Zheng Xun

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

In his previous life, Zheng Xun died suddenly after working “007” overtime. He awoke at the starting point of the Little Red Riding Hood instance and remained trapped in its repeated runs. By his thousandth attempt, he knew its routes, weapons, dialogue, and enemy behavior intimately, but still did not understand why he was there 1.

His next encounter included nine other players, a worldwide livestream, and a difficulty lottery absent from his earlier runs. He learned that they represented District 1089 in a life-or-death instance: failure would erase everyone in the district 2.

Despite his extensive dungeon experience, Zheng Xun initially knew almost nothing about the surrounding society, guilds, or player equipment. Songbird’s investigation found no parents, school history, employment records, guild registration, or earlier gameplay footage connected to him 4 5 10.

Appearance

• Tall build: His departure to face the first instance’s bosses alone is described as a tall, seemingly heroic figure walking away 6.
• Handsome face: Both livestream viewers and Su Hairong comment on his looks 5.
• Habitually sleepy bearing: Outside instances, he frequently yawns, curls up under blankets, or sprawls across furniture 24 25.
• No fixed uniform: He wears an oversized Songbird jacket while traveling, a suit for the press conference, and ragged mining clothes while gathering ore 10 25 29.

Personality

Zheng Xun is outwardly casual, blunt, and difficult to intimidate. He initially lets Meng Chuang’s hostility pass rather than starting a pointless fight, yet freely teases companions and frightens NPCs for his own amusement. He makes little effort to soften his words for people who dislike his manner 3 5 12 27.

His apparent indifference conceals careful judgment. He questions rescue logistics before accepting Songbird’s mission, recognizes the guild’s calculated willingness to risk an outsider, and anticipates that its support for his guild application will come with conditions 14 15 24.

Independence matters more to him than prestigious employment. He refuses Songbird’s recruitment offers and wants a guild whose rules serve his needs rather than control him. Money remains important—particularly for funding that independence—but he explicitly dislikes being controlled even more than he likes earning it 23 24 44.

Inside instances, he becomes intensely focused and persistent. Even after fifty-six unsuccessful attempts to trigger Huaiyin’s hidden route, he continues devising alternatives. His concern for others also exceeds his mercenary claims: he protects fellow players, saves the hostile Meng Chuang, and eventually acknowledges that treating NPCs as unfeeling virtual characters delayed his understanding of Xiaoyin 3 8 19 22.

Abilities & Skills

Dungeon Simulation

His wristband contains a hidden Dungeon Holographic Simulation function, privately customized for a single ID worldwide 11.

• Allows him to rehearse an upcoming dungeon, with a maximum setting of 1,000 simulations 11.
• Death during simulation does not affect reality, and he can stop the simulation at any time 11.
• Lets him test routes, enemy patterns, dialogue choices, and exploitable mechanics before a real run 19 28 33.
• Does not guarantee identical real-world conditions: Huaiyin’s hidden route appeared during practice but repeatedly failed to trigger in the actual instance 19.
• Requires preparation time. He enters District 547’s instance without having simulated it beforehand 38.

Physical Ability and Combat Reflexes

Repeated simulations develop his reaction speed to a near-monstrous level, supported by his level-99 attributes 11 21.

• Notices the shifting delivery boxes concealing a Human-Faced Wolf Spider and protects Zhong Yu during its ambush 3.
• Defeats Huaiyin’s early bosses within seconds, including flattening one with a door smashed from its hinges 15.
• Tracks the hidden boss’s high-speed attacks and recognizes that it emerges from the corridor’s large eye patterns 21.
• Runs fast enough to leave afterimages while escaping Alice’s Painting Corpse 34.
• Uses his reflexes and Teacher’s Pointer to escape a closing blade mechanism 41.

Inflatable Hammer Technique

Zheng Xun turns an apparently useless toy into his signature heavy weapon through precise mode switching 1.

• Discovered its concealed Normal/Enhanced controls on his 458th playthrough 1.
• Accounts for the three-second switching delay during combat 1.
• Activates Enhanced mode during a two-handed downward swing to exploit its weight of thousands of catties 1.
• Learned the necessary timing after straining his lower back roughly three hundred times; mishandling the enhanced weight remains dangerous 1.

