Su Cheng

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Su Cheng lost her parents in a car accident and was the only survivor. Her uncle and aunt raised her as their own daughter, helping her recover from her childhood trauma. Their daughter, Qu Lan, is seven years younger than Su Cheng and grew up closely attached to her 122.

Before her instance experiences, Su Cheng worked at a company where she supervised interns. Her encounters with Lu Heng remind her of a calculating former superior, contributing to her initial wariness toward him 39 48.

Returning to her uncle’s family becomes a major reason for her efforts to leave the Survival Apartment. When she finally returns, she discovers that six months have elapsed and that Qu Lan has disappeared following an earthquake 122 178.

Personality

Su Cheng is cautious, observant, and unwilling to mistake shared apartment residency for trustworthiness. She often keeps her abilities concealed, avoids unnecessary contact with unfamiliar contestants, and deliberately presents herself as harmless when investigating dangerous people. In Lin Family Village, her performance as a helpless traveler persuades her hosts that she is easily manipulated 44 53 54 55.

She prefers reciprocal relationships to obligations. She barters rather than accepting villagers’ supplies without repayment, views several rescues as mutual assistance, and declines to make life-or-death decisions on another contestant’s behalf. Nevertheless, she repeatedly risks herself to protect companions and strangers 12 41 42 51 82.

Her growing willingness to kill troubles her enough to prompt serious self-examination. She ultimately concludes that power must remain a means of survival rather than permission to exploit the weak. This conviction directly triggers her third-stage gene-lock breakthrough 172.

Abilities & Skills

Self-Healing and Differentiation

Her gene-lock abilities develop from accelerated wound repair into regeneration and potential bodily reconstruction 14 97 100.

• Early healing: Superficial bleeding wounds heal in roughly three hours; internal injuries or substantial blood loss require one or two days 18.
• Advanced Self-Healing: Rapidly stops bleeding and repairs injuries after her second-stage breakthrough 100.
• Differentiation: Enables extremely rapid regrowth of severed limbs. Flesh and blood can also serve as the basis for rebirth, provided sufficient energy and time are available 97 100.
• Limits: Su Cheng’s idea of storing a piece of flesh as a resurrection safeguard is her own proposed application, not a demonstrated recovery 97.
• Extreme endurance: During her attempt to bind Calamity, her body repeatedly decays and reconstructs itself while the contract drains her energy, flesh, and life force 176.

Enhanced Physique and Perception

Gene-lock advancement sharpens her senses and improves her physical capabilities 20 26.

• Perceives He Lie’s trained knife movements as slower after unlocking her first gene lock 26.
• Develops greatly improved memory, allowing her to memorize Third Aunt’s introductory book in one day 66.
• Eventually carries Lu Heng without difficulty and judges that carrying two people of his size would be manageable 169.
• Sees contract-like threads associated with the lotus seeds and describes this perception to Aunt Jin as a gene-lock skill 139.

Celestial Master Perception and Protection

Her class provides supernatural detection, intimidation, and defensive abilities 66 100.

• Yin-Yang Eyes: Reveals supernatural traces and entities’ original forms.
• Pressure: Intimidates supernatural beings, but may attract the covetous attention of a Ghost King.
• Protection: Initially shields living beings within 2 m² from remnant-soul-level ghosts; expands to 4 m² at Junior Celestial Master.

Fire-Attracting Art

Produces eerie blue flames that burn supernatural entities or souls 66 100.

• Improves from a 30% success rate to a proficient 100% success rate 66 79 100.
• Can burn parasitic spores; she also removes spores from rescued teammates 125 130.
• Becomes substantially stronger when fueled by the mixed energy available to an Immortal Celestial Master 173.

Soul Attraction

Also described as Soul Summoning, this technique calls ghosts into service or establishes transactions with them 66 100.

• Can force a transaction with a remnant-soul-level target 82 100.
• Uses qi as payment to view Liu Huizi’s memories 82.
• Requires greater compensation when dealing with stronger supernatural entities 66 100.

Seven-Star Soul-Slaying Method

An advanced class technique intended for Ghost King-level opponents 147.

• Remains unavailable at Novice and Junior Celestial Master levels 66 100.
• Its execution steps become accessible upon her advancement to High-Level Celestial Master 147.

Immortal Celestial Master Techniques

Her final documented class advancement expands both her energy sources and her authority over supernatural beings 172 173.

• Pact Formation: Can forcibly establish master-servant contracts with ghosts 172.
• Deliver All Sentient Beings: Disperses resentful and baleful energy, releasing souls from their resentment and obsessions 172 173.
• Energy conversion: Combines black yin energy with White Qi into grayish-white energy usable by her techniques 173.
• Limits: Releasing the souls outside White Moon City requires nearly all the surrounding black mist as fuel. Attempting to contract Calamity, a ghost god several times stronger than herself, causes severe backlash 173 176.

Mu Ling’s Contract Support

Su Cheng’s contract with Mu Ling provides scouting, shared perception, and coordinated supernatural combat 32 36 46.

