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Main Characters
Time Photo Studio
- Cat/Dog Dichotomy: Promotional materials associate the more active, affection seeking Xiaoshi with dogs; while associating the more aloof Guang with cats.
- Cynic–Idealist Duo: Xiaoshi goes into each dive wanting to complete the task set out for them, but easily gets sidetracked into wanting to do the right thing or make the situation better for their client. Lu Guang doesn't always give himself that luxury, preferring to stick to the current timeline of events and outright trick Xiaoshi into letting a node happen if nothing can be done.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling have known each other since at least childhood, but they didn't meet Lu Guang until college. They all remained friends there.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Applies to both Xiaoshi/Guang and Ling/Guang. Both of the darker haired characters are much more emotionally open, while the lighter haired Guang is reserved and professional.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Cheng Xiaoshi is impulsive, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and won't hesitate to help someone if he can. Qiao Ling isn't totally mean, but she's got quite the sharp tongue and isn't afraid to be blunt with someone, especially if that someone is Xiaoshi. Lu Guang, by contrast, seems rather cold, but he has a heart underneath his stoicism and will sometimes allow Xiaoshi to break their personal rules to make a client's situation a little better.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lu Guang is almost always in control of his emotions, while Cheng Xiaoshi is an open book with energy to spare.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Xiaoshi and Guang form this trio with Qiao Ling. It also, coincidentally, corresponds to the heroes of the Star of Justice cartoon, which lets them cheer up a shaken Doudou.
Cheng Xiaoshi
Cheng Xiaoshi (程小时) / "Toki"
Voiced by: Su Shangqing (Chinese), Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Japanese), Alejandro Saab (English), Xanthe Huynh (Young - English)
A boy who can travel through photos to help fulfill their clients request, and refuses to leave the building until his parents return.- Acting Unnatural: Whenever he enters someone new for the first time, he can come off as a bit stiff and oftentimes needs Lu Guang's prompting to stay in character.
- All Men Are Perverts:
- When he takes over Emma's body, he looks down at his chest and tries to feel them up. Lu Guang immediately calls him out for it and tells him to stay focused.
- When Qiao Ling presses herself close to his arm as Xu Shanshan, he blushes and nervously tries to make some space.
- Animal Motifs: Dogs, based off of the chibi spin off.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Even with Lu Guang's guidance, he can come across as this. The people he interacts with when he dives either don't notice much of a change or decide not to question why their loved one is acting so weird.
- Big Brother Instinct: While being younger than Qiao Ling, he still looks out for her and is willing to fight whoever hurts her.
- Broken Tears: After Lu Guang deceives him by pretending to agree in saving their clients mother, but ends up still keeping her death with her shielding her son's body from their fallen house. Cheng Xiaoshi is understandably angry after he comes back as he punches Lu Guang in the face and soon falls to the floor in tears.
- Butt-Monkey: During some dives he's forced into some pretty funny situations while Lu Guang chastises him for not staying on task. Such as telling Cheng Xiaoshi not to eat while he loudly slurps some noodles, or calmly tells him to be on time by climbing a ton of stairs. Qiao Ling also isn't above beating Cheng Xiaoshi up if she feels he's being rude.
- Cassandra Truth: Played for drama in episode 5 where he tries to warn the townsfolk of the earthquake that would occur at 8:30pm on May 12, 2008, which happened to be the day he was in. While he tries his best, but can't change the past, he's forced to lie and say he read about it in a magazine.
- Chekhov's Skill: He learns some self-defense and martial arts alongside Qiao Ling, and it ends up coming in handy in at least 3 of his cases. From upper cutting the human trafficker who kidnapped Li Doudou, to protecting Xu Shanshan from what he thought was the serial killer and actually confronting the serial killer themself.
- Childhood Friends: He and Qiao Ling have known each other since they were little.
- Did Not Think This Through: Sometimes does something or is about to do something off his own whim, which is why Lu Guang has to feed him lines or information to "stay in character".
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He yells this at the adults who wonder how they should take care of him now that his parents have left him, but he refuses to be seen as defenseless or pitiable.
- The Empath: Inherits his clients memories and emotions when he "dives". He can be a bit overwhelmed during jobs or gets too caught up as he forgets he's in the past or the fact he's living other people's lives and not his own. This is why Lu Guang is usually the one to remind him to not do anything out of line or they'll cause more harm than they intended.
- Empty Promise: He promises the serial killer he will not notify the police of their movement so long as they promise not to harm Xu Shanshan and come find him from the hint they will send. He does not hold up to his end of the "game" as he had Lu Guang contact the police as he tricks the serial killer into confessing their crimes. He ends up paying for "cheating".
- Exhausted Eye Bags: While not that clear in the promotional material, the area beneath his eyes do seem a bit dark at times. Given the kind of work he does, it's possible that not only does going through the photos sap his energy, but staying up late to do so also affects his sleep.
- Eyes Are Mental: Whenever he dives into a new form, they always retain his Supernatural Gold Eyes.
- Foreshadowing: While told in a playful manner, Cheng Xiaoshi tells Lu Guang not to do "politics behind my back" or he'd punch him. Once Cheng Xiaoshi tries to protect Chen Xiao's mother from the earthquake but she still ultimately dies, he ends up punching Lu Guang in the face after leaving the dive, after the other had promised he would try to save her.
- Friendless Background: Aside from Qiao Ling, he doesn't seem to have that many friends. When he was a kid and his parents essentially abandoned him, this left him bitter and unable to open up to others. According to Qiao Ling, when she's talking to Lu Guang, he's the first friend Cheng Xiaoshi had made in a long time.
- Foil: In terms of color palette, eye color when activating their powers, and personality, he's this to Lu Guang. While he's impulsive and gets wrapped up in the memories of their clients, Lu Guang is calm and professional to make sure they don't change anything in the past.
- Hates Being Alone: Especially in episode 5 where he's almost buried alive with his client's mother shielding him so he would survive the earthquake. When he realizes his client's mother has died, he screams out how he's scared of the dark and is afraid of being alone.
- Hypocritical Humor: After eating bowl after bowl of noodles, he grumbles saying he never wants to eat another bowl of noodles again. But once he sees a photo of the original "Girl's Dormitory Noodles" he instantly wants to dive into it so he can try them one last time.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Lu Guang when he first met Cheng Xiaoshi describes him as naive while Qiao Ling says that there's something pure and innocent about Cheng Xiaoshi that makes others want to protect him.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In episode 4, he jokingly tells Chen Xiao's crush that he learned to play basketball through watching cartoons on Bilibili.
