Jack

Biodata

History

Entering the Safe Zone

Jack was a San Francisco survivor who approached the Mutual Aid Society’s convoy before its operation against the Newt Gang. After being allowed to return, he told the other survivors that the newcomers intended to eliminate the gangs and rebuild order 179.

When allied soldiers offered food equal to the weight of surrendered weapons and ammunition, Jack exchanged two pistols for rice. A soldier warned that carrying food home would attract robbers and offered protected housing instead. Jack and his companion hesitated over the requirement to surrender all their weapons, but eventually brought their families and survivor group into the safe zone 180 181.

Jack received an old house where he lived with his wife and two daughters. Regular meals quickly improved the family’s condition; he and his wife had gone more than a decade without normal food. His example also encouraged other survivors to accept the Society’s protection 182.

Election and Religious Awakening

Robert organized an election for the survivors’ self-governing community, which Jack won by an overwhelming margin. Robert subsequently explained the Society’s work across parallel spacetimes and showed him the Spacetime Tunnel 182.

Jack interpreted the revelation religiously. He knelt before Zhang Tianyuan, prayed, and proclaimed him an avatar of a god. Rescued former slaves joined him, and their account spread throughout the safe zone. Most of the community soon became Zhang’s followers, while nonbelievers continued to coexist with them 182 183.

Conflict over Preaching

Jack later preached to people liberated from the Golden Hand Gang, presenting Zhang as a compassionate divine incarnation. Zhang ordered Robert to stop him and warned the others against letting Jack influence the newly freed slaves 187.

When Zhang instructed him to gather people and dig an underground city against an approaching ice age, Jack announced the warning as a new divine prophecy of destruction and salvation 201.

Established Church Leadership

By the founding of the Fifth Branch, Jack had become North America’s representative and founded the Mutual Aid Society Divine Church. Although his own preaching had diminished somewhat, his followers continued recruiting newly rescued survivors without his involvement. Zhang invited him to the ceremony but required him to restrain his religious behavior while attending 282.

The church subsequently became a force for uniting people in Finch Spacetime. Its repentance rituals helped restore social order, while communal offerings provided a way to distribute supplies and gather survivors together 304 414.

Appearance

• Age: Described as middle-aged at his introduction 179.
• Hair: Bald 179.
• Complexion: Identified as a white man 182.
• Physical recovery: His face regained color after several days of regular meals in the safe zone 182.

Personality

Jack is intensely religious. Even before deifying Zhang Tianyuan, he and his family prayed and thanked God daily. After witnessing the Spacetime Tunnel, he persistently interpreted the Society’s technology and humanitarian work through his faith, despite Zhang’s objections 182 187 201.

His religious convictions also shape his approach to justice. He opposed torturing captured gang members, arguing that treating them like slaves would make the survivors no better than their former oppressors. He nevertheless supported executions, arranging public readings of the prisoners’ crimes and investigations involving their victims before the sentences were carried out 183.

Leadership and Religious Practices

Community Governance

• Won election as the survivor community’s representative by an overwhelming margin 182.
• Used shared faith to unite survivors and reduce hostility within the community 183.
• Received confessions from survivors about crimes committed during the apocalypse 183.
• Replaced threatened collective torture with organized public sentencing and executions 183.

Mutual Aid Society Divine Church

• Presented Zhang Tianyuan as a divine incarnation and the Society’s rescue work as salvation 182 187.
• Developed a religious hierarchy in which regularly present Society personnel, including Instructor Yin and Wu Yisi, received divine offices below Zhang 282.
• Used repentance rituals to address believers’ past wrongdoing 414.
• Limited recorded offerings to roast suckling pigs and imitation spirit money drawn by a painter; the pigs were divided and eaten afterward 414.
• Operated under continuing scrutiny from Society personnel, who watched for dangerous practices such as human sacrifice or witch-burning 414.

Relationships

• Wife and two daughters — Shared his home in the safe zone and recovered alongside him after years of food deprivation 182.
• Robert — Became a good friend and explained the Society’s origins to him. Robert also served as the intermediary tasked with stopping his preaching 182 187.
• Zhang Tianyuan — The object of Jack’s devotion. Zhang rejected the deification and repeatedly tried to limit his evangelism, while acknowledging his representative position 182 187 282.
• Finch — Opposed Jack’s religious influence and concentration of power. Finch sought to teach children partly to counter the church’s effect on the next generation 331.

Notable Quotes

“Once we treat them like that, we become as despicable as they are, treating people like slaves. Then we won't be worthy of salvation by the gods.” 183

“The one who saved you is the incarnation of a god, the most compassionate and just person in the world.” 187