Yan Feifan

Biodata

Power Progression

• Continuity discrepancy: Despite reporting Aperture Opening earlier, Yan Feifan later declares that he will use Lu Ding’s medicinal chicken soup to break through to Aperture Opening. That passage establishes his intention, not a completed advancement 17 36.

Background / History

Yan Feifan grew up in a poor family. His parents taught him to avoid conflict and regard suffering losses as a blessing, advice that contributed to his habit of yielding to others. A childhood near-drowning left him afraid of water and unable to swim 11 15.

Before joining Bureau 749, he was a student whose main hobby was watching films and documentaries. He later drew on these interests—and his familiarity with supernatural novels—when analyzing cases 10 11 12.

He passed Bureau 749’s assessment through cleverness and exploiting loopholes, earning a reward and a place in a four-person dormitory despite his weak combat ability. His dormmates subsequently forced cleaning, laundry, and other chores onto him 11 15.

Appearance

• Facial features: Good-looking, with refined, pleasing features 11.
• Habitual gesture: Scratches his head or forehead when embarrassed or uncertain; the narration connects these small distracting gestures to his longstanding inferiority complex 11 12.

Personality

Yan Feifan is intelligent and observant but initially timid and self-deprecating. He readily dismisses his own usefulness, even while providing analysis that impresses Lu Ding. Praise visibly encourages him, while confrontations with his dormitory bullies make him lower his head and try to avoid notice 11 12 15.

He values being useful to Lu Ding. He anticipates investigative needs, handles routine work without prompting, and refuses help cleaning their office because he fears becoming unnecessary if someone else takes over even his support duties. He nevertheless accepts danger when he believes his abilities can help, volunteering to enter an unknown burial chamber despite his poor fighting strength 11 27 33.

His loyalty can overcome his usual caution. He considers Lu Ding his first friend at Bureau 749, prepares to resist humiliation in front of him, and later attacks Ma Qi simply because Lu Ding is attacking him 15 17.

Abilities & Skills

Wall-Phasing and Ground Traversal

His innate talent allows him to pass through solid barriers rather than break them 11.

• Infiltration: Enters a sealed burial chamber through its wall and locates the mechanism that opens the stone door 33.
• Evasion: Escapes Huang Zuo’s attempted grab by sinking into the ground 32.
• Retrieval support: Can use a specially made rope compatible with his talent, allowing someone outside a barrier to pull him back 33.
• Limitations: He cannot swim and risks sinking or nearly drowning underground. After escaping Huang Zuo, Lu Ding has to pull him out and help him expel what he swallowed 11 32.
• Not earth manipulation: He explicitly distinguishes phasing through matter from controlling elemental earth 32.

Investigation and Tactical Reasoning

Yan Feifan combines social observation, bureau intelligence, and ideas drawn from fiction to develop practical leads 10 11 12.

• Identifies Dong Yong as the strongest suspect in the family-massacre investigation 10.
• Uses flattery and a milk-tea employee’s frustration with Dong Yong to draw out information about his abrupt departure 11.
• Requests surveillance checks from mission support, tracing Dong Yong’s transport to Ji Feiyu and the Ji Group 11.
• Predicts Dong Yong’s attempt to impress the Ji family by treating Ji Yanshuang and humiliating a rival practitioner 11 12.
• Suggests investigating the tomb independently before negotiating with Ming Jun and Bei Heguang 28.
• Identifies the Living-Molt Living Corpse and warns that it is vulnerable during its transformation 33.

Mission Support and Administration

• Driving: Provides transport in his jeep and takes over Wen Yuquan’s vehicle during the expressway ambush 10 22.
• Intelligence briefings: Summarizes suspects, destinations, local factions, and previous patrol officers’ failures for Lu Ding 10 16 25.
• Witness management: Distributes confidentiality agreements and explains compensation arrangements after the Ji villa incident 13.
• Case reporting: Proposes a revised account of the tomb incident that helps Lu Ding avoid punishment and receive bureau rewards 34.

