Chen Qianyu

CODENAME: Chen Qianyu

GENDER: Female

AUTHENTICATION: Endfield Industries

DOB: August 18

RACE: Lung

[ORIPATHY INFECTION STATUS]

Oripathy negative, based on medical examination reports.

[INTEGRATED PHYSICAL EXAMINATION]

PHYSIOLOGICAL STRENGTH: Excellent

COMBAT SKILL: Excellent

TACTICAL ACUMEN: Standard

ORIGINIUM ARTS ASSIMILATION: Standard

Operator Chen Qianyu was a native of Hongshan City and once served at the Wuling Scientific Developmental District. Supervisor Perlica later recruited her, via a private channel, to Endfield Industries. She is now a core member of the Crisis Team. Given her outstanding capabilities and mobility, Operator Chen Qianyu is an indispensable component of the Team.

Those seeking to join Endfield have demonstrated a wide range of literary skills when describing their motives. However, the HR Division has yet to establish basic standards for reviewing the [Personal Motivations] section. If this section were completed in a manner that is too curt and/or straightforward, I will ask the operator to re-write their motivations in a style that they are comfortable with. However, despite being given five standard days to revise this section, Operator Chen Qianyu still persisted in writing: "I just wanna join. It's fate." Reading this, I realized the need to reflect upon our current review standards and establish a new framework, while paying extra attention to the two blades that Operator Chen Qianyu placed on my table (though she claimed that she did not do so to threaten me).

Operator Chen Qianyu's inner thoughts and feelings are not as casual as she makes them out to be. Taking into consideration of her relatively rich past experiences, it is obvious that the extremely brief and terse description of her personal motives was a conclusion she arrived at after an extended period of self-contemplation.

Additionally, I also realized that Operator Chen Qianyu's recruitment has been specifically approved by Supervisor Perlica. From my readings, the recent years have been a period where our Supervisor exhibited emotional fluctuations. The operator managed to solve many potential issues by offering much needed stability and support.

Most importantly, I may have neglected how the simple line: "I just wanna join. It's fate." is actually congruent to the inner logic of the Endfield strategic objectives. In other words, these words could be seen as an alternate interpretation of the "Unity in Purpose" approach in partnership espoused by our Endministrator, which I also have in my records. Perhaps we now have an explanation capable of satisfying all parties involved in this review.

— Martin Marvin Malen, Assistant, HR Division, Endfield Industries

Results of Operator Chen Qianyu's background checks are not complicated. The operator is as consistent, simple, and straightforward as she appears.

Operator Chen Qianyu grew up in the Hongshan Crater and studied swordmancy at Tanjian Hall. Prior to joining Endfield, she has interned at various organizations and served different individual employers. Hence, in spite of her young age, Operator Chen has years of solo combat experiences. After a period of adjustment, she has now grown used to team-based combat.

Unlike many youths who lost their parents in pioneering operations in the unforgiving and disaster-ridden lands of Talos-II, Chen Qianyu grew up in a wholesome and happy family. Her relatively simple childhood also gave her unshakable optimism. She is often praised for her excellent teamwork and sunny personality in multiple instances of team-based operations. Many key collaborators, including Chief Engineer Andre, have high hopes for Operator Chen and believe that she is a poster child for a certain facet of Endfield: Young, positive, friendly, and eager to intercede and solve any problem that needs to be solved.

[ADDITIONAL NOTES]

During early contact, we realized that Operator Chen Qianyu has, without question or doubt, earned stellar performance reviews at multiple employers. However, many are still curious why she never stayed at any particular employer for extended periods of time. To date, Operator Chen has spent the longest period of time working for Endfield. We asked her this question during a regular interview and her answers are provided below:

"Cheers and Drinks at La Fantoma? Wait, did I actually work there for three months?! Yeah, that's easy to explain. I had my fill of the milk tea so I left."

"Oh... Temporary security personnel. Yeah, I wasn't old enough to get an actual job but I really needed the money for my next stop. My only choice was to work in EXPOs and conferences. But yeah, those were the months when I met plenty of big shots in Talos-II..."

"Hold on! My graduation year performance at Tanjian Hall is actually — EXCELLENT?! Wait! You're not reading it wrong, right? I ... well, it's normal for me to be clueless about this! Heheh! I never picked up enough courage to check the results... Yeah, I'm just a little worried that my mentors would compare me to my mom."

"I spent more than a year in Yinglung Special Task Force... Yeah, I did that, but can we not talk about this? Well, there's nothing to hide. I just don't find the place a good match for me. Wha? Did you just say there are people who don't get along with me?! Okay, that's ridiculous! Know anything about Duccio the Half-Face? That notorious gang leader at the Asphalt Roundabout? I actually had a pretty nice convo with him, you know!"

