Hill

Biodata

Background / History

Bas Mission

Hill fought alongside Lu Yu in the ruined oil town of Bas, where civilians—including children—had been turned into human bombs. Footage later shown to Song Zhi depicts the squad shooting these civilians; she remembers Hill firing the first shot at a child. According to her recollection, Hill and Lu Yu were the mission’s only survivors 14 17 28.

The mission remains a painful subject for Hill. When Song Zhi deliberately mentions Bas to provoke him into letting her leave his room, he reacts with barely suppressed anger and challenges her attempt to approach him as a guide without first establishing trust 28.

Guarding Song Zhi

During Song Zhi’s initial detention, Hill monitors her physiological data. He detects no fluctuations while she recounts her experiences surviving alone, and later records a five-point rise in Wilk’s guide index while she sleeps against him during transport 3.

Hill subsequently helps with Song Zhi’s recovery, explains her medical condition, and takes her to Andaman Bay. His care soon becomes confrontational: after lending her a game console, he accuses her of psychological avoidance and argues that suppressing bodily perceptions can endanger her survival 7 8.

Before Group A leaves for Algiers, Hill escorts Song Zhi onto her transport plane to Sri Lanka. He teaches her to use its safety equipment and gives her money pooled by the squad. He then kisses her, restraining her when she pulls away, before quietly telling her to stay alive 9.

Instructor at the Sri Lanka Base

Hill continues monitoring Song Zhi while deployed, analyzing a photograph closely enough to notice that she has not spent the squad’s money. He also watches her through a camera at the base 11 12.

After returning to Sri Lanka, he uses fluctuations in her ECG readings to question her about a blackout spent with Kelante. He pressures his way into her bedroom and demands to know what happened between them 16 17.

When Song Zhi becomes Group A’s guide, Lai'en assigns Hill to teach her information technology and take over combat instruction from the injured Wilk. Hill’s lessons emphasize exploiting weaknesses rather than matching an opponent’s strength. One intelligence exercise produces actionable information: Song Zhi identifies a target living disguised as a man, and Hill forwards her analysis to the squad, enabling Kelante to eliminate the target 19 20 21.

Song Zhi eventually pins Hill with a scissor-leg neck choke during sparring. He praises her improved thinking but reverses the hold afterward, explaining that restraint is not enough in a lethal encounter. He demonstrates his point by drawing a pistol and reminding her that an unarmed fighter can seize an opponent’s weapon 22 23.

Training Exercises

During an urban-combat exercise, Hill captures Song Zhi after she enters the opposing team’s position. He disarms, binds, and gags her, then participates with Lu Yu in a staged mock assault during her interrogation. Song Zhi turns the situation around by taking Kelante hostage and exposing the exercise’s deception 29 30 31.

In the following evasion exercise, Hill breaches Song Zhi and Wilk’s radio firewall, identifies Wilk’s traps, and searches with a thermal-imaging drone. Song Zhi disables the drone with an electromagnetic gun, but Hill follows the tracks she leaves behind and finds her hiding in a pit 31 33 34 35.

On discovering her injured hand, Hill treats the wound, gives her his jacket, and informs the squad. Lai'en suspends the exercise, and Hill helps secure the overnight camp 35.

Escape and Island Refuge

When Song Zhi rescues Group A during the crisis in Sri Lanka, Hill replaces the blanks in her pistol with live ammunition. Aboard their escape helicopter, her simple act of wiping sweat from his face leaves him visibly flustered; he hides his reddened cheeks behind his face covering 39.

After fuel shortages force the helicopter down on an unnamed island, Hill leads Song Zhi toward the squad’s lighthouse refuge. His topographic map later supports Lai'en and Song Zhi’s search for fresh water 40 43.

Hill and Wilk bring supplies to the pair after they locate water. Hill then confronts Song Zhi about initiating a kiss with Lai'en. When she insists that her preferences are her own business, he punches the nearby tree and leaves. Their argument develops into a tense silence that continues after they return to the lighthouse 48 49.

Appearance

Hill has a large, heavily muscled build, brown eyes, and deep-set features. His upper body bears extensive battlefield scars 8 17 23 28.

• Facial scar: A scar marks the corner of one eye 28.
• Hands: Broad, calloused palms 28.
• Usual gear: Tactical gloves, black tactical boots, goggles, and a face covering 17 20 39.

Personality

Hill is abrasive, sarcastic, and deliberately provocative. He frequently calls Song Zhi “kitten,” “little kitty,” or “little wildcat,” using taunts to expose her evasions or provoke resistance. As an instructor, he rejects fair-play assumptions: survival means exploiting an opening and ending a threat before the opponent can recover. His swagger gives way to a cold, methodical seriousness when handling intelligence work 18 20 21 22 23.