Route Optimization and Mechanical Exploits

He favors the fastest workable solution over the intended puzzle sequence 16 33.

• Uses a rooftop-jump bug to fail Huaiyin safely, preserving its entrance until the hidden route can be cleared. Ordinary death in an instance would still kill a player in reality 16 28.
• Smashes Alice’s combination lockboxes to obtain their keys without solving the painting puzzles 33 34.
• Times his subordinates’ entry around the dungeon’s fifteen-minute monster-transfer mechanic 33 34.
• Recognizes when brute force is unsuitable. Neither the hanging woman nor the Painting Corpse can be fought head-on 4 34.

Combat Training and Analysis

• Studies mainstream fighting methods during simulations, using Little Red Riding Hood to restrain bosses while he practices before testing techniques in combat 46.
• Identifies Shen Guanyu’s fighting style as rhythm manipulation rather than simple strength, and reasons that it could extend to weapons 46.
• Records Meng Yijia’s admissions with a concealed camera ball rather than relying on an accusation without evidence 41.

Contracted NPC Subordinates

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Pink inflatable hammer — Approximately 1.5 meters long, decorated with symmetrical stars and capable of squeaking like a toy. Its concealed Enhanced mode supplies its destructive weight; he receives it permanently after the first real instance 1 8.
• Player wristband — Provides player information, livestreaming, Cloud Space storage, and the hidden simulation interface. Zheng Xun requests a cheap model because he worries Songbird might tamper with a custom-made one 10 11.
• Resurrection Card ×1 — Rare purple consumable granting one revival inside a dungeon; obtained from the Little Red Riding Hood rewards 8.
• Time Stop Card ×1 — Rare purple consumable allowing one opportunity to stop time while fighting a monster; obtained alongside the Resurrection Card 8.
• Huaiyin supplies — Ten packets of Strange and Bizarre medicine usable on NPCs or players, twenty large-capacity stamina potions, and three disposable defensive shields 22.
• Teacher’s Pointer — Huaiyin reward that extends to over a meter. He uses it to probe dark stairs and temporarily brace a falling blade 22 40 41.
• Security guard’s enamel bowl — Another item obtained from Huaiyin’s reward box 22.
• Portable Door — Alice reward that changes size, can serve as a rectangular shield, and allows him to access the underground passage containing Meng Yijia 35 40 41.
• Bottomless Water Bottle — Obtained from Alice’s Horror Corridor 35.
• Downgrade Card ×1 — Alice reward that lowers an instance’s difficulty by one level 35.
• Black whistle — Ordinary but exceptionally loud; used to signal his subordinates across Alice’s maze 33 34.
• General Association credentials and filming equipment — Supplied for his accompanying-reporter assignment, including camera balls used during the amusement-park instance 38 41.

Relationships

• Little Red Riding Hood — Former recurring enemy turned contracted subordinate. Their repeated encounters give Zheng Xun exhaustive knowledge of her behavior; after recruitment, she stays close to him and follows his combat orders 1 8 33.
• Xiaoyin — Huaiyin NPC whose emotional behavior forces him to reconsider his assumptions about virtual characters. His later subordinate is a White Tower reward that he suspects was copied from the instance’s data 18 21 22.
• Xiao Jun — Principal negotiator and adviser at Songbird. Arranges his guild application and General Association opportunity while securing additional dungeon services in return 24 36 38.
• Cheng Jie — Frequent companion and sparring partner in conversation. Shares accommodation with him, helps sort ore, and intervenes when Zheng Xun tries to enter another instance while exhausted 13 26 45.
• Tao Xueqing — Rescued from Huaiyin’s hidden route. Brings him food during his recovery and helps explain the White Tower’s institutions 22 23 24.
• Tao Xueji — Songbird’s president, initially accompanying him under the identity “Xiao Wu.” Fights beside him in the hidden route and entrusts him with his sister’s rescue 21 22.
• Huo Ziyan — Mining companion whom Zheng Xun tries to hire on loan from Azure Mist. Zheng Xun recognizes his suppression within the guild and challenges its refusal to release him 27 29.
• Xu Guan — Initially an obstacle to hiring Huo Ziyan. Their dispute develops into battlefield trust, shared mining, and Xu Guan’s unsuccessful attempt to secure a loan arrangement for Zheng Xun 29 41 43 44.
• Meng Yijia — Adversary involved in Huo Ziyan’s mistreatment. Zheng Xun rescues him from a mechanism, then exposes his deliberate attempt to let it close on him 29 41 43.
• Zhong Yu — Fellow District 1089 survivor whom Zheng Xun saves from a spider ambush. Their early friendship includes arguments over Zheng Xun repeatedly slapping him by accident 3 5 9.
• Jiang Feiguang — Player who copies Zheng Xun’s dungeon strategy while his supporters and team spread attacks against Zheng Xun. Zheng Xun challenges him at the Blue Tower and later declines Songbird’s offer to handle the smear campaign 47 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