- Logical Weakness: He can enter photos on his own by clapping his own hands, but that leaves him to run in blindly with no guidance from Lu Guang. He also can't use his abilities if someone manages to pin his arms down.
- Luminescent Blush: When he sees a pretty girl, or has a girl get close to him he tends blush. This occurs during a few jobs for a couple of his clients.
- Man, I Feel Like a Woman: In the first two episodes, he mainly inhabits the bodies of his female clients. Although he was about to feel Emma up in his first job, his next one has him telling off a delivery man for asking why he decided to run a noodle shop instead of finding a man and settling down. When in Xu Shanshan's body, he pretends he needs to take a leak to not alert the serial killer, but then realizes he can't exactly do that as a girl.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Xiaoshi can mostly keep his thoughts his own, but sometimes he will be able to experience his possessed body's actual emotions. For example, he experiences Crush Blush on both Cheng Xiao and Xu Shanshan with their respective love interests, even though he's neutral on them personally.
- Mistaken for Murderer: After managing to wrestle the knife out of a possessed Qiao Ling's hands, the police arrive seeing the bloody knife in his hands. With Lu Guang near death and Qiao Ling unable to remember what happened, Cheng Xiaoshi is immediately pegged down for what appears to be an attempted murder. He spends the first part of season 2 trying to prove his innocence.
- Momma's Boy: He's greatly affected by his client's love for their mothers in most of the dives, even beginning to refer to them as his own mother. Episode 5 seems to imply he was closer to his mother than his father.
- Mundane Utility: Can travel back through time in the photos their clients provide for them and even relive their memories. How does he use it sometimes? After finishing one case, he begs to dive into one photo that shows the first "Noodles of the Girl's Dormitory" his client and her friend had and wanted to try it one last time. He ends up getting his way by tricking Lu Guang into holding his hand up and clapping it.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After punching a stalker in Xu Shanshan's body, later when they try to contact her, her number can't be reached and Cheng Xiaoshi starts panicking as he assumes her disappearance was his fault for acting rashly in chasing down who he assumed was a serial killer. He also accidentally witnesses Emma's death and blames himself for typing a message to her parents and believes if he hadn't, it wouldn't have lead to Emma's death. This is his reaction by the end of the season when he watches a possessed Emma being forced to jump to her death and comes back to the studio to find a possessed Qiao Ling has stabbed Lu Guang as the serial killer notes they have "reset their game".
- Nervous Wreck: Not as bad as the trope usually gets, but during some dives he does start to devolve into what could be a panic attack. This usually occurs when he experiences someone close to him dying like Chen Xiao's mother, or hearing someone being murdered, like Emma. Lu Guang is usually there to remind him to leave if he can't take what he's seeing in the dives.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: No matter how hard he tries, his good intentions usually come back to bite him horribly.
- When he texts Emma's parents a message, despite Lu Guang telling him to ignore it, this leads to Emma's parents coming over to clean up her apartment, give her clothes and food. This causes Emma to run out to try and meet them and ends in her being murdered. Even when Cheng Xiaoshi attempts to stop Emma from committing suicide, the serial killer takes over her body and forces her to jump.
- Cheng Xiaoshi tires to chase after who he thinks is the serial killer when he's in Xu Shanshan's body, only to find out it was just a guy Xu Shanshan had spurned earlier. However, this takes a darker turn after she makes headlines in the news and the serial killer decides to try and kill her due to her connection to the Time Studio.
- Then there's Cheng Xiaoshi promising he won't notify the police if the serial killer promises to find him at the studio and not to harm Xu Shanshan. When he manages to corner them he had Lu Guang notify the police so they can arrest Liu Min. This ends with the serial killer possessing Emma, Liu Min and Qiao Ling; with them forcing Emma to jump, Liu Min to strangle himself and Qiao Ling to stab Lu Guang because Cheng Xiaoshi violated the "rules" of their "game".
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Pretty much gives this to Liu Min during their confrontation.
- Parental Abandonment: It's implied when he's inhabiting Emma's body that his home life wasn't a joyful as hers and he's been waiting for his parents to return to the building for him. When he was younger, he runs to Qiao Ling tearfully asking if it was possible his parents were caught in the earthquake, and cries that he misses his parents. He's still hoping they'll come back one day.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Once Cheng Xiaoshi realizes Chen Xiao's mother is dead, he starts panicking and screaming for her to stay awake. Amongst some of the things he yells, he begs her not to leave him alone.
- Powers via Possession: When he possesses others like Chen Xiao, he can see fine without the need of the other's glasses, which kept him handicapped in the early part of the game until the rival captain knocks them off of his face and breaks them. He also retains his usual amount of strength even in a child's body, which allows him to punch the human trafficker with enough force to send a tooth flying out of her mouth. Even Xu Shanshan seems to gain a boost in strength thanks to Cheng Xiaoshi possessing her which helps in stopping a serial killer from attempting to stab her.
- Pronoun Trouble: Whenever he enters a female clients body, he sometimes forgets to refer to himself using female pronouns.Cheng Xiaoshi: (as Emma) Mom! Mom! It's your son, hang on! Bah, it's your daughter!
- Skewed Priorities: Why does he want to go back into one of their clients photo despite being pretty much done with the job? He wants to eat the noodles in the photo one last time, which Lu Guang attempts to chide him for.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: When he possesses someone in the past, their eyes turn golden.
- Teleport Spam: During his confrontation with Liu Min, he claps in and out of the photos he had of Liu Min's victims while also delivering a few punches and kicks Liu Min's way.
- Word Power: "Gear up. Dive!" Although he has shown he doesn't always need to say this for his powers to work, as just clapping his hand against Lu Guang's is enough to do the job. And even clapping his own hands works just as well.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He was royally pissed off after the Chen Xiao case, punching Lu Guang when he realized that he had never intended to save Chen Xiao's mother from dying in the earthquake. They stop speaking to each other up until the Li family's case.
- Work Off the Debt: If what Qiao Ling said was true, she's helping paying off Cheng Xiaoshi's debt for rent at the building, in exchange for him working at the Time Photo Studio.
Lu Guang
Lu Guang (陆光) / "Hikaru"
Voiced by: Yang Tiangxiang (Chinese), Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)
A boy who can see into the photos of their clients of what happened in the last twelve hours since the photo was taken and instructs Cheng Xiaoshi how to act so they don't mess up the timeline.- Animal Motifs: Cats, based off the chibi spin off. He's also shown to be quite fond of the creatures, even momentarily taking care of a stray cat they found.
- Berserk Button: Lu Guang is hardly a fighter, unlike Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling. However, Cheng Xiaoshi almost being shot to death by Qian Jin has Lu Guang screaming and wildly beating the other with his fists in a blind rage.
