Shen Yan

Biodata

Power Progression

Shen Yan advances through purchased skills, mission rewards, achievement upgrades, and police promotions that unlock additional shop inventory.

Background / History

Transmigration and First Operations

Shen Yan was a modern office worker burdened by overtime, rent, mortgage payments, and a car loan. He transmigrates into an impoverished Shanghai patrolman of the same name after the original body is knocked unconscious by an ox cart. He inherits the patrolman’s memories and awakens in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in the twenty-sixth year of the Republic 1 2.

His first intervention is the rescue of Su Wan, an injured underground Communist courier. He hides her, misdirects Japanese pursuers, and gives her medicine that rapidly heals her gunshot wound. The resulting reward opens his system shop. After purchasing combat training, he kills his abusive superior Wang Panghai with the system’s brick, conceals the body in a dry well, and takes his pistol 2 3.

Shen Yan subsequently protects a pingtan performer from Green Gang thugs and defeats the retaliating Scarface Liu. These incidents establish his reputation as a ruthless protector of the neighborhood. His conduct also wins the approval of veteran patrolman Old Chen, whom he formally adopts as his foster father during a drinking session 4 6 8.

Police Promotion and Resistance Contacts

When Su Wan seeks help for her wounded comrade A Yuan, Shen Yan discovers Japanese agents surrounding their hideout. He eliminates the surveillance team, removes A Yuan’s infected bullet wound, and warns that their organization contains a traitor. Su Wan and A Yuan subsequently leave Shanghai 11.

The appointment of Lu Tinghui introduces a more dangerous superior: Heavenly Eye identifies him as Japanese agent Watanabe Seiichi. Shen Yan survives his questioning with a system-protected backstory and receives a promotion. Using newly available equipment, he intercepts a Japanese document convoy and obtains a purge list naming 62 suspected anti-Japanese personnel. His warnings enable Communist and Military Statistics Bureau contacts to evacuate 14 15 17.

Lu later tests him by presenting Japanese agent Matsumoto Ichiro as a captured Communist. Once Shen Yan identifies the deception, he interrogates the agent brutally while maintaining his cover. Matsumoto dies afterward, while Lu interprets Shen Yan’s performance as proof of loyalty 19.

Family and Special Operations Command

Shen Yan intervenes when Wang Erlai attempts to sell his daughter. Old Chen arranges to adopt the girl into their household, with Shen Yan taking a paternal role. She is later renamed Shen Nian’an, expressing a wish for lifelong peace. Shen Yan buys a more secure courtyard home and gives her a puppy, Big Yellow 20 21 30.

After receiving a public security medal and 500 fabi for his contribution to the Drunken Immortal Tower operation, Shen Yan undergoes a month of Special Higher Police training. He graduates first and cripples Matsumoto Toru, who seeks revenge for his brother Ichiro’s death. Shen Yan then assumes command of the Special Operations Squad, including four Japanese trainees he had previously subdued 24 26 27 30.

Evacuation Cover and the Hongkou Arsenal

Shen Yan works to save a Military Statistics Bureau contact point targeted by his own police organization. The agents escape through a tunnel, while explosives inflict heavy casualties on Li Kui’s prematurely advancing force. The operation culminates in an apparent confrontation between Shen Yan and the masked Scavenger, leaving Shen Yan hospitalized but credited with wounding the fugitive 30 31 32.

While recovering, he sends his clone into the Hongkou arsenal in disguise. The clone plants explosives among artillery ammunition and leaves the signature “CLEANER.” Following the destruction, Shen Yan intercepts looted cultural relics and gold and deliberately creates the impression that the Scavenger is an organization rather than a single operative 33 34.

Xihengjing and Cherry Blossom Hot Springs

Forewarned of an attack on Hou Boquan’s guerrilla unit, Shen Yan prepares an ambush at Zhangjia Dachang. He equips the resistance with heavy machine guns and grenade dischargers, directs the fighting, and helps destroy the attacking Japanese and puppet troops. He distributes captured supplies and urges the guerrillas to evacuate nearby villagers before reinforcements arrive 37.

His conflict with No. 76 escalates when Li Bingkun has him followed and later places a secret bounty on him. Shen Yan turns the bounty into an ambush against Ma Yao, extracts a confession and ten large gold bars from Li, and earns a personal Green Gang token from the Great Master 42 44.

Shen Yan then establishes Cherry Blossom Hot Springs on Wusong Road in Hongkou. The business provides an explanation for his growing assets and Green Gang connections, reassures Kuroiwa Masao that he intends to settle under Japanese patronage, and secretly gathers conversations from Japanese guests through concealed copper listening pipes 45.

