Lai'en

Biodata

Appearance

• Build: Tall, broad, and powerfully built, with a straight-backed posture and steady stride 26 43 44.
• Hair: Blond 42.
• Eyes: Usually described as deep blue or azure, often with a cold, assessing gaze. One passage describes them as green 6 42 43.
• Clothing: Commonly wears combat fatigues, tactical gloves, black tactical boots, and full combat equipment 15 18 31.
• Expression: Habitually stern; Song Zhi first sees him smile when he reveals the squad’s deceptive welcome ceremony 31.

Personality

Lai'en is controlled, intimidating, and strongly mission-oriented. He treats orders as directives rather than invitations to negotiate, and closely evaluates his teammates’ performance data. His scrutiny is particularly unsettling to Song Zhi, who initially regards him as the coldest and least approachable member of Group A 5 19 27.

He is willing to use coercion to secure the squad’s interests. He intimidates Karl into approving Song Zhi’s transfer, then uses her recorded drunken agreement and the threat of being branded a traitor to prevent her from refusing the assignment 15 19.

His harsh training nevertheless aims to make Song Zhi capable of surviving without the team. When she promises to die alongside them, he rejects blind loyalty and tells her he would rather she live independently. He also acknowledges her insistence that she is a comrade rather than a tool 20 27.

Song Zhi gradually disrupts his usual detachment. The squad’s concern for her forces him to reconsider an exercise built around strict assessment, while her return during the attack on Sri Lanka deeply shakes him. On the island, he becomes more openly considerate: matching her walking pace, accepting her offer to share watch, and acknowledging that she has become the team’s weakness 35 36 43 44 45.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Seji Rainforest Crossing

Lai'en takes charge of Song Zhi during the journey to Seji Outpost, gives her a kukri, and warns that she must keep up or face danger herself. When she becomes stranded in the swamp, he explains that Group A lacks permission to kill her and challenges her attempts to bargain through the threat of death. After she cannot bring herself to act, he pulls her free and carries her across the remaining terrain 5 6.

At Seji, he delivers her to the hospital and later collects her himself. He subsequently explains that Sri Lanka is only a temporary base and that her eventual assignment will depend on training and assessment results 6 7.

Securing Song Zhi’s Assignment

After Song Zhi reaches Sri Lanka, Lai'en orders a comprehensive medical examination, psychological counseling, and removal of her restraint collar. However, he later denies her application to leave for work on an Australian plantation 9 11.

Using Kelante’s recording of Song Zhi agreeing to remain with Group A, Lai'en pressures Karl to authorize her transfer. When Karl questions whether Kelante used prohibited hypnosis, Lai'en smashes a chair and continues intimidating him 15.

Lai'en presents Song Zhi with identification and a Swiss bank card, announces her appointment as Group A’s guide, and threatens to treat a refusal as desertion and treason. He assigns Hill to combat and information-technology instruction, Lu Yu to firearms instruction, and himself to tactical analysis 19.

Training and the Induction Exercise

Lai'en confronts Song Zhi over her dependence on the squad and the danger of complacency. His practical lessons include equipment inspection, movement under combat load, weapon switching, taking cover, and advancing in formation. He monitors her heart rate and exertion while demanding faster reactions 20 26.

He also organizes an elaborate live-ammunition welcome ceremony disguised as a hostile encounter. After Song Zhi identifies the deception, he lets her choose a partner; she selects Wilk, leaving Lai'en to command their pursuers 29 31 32 33.

When Song Zhi injures her hand, Lai'en suspends the exercise—an unprecedented exception for Group A. Recognizing that the others will no longer assess her impartially, he changes the next day’s objective from tactical performance to synchronized teamwork 35 36.

Attack on Sri Lanka

When real fighting interrupts the squad’s training, Lai'en orders Wilk to escort Song Zhi to the hospital and leads the others to reinforce the defenders. He and the other men have signed death-benefit documents intended to provide for her if they die 36 37.

During the east-coast defense, he orders a retreat through the jungle as ammunition runs low. Song Zhi returns in a vehicle to extract the wounded squad rather than evacuating to Australia. During their escape, Lai'en helps steady the steering wheel through blast waves and treats his bleeding arm with a hemostatic agent 38 39.

Island Refuge and Freshwater Search

At the abandoned lighthouse, Lai'en imposes radio silence and rotating watches. He builds a solar-powered seawater desalination device, but its low output barely covers drinking needs and produces poor-tasting water 41 43.