• Shared Senses: Shares Mu Ling’s sight, hearing, and smell 36.
• Scouting: Uses Mu Ling to inspect dangerous routes and follow suspects without exposing herself 46 56.
• Combat assistance: Coordinates attacks with Mu Ling’s restraining hair and illusions 63 96.
• Ghost Mark: Has Mu Ling mark Shen Ying so her nearby presence can be detected later 107.
• Restrictions: Mu Ling needs Su Cheng’s permission to leave the bracelet, weakens in qi-poor environments, and initially requires paid apartment storage between instances 32 36 46.

Survival, Investigation, and Talismans

Su Cheng relies on preparation and practical experience rather than formal combat training 168.

• Barricades shelters, treats wounds, stockpiles supplies, and prepares signaling materials for rescuers 4 15.
• Recognizes plague-doctor clothing and immediately takes precautions against the Black Death 35.
• Maps the fog’s daily cycle and prepares alcohol- and drug-treated projectiles before traveling 46.
• Uses disguises, false explanations, work identities, and document searches to investigate instance rules 53 54 79 96.
• Learns basic and offensive talisman inscriptions from the Primordial Talisman Compendium, keeping some and auctioning the surplus 177 178.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Smart Bag — Bound storage equipment that adapts its appearance to an instance. Initially has three slots and can reveal special-item descriptions. After reaching at least 30 slots, its form becomes manually adjustable inside instances; it returns to her if separated by more than ten meters 21 104.
• Cinnabar-enchanted dagger — An ordinary dagger treated with temple cinnabar, gaining a weak soul-repelling effect. Used against ghosts and alongside her boning knife 19 21 63.
• Soul-Devouring Boning Knife — Confiscated from He Lie as an enchanted weapon, then transformed after consuming the locust tree’s taproot. Feeds on resentment-tainted supernatural beings, but can resist commands or erode its wielder with resentment. Its bond with Su Cheng strengthens after the flood-dragon encounter 26 62 82 118.
• Dragon-Patterned Jade Pendant — Develops from the incomplete Twin Fish Jade Pendant taken from He Lie. Third Aunt’s intervention upgrades it to nourish the body, resist mental attacks from fierce ghosts and below, and withstand one Ghost King-level fatal attack every 48 hours. Consuming the stone flood dragon’s white pearl produces a further evolution and activates Dragon’s Roar, a powerful pressure attack with enormous energy costs and a risk of backlash 30 64 118.
• Thousand-Machine Umbrella — Defensive and offensive equipment resistant to water, fire, bullets, blades, arrows, and explosions. Supports invisibility, conceals her living aura, and fires two types of small ammunition through its tip with target locking at up to 100 meters 100.
• Heart of Sea Blue — Sapphire equipment received from a female ghost. Creates a breathable protective membrane underwater and conceals its holder from supernatural perception, including Yin-Yang Eyes and aura-sensing skills 116.
• Immortal-Binding Rope — First-place competition reward effective against physical and supernatural targets. Tightens as the target struggles; its barbs have an anesthetic effect 177.
• Primordial Talisman Compendium — A book given to her by Yun Xi. Previously unreadable, it opens after her advancement to Immortal Celestial Master and becomes the basis of her talisman practice 177 178.
• Soul-Pointing Needle — Indicates approaching supernatural presences, though its readings can be incorrect 20.
• Omnipotent Key and Miniature Bomb — Discount purchases after the Silence Instance. The key can open any door; the bomb has limited explosive power and requires caution 52.
• Conventional weapons and supplies — Uses shovels, a chainsaw, darts, a machete, a wooden club, and an electronic/laser cannon. Her recovered handgun initially sees little use because she does not know how to shoot 32 46 100 107 129.

Relationships

• Yan Yu — Trusted friend and recurring teammate. Helps Su Cheng escape the zombie-infested city; later relies on Su Cheng during Golden Leaf Hospital. Receives supplies from her before her departure 4 74 82 178.
• Xu Shaowei — Close apartment friend who exchanges information with Su Cheng. She worries about Xu Shaowei’s vulnerability during the memory-sealed competition and gives her talismans before leaving 111 150 152 178.
• Mu Ling — Contracted ghost companion. Their relationship develops from a dangerous encounter involving possession and resentment into mutual reliance; Mu Ling later gives Su Cheng qi during her second-stage breakthrough 29 32 97.
• Third Aunt — Teacher and benefactor. Helps develop her pendant and cultivation potential. Su Cheng later encounters her after Daochenzi has refined her into a zombie 64 65 144.
• Qingya — Senior sister whom Su Cheng credits, alongside Third Aunt, with teaching her the Fire-Attracting Art 144.
• Qu Lan — Younger cousin raised alongside her like a sister. Disappears after an earthquake; Su Cheng suspects she may have become bound to the Survival Apartment system 122 178.
• Uncle and aunt — Raised her after her parents’ deaths. Su Cheng reunites with them and supplies the family with protective talismans as the real-world apocalypse approaches 122 178.
• Lu Heng — Initially a distrusted fellow resident, later an ally. Su Cheng assists him in multiple instances, rescues him from Shunshun Tunnel, and accepts the government invitation he conveys 39 107 169 179.
• Hao Ruoxue — Friend first helped during the fog disaster. Su Cheng later rescues her from a lotus stem coiled around her heart 48 50 143.
• Yan Xing — Fellow contestant whose friendship offer Su Cheng initially rejects. They later cooperate during supernatural investigations and the confrontation with the Sun God Cult 53 91 175.
• Yun Xi — Fellow competition participant rescued from Shunshun Tunnel. Gives Su Cheng the Primordial Talisman Compendium 169 170 177.
• Yun Nian and Yun Cheng — Child rescued during the tsunami and her grateful father. Yun Cheng provides money and practical assistance after their reunion 12 19.
• Shen Ying — Hostile contestant whom Su Cheng recognizes as dangerous. Their conflict escalates from a forest gunfight to a close-range battle in which Su Cheng breaks Shen Ying’s sword 42 107 168.
• Moya and Laobo — Shelter Su Cheng after noticing her resemblance to their deceased daughter, Lili 106.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Early Survival Instances