- Big Brother Instinct: While Qiao Ling is older than him, he still seems protective of her as he grabbed Chen Xiao's wrist when he seemed to be stalking her.
- Big Eater: During Cheng Xiaoshi's dives he's usually eating, to the annoyance of the other since he can't eat while on the job.
- Big "NO!": Screams this after seeing Cheng Xiaoshi almost get shot to death. After The Reveal of the season 2 finale where Lu Guang has apparently traveled back into other dives, this may have been one of many times he's had to experience a failure to save Cheng Xiaoshi.
- Blatant Lies: After Cheng Xiaoshi loses his gaming match to Qiao Ling, he agrees to fight her. However, she ends up beating him easily without taking damage and he immediately goes for his book and claims that he doesn't hit girls.
- Bookworm: When he instructs Cheng Xiaoshi on how to proceed with a job or is waiting for a certain moment to occur, he is usually seen reading books. He nags at Cheng Xiaoshi to stop being on his phone all the time and suggests reading to make him at least a bit smarter.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Not as bad as Cheng Xiaoshi's, but the area beneath his eyes seem a bit dark compared to others and while he can rest between jobs, they still don't really go away since he likely stays up late anyway.
- Foil: In terms of color palette, eye color when activating their powers, and personality, he's this to Cheng Xiaoshi. While he comes off as cold as he's focused on fulfilling their mission and sticking to the timeline, Cheng Xiaoshi is more impulsive and emotional.
- Hypocrite: He always tells Cheng Xiaoshi to never, under any circumstances, no matter how he feels, to ever turn back time to change the past. Whatever happens was always going to happen, and he needs to accept it. Only in the season 2 finale, Lu Guang had done just that. Turned back time in order to stop Cheng Xiaoshi's death, in what has probably happened plenty of times before.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Season 1 ends with Lu Guang being stabbed by a possessed Qiao Ling. Thankfully, he's still alive in season 2.
- Jack of All Trades: In his character profile for skills it states, "Not having skills is a skill."
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He comes off as cold and focused solely on completing the job. However, he does show a softer side around Cheng Xiaoshi, especially when he seems to be negatively affected by what Emma has to go through and does his best to comfort him. In episode 4 to 5 he even explicitly tells Cheng Xiaoshi to leave the scenario if everything is too much for him. Towards the end of episode 5, he even comforts the other by putting a hand on his shoulder and in episode 6 he even bought Cheng Xiaoshi some boba but had Qiao Ling deliver it for him.
- Kuudere: He's the type that never cracks a smile when someone is looking, but he will often display kindness after weighing his options and he's ultimately more awkward than he is cold if you prompt him to express his feelings. He flip flops between this and being Tsundere towards Xiaoshi.
- Logical Weakness: If Cheng Xiaoshi strays too far from the original timeline, he has some problems trying to figure out what could happen next. If Cheng Xiaoshi enters a dive without clapping Lu Guang's hand, he won't be able to see ahead into a photo and warn Cheng Xiaoshi of any dangers or how far off he's straying from the original timeline.
- Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Always tells Cheng Xiaoshi not to wonder about their clients' pasts or futures as they do their job. He doesn't tell Cheng Xiaoshi that Emma was murdered when he wonders how she was doing. He also lies to him when he pretends to agree that he will save Chen Xiao's mother from the earthquake so long as they both hide under the table. Chen Xiao's mother's death remains unchanged as she uses her body to shield her son from the debris of their fallen house. He mainly does this because he knows Cheng Xiaoshi gets too attached to the client's in his photographs and that it would possibly make Cheng Xiaoshi want to change the past in order to prevent that tragedy.
- Mission Control: While Cheng Xiaoshi dives into the photos, he stays behind to guide him through all of their cases as smoothly as he can so he doesn't upset the timeline.
- Mystical White Hair: Has white hair while everyone seems to have natural/ordinary hair colours. While he rests in the hospital after being stabbed, Siwen pretends Lu Guang is his father-in law which the nurse seems to buy mainly due to his hair color.
- Neat Freak: His character profile on Bilibili states that amongst the things he dislikes is things being messed up after he's tidied them up.
- Not So Above It All: Tells a hungry Cheng Xiaoshi to stay on task, while he somewhat noisily starts slurping some instant noodles back at the studio. Cheng Xiaoshi playfully punches at Lu Guang's face with the other ending the game by holding his hand out and claiming since he did "paper" and Cheng Xiaoshi has "rock", he wins the game. Cheng Xiaoshi laughs and points out Lu Guang is just as childish as he is. He also gets fired up when it's his turn to fight Qiao Ling in a video game.
- Occult Blue Eyes: When he's looking into the past of the photos, his eyes glow blue and return to black once he's finished.
- Older Than They Look: Surprisingly, Lu Guang is actually a bit younger than Cheng Xiaoshi, but it's hard to tell given how different the both act for their age. This is implied in the promotional art for the show, where Lu Guang's age is always blurred out. The reason for this is shown in the Season 2 finale when it's revealed that Lu Guang is from an alternate timeline where Cheng Xiaoshi has died, and has been implied to have traveled to several others and reliving the moments before Cheng Xiaoshi's death. This would mean he is mentally more older than he physically is.
- The Reveal: So far, Lu Guang has only been shown to be able to look at the 24 hour timeline in a photo, but cant enter it like Cheng Xiaoshi. Season 2's finale reveals he can actually enter photo like Cheng Xiaoshi by clapping his own hands together, and has been trying to circumvent Cheng Xiaoshi's death in this timeline.
- Seers: He can see into the past of photos and how to keep their outcomes. However, if Cheng Xiaoshi ends up altering a timeline, he has problems predicting any future outcomes.
- Sleepyhead: When he knows it will take some time before Cheng Xiaoshi runs into another problem for him to solve, he'll either be reading or sleeping.
- The Stoic: He hardly changes expressions, even when Cheng Xiaoshi punches him after finding out he lied when he agreed to protect Chen Xiao's mother from the earthquake. The only times he looses his cool is if he's worried or angry at Cheng Xiaoshi trying to change something in the past.
- Temporal Mutability: He always tells Cheng Xiaoshi to not upset anything in the past as it could affect their own timeline. Best exemplified during "#01: Emma" where he asks Cheng Xiaoshi multiple times if he really didn't do anything stupid in the past. When he claims he didn't and walks off to meet their new client, Lu Guang quietly looks at the news where they report a girl had apparently committed suicide by drowning herself in the river, and blocking off Emma's eyes in her photo.