I found out that "Chen Qianyu" is always the first name in the invite list for all sorts of celebrations, retirement parties, and daily hangouts at various Endfield regional offices as well as Dijiang. Everyone would punch in "Chen Qianyu" first when writing their invitation mail. This is not an alphabetical issue. Otherwise, Antal should be the first name on the list.

Chen Qianyu is marked by her incredible vibes and abilities to liven up the atmosphere of an otherwise somber cabin. Once she steps into a place, it would take her less than five minutes to get the most introverted operators to start talking and the most restrained operators to start smiling. However, she usually does not have to use too much diplomacy to achieve these effects. In fact, Chen's direct and straightforward nature means that tact and technique are things she needs when communicating with other people. Chen actually relies on other properties when she livens up the atmosphere. Several operators attribute this to her warm, passionate smile. Others believe that it is her excessive over-reactions and her ability to inflate ordinary-looking incidents into exciting moments. Certain operators would emphasize Chen's seemingly endless reservoir of new ideas that bring about joy and happiness during recess, even for those unskilled in socializing — An example would be the tradition of office chair racing (which has been re-instated with Chen's insistence). Chen also actively took over Movies Aboard Dijiang, though most of her picks happen to be martial arts films from Yan. According to a few operators, when being a friend and listening to their accounts of the day, Chen could bring up points they had overlooked. Her inputs sorted out seemingly convoluted incidents as neatly as her meticulously combed and kept twin ponytails.

During the retirement party of an elite operator, Supervisor Perlica got a little tipsy after going through a few glasses of Tunneling Nidwyrm bloodbrew (low kohlic content). While Andre snoozed on the sofa and Chen, surrounded by a crowd, trimmed the engineer's eyebrows with a pair of scissors, the Supervisor suddenly blurted out, "Chen has the power to make people feel safe."

"What? It's so loud in here... Feel safe? I never heard these words from you before, Supervisor."

Chen seems to regain her vigor by simply hanging around people. Even if her schedule were packed with field operations, she would do whatever she could to show up at various gatherings. She would liven up the event and then leave without a sound. When asked about this, Chen would say she was born without a serious need for sleep.

"Wait. Operator Chen probably uses up more stamina and energy than most people, right? Sure, she might have training in esoteric Yanese techniques, but how can anyone maintain such levels of energy on just three hours of sleep per day?"

"Speaking of which, I actually saw her dozing off during her meditative sessions..."

Supervisor Perlica shook her head, "Chen is ... determined to shoulder the brunt for everyone. Once she has set her mind onto something, persuading her to give up is extremely difficult."

"Oh? I thought Chen's a really easy-going person..."

"Maybe she's just a little slow."

"Supervisor Perlica, did you just say something bad about Chen?!"

According to her birth certificate (which she found after an extended search through her personal belongings), "Chen" was born at a place far outside the Civilization Band in the Year 132. She does not recognize the name of the place or what happened there. Thankfully, she remembers everything about her wonderful childhood at Hongshan City.

For example, the first sight of her memories was an evening where she was lying in her mother's embrace. The sharp ridges of Hongshan Crater resembled spears behind a wall of shields, like ancient fists raised high into the night skies of Talos-II.

The first word she spoke in her memories was "Mom!" that she voiced into an echo tube with plenty of jiggles. The echoes made it sound like a chorus of a thousand voices. And Chen remembered her mother saying, "Jianshan, we should call her Qianyu. She'll probably end up at the bottom of her class like I did, so a simpler name will make it easier when the teacher makes her write it over and over."

The first sword of her memories was a stick carefully trimmed and sanded to remove all the thorns, barbs, and bark.

The first reward of her memories was a gentle kiss on her head, awarded after she disarmed the wielder of another stick.

The first time she understood things in her memories was when the grown-ups announced the Aggeloi had arrived. Her mother suddenly opened a door hidden within the wardrobe and took out a blade she never seen before, and rushed out of their home.

The first sad moment in her memories was after her tenth birthday party. Her father called her and she went over. He wiped the cream off her cheeks, told her the news, and she never saw her mother ever since.

"I thought it was no big deal." Chen Qianyu said. She had just met a Liberi this afternoon — One that called herself Perlica. Though she resembled a TGCC heiress, she claimed she came from a place called Endfield. The two shared a Mo bun besides a mud trail. Although Chen was the one who put in a great deal more effort to push that burdenbeast cart, the quiet and well-behaved Perlica ate way more than she did. Then again, Chen got a smaller share because she spent most of that afternoon sharing moments from the first twenty years of her life.

"So it means —" Perlica said, "that was the day when she suddenly disappeared from your life."

