Wei Zhenzu

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Arrival in Mondstadt

Wei Zhenzu was a New Oriental chef transported to Teyvat after being struck by a speeding truck. He arrived wearing a red Dante cosplay coat and discovered a bus-like creation within his consciousness. When a voice urged him to surrender to anger, he recognized it as Carmen's influence rather than accepting its invitation 1 2.

Amber found him unconscious near the Whispering Woods and brought him to the Knights of Favonius headquarters. Already familiar with Genshin Impact, Wei recognized her immediately but concealed the source of his knowledge. He deliberately avoided introducing himself as “the Traveler,” fearing the consequences of claiming a role that might belong to someone else 2.

He accompanied Amber and Kaeya to investigate unfamiliar monsters, identified a Peccatulum, and defeated it through Don Quixote's overlay. His subsequent cooking impressed the Knights enough to secure an invitation to meet Varka. He accepted temporary work investigating Stormterror's Lair, while his system assigned him to retrieve its Golden Bough 2 3 4.

Paimon and the First Containment

Wei's attempt to obtain Anemo from Mondstadt's Statue of the Seven failed. Instead, Paimon appeared, called herself Davidai, and displayed knowledge of both his internal bus and his original world. A pale-blue presence briefly addressed him as Manager or Librarian, leaving him suspicious of her identity 4 5.

Paimon led him to Venti, who commissioned him to handle the Fairy Gentleman behind Angel's Share. Wei used Rodya's Dieci Association Identity to defeat and contain it, but collapsed afterward from the overlay's energy expenditure. Venti subsequently entered his consciousness and extracted the Abnormality's concept from his surface memories, while Vergilius warned the Archon away from the bus's deeper secrets 6 7 8 9.

Stormterror's Lair

A travel potion from Venti sent Wei sliding uncontrollably across Mondstadt and into the Cryo Regisvine's lair. There, his encounter with Klee culminated in the destruction of the Regisvine and a crater beneath the Temple of the Thousand Winds. Jean and Eula arrived to investigate, only to receive Kaeya's distress message from Stormterror's Lair 11 14.

Recognizing the transformed storm barrier as a Mirror Dungeon, Wei became the expedition's temporary assault captain. He cleared Peccatula with Ryoshu's W Corp. Identity, sent Jean and Eula to search for survivors, and entered an Abnormality node with Paimon. Inside a ruined train carriage, he defeated the Lost Passenger through spatial perception, Charge accumulation, and Dimension Shredder 16 17 18 19 20.

Wei later accompanied Varka to rescue Kaeya at the ruined tower. He invoked Venti's mark to interrupt Dvalin's breath, played the Holy Lyre der Himmel to weaken the Abyssal curse, and coordinated the Knights through the Oracle Terminal before tearing the Golden Bough from Dvalin's back 22 23 25 26.

Against the Final Judgment Heavenly Demon, Golden Bough resonance unlocked his higher system permissions and enabled Vergilius to reach the battlefield. Wei invoked [Mud], completed the Oracle's nine-stack protocol, and destroyed the demon's core with Furioso-Requiem Mass-Crescendo. He collapsed afterward, and Venti healed the survivors and sang Dvalin's remaining consciousness into Mondstadt's winds 28 29 31 32.

Honorary Knight and Financial Troubles

On returning to Mondstadt, Wei faced Timmie's mechanical pigeon Distortion with no Lunacy remaining. Venti supplied a guaranteed Identity ticket, but the resulting Sunshower Heathcliff overlay initially failed because Wei's positive mood undermined its negative coins. Repeated attacks eventually drove him to the erosion threshold; Diluc later reported that Timmie and the mutated pigeons had been contained 34 35 36 37 38.

The Knights formally named Wei an Honorary Knight and provided a dormitory. He told Paimon that his real ambition was to open a restaurant in Liyue, challenge Xiangling's cooking, and eventually buy a courtyard home near Yujing Terrace. While recovering, he inspected his containment facilities and unlocked Hell's Kitchen's advanced branches 38 40.

Unable to find familiar seasonings in Mondstadt, Wei decided to travel to Liyue, but lacked the funds. The Knights cited battle-repair expenses and gave him an honorary banner instead of money. Seeking work at the Adventurers' Guild, he provoked Catherine's artificial receptionist systems into crashing after first suppressing Heathcliff's reaction to her name 44 45.

His confidence then led him to attack a Hilichurl camp without an Identity. Coordinated freezing, ranged fire, and flanking attacks forced him to flee with Paimon. Shortly afterward, he mistook the wealthy Tuoerfu for a fellow destitute traveler; hearing the nobleman lament his luxurious life drove Wei's sanity to zero and triggered the beginning of Distortion 46 47 48 49 50.