- Uncertain Doom: The end of season 1 seems to imply that he's dead after the serial killer takes over Qiao Ling's body in order to stab him while Cheng Xiaoshi is in a dive to help Emma. However, season 2 reveals he lived and has to recover for the rest of it.
- Vague Age: In their character previews, while Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling's ages are shown, Lu Guang's only listed as "Unknown". It's likely he's around Cheng Xioashi's age as they seemed to have met each other in high school. Season 2's finale pulls up more questions as Lu Guang is likely mentally older than he appears, having gone back in time to try and stop Cheng Xiaoshi's death.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: He seems to carry an weight of intelligence that leads to jokes of him acting more like an old man than someone his age like Cheng Xiaoshi. With season 2's reveal that he's been diving in order to save Cheng Xiaoshi, he may be knowledgable due to all of the other dive's he's been in.
- You Can't Fight Fate: His main argument towards Cheng Xiaoshi. Especially in episode 4 where Cheng Xiaoshi realizes that the day he's in is May 12, 2008. Which means the basketball captain and the girl who's their client's first crush were doomed to die in an earthquake that occurred in the city and he cannot stop it or else he'll change his won future. Lu Guang has to constantly yell at Cheng Xiaoshi to not do anything stupid or else they'll face the consequences. He may say this, but season 2's finale reveals he has gone against his own advice, and went back in time to try and prevent Cheng Xiaoshi's death.
- Younger Than They Look: He looks about Cheng Xiaoshi's age, but Qiao Ling says he's actually younger. Funnily enough, his character preview shows his age as "Unknown".
Qiao Ling
Qiao Ling (乔苓) / Rin
Voiced by: Li Shimengn (Chinese), Aoi Koga (Japanese), Suzie Yeung (English)
The landlady for Cheng Xiaoshi's apartment who helps him and Lu Guang find clients for their work.- Action Girl: Along with Cheng Xiaoshi, she learns martial arts for self-defense. She gets to show off this skill more in season 2.
- Affectionate Nickname: She tries to have a client of theirs refer to her as "Qiao Qiao", which he mistakes as "Jo Jo".
- Animal Motifs: Rabbits. Her phone case invokes this, and she's portrayed as a rabbit in the chibi spin off series.
- Berserk Button: Hates being seen as old, as one of their clients said some of the rumors about the photo studio was that she was either a fairy or an "old hag".
- Big Sister Bully: She's older than Cheng Xiaoshi, but the two aren't related. She isn't above calling Cheng Xiaoshi names or even beating him up, whether it's in a game or physically.
- Big Sister Instinct:
- In a flashback when a young Cheng Xiaoshi runs to the studio in tears he asks Qiao Ling if his parents got caught up in the Wenchuan earthquake and whether or not he'll see them again. She does her best to comfort him. While in the present day she treats him less gently, she still clearly looks out for him. She even admits to Xu Shanshan (who's being inhabited by Cheng Xiaoshi) that Cheng Xiaoshi is so pure that it makes others around him want to protect him. She looked after him a lot when they were younger, acting as an older sister figure to him.
- She also is protective and patient with Li Tianxi, and is the only person willing to take the time to communicate with her. Her kindness and care towards Li Tianxia helps them solve the case and how Li Tianchi's power works.
- Childhood Friends: Episode 4 shows she and Cheng Xiaoshi have known each other since they were little. She's even the one who helped him keep his time shop, telling him her father laid off on the rent and he could pay him back in ten years.
- The Face: She's the public face of Time Photo Studio and its associated rumors. As such, all requests go through her before they can make their way back to the boys.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Her usual outfit has the right side as a short skirt while the left side is a long dress.
- Gamer Chick: Episode 6 shows she's really good at gaming, beating Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang without breaking a sweat.
- Genki Girl: Is peppy and cheerful, which likely helps Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi to gain customers. She even has a bunny phone case to match her personality.
- Grand Theft Me: Red Eyes possesses Qiao Ling in the season 1 finale when Cheng Xiaoshi dives to try and save Emma. In turn, he has her stab Lu Guang and attempts to have Qiao Ling take her life, but Cheng Xiaoshi manages to intervene.
- Locked Out of the Loop: She is actually unaware of what Lu Guang and Cheng Xiashi do exactly to solve their cases. She's always told to leave the room when they prepare to dive and she believed they were performing some kind of ritual. In episode 9 after Cheng Xiaoshi returns from a dive in front of her, they're forced to come clean about their powers. She even gets to watch them perform it in episode 11.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After she wakes up from Red Eye's control, she looks at her hands and Lu Guang's bloodied body as he lays on the couch. She soon lets out a blood curdling scream, wondering what had occured when she had blacked out.
- My Greatest Failure: Tells Cheng Xiaoshi she had actually seen the missing boy Li Doudou with a stranger when she walked past him, but lied to the father when she said she didn't recognize the boy. The guilt ate at her and when the father comes to their studio begging for help three years later, she requests Cheng Xiaoshi help find the boy. It's revealed in episode 9 that it was because Cheng Xiaoshi who dived back into the past was accidentally spotted by Qiao Ling and her friend, causing her to get distracted and not remember who was with Li Doudou.
- Two Guys and a Girl: The girl among the two guys.
- Unwitting Pawn: She is possessed by Liu Min's friend when Cheng Xiaoshi dives to help Emma and Qiao Ling is left with Lu Guang. After setting aside a tray of sliced apples, the killer has Qiao Ling grab the nearby knife and stab Lu Guang. When Cheng Xiaoshi returns, the killer in Qiao Ling's body happily declares that they have "reset the game".
Clients
Yu Xia
Voiced by: Qian Chen (Chinese), Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Morgan Garrett (English)
The group's newest client who asks them to find the secret ingredient to her friend Lin Zhen's noodles after she left her to restart everything.- Ambition Is Evil: Played with. She's not outright evil, but just got too caught up in making her and Lin Zhen's noodle business become widespread to remember why they started it in the first place.
- Big Damn Reunion: She ends up also going back to her hometown to find Lin Zhen. When she sees the other had opened up her own noodle shop and happily greets her, she runs up and gives her friend a hug.
- Brainy Brunette: Is the brains behind their business.
- Childhood Friend: She and Lin Zhen likely knew each other since they were teens.
- Spaghetti Kiss: Almost does this with Lin Zhen until Cheng Xiaoshi in Yu Xia's body cuts it off short as he coughs out nervously.
- Secret Ingredient: Even though she was by Lin Zhen's side for more than a decade, she never figured out how she made her noodles as unique and delicious as they were. The truth was more in reach than she realized—she was always carrying the secret ingredient with her as a college student, and it was in abundance in her home town.