Su Cheng initially knows she can barely manage one or two zombies with a weapon. Accepting Yan Yu’s offer of transport allows the two to escape the city together. In the following tsunami instance, Su Cheng suffers an abdominal injury, rescues Yun Nian, and unlocks her first gene lock while struggling to remain in a tree until rescue 4 12 14 15.

The supernatural train instance forces her to investigate human crimes while resisting ghostly influence. She exposes He Lie’s dismembered corpse, confiscates his boning knife, and completes “Old Case Reenacted.” Remembering the apartment helps her separate her own identity from Mu Ling’s; she later establishes a contract with the ghost 26 29 32.

Plague, Silence, and Coffin Keeper

During the plague instance, Su Cheng uses protective clothing, disinfection, and cooperation with Lu Heng’s village to manage the infection risk. In the Silence Instance, she studies the fog, gathers supplies, and helps Hao Ruoxue and a restaurant owner’s family reach an island refuge 35 39 42 46 48 51.

In Coffin Keeper, she infiltrates Lin Family Village under the guise of a stranded traveler. Destroying the locust tree’s taproot upgrades her boning knife; she then fights An Jing’s hopping vampire. Her encounters with Third Aunt also lead to the pendant’s upgrade and her acquisition of the Celestial Master class 54 62 63 64 65 66.

Golden Leaf Competition

Su Cheng works through three linked instances: Golden Leaf Hospital, Golden Leaf High School, and Golden Leaf Pharmaceutical Factory. Her investigation uncovers dangerous nutritional meals, the school’s assimilating routines, and the factory’s mutating contamination 71 74 87 96 99.

She kills factory director Rong Hao and transfers his work identity to herself. Resisting the resulting mental intrusion unlocks her second gene-lock stage. She wins the under-fifty-nine-day competition and receives a 20,000-point reward 96 97 100 107.

Mermaid Sacrifice and Later Expeditions

In Mermaid Sacrifice, Su Cheng investigates the Blue Count’s supernatural loop and descends beneath the sea using the Heart of Sea Blue. She forces her reluctant boning knife to strike the stone flood dragon; the subsequent victory strengthens her control over the knife and evolves her pendant 111 116 117 118.

Later, she trades ten ice stones for a hundred protective suits and joins the meteorite-fragment expedition to Green Vine City. Her warnings help teammates escape the changing streets, and she carries Xuewen and Liu Yu out before removing their parasitic spores 125 129 130.

In Red Lotus Village, she investigates blood-draining lotus seeds, saves Hao Ruoxue, and encounters Third Aunt’s reanimated remains. By the end of this period, her accumulated class experience permits advancement to High-Level Celestial Master 139 143 144 147.

White Moon City Competition

Su Cheng enters this competition with her memories sealed and a fabricated White Moon City upbringing. Discovering her storage space and surviving an elderly ghost’s attempted possession restores her awareness of the apartment and her companions 150.

She rescues Yun Xi and Lu Heng from Shunshun Tunnel and investigates the Sun God Cult’s ritual murders. Her moral self-examination triggers Gene Lock Stage Three and her Immortal Celestial Master advancement, allowing her to release the resentful souls outside the city 169 172 173.

The final confrontation includes a dangerous attempt to bind Calamity. Su Cheng survives until departure and finishes first, earning 22,000 points in placement rewards in addition to the 5,000-point registration reward. She permits an apartment-wide announcement of her victory, choosing to make her strength publicly known 176 177.

Return to the Real World

After studying talisman inscription and auctioning completed talismans, Su Cheng purchases a departure pass. Tang Su removes her wristband, checks her belongings, and helps arrange an android body for the ghost stored in her bracelet 178.

Back in reality, Su Cheng reunites with her family and discovers spreading disasters and supernatural incidents. She prepares her relatives for the approaching apocalypse, hopes for Qu Lan’s return, and accepts an invitation to join the government through Lu Heng 178 179.

Notable Quotes

“You have to pay for the sins you’ve committed.” 30

“You say I’m Zhou Yang’s benefactor, but as his third aunt, aren’t you also mine...?” 65