Jiang Nian

Biodata

Power Progression

Previous-life developments are listed before those of his reborn life. No named rank is established for his current-life Purification ability in the provided chapters.

Background / History

Family and life before the apocalypse

Jiang Nian’s parents divorced when he was very young, and he grew up with his mother. Under their divorce agreement, his father, Chen Shanmin, paid no child support, although he occasionally brought them things. Father and son remained distant. Chen Shanmin later established a new family with twins Chen Yue and Chen Lin, who were two years younger than Jiang Nian 2.

His mother’s two-year struggle with stomach cancer exhausted their finances and left them deeply in debt. Despite knowing that treatment could not change the outcome, Jiang Nian wanted to keep her alive as long as possible. She died shortly before his final year of university 2.

He met Cheng Jing at an interschool athletics league in high school and pursued him after hearing that he was aloof and difficult to win over. They became a couple as Jiang Nian prepared to enter university in Qingyun City, where Cheng Jing rented an apartment between their schools. Jiang Nian later unilaterally ended their relationship, a decision he came to regard as his greatest mistake across both lives 3 19.

Previous life: imprisonment and death

After his mother’s death, Jiang Nian moved into his father’s household. When the apocalypse began, he awakened Purification, but his family used him to treat Chen Yue and alleviate the zombie virus. He spent nearly two years imprisoned in a basement at Base Z, surviving on nutrient solution 1 2 20.

His ability crystal core was eventually removed and given to Chen Yue. Two days later, Chen Lin ordered the doctor to stop treating him and administered nutrient solution containing an anesthetic. As the family evacuated, she left him chained to his bed for the approaching zombies 1.

Cheng Jing arrived after the zombies had already mauled him and bitten through his throat. Unable to answer Cheng Jing’s desperate calls, Jiang Nian died regretting that he had never sought him out after his mother’s death 1.

Rebirth and preparations

Jiang Nian woke in Tianhe City on August 13, 2036, ten days after his mother’s funeral and roughly half a month before the poisonous rain. He resolved never to return to his father’s household and hoped eventually to take revenge. After a bitter argument with Chen Shanmin, he repaid the 20,000 yuan borrowed for his mother’s treatment and blocked him, removing any remaining financial obligation 1 2 3 4.

He reached Qingyun City on August 14 to find Cheng Jing. Their reunion was initially strained, especially after Yang Kai introduced himself as Cheng Jing’s boyfriend. Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing nevertheless reconciled, and Cheng Jing subsequently rejected Yang Kai’s romantic interest 4 7 9 10.

Using Cheng Jing’s financial support, Jiang Nian fortified a rental apartment and stockpiled food, medicine, equipment, maps, reference books, and seeds. He initially explained his knowledge through supposed prophetic nightmares. When the nationwide rain forecast matched his warning, Cheng Jing accepted the danger and expanded preparations to his trusted team 11 14 15.

Awakening and Qingyun City survival

During Cheng Jing’s early awakening, Jiang Nian recognized the symptoms and advised him on controlling his powers. The discovery that their matching rings had gained storage spaces then allowed them to gather far more supplies before the apocalypse 16 17 18.

Jiang Nian reawakened Purification on August 31. After Cheng Jing questioned how accurately he knew future events, Jiang Nian confessed that he had already lived through the apocalypse and died. They promised to survive together, and Cheng Jing used his knowledge to guide supply runs and rescue preparations 20 21.

Initially confined to practicing at home, Jiang Nian later challenged Cheng Jing’s overprotectiveness. He insisted that he needed field experience and strength rather than permanent dependence. Their argument ended with Cheng Jing agreeing to let him prepare for outside operations 30 32.

Jiahe Court investigation

Jiang Nian’s sensitivity to ability traces helped the squad investigate missing patrol members. Comparing disappearance reports, he identified a suspicious pattern and proposed that teleportation or an unseen accomplice could explain the crimes 31 35.

The investigation led to Xiao Ya’s apartment, where her mother had been feeding victims to her zombified husband. When the mother’s mental ability overwhelmed Cheng Jing and Huang Qian, Jiang Nian kept himself clearheaded with Purification and restored both companions through touch 36 37 38.

He considered killing Xiao Ya for her involvement but could not bring himself to do it. After learning more about her coercion and dependence on her mother, he accepted the squad’s decision to shelter her temporarily. Huang Qian helped him recognize that killing the child himself would have left lasting regret 39 40 41.

Journey toward South City Base

Jiang Nian selected South City Base for its safety and orderly military management, and the squad accepted his choice. He also disclosed Purification to his teammates, while withholding its effect on the zombie virus 44.

The convoy left Qingyun City on March 10. Jiang Nian planned to obtain land at the base and purify it gradually for cultivation, using the seeds he had stored before the apocalypse. His route and itinerary decisions subsequently helped the group avoid several dangerous nighttime earthquakes 46 48.

After the squad rescued Li Kaiyun and his children, Jiang Nian allowed them to travel together and supplied food and medicine. During a later rescue beneath a collapsed bridge, he purified an injured woman’s wound but refused her demand that he become responsible for her and act as her boyfriend 47 49.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and long-legged, with a 183 cm frame; he also describes himself as having abdominal muscles 3 32.
• Face: Gentle features, naturally smiling peach-blossom eyes, and a scholarly air. Even when angry, he has difficulty looking fierce 3.
• General impression: Approachable to children and older people, with enough appeal to attract romantic attention from both men and women 3.
• Previous-life condition: By his death, prolonged confinement had left him skeletal and deathly pale, with chained limbs and a bloodstained hospital gown 1.
• After rebirth: His secure, well-stocked living conditions allowed him to gain weight rather than become visibly worn down by the apocalypse 28.