Harbin and the Destruction of No. 76

Sent to Harbin to investigate the Scavenger, Shen Yan uses his clone to maintain the appearance of studying official reports while he contacts the Anti-Japanese United Army. He exposes an infiltrator, supplies Commander Yang Chenyu’s forces, and enters Unit 731 disguised as Kobayashi Masao. He photographs the laboratory, opens prisoners’ cells, plants incendiaries, and signals the resistance attack before returning to Shanghai after quarantine 47.

Shen Yan later infiltrates No. 76 using Li Shiqun’s identity, with his clone disguised as Zhang Lu. He poisons 21 agents, frees 18 Communist and Military Statistics Bureau prisoners, removes files and weapons, and plants incendiary bombs. During the subsequent explosion, he shields Kuroiwa to reinforce his cover. He then hunts more than thirty agents named in the seized roster, helping render No. 76 defunct 50.

Appearance

• Youthful body: Described as not yet twenty when confronted by Scarface Liu 6.
• Lean, strengthened build: Basic Combat Mastery transforms his formerly scrawny, slack muscles into firm, defined musculature 3.
• Head scar: A scar on the back of his head becomes a subject of Japanese scrutiny; he explains it through a fabricated account of a Communist ambush 24.
• Deliberately timid bearing: Slouches, hunches his shoulders, lowers his head, and avoids eye contact to reproduce the original patrolman’s cowardly manner 1 4.

Personality

Shen Yan’s apparent cowardice is largely a survival performance. He readily acts submissive, awkward, poorly educated, or apolitical when dealing with Japanese officials, while privately assessing their weaknesses and protecting his freedom to act. During training, he deliberately moderates his results until a system mission requires him to graduate first 1 25 27.

His opposition to the occupation is accompanied by concern for vulnerable people. He initially saves Su Wan without expecting payment, refuses neighborhood protection money as disgraceful, and assists both Communist and Nationalist resistance personnel. Despite their interest in recruiting or meeting him, he prefers to retain his independence and route communications through Fang Yuan 3 17 20 41.

He is also opportunistic and unusually comfortable with violence against people he judges wicked. He treats enemies as sources of system points, experiments with repeated beatings to extract rewards, and reacts to Wang Panghai’s death with excitement rather than the fear he expected. His humorous internal commentary frequently frames dangerous operations as profitable work or voluntary overtime 1 3 4 10.

With his family, Shen Yan is affectionate and playful. He cares for Old Chen after drinking, promises Nian’an sweets, checks her calligraphy, and tells her stories until she falls asleep. Their household provides a private contrast to his police persona and clandestine violence 8 30 42 44.

Abilities & Skills

Punish Evil and Promote Good System

Awards Good and Evil Points for protecting others, punishing evildoers, and completing missions; points purchase skills, equipment, ammunition, and upgrades 3 6 15.

• Rank-linked access: Police promotions unlock additional shop sections 14 15.
• Achievement rewards: Can improve storage and detection capabilities without a separate purchase 6.
• Cover support: Validates his Inoue Jirō backstory for a fee of 500 points 14.

Heavenly Eye Insight

Displays a target’s name, identity, Good and Evil Points, and current thoughts 1.

• Exposes concealed Japanese identities, infiltrators, and personal motives 14 19 27 47.
• Lets Shen Yan distinguish apparently respectable figures from criminals and collaborators 4 49.
• A photograph-based identification upgrade is listed as the reward for destroying Unit 731; the provided passage does not explicitly confirm its activation 47.

Detection and Intelligence

Combines a real-time minimap, advance intelligence, and directional warnings 11 14 37.

• Anti-Sneak Minimap: Reaches a 1,000-meter radius and gains color identification after upgrades 11.
• Intelligence Forecast: Supplies information about threats and opportunities, including the Japanese document convoy and Lu’s loyalty screening 14 15 19.
• Hostility Perception: Warns of clear hostile intent within 50 meters; later alerts him to surveillance roughly fifteen meters behind him 37 42.

Combat and Marksmanship

System training supplies combat knowledge as muscle memory rather than requiring conventional practice 3 7 15.

• Close combat: Defeats eight gang members alone and later overcomes a seventh-dan karate instructor 6 27.
• Handguns: The purchased skill specifies guaranteed hits within 50 meters and an 80% hit rate from 50–100 meters 7.
• Rifles: Handles aiming, reloading, trajectory prediction, malfunction clearing, and shooting on the move 15.
• Tactical command: Organizes the Xihengjing ambush using heavy weapons and guerrilla manpower 37.

Acting, Disguise, and Interrogation

Uses performance and identity manipulation to maintain access to enemy institutions 19 27 32.