Appearance

• Usual early clothing: A conspicuous red trench coat from his Dante cosplay, still worn after transmigration 1 2.
• Identity-dependent outfits: His coat becomes a heavy black Dieci Association coat under Rodya's overlay and a fitted blue W Corp. uniform under Ryoshu's 7 17.
• Index equipment: Wears a sharply tailored dark suit and multifaceted metal mask while using the Oracle Terminal 25 29.
• Anemo mark: Carries a faintly glowing turquoise mark on the back of his left hand, placed there by Venti 11.
• Restoring clothing: His system-enhanced suit returns to perfect condition whenever he sleeps, even after being scorched and torn 48.

Personality

Wei is irreverent, theatrical, and steeped in game and anime references. He poses dramatically when drawing Identities, complains about gacha prices, and openly accuses the author of handing him a ticket merely to advance the plot. His familiarity with Teyvat does not stop him from being surprised when events differ from the game he knows 4 7 35.

Despite repeatedly wishing for an easy life, he takes obligations seriously. Before ascending the tower to rescue Kaeya, he admits that he fears death but insists on finishing the job because he accepted Venti's payment. He also readily offers food to someone he believes is another struggling traveler 22 49.

His ambitions are domestic rather than heroic: a successful restaurant, familiar food, a courtyard home, and leisurely conversations over tea. Poverty and hunger sharply affect his mood, particularly when contrasted with Tuoerfu's complaints about wealth and comfort 38 44 50.

His confidence can become recklessness. After surviving the Heavenly Demon, he dismisses ordinary Hilichurls as beneath him, only to discover that his borrowed Identity strength does not make his unoverlaid body equally formidable 46 47 48.

Abilities & Skills

City Identity Overlay

Wei's system equips extracted City Identities onto him or companions with whom he has a sufficient bond, supplying their armaments, experience, stats, and skill mechanics 1.

• Acquisition: Lunacy comes from suppressing Abnormalities; a standard single extraction costs 130 Lunacy. Tickets can also supply extractions 1 4 7.
• Mental interference: Don Quixote makes him fanatically enthusiastic, Rodya relaxes his nerves, and Ryoshu makes him cold and artistically fixated on killing 3 7 17.
• Energy cost: Sustained use can leave him exhausted or collapsed after combat 9 32.
• Internal interference: Heathcliff reacts violently to Catherine's name from inside Wei's mind. Wei can cut off his access to outside perception and forcibly suppress the disturbance 45.

Identity Combat Techniques

• Don Quixote: Expert lance combat using Lance Thrust, Focused Thrust, and For Justice!; performed without detectable elemental energy 3.
• Dieci Rodya: High blunt resistance, heavy punches, and codex attacks including Wisdom of the Ignorant and Weight of Knowledge. Reaching five Elation stacks produces Tipsy, which awakens effective drunken-style footwork and counterattacks 7 8.
• W Corp. Ryoshu: High-speed swordsmanship, sensitivity to spatial fluctuations, and Charge accumulation. Energy Cycle, Leap, and Dimension Shredder allow him to oppose the Lost Passenger's dimensional attacks 19 20.
• Index Proselyte Lioen: Instruction-guided movement, transforming weapons, and coordinated ally actions through the Oracle Terminal. Nine [Proxy: Hermes] stacks unlock the finishing protocol 24 25 31.
• Sunshower Heathcliff: Negative-coin attacks become unreliable when heads are rolled. Umbrella Thwack falls from six power to zero when all three −2 coins land heads; severe despair eventually produces a threatening erosion state 35 36 37.

Hell's Kitchen

Originally a hidden passive that manifests cooking tools, Hell's Kitchen develops into a system for converting monsters and Abnormality concepts into food-based power 3 40.

• Practical cooking: Prepares Peccatulum meat in the wilderness and offers monster-scrap soup to replenish Varka's strength 3 22.
• Concept Cooking: Extracts concepts from contained Abnormalities to produce temporary attribute buffs or passive skills 40.
• Gluttony Hunt: Allows defeated high-level wild Abnormalities or monsters to be consumed through specific preparation methods, permanently granting some abilities or elemental resistances. No completed permanent acquisition is documented in the supplied account 40.
• Cookware Liberation: Changes basic cookware into combat blades. His first demonstrated bone cleaver cuts through a carrot, chopping board, and kitchen table in one stroke 40.

