during the investigation of Zhang’s abilities 3 4.
• Assists liaison work during the inspection of classified command systems 22.
• Explains parallel spacetimes, evacuation arrangements, vaccination, and Society membership to a large civilian audience 29.
• Helps coordinate Second Branch work and preparations for the returning aid convoy 26 36.

Elementary School Benefits

After becoming a territory resident, Bai gains access to the Elementary School’s study-seat effects and participates in controlled experiments confirming their effectiveness 12.

• The facility provides 30% increased memory, 10% increased comprehension, and 100% increased language-learning ability 7.
• Non-residents cannot receive these benefits, as Bai discovers during his first attempt to use a seat 7.
• These are facility-granted benefits, not demonstrated innate powers. Bai cannot open a Spacetime Tunnel himself and does not know how Zhang does so 29 36.

Equipment / Items

• Phone with a designated SIM card — Preserved as Zhang’s contact route and monitored while Bai waits for his return 1 3.
• Phone-number slip — After witnessing the mall’s devastation, Bai takes out the paper and reflects on his gratitude for having supplied the correct number 17.
• Portable ultraviolet flashlights — Bai’s group requests smaller UV lights because the expedition’s larger models are cumbersome 13.
• Gloves and wheeled case — Used to gather human remains in the shopping mall 17.
• Loudspeaker truck — Used as an improvised speaking platform when explaining the Society to the grassland survivors 29.

Relationships

• Zhang Tianyuan — Initially a suspected cult recruiter whom Bai attempts to detain; later the Society president whom he assists and trusts to save his world. Bai’s inability to travel independently makes him dependent on Zhang’s return during his stay in the grasslands 1 12 17 36.
• Yin Hongda / Instructor Yin — Veteran task-force colleague who advises caution when dealing with Zhang. Bai warmly embraces him when the aid convoy returns 4 7 37.
• Wu Yisi — State Security psychological interrogation expert attached to the investigation. Bai relays her deductions to Zhang and calls her to witness the school’s construction when new evidence undermines the team’s earlier conclusions 4 5 6.
• Tong Wenshi — Leader of the grassland settlement and a negotiating counterpart. Bai explains his world’s evacuation needs to Tong, then remains behind to assist the Second Branch while Tong visits the 2012 world 23 26 29.
• Task-force machine gunner — Colleague who helps collect victims’ remains and shares Bai’s horror at the possibility of their own world suffering a comparable catastrophe 17.

Notable Quotes

“Not just our world. No world should become like this...”

“Humanity shouldn't be like this.” 17

“Fortunately, our world still has a chance.” 17