Cheng Jing

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Early Life and Military Service

Cheng Jing is two years older than Jiang Nian. They first met at an interschool athletics league in high school, where his reputation for being aloof and difficult to pursue attracted Jiang Nian’s interest. They became a couple as Jiang Nian prepared to enter university in Qingyun City. Cheng Jing, then about to begin his junior year, rented an apartment between their universities 3.

During the second semester of his junior year, Cheng Jing took leave from university to join the army. Jiang Nian concealed his mother’s stomach cancer and ended their relationship during Cheng Jing’s first call after enlistment. Cheng Jing refused the breakup, but Jiang Nian changed his number and cut off contact 3.

After leaving the army, Cheng Jing continued his studies and established a profitable security company with former comrades who had resources and connections. His work included special security clients and cooperation with the authorities 3 6 13.

Original Timeline

Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian remained separated until Jiang Nian’s final moments during the apocalypse. After Chen Lin abandoned Jiang Nian in a basement at Base Z, Cheng Jing arrived as zombies attacked and tried to save him. Jiang Nian remembered him holding him and hoarsely calling his name before he died 1 3.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and well-trained, with a muscular physique shaped by military-style training 5.
• Features: Deep-set features, sharp facial contours, and balanced proportions 5.
• Hair: Short, worn combed back when he reunites with Jiang Nian 5.
• Clothing: Commonly wears suits and shirts because of his profession. At their reunion, he wears a black shirt and matching trousers without a tie 5 17.
• Bearing: Combines a mature, steady manner with a slightly roguish soldier’s air. His gaze becomes sharper after awakening his abilities 5 17.

Personality

Cheng Jing appears reserved and difficult to approach, but becomes affectionate, attentive, and clingy with Jiang Nian. During their first relationship, he imposed rules against smoking, drinking, late nights, and visits to bars or clubs, while also indulging Jiang Nian’s wishes and looking after his daily needs 3.

His loyalty is unusually persistent. He retains their birthday-based bank-card password, rents their former apartment again, and rejects Yang Kai’s confession after reconciling with Jiang Nian. He makes clear that his attachment is to Jiang Nian specifically rather than to men in general 9 10.

His protectiveness can become controlling. Fear of losing Jiang Nian leads him to resist letting him join supply runs and investigations. When Jiang Nian threatens another breakup, Cheng Jing grabs his shoulder hard enough to bruise it; he immediately apologizes and later promises not to lose control again. Their reconciliation requires him to accept Jiang Nian’s wish to grow stronger and face danger alongside him 30 32 33.

Despite his ruthless language, Cheng Jing recognizes limits on violence. Murders and relief-supply fraud anger him, but he understands that rescue personnel cannot punish civilians arbitrarily without worsening the collapse of order. He also accepts temporary responsibility for Xiao Ya rather than treating her involvement in her mother’s crimes as grounds for immediate execution 26 39 40.

Abilities & Skills

Lightning and Fire

Cheng Jing possesses a rare, mutated dual-attribute offensive ability. He can manifest either attribute separately or combine them into lightning-fire attacks 16 17.

• Offense: Incinerates zombies, including groups encountered during rescue operations 27 49.
• Precision and defense: Melts a door lock and incoming metal blades, and forms a protective net during the confrontation in Xiao Ya’s apartment 37.
• Utility: Supplies electricity and fire to the settlement during extreme cold; charges batteries used by his teammates 28.
• Energy cost: Generating electricity consumes physical and mental energy. He avoids exhausting himself while providing public services 19 28.
• Vulnerability: His offensive strength does not prevent mental suppression. Xiao Ya’s mother leaves him conscious of the danger but unable to resist her commands 37.

Enhanced Senses and Strength

His awakening sharpens his senses and increases his physical strength 17 32.

• Can sense ability use, although Jiang Nian can distinguish lingering ability fluctuations more precisely 31.
• Must regulate his strength around others; his grip unintentionally bruises Jiang Nian through thick clothing 32 33.

Combat and Team Leadership

His military and security background provides the foundation for leading rescue missions and coordinating ability users 3 21.

• Trains his team to fight zombies and keeps its members together rather than allowing them to be redistributed among unfamiliar teams 21 27.
• Conceals some teammates’ abilities to preserve an undisclosed reserve of strength 27.
• Uses small, coordinated teams when an enemy’s abilities are unknown, with other members positioned to provide support 37.
• Negotiates Team 017’s right to leave the official rescue guild at any time 41.

Survival Logistics

His security work gives him experience quietly stockpiling supplies and obtaining specialized equipment 13 18.