Combat

• Limited direct strength: Repeatedly acknowledges that fighting is not his specialty; Lu Ding generally serves as their main combatant 11 16 25.
• Vehicle attack: Obeys Lu Ding’s order to accelerate toward Linggu; Ma Qi intervenes to push her out of the jeep’s path 16 17.
• Short-blade attack: Hacks and stabs Ma Qi while Lu Ding restrains him. The blade’s edge is rolled by the end of the encounter 17.
• Cultivation effort: Trains persistently after the tomb inquiry. Lu Ding suspects he is worried about holding him back 35.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Jeep: A rugged vehicle costing over six hundred thousand, purchased for its toughness, durability, and power. The Ma Qi encounter leaves it badly damaged and bloodied; Lu Ding later promises him a replacement 16 17 21 22.
• Magical bronze mirror: Shows Lu Ding the argument taking place inside the Ji family villa 12.
• Short blade: Used against Ma Qi; its edge rolls during the attack 17.
• Specially made rope: Obtained from Bureau 749 and compatible with his phasing talent. He ties it around his waist before entering the sealed burial chamber 33.
• Bureau 749 credentials: Presents them while confronting Ye Xuan at the tomb 30.
• Mission-issued memory-erasure device: Carries it toward Ji Feiyu, who refuses to have her memories erased 13.
• Medicinal chicken soup: Receives a portion from Lu Ding, made with a ginseng doll, awakened reishi, and Wrathful Rooster; intends to use it for a breakthrough 35 36.

Relationships

• Lu Ding — Mission leader, patrol partner, and the person Yan Feifan considers his first friend at Bureau 749. Lu Ding values his intelligence, protects him from bullies, chooses him for the Baofan assignment, and worries about exposing him to enemies he cannot fight 11 15 24 33 38.
• Du Guang — Dormitory bully who demands that Yan Feifan wash clothes and perform chores. Lu Ding intervenes before Du Guang can strike him and orders Du Guang to take over the work 15.
• Sun Changming — Helps intimidate Yan Feifan and prevents him from avoiding Du Guang. Lu Ding slaps him and orders him to wash Yan Feifan’s clothes 15.
• Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng — Senior investigators encountered at Baiyao Ancient Town. Yan Feifan respectfully greets them, answers questions about his cultivation, and helps coordinate contact with Lu Ding 17 19 21.
• Gao Zhengliang — Director of the Baofan District Public Security Administration. Yan Feifan challenges his disappointment at receiving trainee patrol officers 27.
• Ming Jun and Bei Heguang — Predecessors in Baofan District. After retreating from Lu Ding, they approach Yan Feifan as an intermediary with an offer to cooperate over treasure 27 28.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Family Massacre and the Ji Villa

• Lu Ding selects Yan Feifan from the applicants to assist with the Old Lady Black investigation 10.
• His suspect analysis, questioning, and surveillance requests lead them to Dong Yong at the Ji family villa 10 11.
• Uses his bronze mirror to observe the confrontation inside, then accompanies Lu Ding into the villa 12.
• Handles confidentiality agreements and compensation assurances after Lu Ding kills Dong Yong and destroys Old Lady Black 13.

Baiyao Ancient Town and the Expressway Ambush

• Insists on accompanying Lu Ding to Baiyao Ancient Town, emphasizing his ability to escape danger 16.
• Drives the jeep into the confrontation with Linggu and Ma Qi, then participates in the attack on Ma Qi 16 17.
• Warns Lu Ding by message that they have entered an official investigators’ mission and relays his discovery of the Flying Centipede to the others 21.
• Takes the wheel when Wen Yuquan joins Lu Ding against the Heavenly Principle Sect’s expressway ambush 22.

Baofan District and the Sealed Tomb

• Becomes Lu Ding’s patrol partner and helps take over Baofan District from Ming Jun and Bei Heguang 24 25 26 27.
• Recommends searching the tomb before accepting the former patrol officers’ cooperation offer 28.
• Evades Huang Zuo underground, then uses his phasing talent to enter the sealed burial chamber 32 33.
• Identifies the transforming corpse’s vulnerability and devises the reporting strategy used in the subsequent bureau inquiry 33 34.

Cultivation and the Wardrobe Case

• Focuses on cultivation after the tomb inquiry and receives medicinal soup from Lu Ding 35 36.
• Remains behind when Lu Ding investigates the identity-replacing monsters at Dinghao Residential Complex; Lu Ding judges the risk too great for Yan Feifan’s current strength 37 38.

Notable Quotes

“I might not be any help in a fight, but when it comes to escaping, I’m absolutely first-rate.” 16

“Brother, I phase through walls. I don’t control elements. I can’t do that.” 32