"She didn't disappear," Chen Qianyu said, "I know she's still alive. We just don't know where she went and when she'd be back. She also made a very important promise with me!"

Perlica nodded.

"Okay, I've shared more than enough already! What about your family, Perlica? Tell me about them!"

"Just like yours," Perlica said quietly, "I don't know ... when my family would return. And we also made an important promise..."

"Oh, I guess we're really fated to meet each other!"

Chen grabbed the Liberi's shoulder and felt her stiffen up temporarily before relaxing.

The hinge of the courtyard gate had broken down for a while. It probably broke two weeks after Chen Chichi left. When Guang Jianshan noticed the hinge broken in two, he couldn't help but feel he had already seen this coming. Every time someone pushed open the gate to enter or leave the garden, the hinge would release an irksome groan loud enough to be heard in the house. Even the study. The groan at five during sunrise was Chen heading out to practice swordmancy. The groan at eight in the morning was Chen rushing back home, picking up her school bag, grabbing the food from her father's plate, taking two messy bites out of it, and rushing out to Tanjian Hall for her classes. The groan at five in the afternoon was Chen running back into the courtyard while chasing fowlbeasts through the grove, humming a song, and swishing a well-balanced stick around. The groan at midnight was Chen secretly jumping out of her second floor bedroom. She thought her father would not know how she sneaked off to have fun on her own.

Jianshan knew everything. He had quietly paved a flat path leading to the gate and got rid of the protruding stones. He would not want his careless darling girl to trip and fall in the darkness.

He had always been a dutiful father who acted rather than lectured. His name, Jianshan, meant "builder of Hongshan". When Chichi first learned about his actual name, she laughed and said that it was too down-to-earth, like a hard and stubborn stone. The stone was the ballast that secured their life in the Hongshan Crater. The stone restrained its ability to skip across rivers and lakes, and sank itself into cities and civilization. The stone stayed behind, even after she left, and allowed itself to be covered in moss.

And today the gate groaned again. Jianshan leaped up from his desk and went straight to the living room. His daughter kicked off her shoes, threw down her traveling satchel, and collapsed into the sofa. None of it felt normal. Jianshan counted the days in his mind. She stayed for three days during the new year holidays and had not been back for six months afterwards. Her return to Hongshan in an ordinary Monday afternoon was strange. Her credit card reported no expenses for nearly four days. How did she survive? And why did she look so tired and exhausted? Did she take the wrong bus? Hongshan Crater was known for its complex geography and people who seldom returned often messed up the rides and had to walk long detours to be home — But Jianshan kept all these questions to himself.

"Hungry?"

His darling girl nodded.

He made some noodles and added two extra pieces of meat. The young lass was still growing.

Qianyu came to the kitchen and served the table. She did not forget Chichi's rules despite romping through the world for fourteen months. They sat facing each other and had their meals.

"What experiments have you been running, Dad?"

"You probably won't know much about it."

"Well, it'd be great if you cook as well as you do science. Your tests got all those generous HAS grants."

"Your mom likes what I make."

"Does that mean Mom had no taste? This is really salty."

No matter the conversation, she would typically finish everything, even the soup. But this day was different. She set her chopsticks aside after two bites, and just sat on the chair as her eyes gazed outside.

"Dad, I think I have trouble staying at a single place for long."

He knew that Chen was clear that he could not and would not say anything, and probably did not know how to continue this topic. He usually just let the discussion slide. But her drooping tail and expressions looked particularly sad on this day. He suddenly realized that his prodigal daughter had matured somewhat, and was slowly learning her lessons.

"Coals on your feet?" Guang Jianshan asked, "Your old man used to be a pretty fast runner. I can't afford to be slow, or your mama's blade would catch up to me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I used to hike the mountains carrying a hundred kilos of surveillance gear. You've seen them before. Big telescopes? It's always down to the training. The old Tianshi would fly around and lead the way while we ran along the foot of the mountains and tried to keep up..."

"Ugh. Stop it already...! Hooo. I don't think I can find a place that fits me."

She raised her head. The resemblance hit him and left him a little dazed.

"Well, your ma... She actually left Hongshan three times. And that's just counting this place."

"What? Why didn't you tell about this?!"

"Because you probably won't understand."

Jianshan saw the glimmer and spark return to his daughter's face. Chen was back, and quickly enough.

"When did all this happen? Before I was born? Or when you moved back to Hongshan? Was that the last time she left? You told me she went to that Rho..."

"Push me all you want. Your mama told me to keep it from you."

"Ahhhhh! That silly old woman! Why?!"

He looked at the girl who started eating her noodles once more.

"So when are you moving out again?"