- Tears of Joy: Once Qiao Ling reveals to her what the secret ingredient was, she starts laughing to herself and crying happily when she realizes why the noodles were so special.
- Work A Holic: If she isn't working, she's planning on how to expand her business, which is ultimately what lead her and Lin Zhen to split from one another.
Chen Xiao
Voiced by: Wai Wai (Chinese), Junta Terashima (Japanese), Ricco Fajardo (English)
A client who seeks out the Time Studio as he asks if they could simply deliver a message to some people from his past. Qiao Ling notes that he looks incredibly tired and unhappy.- Affectionate Nickname: His mother referred to him as Xiao Xiao.
- Broken Tears: He's pretty much inconsolable after being rescued from the wreckage of his home and is screaming for the firemen to save his mother.
- Disappeared Dad: Subverted. His father is usually away from home as he's a photographer, something his mother constantly brings up with great annoyance. He does reappear after the earthquake where he attempts to get to his wife under the rubble but is stopped and pulled away by the rescue team who knows they can't save her.
- Doomed Hometown: The truth is that Chen's hometown, and nearly everyone in it, was buried in the Wenchuan earthquake. The Long Yang Middle School basketball team was also, unfortunately, caught up in it.
- Foreshadowing: He used to be into photography, but as an adult, he chose a career in construction. This hints at him being a survivor of the Wen Chuan earthquake, which occurred the day he took the photo of his basketball team.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: Cheng Xiaoshi accidentally broke Chen's glasses while playing basketball, and throughout his dive he never bothers to get new ones. Lu Meng doesn't seem to mind at all, as she tells Chen that he looks much cooler without them.
- Meaningful Echo: His mother hummed him a lullaby when he was a child, and when she was comforting him while they were crushed under the rubble of their home. Once he gets home, he even hums the song himself to his son.
- My Greatest Failure: Considers not being able to tell his captain, his crush and his mother something. This reason being that he was a survivor of the Wenchuan earthquake, while those three people he cared for had died.
- Parting-Words Regret: Subverted. They aren't said in the context of him dying, but rather what he never got to say to the people he cared for before the earthquake. This is why he seeks out the time studio in order to fulfill this request.
- Puppy Love: Had a crush on Hongbin's sister, who seemed to have reciprocated his feelings as well. The pair even promising to go to study in the city together. She's one of the people he asks the Time Studio to deliver a message to since she died in the earthquake.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: Despite all that he went through and how downtrodden he looked when he came to the Time Studio, afterwards, he seems at peace with himself. While he can no longer properly play basketball anymore, he still remembers his teammates fondly. He may have never gotten to be with the girl he had a crush on, but he's now apparently married. He lost his mother who died protecting him, but it seems to have brought him and his father closer together, and Chen Xiao even became a father himself.
- Survivor Guilt: What he seems to suffer from as he never seems to quite get over what happened on that day of the earthquake and why he seeks out the time studio. After Cheng Xiaoshi's dive it's implied that he's long made peace with the deaths of his loved ones, but he still wants to make sure something like Wenchuan doesn't happen again and still holds the memories of the people he loved close to his heart.
Li Doudou and his Parents
Li Doudou voiced by: Vic Chounote (Chinese), Himari Mochida (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)
Two parents who run a popular milk tea stand named after their son who goes missing and the father seeks out the Time Studio in order to help find any clues on his son's whereabouts.- Alliterative Name: Li Doudou's name, his parents even named their boba store after him.
- Big Damn Reunion: After Cheng Xiaoshi's dive the family is reunited after three years of separation.
- Determinator: Li Doudou's father even after 3 years refuses to give up searching for his son.
- Emotional Regression: Doudou's mother takes a turn for the worst after his disappearance. She becomes obsessed with the cartoon he was watching the day he got abducted, Star of Justice, and acts like a child. Her husband seems to have gotten used to it and does his best to look after her while also searching for Doudou.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Li Doudou's parents get this after Doudou's disappearance, with his mother having gone mad with grief while his father has been tirelessly searching for him.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Doudou has his hair grown past his ears to show he's grown in the three years of his disappearance.
- Fanboy: Doudou is a big fan of Star of Justice, a sentai ranger series, usually with the action figure in his hand or watching an episode of it on his parent's phone.
- It's All My Fault: Liang feels that Doudou's disappearance was his fault since he didn't watch him and begs for forgiveness in the three years he was searching for his son.
- Missing Child: Their child is missing when they look away from them, and are unable to find them for 3 years.
- Shoryuken: Cheng Xiaoshi performs one in Li Doudou's body when fighting off the human trafficker.
- Workaholic: Both Li parents, while loving Doudou with all their heart, were glued to their restaurant and worked tirelessly there. Unfortunately, this meant they had very little time to bond with Doudou and couldn't keep a good eye on him.
Siwen
Voiced by: Sun Lulu (Chinese), Genki Muro (Young - Japanese), Hiroya Ishimaru (Old - Japanese), Austin Tindle (Young - English), Charles Campbell (Old - English)
A young boy who's attempting to win his crushes hand in marriage by beating her father in a martial arts match, but has continuously failed and has sought out the Time Studio's help as a last ditch attempt at finding out the secret to Ou Yang's father's technique.- Amazon Chaser: Ou Yang protected him from bullies when they were younger using her martial arts skills, which is part of the reason he fell in love with her.
- Childhood Friend Romance: His entire relationship with Ou Yang.
- Determinator: Even though he has no background in martial arts, he's still determined enough to fight Ou Yang's father every year to prove he's good enough to marry his daughter. Hell, the fact that he's been doing this for what's most likely decades proves his love for Ou Yang.
- Foreshadowing: Just as he's about to pass out from being beat up one last time, he sees an image of himself and Ou Yang growing old together. Turns out in present time he's an old man which is why this was his "last chance" at winning Ou Yang's hand in marriage. He's also the one to teach Qiao Ling and Cheng Xiaoshi self defense.
- Grow Old with Me: In present time, he and Ou Yang have become elderly, but are still together. Although they have maintained their relationship this whole time, he still challenges Ou Yang's father every year for permission to marry. Ou Yang's father finally allows it despite Siwen never winning the fight because he has proven his devotion and determination.
- May–December Romance: He falls in love with his childhood crush who is at least a few years older than him, which her father doesn't approve of.
- Old Master: Teaches Cheng Xiaoshi martial arts for self defense and can easily outmaneuver the boy despite his age.
- Only One Name: He's only referred to as Siwen by Ou Yang, and he has no confirmed last name.
- Shoryuken: Teaches this move to Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling which Cheng Xiaoshi uses to punch the human trafficker who kidnapped Li Doudou.