Golden Bough Permissions

• Tree of Light Sapling — [Mud]: Suppresses the Heavenly Demon's oppressive rank advantage and mental pollution, restoring the other fighters' ability to resist it 29.
• Bus Projection: Temporarily opens a spacetime rift across worlds so personnel from the Limbus Bus can assist. Wei notes that this does not let him bring the entire bus through that function 39.
• Abnormality Containment Unit: Houses conceptual projections of suppressed entities, including Scorched Girl, Fairy Gentleman, and Dvalin's remaining soul projection 40.
• Energy extraction: Simple virtual work on the projections produces Enkephalin. They lack complete self-awareness and cannot breach containment even when a Qliphoth Counter reaches zero 40.

Limitations

• No native elemental kit: Resonating with the Statue of the Seven gives him no Elemental Power, Elemental Skill, or Elemental Burst 4 5.
• Ordinary unoverlaid combat strength: Without an Identity, he remains a modern man with a chef's physique and cannot overpower the disciplined Hilichurl camp 48.
• Severe backlash: His strongest Oracle attack overloads the terminal and causes his right arm to burst into bloody mist 31.
• Distortion susceptibility: He faces Carmen's enticement during emotional crises; Golden Bough resonance interrupts one such attempt, but a later breakdown begins another Distortion 1 28 50.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black iron wok and chef's knife — Manifested by Hell's Kitchen; the wok later transforms into a heavy bone cleaver with a serrated spine and dark-red blade glow 3 40.
• Oracle Terminal — A liquid-metal weapon system that assumes forms including Blind Faith's Spindle, Feather of Silence, Stake of the Hanged Man, Executioner's Verdict, Mouth of Thorns, Reaper's Sigh, and Jaws of Condemnation. It cracks under the finishing protocol's overload 24 25 26 27 31.
• Holy Lyre der Himmel — A special-category E.G.O accessory. Venti's mark allows Wei to resonate with it despite his lack of musical training, calming Dvalin and weakening the Abyssal blood 23.
• Golden Bough — Retrieved from Dvalin's back; supplies the resonance behind his higher permissions and the invocation of [Mud] 26 28 29.
• Forgotten Cyan Dragon Scale — Special resonance material awarded after Dvalin's suppression 32.
• Honorary banner — Given by Varka in place of the requested travel funds; Wei packs it into his backpack 44 45.

Relationships

• Paimon / Davidai — Traveling companion and guide. Their frequent teasing conceals genuine affection: Wei protects her during danger and shares his plans for a future in Liyue, while she comforts him after his humiliating defeat 22 33 38 48.
• Amber — Rescues him near the Whispering Woods and introduces him to the Knights after witnessing his combat and cooking 2 3.
• Venti / Barbatos — Patron and source of tickets, the Anemo mark, healing, and information. Wei recognizes his divine identity but repeatedly criticizes his apparent idleness 6 11 32 34.
• Kaeya — Initially treats Wei as a useful but suspicious outsider. Recommends him for the investigation, later fights under his Oracle instructions, and is rescued by Wei and Varka 4 22 25.
• Varka — Battlefield ally who accompanies Wei to save Kaeya and proposes his appointment as Honorary Knight 22 38.
• Jean — Appoints him temporary assault captain, confronts him over the Regisvine explosion, and later arranges his headquarters lodging 14 16 38.
• Klee — Explosive collaborator who calls him “big brother” and attempts to defend him after their destruction of the Cryo Regisvine 14.
• Vergilius — Guide who protects the bus's secrets, saves Wei from the Heavenly Demon's attack, and demands that he prove himself as manager. Wei addresses him deferentially as “Director V” 9 28 29 32.
• Malkuth — Assists him in the containment facility and promises to maintain the Control Team while supporting his culinary experiments 40.
• Charles Torolfo / Tuoerfu — A wealthy nobleman who regards Wei as a kindred spirit because of his knowledge of Roland. His complaints about luxury provoke Wei's poverty-fueled breakdown 49 50.

Notable Quotes

“I am. Who isn't afraid of dying? … But I've got a flaw. Since I took your Anemo Archon's single-pull ticket, I have to see this job through.” 22

“If we're going anywhere, we're going to Liyue. We'll go back to that lively place and open a big restaurant decked out in lanterns and decorations.” 38

“Meaning... you're actually discussing the meaning of life in front of someone who can't even afford food?” 50

Trivia

• In the April Fools' Day special, Wei recognizes a peaceful modern setting as a dream and spends the day eating with Paimon. The setting combines elements of the City and his original world, including a living Catherine accompanying Heathcliff 42.
• While using Ryoshu's Identity, he instinctively reaches for a cigarette but receives Paimon's Calla Lily-flavored lollipop instead, continuing the fight with its stick in his mouth 17 19.