His attachment to Song Zhi is possessive and often coercive. He monitors her health data, intrudes on her privacy, physically prevents her from leaving, and becomes jealous of her interactions with other squad members. These behaviors coexist with practical care: he provides money, treats her injuries, brings supplies, and becomes unexpectedly shy when she tends to him 9 16 17 27 35 39 48. Although Song Zhi repeatedly thinks of him as a “madman,” the passages do not establish a clinical diagnosis 17 48.

Abilities & Skills

Intelligence Analysis and Monitoring

Hill interprets personal records, behavioral details, and physiological readings to assess subjects 3 11 16 21.

• Monitors Song Zhi’s health data and changes in guide-related measurements 3 9.
• Infers her frugality from her clothing, drink, hairstyle, and surroundings in a photograph 11.
• Trains her to reconstruct a target’s identity and habits from shopping lists, browsing history, call records, receipts, and travel routes 21.
• Uses camera surveillance to observe her remotely 12.

Electronic Warfare and Reconnaissance

Hill combines communications interception with remote surveillance equipment 31 33 34.

• Breaches Song Zhi and Wilk’s radio firewall, allowing him to listen to their channel and potentially locate them through its frequency 31.
• Operates a drone equipped with far-infrared thermal imaging and grenade-dropping capability 33 34.
• Recognizes a self-heating device used as a thermal decoy 34.
• Equipment limitation: Song Zhi’s electromagnetic gun severs the drone’s control link, disabling his airborne thermal search 34.

Close-Quarters Combat and Firearms

Hill is a powerful grappler whose training incorporates throws, joint restraints, strikes, disarming, and opportunistic weapon use 20 23 35.

• Easily restrains and throws Song Zhi during early training 20.
• Changes a pistol magazine and chambers a round one-handed while holding her down 23.
• Fights Lu Yu in an intense sparring match without either gaining a clear advantage 24.
• Documented setback: Song Zhi briefly pins him by combining surprise, a leg sweep, and a scissor-leg neck choke; he subsequently reverses their positions 22 23.

Fieldcraft and First Aid

Hill moves quietly, tracks opponents, and handles basic field treatment 33 35.

• Identifies and shares the locations of Wilk’s booby traps 33.
• Finds Song Zhi by following tracks left during her escape 35.
• Cleans, disinfects, and bandages her injured hand, then helps establish camp security 35.
• Has excellent low-light eyesight, sufficient to distinguish subtle facial expressions in a nearly dark room 22.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Computers and tactical tablet — Used for intelligence analysis, monitoring, communications interception, and reconnaissance 11 21 31 34.
• Thermal-imaging drone — Searches for heat sources and drops grenades; disabled by Song Zhi’s electromagnetic gun 33 34.
• Pistol — Carried behind his waist and repeatedly used in combat demonstrations 17 23 24.
• Submachine gun — Carried during the evasion exercise 33 34.
• Medical kit — Used to treat Song Zhi’s hand injury 35.
• Topographic map — Used to plan the island’s fresh-water search 43.
• Old game console — Contains single-player games; lent to Song Zhi during her recovery 8.

Relationships

• Song Zhi — Initially his surveillance subject, later his student and Group A’s guide. Their intimate involvement is marked by coercion, jealousy, resistance, and occasional tenderness; their latest documented argument leaves them avoiding conversation 3 19 28 39 49.
• Lai'en — His commanding officer, who assigns his teaching duties and directs his work during exercises. Hill also resents Song Zhi showing Lai'en romantic initiative 19 34 48.
• Lu Yu — Fellow survivor of Bas and an evenly matched sparring partner. They also cooperate as opposing-force members during Song Zhi’s training 17 24 30.
• Kelante — Teammate who acts on intelligence Hill forwards. Hill is openly jealous of Kelante’s closeness to Song Zhi and repeatedly warns her against trusting his gentlemanly manner 17 21 23.
• Wilk — Teammate and training opponent. Hill competes with him for Song Zhi’s attention, while Wilk challenges Hill’s behavior and initially fears he caused her exercise injury 18 31 35 48.
• Miller — Base contact with whom Hill exchanges insults during arrangements for Song Zhi’s arrival in Sri Lanka 9.

Notable Quotes

“Stay alive.” 9

“Beating me and becoming like me have nothing to do with each other. If you don't have strength, use your brain!” 22

“When it's life or death, who cares about fair and square?” 23