Xiao Li
A police officer who comes to the Time Studio to seek their help with a case.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He doesn't take kindly to others looking down on his co-workers, especially when Xiao Ma accuses Chen Bin of taking bribes, which was why he committed suicide.
- We Used to Be Friends: He was once partners with Qian Jin, but after Qian Jin left the police force, the two have become something akin to bitter enemies.
Xu Shanshan
Voiced by: Zhao Shuang (Chinese), Lynn (Japanese), Caitlin Glass (English)
A school friend of Qiao Ling, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang who comes to them seeking help when she can't remember what Dong Yi told her when she was drunk.- Alliterative Name: The second part of her name, Shanshan.
- Ambiguous Situation: In episode 9, she suddenly goes missing which worries her friends as a strange man calls through her phone that he will be there at the agreed time. When Cheng Xiaoshi dives into her, he stops the attack on her and makes the killer agree to his terms for their "game" and to assure that Xu Shanshan will not be harmed. In episode 11 she was found in Liu Min's garage and is safely recovered.
- Big Damn Reunion: Episode 11 shows Xu Shanshan being escorted out of the police station after she is recovered from Liu Min's garage. As she sees Dong Yi who is nervously pacing outside waiting for her, she cries and runs over to hug him.
- Cannot Spit It Out: It's clear to just about everyone that she and her friend Dong Yi are essentially dating, but neither of them have gotten the courage to admit their feelings to each other. She claims it's because she's waiting for him to make the first move.
- Dude Magnet: She seems to have many admirers. Too bad she already has her heart set on Dong Yi.
- A Friend in Need: She's close friends with Qiao Ling. It was also Qiao Ling who suggests she go to the time studio in order for Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi help her with her dilemma with Dong Yi.
- Gamer Girl: She apparently is a high scoring player in a mobile game and helps carry Dong Yi as payment for him buying her lunch.
- Hidden Depths: Is shown to be an incredibly good singer as she sings the insert song of episode 9.
- In Vino Veritas: When she's drunk, she's a bit more open with Dong Yi. As he talks to others about leaving, she grumbles saying everyone else can leave but he can't.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: This is her excuse on why she hasn't confessed her feelings to Dong Yi, and feels that as a guy he should be the one to confess to her.
Others
Emma / Wu Lihua
Voiced by: Zhao Yitong (Chinese), Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Xanthe Huynh (English)
An overworked office worker who is Cheng Xiaoshi enters to see the data of her company.- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: As Liu Min reveals why he's after and is threatening her life, Emma pleads for him to let her go and promises not to tell anyone.
- Broken Tears:
- After Emma comes home once she's basically fired from her job, she breaks down into tears. When she also realizes her parents had dropped by and reading the text message Cheng Xiaoshi sent to them saying how much she missed them, she starts crying again.
- As Cheng Xiaoshi confronts her to attempt to stop Emma from taking her life she tearfully asks Cheng Xiaoshi to send her back in time so she wouldn't be suffering like she is now.
- The Bus Came Back: Seemingly dead for most of the season until the last few episodes reveal she may be Not Quite Dead.
- Country Mouse: Emma apparently had dreams of coming to the big city and finding a job here so she can buy her parents expensive gifts, but it doesn't really work out for her. Most of the other people around her even bring up the fact she's not from the city and are disgusted by it, thinking she's one of the many people trying to leech off of their hard work.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She's choked to death by Liu Min as she tries to call her mom. Then as the true serial killer possesses her body in front of Cheng Xiaoshi, she's forced to jump. Emma's eyes turn back to normal, looking on in horror as she plummets to her death.
- Dies Wide Open: She dies struggling to get free of Liu Min choking her with tears streaming down her eyes, and seems to have died with her eyes open as she was forced to jump to her death by the real serial killer.
- Every Man Has His Price: Her boss bribes her with his credit card to not discuss the fact that Liu Min is leeching off of the company for money since his father cut him off. While she's initially hesitant, she does end up taking the bribe. She tells Cheng Xiaoshi she wishes she could go back and refuse to have taken the money.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Does her job and more because her boss won't allow her a break and stays nearly overnight at her office just to get her work done. Then she has to be back at the office early the next day to set up the paper and drinks, leaving her only with about five hours of sleep or less.
- Extreme Doormat: While she was a hard worker and was good at her job, Emma could barely stand up for herself, leading her boss to take advantage of her, to be falsely accused for a crime she didn't commit, and also accept the slap of her bosses mistress even though Emma had rejected him. When Cheng Xiaoshi confronts her to stop her from committing suicide Emma cries and says that she wants to be sent back in time. She says she wishes she didn't accept her bosses abuse nor his money to pay her to keep quiet about Liu Min leeching off of the company.
- Implied Rape: It can be implied that before Cheng Xiaoshi dove into Emma's body, her boss did more than attempt to kiss her that night.
- Interrupted Suicide: In episode 11 as Emma prepares to fall to her death, Cheng Xiaoshi appears to stop her and apologize for her misery, admitting all that happened tonight was his fault. Subverted, just as Emma reaches out for Cheng Xiaoshi, the serial killer possesses her and forces her to jump. Just as Emma falls, she's brought back to consciousness as she falls to her death.
- My Greatest Failure: As Cheng Xiaoshi attempts to stop Emma from her suicide, he explains that he can travel back in time and apologizes for messing with her life, thinking he was actually helping her. Emma breaks down into tears as she asks Cheng Xiaoshi to go back in time so she could turn down her bosses money bribe, his harassment and go back to a simpler life with her parents.
- Never Suicide: Emma's death is ruled as a suicide, but given the blond haired man she ran into and how her case comes back around episode 6, it's highly likely she was murdered. She was supposedly killed by Liu Min because he assumed she was trying to run away with the company's money. But in episode 11 as she seems to have survived the strangling and the crash, Cheng Xiaoshi attempts to stop her from committing suicide. However, she is then possessed by the true serial killer and forced to jump to her death.
- Not Quite Dead: The end of episode 9 reveals surveillance footage got film of Emma walking on a bridge that night. Liu Min even recounts his story that he just wanted to scare Emma and was afraid he actually killed her so he rushed to a hospital. As Emma comes back to consciousness, he screams thinking she was a ghost and crashed his car.
- Odd Name Out: Out of all of the other characters and clients, she's the only one with an English name while everyone else has Chinese names. It's revealed in episode 9 that she was using an English name and her real name is actually Wu Lihua. She changed her name in order to sound more intelligent and capable.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She dies in the first episode, but her case comes back as an investigator believes that she did not commit suicide and was in fact murdered. It's due to Emma that the serial killer who's been hinted at throughout the season starts to notice the Time Studio duo and takes an interest in Cheng Xiaoshi who shares similar powers to themself.