• Reinforces apartments into safe houses and helps seal basement access points against zombies 24.
• Arranges rapid vehicle modifications and obtains fuel through special channels 18.
• Uses Jiang Nian’s foreknowledge to plan safer supply routes and prepare for extreme weather 21 27.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mutated wedding ring: One of a matching pair commissioned before his business trip. Exposure to his awakening changes the platinum rings to grayish dark gold and gives them spatial storage functions. Objects can be stored and retrieved by thought 17 18.
• Stored emergency supplies: Uses his ring to carry gasoline, repair tools, medicines, and medical equipment from the company’s depot and infirmary 18.
• Modified Hummer: Extensively modified for apocalyptic travel, alongside another off-road vehicle driven by Huang Qian 18.
• Firearms and combat gear: Receives a firearm through official rescue operations; uses outdoor combat clothing, a hood, guns, and tools on missions 21 23.
• Protective suit: Wears one when reporting to the authorities during the poisonous rain 20.
• Crystal cores from Xiao Ya’s parents: Keeps both cores for safekeeping, including the mother’s rare mutated core 39.

Relationships

• Jiang Nian — First love and reconciled partner. Cheng Jing supports his preparations, protects the secret of his purification ability, and believes his confession of rebirth. Their relationship develops toward facing danger together rather than leaving Jiang Nian permanently sheltered 10 12 20 21 32.
• Huang Qian — Assistant, trusted teammate, and close friend who freely teases him about his love life. She witnesses his awakening and helps keep their preparations secret 6 12 16.
• Zhao Lei — Deputy captain and metal-ability user; serves under Cheng Jing in rescue and combat operations 27 49.
• Zhou Li — Western-zone leader and respected collaborator. Relies on Cheng Jing’s advice, supports keeping his team intact, and invites it into the official rescue guild 27 30 41.
• Yang Kai — Mission partner who poses as his boyfriend and develops genuine romantic feelings. Cheng Jing rejects him and explicitly identifies Jiang Nian as his partner 6 7 10.
• Xiao Ya — Minor accomplice in the Jiahe Court killings. Cheng Jing accepts temporary supervision of her pending placement and trial 39.
• Li Kaiyun — Fellow survivor with a military background. Travels with Cheng Jing’s group after being rescued and chooses to remain with them rather than join a rescue convoy 46 48 50.
• Parents and younger brother — His family knows about his relationship with Jiang Nian. His younger brother attends military academy; Cheng Jing warns the family about the rain and informs them of the reconciliation 5 18 19.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Reunion and Apocalypse Preparations

• Agrees to meet Jiang Nian in Qingyun City after learning of his mother’s death, though he initially maintains an emotionally guarded distance 3 4 5.
• Reconsiders the breakup after learning about the concealed illness and financial hardship. Gives Jiang Nian a personal bank card containing a little over 900,000 8 9.
• Believes Jiang Nian’s warning about the coming disaster, helps provision the safe house, and awakens his dual abilities before the poisonous rain 12 14 16 17.
• Cares for Jiang Nian through his awakening fever and later learns that the supposed prophetic dreams are memories of a previous life 19 20 21.

Qingyun City Rescue Operations

• Joins official rescue work after securing his team’s own supplies. Submits Jiang Nian’s zoning proposal and helps fortify their residential complex 21 24.
• Becomes increasingly influential as his team’s abilities develop and his own power reaches the intermediate stage 27.
• Provides electricity and fire during extreme cold, later donating most supplies collected by his team and offering his ability services voluntarily 28 30.

Jiahe Court Investigation

• Investigates missing patrol members and a suspected hidden ability user with Jiang Nian 31 35 36.
• Leads the visit to Xiao Ya’s apartment, where they discover that her mother has been murdering people to feed her zombified husband 37.
• Accepts temporary supervision of Xiao Ya and custody of her parents’ crystal cores after the case 39.

Team 017 and Departure

• Joins the Qingyun City Apocalypse Ability User Rescue Guild as Team 017. His eight-person squad is its only team composed of personnel from outside the authorities 41.
• Leaves Qingyun City on March 10 with the group in two snowplows and two other vehicles, heading for South City Base 46.
• Helps rescue wounded ability users on the road and survivors trapped by an earthquake near a collapsed bridge 46 48 49.
• Reaches South City Base safely with the group in early April 50.

Notable Quotes

“No need. I'd recognize you even if you turned to ash.” 4

“Yang Kai, we're working partners. If a person only gets one chance in their life to truly fall for someone, then I've already used mine. To be honest, I don't like men. No one but him will do.” 10

“It won't happen. No matter what happens, we'll be together. There won't be any question of not making it in time. I promise!” 12

Trivia

• After Jiang Nian broke up with him, he changed his social-media status to “widowed,” becoming a target of his friends’ teasing. After their reconciliation, his status changes to “married” 6 23.
• He tried to buy the apartment they had shared as students, but the landlord refused to sell, so he rented it instead 10.
• His matching wedding rings were intended as a romantic gift before their unexpected transformation into storage items 17.