Song Zhi

Biodata

Background / History

Transmigration and solitary survival

Before transmigrating, Song Zhi was deceived by a classmate and taken to an underground hospital for forced kidney removal. She subsequently awoke beneath rubble in a parallel world, occupying the place of that world’s Song Zhi. Her arrival coincided with the nuclear devastation of Blue Star; three years later, in 2033, she was still surviving alone 1 2.

She received no system or supernatural advantage. Instead, she relied on concealment, flight, and practical knowledge. Her shelter included a small vegetable greenhouse, and she investigated green shoots in a former medicinal-herb experimental field, hoping viable soil would give her something valuable to trade for protection and freedom 1 2 6.

Capture and forced recruitment

Group A captured Song Zhi in Zone C. She rejected recruitment, cut her restraints, and attacked Lu Yu, but Kelante subdued her with a shock collar. An American soldier classified her danger level as S-rank after observing her readings 2.

Organization K forcibly enlisted her, and Group A’s members took turns supervising her. She was soon armed and made to accompany Wilk in a rainforest firefight, during which she killed several enemy fighters 3 4.

The subsequent rainforest crossing exposed her poor physical condition. Unable to continue through the swamp, she accepted Lai’en’s intervention; he carried her to Seji Outpost. There she received priority medical treatment, replacement clothing, military boots, and a monthly contraceptive injection 5 6.

Her early intimacy with Group A developed under conditions of dependence and restricted choice. Song Zhi understood the encounter at Seji as a survival bargain and later explicitly disputed that it had reflected her own will 7 8 20.

Life at the Sri Lanka base

When Group A departed for Algiers, Song Zhi traveled separately to Sri Lanka. The squad supplied her with money, and Lai’en ordered a medical examination, psychological counseling, and removal of her restraint collar 9.

She initially believed she could build an independent life. Her plans included moving to an Australian farm, but she discovered that her apartment and privileges belonged to Group A’s arrangements. Kelante told her their connection had only begun, and she recognized that leaving would not be permitted 10 11 12 13.

Her formal incorporation into the squad followed when Lai’en presented identification and used Kelante’s recording of her drunken answers as evidence that she had agreed to remain with Group A. Song Zhi protested that she had applied for farm work, not squad membership, before reluctantly accepting the new identity 15 19.

Training and induction

Song Zhi’s education combined guide studies with combat, firearms, tactics, intelligence analysis, and military equipment. Lai’en repeatedly challenged her dependence on the squad, while Hill pushed her to compensate for inferior strength through timing and judgment 11 20 22 26.

A simulated urban exercise became Group A’s live-ammunition welcome ceremony. Song Zhi recognized Lai’en’s deception and selected Wilk as her partner. Together they evaded the other four members, used decoys, and targeted Hill’s search equipment to reduce their pursuers’ advantage 29 31 33 34.

Refusal to evacuate

A missile attack interrupted the exercise. Song Zhi warned the others before the harbor strike, after which Lai’en sent her to the hospital with Wilk while the rest of the squad supported the base 36.

Miller attempted to evacuate her to Australia with Group A’s signed death-benefit documents. These would transfer the squad’s assets to her and prevent Organization K from assigning her another position if they died. Song Zhi refused to leave, threatened Miller with a pistol, took his vehicle, and drove to the east coast to collect the squad before the area’s destruction 37 38.

She believed the higher-ups had used her to pressure Group A, but the narration identifies this as her own inference. Lai’en later also recognized that the pistol she had used against Miller was loaded with blanks 37 45.

Island refuge

The squad escaped Sri Lanka by helicopter and landed on an unnamed island after running low on fuel. Song Zhi helped tend Wilk’s injured shoulder and later joined Lai’en in searching for fresh water 40 43.

She explained that she had returned because their care and her freedom could not come at the cost of their lives. On the island, she increasingly contributed to shared survival: interpreting vegetation and soil moisture, covering Lai’en at a cave entrance, and insisting on taking a turn at night watch 43 44 45 46.

Appearance

• Hair: Initially short and uneven, having been cut with a dagger; later restyled simply at the Sri Lanka base 1 11.
• Face: Described as delicate, with bright black eyes, a small mouth, and a straight nose 6.
• Build: Considerably smaller and slighter than Group A’s soldiers; Hill remarks on her slender wrists, and her tactical helmet appears oversized 22 46.
• Clothing: First encountered in a poorly fitting long-sleeved top, worn-out trousers, and canvas shoes. At Seji, these are replaced with army-green training fatigues and waterproof military boots 1 5 6.

Personality

Song Zhi is wary, independent, and intensely concerned with retaining control over her life. Her refusal to join groups comes from observing how women are treated as tradable resources in the apocalypse. Even after reaching Sri Lanka, she treats the squad’s money as a loan and spends sparingly because she intends to repay it 2 11.

Her caution coexists with compassion. She tries to intervene when she hears a woman being abused, objects to Hill’s cynical treatment of morality, and maintains that the world still needs kindness. Her eventual loyalty to Group A is expressed through action rather than obedience: she rejects a safe evacuation to retrieve them 5 22 37 38.

She responds to fear and humiliation with sarcasm, profanity, gaming references, and internal jokes. Her flirtatious bravado initially conceals inexperience rather than confidence; she is easily flustered by the soldiers despite openly admiring their physiques 4 7 24 42.