- The Stool Pigeon: Subverted. She discusses with her boss that an extra account seems to be taking a lot of money from their company. He tells her not to worry about it, but she nervously argues that if they don't fix it now it could hurt the company. He manages to quiet her with a bribe, which she hesitatingly takes.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Her death gets reported on at the end of the first episode.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Spring rolls. She orders some for her dinner and in her dream her mother cooks her some of these which she ate as a child. When she comes back to her apartment, her mother had even set out a plate of spring rolls for her.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Once Cheng Xiaoshi finds out about her death, he tries to stop her from committing suicide. It probably would have almost worked had the serial killer not decided to possess Emma's body just so they could torture Cheng Xiaoshi some more. They force Emma to jump to her death, leading Cheng Xiaoshi unable to stop her.
Lin Zhen
Voiced by: Nie Xiying (Chinese), Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese), Jad Saxton (English)
Yu Xia's closest friend and chef of their noodles. She ended up leaving Yu Xia's side after coming to terms with the fact she no longer enjoyed making the noodles Yu Xia once enjoyed.- Ambiguously Gay: She's really touchy feely with Yu Xia, even gently running her hand on top of Yu Xia's hand after the other complains about how she won't get married if she's this tired from work. Yu Xia panics when she notices (although it could have just been Chen Xiaoshi's reaction) and Lin Zhen doesn't seem to mind spending all of her time with her. It doesn't help they are basically childhood friends. The main reason she even cooked the bowl of noodles was to make Yu Xia happy and claims she was happiest when she watches her friend eat her food.
- Childhood Friend: She and Yu Xia likely knew each other since they were teens and were even roommates in university.
- Go Back to the Source: When she breaks off from Yu Xia, she criptidly tells her she's going back "to the start" since she's no longer happy with what her friend turned their business into. She ends up returning back to their hometown where their secret ingredient was grown and opens up her own humble noodle shop there.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Her relationship with Yu Xia does come off like this. It doesn't help that she was really touchy feely with her friend when Cheng Xiaoshi dives into her body.
- Secret Ingredient: She uses a secret ingredient that makes her noodles taste so delicious that Yu Xia doesn't even know. It's revealed to be herbs from Yu Xia's hometown that Yu Xia introduced to her when they lived in a dorm together.
- Spaghetti Kiss: Almost does this with Yu Xia, until Cheng Xiaoshi coughs out in nervousness.
- Supreme Chef: She's the main chef for The Girl's Dormitory Noodles, and always serves up delicious bowls.
- We Used to Be Friends: After Yu Xia still continues to push for expanding their business over what actually made their noodles so delicious to begin with, Lin Zhen decides to drop the business and start anew back in Yu Xia's hometown.
Chen Xiao's Mother
Voiced by: Michie Tomizawa (Japanese), Elizabeth Maxwell (English)
A stay at home mother who constantly nags to her son about his life choices, as well as his father always being absent, but she clearly cares for him.- Human Shield: Throws herself over her son as the roof of their home comes down during the earthquake and protects him at the cost of her life.
- Irony: She sings her son a lullaby Cheng Xiaoshi's mother used to sing to him. She also sings this to Chen Xiao as she's dying to calm him down.
- Mama Bear: Protects her son from the rubble of their fallen home and tries to keep him calm, even as she slowly dies.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Subverted. She admits that she didn't study much and therefore can't teach her son a whole lot.
- Tsundere: She comes off as cold and annoyed with her husband and son who pursue photography. However, it's clear this is just her way of showing her love to them, as she still celebrates her husband's birthday with the traditional bowl of noodles even when he isn't there. She even gifts her son his father's camera to use since she knows he loves taking photos, although she does add in that it cost her a lot of their money to get.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: She lashes out at her son when he suggests going to the city to become a photographer. But it's because she's afraid of being left alone the same way his father left them for his job. She never gets to really tell her son this as she slowly dies from her wounds protecting him.
- Struggling Single Mother: Subverted. She looks after her son since her husband is always away for his job. She constantly notes how tired she is as well as how superfluous her husband's career as a photographer is. While she makes unhappy comments about Chen Xiao wanting to pursue photography in the city as well, she's just scared of being left alone.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Cheng Xiaoshi begs for Lu Guang to help save her so she at least won't be among the casualties of the earthquake. However, Lu Guang lies to Cheng Xiaoshi, and she still ends up dying anyway.
Dong Yi
Voiced by: Jin Xian (Chinese), Tarusuke Shingaki (Japanese)
Xu Shanshan's friend who enjoys hanging out with her and uses every excuse he can to stay by her side.- Big Damn Reunion: Episode 11 shows Xu Shanshan being escorted out of the police station after she is recovered from Liu Min's garage. As she sees Dong Yi who is nervously pacing outside waiting for her, she cries and runs over to hug him.
- Cannot Spit It Out: He clearly has feelings for Xu Shanshan, but just cannot seem to tell her that. This does annoy Shanshan a bit as she wants him to make the first move. He even essentially passes up an important job interview when she goes missing, because he was worried about her safety.
- Nice Guy: Every scene shows how caring and kind he is, especially towards Xu Shanshan. Even Cheng Xiaoshi can feel how kind he is when he inhabits Shanshan's body.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He's been studying in university for years in order to get a good job and going off of Shanshan's memories, studies really hard.
Liu Lei
Lu Hongbin
Voiced by: Guan Shuai (Chinese), Takuya Masumoto (Japanese), Brandon McInnis (English)
- Posthumous Character: He's dead in the present time.
Ou Yang
Voiced by: Zhao Yitong (Chinese), Riho Sugiyama (Young - Japanese), Yumiko Konatsu (Old - Japanese), Sarah Roach (Young - English)
A Love Interest to Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang's newest client who he's been trying to win her hand in marriage by beating her father.- Action Girl: Beat up a group of bullies who were tormenting Siwen.
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Siwen finally makes it up the stares and loudly confesses his intentions on marrying her, even she can't help but laugh at the exclamation. Although it's clear she's happy at the idea.
- Childhood Friend Romance: She was childhood friends with Siwen who she ends up falling in love with.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Easily beats up a group of bullies for Siwen without breaking a sweat.
- Grow Old with Me: In present time she is an old woman along with Siwen, but the two remain together.
- May–December Romance: She's older than Siwen who's attempting to court and marry her by at least a few years, but does genuinely love him.
- I Will Wait for You: She doesn't say it aloud, but tries to get her father to stop beating Siwen by saying she won't marry if he would stop hurting him. In present time even in her old age, she's still waiting for him.
