Wang

[Code Name] Wang

[Gender] Male

[Combat Experience] Undisclosed

[Place of Birth] Yan

[Date of Birth] Feb 2

[Race] Undisclosed

[Height] 188cm

[Infection Status]

Medical tests have confirmed that no infection is present.

[Physical Strength] Standard

[Mobility] Standard

[Physical Resilience] Standard

[Tactical Acumen] ■■

[Combat Skill] Standard

[Originium Arts Assimilation] Flawed

Wang, former military advisor to Yan, now an unemployed weiqi player. Younger brother to Chongyue, and older brother to Nian, Dusk, Ling, etc. He came to Rhodes Island to recuperate at Chongyue's recommendation, and is occasionally consulted on tactical matters.

Imaging tests reveal clear, normal outlines of internal organs, and no abnormal shadows have been detected. Originium granules have not been detected in the circulatory system and there is no sign of infection. At this time, this operator is believed to be uninfected.

[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 0%

[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.00u/L

Look! The readings just went off the charts, before dropping back to zero... the instruments were working just fine a moment ago. What happened?

—Surprised Medic

...I asked the Doctor. Just write a zero.

—Warfarin, looking up at the ceiling with despondent eyes

Following the monumental event that occurred in Baizao, Nian and her siblings began to spend more time on Rhodes Island, with a marked improvement in their moods—Chongyue being the sole exception. He spent little time on the ship, only coming back to check on his siblings from time to time before setting out again.

It was during this time that Wang showed up at the reception, on an otherwise completely unremarkable afternoon.

'I would like to speak to the supervisor here,' he said.

The impression he gave was that of a quiet, peaceful, and polite man, very different from the sinister and dangerous image from the rumors.

Wang remained on Rhodes Island as a guest, and we agreed to his request not to tell his siblings. After all, Rhodes Island is much bigger now, and surely it was not so likely to accidentally run into someone... until one day Wang vanished into thin air as he was walking along a corridor. It turned out that he had walked right into a painting that Dusk had planted, and emerged an hour later with his head hanging dejectedly, followed by Nian with a gleeful smile on her face, Dusk with her eyes red, Shu with a worried look, and Yu whose sleeves were wet with tears...

We do not know if Wang could have seen through Dusk's little trick, nor did we witness their reunion. All we know is that Wang stopped avoiding his family from that day forth.

Families inevitably have their little squabbles, of course. One day, someone overheard the normally carefree Ling berate Wang, saying, 'You want to hide, that's your own business, but couldn't you have had the decency to at least write to Chongyue? Have you any idea how hard he was looking for you?'

That was when Chongyue showed up and said something to her, which seemed to calm her down a little. Finally, she sighed and turned around to leave with a flick of her sleeves. No one knew whether she had let it go or meant something else.

Wang is rarely disturbed on Rhodes Island, other than for important festivals, family reunions, or when a sibling forces his dorm door open, and he rarely speaks even at such occasions other than when spoken to, seldom answering questions not from family members unless they are to his liking. He usually sits in his room, gazing at the weiqi board in front of him. It looks as though he is daydreaming, but one can plainly see his thoughts stirring in his heterochromatic eyes.

We thought he had fulfilled his dreams, but it seems like he has even more to worry about now, both for the greater good and for personal interest. He can't let either go... Bring him this rice cake. He seems to have gotten even thinner lately.

—Shu

Wang's fame as the greatest weiqi master in Yan is known to many on Rhodes Island even before his arrival, and quite a few of them can hardly resist the urge to have a game of weiqi with him. Fortunately, though he usually looks unapproachable, he rarely turns down an invitation to play weiqi. Even if he has been lost in thought just seconds before, all you need to do is knock on the door and ask if he'd like to have a game. By the time you step inside, the board is already set up.

Many operators have challenged him, but few have sniffed even a single victory—hardly surprising, considering Yu's skill in cooking and Dusk's skill in painting. Closure once tried to challenge Wang by connecting all of Rhodes Island's support robots in parallel (Friston-3 declined to participate out of dignity, but spectated the match with great interest). When faced with the choice of tapping ZOOT's reserve computing power and just pulling the circuit breaker, she wisely chose the latter.

Outside of Closure, there is someone else equally obsessed with challenging Wang, and that someone is none other than Zuo Le. Although he was no longer required to keep a close eye on the proxies, Zuo Le felt obliged to play a round with Wang. A few months later, when Grain Buds asked him about the result, he scratched his head abashedly, saying he was not yet ready. It turns out that he only knew the basics of of weiqi, and had never had the time to truly study it. Compared with Wang who had pursued the art of strategy for nearly a thousand years, he was naturally outmatched.

Finally, Nian arranged for a game between Zuo Le and Wang handicapped at nine stones in Zuo Le's favor. Unsurprisingly, Zuo Le lost handily, but there were more twists and turns than expected. Wang started out playing aggressively, but he began to tone it down once he realized that Zuo Le had no answer, nor was he attempting to duel as equals—he was simply there to learn from the superior player. Wang ended up giving Zuo Le a small spot in the corner, so that the final score would not look too bad.