Song Zhi is stubborn about both survival and learning. Although she repeatedly acknowledges her physical limitations, she persists after failure and resists being reduced to a dependent or a tool. Her relationship with Group A remains conflicted: their protection offers security, but their surveillance, coercion, and restrictions repeatedly threaten the autonomy she values 13 20 25 27.

Abilities & Skills

Medicinal Plants and Agriculture

Her university research concerned traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivation—the expertise that first attracts the organization’s interest 2 6.

• Maintains a small vegetable greenhouse while surviving alone 2.
• Collects soil from a former experimental field after noticing new growth 2.
• Uses dense vegetation, dew, terrain, and damp topsoil to help locate a water-bearing area on the island 43 44 46.
• Wants to farm, but the supplied chapters do not establish successful post-nuclear crop production 2 44.

Firearms

Song Zhi demonstrates strong initial pistol accuracy, though her performance does not immediately transfer to heavier weapons 24 25.

Hand-to-Hand Combat

Hill teaches her to exploit openings rather than attempt to match his strength 20 22.

• Combines a rear leg sweep with a running scissor-leg neck choke to bring Hill down during sparring 22.
• Later handles his training attacks more comfortably and attempts—but never succeeds—to take his pistol 24.
• Learns lower-body attacks from Lu Yu 24.
• Remains limited by a substantial strength, weight, and endurance disadvantage; her sparring success does not establish superiority over Hill 22 23.

Tactics and Field Survival

Her training gradually turns unfamiliar battlefield movements into practiced responses 26 27.

• Learns weapon transitions, prone movement, crawling, rolling, cover use, and formation advances 26 27.
• Recognizes a suspiciously unobstructed route during the induction exercise and helps counter the squad’s surveillance 33 34.
• Fires an electromagnetic gun at Hill’s drone as part of a plan to disable thermal-imaging searches 34.
• Learns to float under Lu Yu’s instruction; this is a basic survival measure, not demonstrated proficiency as a swimmer 8.
• Completes a two-hour night watch beside Lai’en 45.
• Continues to struggle with prolonged exertion and heavily loaded combat equipment 26 33.

Guide and Medical Studies

Her guide specialization includes psychology and understanding soldiers’ trauma, with Kelante serving as her one-on-one instructor 13.

• Can recite textbook PTSD symptoms, though Kelante stresses understanding individual experiences rather than memorizing definitions 13.
• Studies emergency medical care and compiles information on Group A’s commonly used medicines 16 27.
• Helps care for injured squad members and tends Wilk’s shoulder during the escape 13 17 40.
• Is not an established medical practitioner: during the base attack, she cannot provide practical treatment to a wounded stranger and directs them toward medical staff 37.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Italian multipurpose military knife — Issued by Lai’en for self-defense. Described as an Imperial Guard knife forged from titanium alloy steel; lightweight and strapped to her right thigh. He instructs her to learn its use and keep it with her 47.
• M1911 pistol — Used in shooting practice and carried in a thigh holster during tactical training 24 26.
• Electromagnetic gun — Used against Hill’s drone during the induction exercise 34.
• Tactical equipment — Training loadout includes night vision, radio, magazines, flashbangs, smoke grenades, emergency medication, a micro submachine gun, and an assault rifle 26.
• Group A identification — Received when Lai’en formalizes her squad membership 19.
• Restraint collar — Used to prevent escape after capture; Lai’en orders its removal once she reaches Sri Lanka 2 9.
• Lai’en’s kukri — Temporarily entrusted to her during the initial rainforest crossing; later returned to him 5 6.

Relationships

• Lai’en — Group A’s commander, tactical instructor, and intimate partner. His early treatment emphasizes authority and survival over her freedom of choice. Her return during the Sri Lanka attack changes his understanding of her loyalty and resilience; he later entrusts her with watch duty and gives her a knife for self-defense 6 7 20 26 45 47 50.
• Lu Yu — Fellow Mandarin speaker, initial interrogator, firearms instructor, and intimate companion. He advocates keeping her after capture, teaches her basic floating and shooting, and combines practical care with teasing 2 8 24 25 42.
• Kelante — Guide instructor, caregiver, and intimate partner. His attentiveness reduces her estrangement from the squad, but he also records her drunken answers, which Lai’en later uses to justify her membership 13 15 16 19.
• Hill — Combat and intelligence instructor, monitor, and intimate partner. Their relationship is marked by intimidation, jealousy, and resistance. Song Zhi does not hate him, but dislikes his sarcasm and unpredictability 17 22 28 48 49.
• Wilk — Her chosen induction partner and the squad member she explicitly identifies as the person she trusts most. He supports keeping her after capture, protects her during field exercises, and receives her care when injured 17 25 31.
• Miller — Her reception officer and liaison at Sri Lanka. He arranges her settlement and examinations, then attempts to evacuate her during the attack; she takes his vehicle to return for Group A 9 10 37 38.

Notable Quotes

“I don't have a plan. I just want to see the ‘relatively civilized’ base Lu Yu talked about. I've already survived so long since the nuclear explosion... The longer I live, the less willing I am to die easily.” 6

“Compassion comes before reason. Laws are only society's most basic safeguard of morality. I think this world still needs a little kindness and warmth...” 22

“I won't betray my comrades, and I'm not a tool...” 27

“I can enjoy freedom, special treatment, and all the care you've given me. But none of that can come at the cost of your lives... I just want all of us to survive...” 43