• Proficient acting: Can produce convincing tears, pallor, trembling, and grief during questioning 19.
• Disguise Technique: Changes facial contours, skin tone, hair color, and voice 32.
• Japanese mastery: Includes native-level accent, slang, and grammar 8.
• Interrogation: Breaks a simulated prisoner’s resistance in five minutes by identifying contradictions and behavioral cues 27.

Clone Technique and Optical Camouflage

Enables operations away from his publicly observed location 32 33 47.

• Clone limits: After upgrading, lasts 48 hours with a fifteen-day cooldown 32.
• Cover substitution: Leaves the clone in his Harbin lodgings while he contacts resistance forces 47.
• Operational support: Uses the clone for arsenal sabotage and the infiltration of No. 76 33 50.
• Optical Camouflage: Beginner-level invisibility lasts thirty seconds per activation 33.

Portable Space, Medicine, and Poisons

Supports concealment, logistics, emergency treatment, and covert attacks 3 11 34 49.

• Portable storage: Holds weapons, ammunition, valuables, bodies, and recovered evidence; eventually reaches 1,000 m³ 8 34.
• Healing medicine: Rapidly treats injuries, including Su Wan’s gunshot wound 1 2.
• Field surgery: Removes A Yuan’s bullet and infected tissue, using the brick to render him unconscious 11.
• Poison Physician Skill: Adds a one-second onset attribute to tetrodotoxin used on poison darts 49.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Brick That Defies Martial Ethics — One strike knocks a target unconscious for three hours; two kill. Ignores armor and leaves no obvious wounds 1.
• Worker’s Little Red Bottle — Healing consumable supplied in the beginner pack and later used to treat resistance personnel 1 2 11.
• Colt M1903 — Taken from Wang Panghai; chambered in .32 ACP, with an eight-round magazine and stated effective range of 50–60 meters 3.
• Police baton — His principal weapon against the teahouse thugs and Scarface Liu’s group 4 6.
• M1 Garand — System-purchased semi-automatic rifle with an eight-round en-bloc clip and a listed range of 450 meters 15.
• Silent amphibious mini motorcycle — Weighs 42 kilograms, has unlimited range, and is listed at 165 km/h on land and 150 km/h on water 28.
• Poison-dart pistols — Issued to himself and his clone; silent and smokeless, but limited by short range 49.
• Public security medal — Bronze award recognizing his contribution to the Drunken Immortal Tower operation 24.
• Great Master’s personal token — Entitles him to one intervention by the Great Master’s hall, regardless of cost; Old Chen keeps it for safekeeping 44.

Relationships

• Old Chen / Uncle Chen — Patrol partner, mentor, and foster father. Supplies local knowledge and protection, later helping manage Shen Yan’s household and squad responsibilities 6 8 30 36.
• Shen Nian’an / Wang Zhaodi — Goddaughter rescued from exploitation and welcomed into his family. Calls him “Godfather” and receives his care, gifts, and attention 20 21 30 44.
• Su Wan — Underground Communist courier he saves twice. Mistakes him for a hidden revolutionary comrade and resolves to return to thank him 2 10 11.
• Fang Yuan — Underground Party member and trusted subordinate. Handles communications, arrests, transport, and preparations for covert work 30 41 42 45.
• Qian Bin — Resistance intermediary who coordinates warnings, supplies, and contact with other anti-Japanese forces 30 37 41 47.
• Lu Tinghui / Watanabe Seiichi — Japanese superior who promotes, investigates, and repeatedly tests him; Shen Yan knows his true identity and maintains a carefully constructed cover 14 19.
• Kuroiwa Masao — Powerful Japanese patron whose confidence protects Shen Yan’s position. Shen Yan cultivates that confidence through training results, apparent loyalty, and business hospitality 27 42 45 50.
• Yamada Tarō, Matsumoto Kiyokazu, Takahashi Tetsuya, and Miyamoto Kenta — Japanese trainees he subdues and later places in his assault team. Yamada eventually acknowledges his apparent battlefield courage 26 30 31.
• Great Master / Great Mister — Green Gang ally and hot-springs business partner. Trusts Old Chen’s judgment of Shen Yan and rewards his help against Ma Yao 44 45.
• Li Bingkun — No. 76 adversary responsible for surveillance and a secret bounty; Shen Yan turns both schemes against him 42 44.
• Hou Boquan and Yang Chenyu — Resistance commanders he supports with weapons, supplies, and coordinated military action 37 47.

Notable Quotes

“All right, then. I’m definitely working overtime.” 1

“All I ask is to keep a clear conscience and protect the people around me.” 8

“No need. We’re all family when it comes to fighting the Japanese.” 37