Personality

Jiang Nian’s gentle appearance contrasts with a bold, rebellious temperament. He can be quiet and well-behaved or energetic and decisive, and he enjoys teasing Cheng Jing. His shameless flirting is largely reserved for his partner; sexual jokes from others can still embarrass him 13 15.

His previous life makes him wary of family obligations, exploitation, and indiscriminate self-sacrifice. He repays his father to secure a clean break and rejects attempts to turn his help into an unlimited obligation. Nevertheless, he remains capable of practical generosity, as shown by his treatment of the Li family 4 47 49.

He welcomes Cheng Jing’s care but refuses to become helpless. Having experienced captivity and the inability even to choose his own death, he considers growing stronger essential to protecting both himself and his partner 20 32.

His ruthlessness has limits. Although he believed Xiao Ya should answer for the deaths she helped cause, he hesitated to kill her and later acknowledged that doing so would probably have haunted him. By that point, he had never killed another person, even in his previous life 39 40 41.

Abilities & Skills

Purification

A healing and support ability manifested as blue-white light or outward-spreading ripples of energy 20 38 44.

• Zombie-virus treatment: Effective against the zombie virus; in his previous life, he used it to alleviate Chen Yue’s condition. The text does not establish an unrestricted cure 20.
• Mental protection: Keeps him clearheaded under mental interference and can free others from mental control or illusions 38 44.
• Rebound: Breaking Zhou Rongbin’s illusion caused the caster brief mental discomfort 44.
• Wound treatment: Used to purify an injured woman’s leg wound before dressing it 49.
• Equipment treatment: Used on Cheng Jing’s outdoor gear as an additional cleansing measure and a form of practice 23.
• Environmental plans: Jiang Nian intends to purify contaminated soil for farming; successful reclamation has not yet been shown 46.
• Limits and growth: Less powerful as a healing ability than dedicated healing powers. Its development depends on physique and mental strength 20.

Energy Perception

Purification gives Jiang Nian unusually fine sensitivity to ability fluctuations 20 31.

• Distinguishes individual users’ energy traces, including differences between people with the same attribute 31.
• Determines how many ability users have left lingering fluctuations where others can only sense that an ability was used 31.
• Supports investigations without requiring him to reveal his own ability publicly 31.

Previous-Life Knowledge and Planning

His memories provide practical information about disasters, abilities, resources, and survival conditions 2 16 47.

• Predicts the poisonous rain, zombie emergence, and the approach of hail and extreme cold 14 27.
• Recognizes ability-awakening symptoms and advises Cheng Jing on maintaining control 16.
• Identifies where different zombie types carry crystal cores 47.
• Selects destinations, travel schedules, and routes that earn the squad’s confidence 44 48.

Fighting and Physical Conditioning

• Was an experienced schoolyard fighter before the apocalypse, known for settling confrontations with his fists 30.
• Gains improved health and an ability user’s stronger constitution after awakening 20 32.
• Uses dumbbells and a treadmill and seeks field experience rather than relying solely on Cheng Jing’s protection 19 29 32.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mutated storage ring: One of a matching pair of wedding rings exchanged with Cheng Jing. Originally white platinum, the rings became grayish dark gold during Cheng Jing’s awakening and gained storage spaces. They are mutated items, not Jiang Nian’s innate ability 17 18.
• Fortified safe house: A rented three-bedroom apartment with reinforced windows, a steel-framed entrance, and an additional heavy stainless-steel outer door 7 22.
• Self-defense supplies: Knives, baseball bats, steel pipes, and high-voltage stun batons stored between the apartment’s doors 22.
• Survival stockpile: Food, medicine, warm clothing, seeds, maps, encyclopedias, storage batteries, and two electric scooters 11 14 18.
• Exercise and entertainment equipment: Dumbbells, a small treadmill, and offline game consoles 19.

Relationships

• Cheng Jing — First love, former boyfriend, and later fiancé. Jiang Nian actively seeks him out after rebirth; their renewed relationship develops toward mutual protection rather than one-sided sheltering 3 9 21 32 33.
• Jiang Nian’s mother — Raised him after the divorce. He devoted himself to her cancer treatment and refuses to let his father use the resulting debt against her memory 2 4.
• Chen Shanmin — Estranged father. Jiang Nian severs contact after repaying his loan and rejects the family ties that trapped him in his previous life 2 4 41.
• Chen Lin — Stepsister and previous-life tormentor. Abandoned him to zombies after his crystal core was removed 1.
• Chen Yue — Younger paternal sibling and recipient of Jiang Nian’s extracted Purification core. Jiang Nian had previously been forced to alleviate his zombie-virus condition 1 2 20.
• Huang Qian — Trusted teammate whom he calls “Sister Qian.” Respects his secrets, helps care for Xiao Ya, and guides him through his guilt and violent impulses after the investigation 12 39 41 44.
• Xiao Ya — Temporarily sheltered child who trusts him because of his kindness and a piece of candy. Jiang Nian struggles with her culpability but ultimately helps protect her while insisting that she face her mistakes 39 40 41.
• Li Kaiyun — Fellow survivor and traveling companion. Jiang Nian admires his devotion to his children, which sharply contrasts with his own father’s rejection; he also recognizes the value of the family’s connection at South City Base 47.

Notable Quotes

“Brother Jing, I've died once. I know that in the apocalypse, the weak don't even have the right to choose death!” 32

“Life and death mean nothing, fight anyone who objects.” 41

“Whoever says it's no big deal can take my place! What gives you the right to be generous at someone else's expense?” 49