Working with Song Zhi, he uses vegetation patterns and Hill’s topographic map to search for an underground water source. Their expedition leads to a volcanic cave containing an underground river, which he scouts with a thermal-imaging drone before proceeding 43 44 46.

During the expedition, he gives Song Zhi an Italian military knife for self-defense. Her brief kiss of thanks leads to a forceful, prolonged kiss that overwhelms her and ends with her asking him to stop. Back at the lighthouse, he administers an injection, and their later encounter becomes sexual; afterward, he warns her not to go anywhere alone while the squad remains in hiding 47 49 50.

Abilities & Skills

Tactical Command and Instruction

Lai'en directs Group A’s operations and teaches Song Zhi battlefield survival skills 19 26 36.

• Assigns combat positions, watch rotations, pursuit routes, and assault times 32 33.
• Orders Lu Yu to withdraw rather than accept Song Zhi’s apparent bait during the induction exercise 33.
• Uses tactical data to assess training results and revise objectives 26 36.
• Coordinates retreat and protection of the squad’s guide during an actual attack 36 38.

Combat and Fieldcraft

His movement reflects years of battlefield experience, including precise, silent foot placement while approaching a suspected threat 33.

• Carries Song Zhi through swamp terrain while overtaking the other squad members 6.
• Pursues Wilk through dark alleys using night-vision equipment 34.
• Builds simple warning traps and establishes a sheltered rainforest campsite 44.
• Rests with his hand positioned near his kukri so he can respond immediately to an attack 45.

Reconnaissance and Survival Engineering

Lai'en combines field observation with electronic reconnaissance 43 46.

• Builds a solar-distillation desalination device from equipment found at the island refuge; output remains insufficient for comfortable long-term use 43.
• Marks likely water sources on a topographic map and shares search coordinates with Hill 43.
• Operates a small drone with far-infrared thermal detection to inspect the volcanic cave for living threats 46.

Medical Care

• Applies a hemostatic agent to his own wounded arm during the squad’s escape 39.
• Administers Song Zhi’s injection, disinfects the site, and properly disposes of the syringe 50.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Nepalese kukri — A longstanding personal weapon he calls an old companion. Used to clear vegetation, maintained regularly, and kept within immediate reach while resting 27 43 45 47.
• Handgun — Keeps a finely crafted pistol in his room and personally cleans and maintains it 18 19.
• Submachine gun — Carried during field operations; temporarily entrusted to Song Zhi when she takes over the night watch 45.
• Tactical tablet — Used for personnel assessments, exercise analysis, maps, terrain scans, and communication 26 36 43 46.
• Night-vision goggles — Helmet-mounted six-eye equipment used during his pursuit of Wilk 34.
• Reconnaissance drone — Equipped with far-infrared thermal detection 46.
• Medical bag — Brought to Song Zhi’s room to administer her injection 49 50.
• Italian multipurpose military knife — Issued to Song Zhi for self-defense. Lai'en describes it as an Imperial Guard knife forged from titanium-alloy steel and emphasizes that she must learn to use it and carry it consistently 47.

Relationships

• Song Zhi — Initially a guarded target, later Group A’s guide, his tactical student, and an intimate partner. Her decision to return for the squad becomes central to his growing trust in her 6 19 43 45 50.
• Wilk — Subordinate whom Lai'en considers exceptionally fit, meticulous, and trustworthy in combat. Wilk openly challenges his treatment of Song Zhi after she is injured 31 35.
• Hill — Subordinate assigned to Song Zhi’s combat and information-technology training. Provides surveillance, physiological data, and island mapping used in Lai'en’s decisions 19 26 32 43.
• Lu Yu — Squad sniper and Song Zhi’s firearms instructor; Lai'en directs his positioning and covering actions 19 33 38.
• Kelante — Squad member whose recording of Song Zhi supplies Lai'en with leverage to secure her transfer 15.
• Karl — K official whom Lai'en intimidates into signing Song Zhi’s transfer order despite objections about procedure and Kelante’s methods 15.
• Miller — Base contact who reports Song Zhi’s arrival and receives Lai'en’s instructions for her medical and psychological care 9.

Notable Quotes

“A gun missing a part is just scrap metal.” 26

“Loyalty is a good thing, but blind loyalty will only turn you into cannon fodder. When that day comes, I'd rather you survive—survive on your own.” 27

“Still, you are our weakness... but we are no saints! They won't get another chance like that!” 44