Wang became less guarded against operators from Yan after this game of weiqi.

To Wang, playing weiqi with someone is like being in a fight to the death, or living together with the opponent for years. He can tell all your secrets, as well as what you're thinking. Perhaps he saw in the Candleholder's moves that Yan's current stance toward us is genuine, and was thus convinced to let down his guard. Good news, I say.

—Ling

[Classified Log]

I never thought the problem would be solved in such a manner... or at least delayed from a pressing threat to one we will not have to worry about again for another millennium or so.

'Wa Stone', 'Bu Fan', the Jingyu Prime Vein... the first Originium gave Yan the power to vassalize the gods and contain the Feranmuts, and the capital to catch up during the Crystal Age. These gifts should have blown up in Yan's face just as what happened in Ursus, but that was nullified by a Feranmut with inextricable ties to the nation. With the first Originium gone, the Jingyu Prime Vein's Originium growth rate has entered an irreversible decline, but overall, it remains far more stable than the Kolossal Prime Vein, giving Yan's industry plenty of time to transition, and helping Yan avoid the same chaos that engulfed Ursus. A stable Yan is good for the stability of Higashi, Rim Billiton, Kazdel, and Ursus as well. This does not even take into account the turmoil that was successfully avoided, the calamity that the first Orignium should have caused... He really did achieve the greater good, and bought valuable time for the land.

As natives of Terra, the paracausal nature of Feranmuts is inherently incompatible with how Originium stores information. The Feranmut will eventually succumb to the Originium, but until then, there is no safer box than the interior of a Feranmut for storing Orginium and cutting it off from its controller.

This does not come without a price, of course. Kroos's report, official Yanese communications, and Ju's statement all indicate that it took all of Ya's lifeforce to plant the first Originium into the bestial Sui. In addition, whatever consciousness it is that is now in control of the bestial Sui will suffer from extreme, unbearable, endless pain.

Wang as he is on Rhodes Island is currently no more than a weiqi stone. I'm not saying he's incomplete—after all, these are Feranmuts we are talking about, and the Wang we see is certainly Wang in his entirety. What I'm saying is that, as he plays weiqi with you, he is also being constantly tormented deep beneath Baizao, which explains the abnormal crystal density readings from his checkup: at times, it was the weiqi stone you saw; at others, it was the Feranmut, slowly but surely crystallizing from the wound.

[Audio Log]

The writing knife?

Do not ask me. It does not belong to me. It is none of my business that she entrusted it to Jun, who entrusted it to the young lady. There is only one thing that I regret about the knife, and I found the answer in the Tomb of Sui.

As for the powers of the knife... most of us do not intentionally create objects of power, with the exception of Nian. The objects associated with us came to be as a result of our influence over a long period of time, just like It unconsciously created the geists from inside Its tomb... It would not have suffered mundane wine cups, paperweights, and cutlery to be imbued with the power of evolution too, if It were awake and aware.

Yes, this box for storing weiqi stones is similar to the writing knife. Once, it was no more than an ordinary box. The influence of Sui caused it to take the form of a beast a century ago, making it the perfect container for the hundred and eighty-one black stones. All the stones are gone now, save for the one in front of you, but it sought me out after my awakening and would not leave my side after it found me, so I allowed it to stay.

Let us speak of things that are truly worth our time. I do not need your hollow praise—all I want to know is who made Originium, and who is trying to take away everything that Originium gave to this land. What is their ultimate goal, and how will it affect me and my family?

(Recording interrupted)

...I appreciate your candor.

I will continue my calculations based on the information you provided. Come to me immediately if there is any new development.

Why do I do this?

I believe my siblings have already told you the answer, or demonstrated it through action. For my part, I have unfinished business—

You wish to help?

That's enough talk. We can continue the game if you want to play. If you've had enough, surrender, and we'll do it another day.

'A beast shrinks long and lone. A miser's shadow cold.

It takes its number second. Black and white at odds.

Finds solitude in stone. It dwells on countless paths.

But its schemes are finite. Desolate out and in.

Alas, alack. Its stones could be no gems, its wood is no fine grain.

All thought and schemes. It seeks a life in death.

How could it not know? A part fights the whole, defying the land's law. It may endure awhile, yet peril will come.

It writhes and wracks in ruin. Its spirit thin, it leaves its kin, it takes rebuke.

It breaks its flesh; now the tide is turned. A thousand years; the wish is fulfilled.

Now scattered to the winds like mist. Haze waters far and still.

Through the turning of day and night, between heaven and earth, only cold stones and a broken board.'

The text of the rubbing is often corrupted in its frequent transcriptions. At the time of the most recent comparison, a slow yet irreversible change was found to have already begun in the stele's physical material.