District 1089’s Life-or-Death Instance

Zheng Xun volunteers to reveal the instance difficulty because he considers himself lucky, then draws three S balls. His choice alarms the other players, but his familiarity with Little Red Riding Hood and decisive spider kills quickly attract livestream attention and guild recruitment offers 2 3 5.

He asks the others to remain downstairs while he tackles the final encounters. After defeating the wolf, the real Grandma, and Little Red Riding Hood, he also saves Meng Chuang from being devoured. The settlement awards him his hammer, two rare skill cards, and Little Red Riding Hood as a subordinate 6 8.

Huaiyin Rescue Mission

Zheng Xun refuses to join Songbird but agrees to help with Huaiyin No. 4 Middle School. He studies the previous team’s recording and practices the hidden stage until he has cleared it twenty times in simulation 10 13 19.

During the real mission, he deliberately avoids killing the final boss so that the instance will remain accessible. After fifty-six unsuccessful attempts to trigger the hidden route, he begins taking teammates in individually and ultimately identifies Xiaoyin as the force preventing entry 16 19 21.

He clears the hidden route, rescues Tao Xueqing, and helps free Tao Xueji from fallen stone slabs. After completing the instance, he receives Xiaoyin as a new subordinate and collapses from exhaustion, subsequently sleeping for a day and a night 22 23.

Establishing Xunhui

Rather than accept a place in Songbird, Zheng Xun asks it to guarantee his independent guild application. At the press conference, he announces Xunhui and a one-year agreement loaning himself to Songbird for three A-plus dungeons 24 25.

The guild is intended to let him enter guild-restricted dungeons and competitions without submitting to another organization. His Huaiyin gold barely covers the minimum registered capital, so he mines to raise money for a property that can serve as both home and guild address 24 26 36.

Conflict with Azure Mist

Xu Guan’s refusal to release Huo Ziyan prompts Zheng Xun to target Azure Mist’s marked dungeons. He clears the S-rank Alice’s Horror Corridor in his announced thirty-minute window through simulated route knowledge, destructive shortcuts, and coordinated subordinate deployment 29 32 34.

He then trades two additional Songbird dungeon runs for Xiao Jun’s recommendation to the General Association. As its accompanying reporter, he joins Azure Mist’s SS-rank amusement-park instance without prior simulation, protects Yin Lexin, and rescues Meng Yijia while secretly recording evidence of the latter’s attempt to kill him 36 38 39 41.

Afterward, he sends Xu Guan the recording and invites both Xu Guan and Huo Ziyan to mine. Xu Guan becomes willing to discuss releasing Huo Ziyan and hiring Zheng Xun, although Zheng Xun rejects the proposed cooperation 43 44.

Seventh Hospital and the Blue Tower

At the Seventh Hospital, a monstrous girl brands Zheng Xun’s wrist and tells him to leave. Cheng Jie subsequently stops him from immediately entering another instance while barely able to stand and takes him to the Blue Tower instead 45.

There, Zheng Xun watches Shen Guanyu’s Infinite Round and learns about Jiang Feiguang’s imitation and online attacks. He disguises himself to challenge Jiang, but his identity is exposed, forcing him and Cheng Jie to flee the crowd. Back at Songbird, he insists on handling the smear campaign himself 46 47 50.

Notable Quotes

“People who care will care no matter what you say, and with people who don't, it's no use dressing things up. That's how I talk. People can take it or leave it.” 27

“So what if you're ugly? So what if you're strange? … Does looking normal make someone normal? I think everyone's the same. Everyone's strange.” 22

“That's putting it too absolutely. Who would turn down money? But I hate being controlled even more.” 44