- Satellite Love Interest: Not much is given about her backstory other than the fact that Siwen has been trying to win her hand in marriage for a while.
Chen Bin
Voiced by: Xing Chao (Chinese), Ryosuke Morita (Japanese), Howard Wang (English)
Xiao Li's assistant.- Driven to Suicide: Subverted. Xiao Ma murdered him and set it up to be a suicide.
Antagonists
Liu Min
Voiced by: Sun Lulu (Chinese), Kengo Kawanishi (Japanese), Daman Mills (English)
A mysterious man who seems to be connected to a string of murders that have been occurring in the story.- Cruel and Unusual Death: Red Eyes possesses him as he's being interrogated and chokes him to death with the chains of his handcuffs.
- Face Framed in Shadow: His hat covers the upper part of his face.
- Foreshadowing: In one of Liu Min's posts when people speculate whether or not he's the serial killer being reported upon, he angrily replies that he wasn't the serial killer. Closer inspection of his message shows him saying it was his "friend" who showed him a trick and after seeing it, wanted nothing to do with it.
- Hypocrite: He calls Emma and people with less money than him a leech who tries to take money away from people like him. But it's later revealed he had been leeching off of his rich father for money and when he was cut off, he started to leech off of Emma's company.
- Implausible Deniability: He claims he's not the serial killer despite actually being at the crime scene and nearly killing Cheng Xiaoshi. Obviously, the police and everyone else don't believe him. Subverted when it's revealed it was his "friend" who possessed his body to commit the crimes in.
- Madness Mantra: He rambles about his "friend" helping him wipe out the "insects" around him.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Wears a creepy Noh like mask when he goes to attack Xu Shanshan and Lu Guang.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He claims this was his reaction to killing Emma as he only wanted to scare her and tried to rush to a hospital thinking he actually killed her. Then Emma manages to wake up, only to scare Liu Min as he crashes the car.
- The Nameless: He wasn't given a name until episode 9, with the police officer identifying him as Liu Min.
- Nothing but Skin and Bones: Compared to the first time he's been seen. His reappearance in episode 9 reveals that he's been worse for wear since his accident. The only thing he's shown to be consuming are glasses of alcohol.
- Obfuscating Disability: He's in a wheelchair when the police come over to investigate him. Episode 10 shows he can walk perfectly fine, but this is only because the serial killer possesses his body.
- Rich Bitch: He's actually a rich guy and can't stand people like Emma who come from the country trying to get a job and calls her a "parasite". The reason he kills her was because he believes she was running off with the company's money.
- Sanity Slippage: It's likely that Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi have been a part of his deteriorating sanity as he even seems to lose weight since his first appearance. He even giggles to himself as veins pop out of his eyes and he refers to Cheng Xiaoshi as his "friend".
- Serial Killer: It's implied he murdered Emma and framed it as her commuting suicide and even kills one of Qiao Ling's friends. Turns out, he was just going after Emma from her previous job, and it's revealed that he was actually being possessed by someone he refers to as his "friend".
- Split Personality: He comes off like this which the police even question. Turns out he actually has a "friend" who possesses him to commit their crimes for.
-
Wheelchair Woobie: Episode 9 reveals he's been placed in a wheelchair because of a car crash, and has apparently been in one for a while, going off how thin he looks. However, the car crash was self-inflicted; he drove off the road after nearly strangling Emma and being surprised when she turns out to still be (barely) alive. When he appears to walk unassisted, it's revealed the reason behind that is because his "friend" is possessing him. - Willing Channeler: He seems to be slightly okay with his friend possessing his body for his own purposes, such as killing.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As Liu Min is being interrogated by the police, his "friend" possesses him once again and starts to choke Liu Min out with the chain of his handcuffs. He is confirmed to be dead in season 2, and Xiao Li uses his death to cover for Lu Guang.
- You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: After hearing Cheng Xiaoshi's scream, he panics and attempts to rush Emma to the hospital afraid that he actually killed her. When she manages to come back to consciousness he screams that she was a ghost and crashes his car.
- Younger Than They Look: He's identified as 27 years old, but could be confused as younger at a glance.
Li Tianxi
Voiced by: Cheng Li (Chinese), Rachel Thompson (English)
A mysterious girl who confronts Cheng Xiaoshi and the others about the ongoing case. But it turns out her brother Li Tianchen was impersonating her, and she's actually a scared girl who hates seeing how dirtied her brother's hands have gotten.- Affectionate Nickname: Li Tianchen calls her Xixi.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She ends up cooperating with the police, mainly because Qiao Ling made an effort to connect with her and listen to her. Li Tianxi seems to pass on some memories or some of her powers to Qiao Ling as she dies while holding her hand. Even thanking Qiao Ling for listening to her.
- Cute Mute: As a child she wasn't able to vocalize any words despite the doctors she went to see. Even in present day, she's unable to speak and communicates with others through drawings. Although in the last episodes leading to the finale, she's able to finally speak but in short strained sentences.
- Girlish Pigtails: She wears her hair in two twintails, which she even wore as a child.
- Meaningful Echo: As a child, she learnt sign language since she couldn't speak, with her brother trying to teach her useful phrases such as "I want to go home". In the penultimate episode and the finale of season 2, Li Tianxi repeats these gestures for her brother, even speaking them aloud. Crying tearfully that she just wants to go home with her brother as she forms the "home" sign in front of herself. Realizing how horrible he's become, Li Tianchen breaks down crying with his twin.
- Morality Pet: She seemed to play this role when she and her brother were still young, but over time, Li Tianchen would continue to kill people with their powers, leading Li Tianxi to run from him. In the finale, her death seems to lead him down an even darker path. With her presence seeming to be the only thing managing to keep him reasonably sane.
- The Speechless: She one day stopped speaking altogether as a child, leading her mother to worry and taking her to see medical professionals for a cure. But it's later shown the reason she suddenly stopped speaking was due to her fearing her parents would divorce, and wanted her family to stay together. However, the trauma that occured after it as well as her father's abuse towards them, made it even more difficult to speak in present day.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As a child, her mother took her to see many medical professionals to try and help cure her of her mutism. She actually stopped speaking for fear her parents would get divorced and her family would fall apart. However, her father was incredibly abusive to her mother and brother, which ends with Li Tianchen possessing their mother and killing their father in an act of revenge. All of this leads to her current situation where she and her brother are used as tools to wipe out oppositions.
Li Tianchen
Voiced by: Jinli (Chinese), Dee Meo (English)
An unseen "friend" of Liu Min's who possesses others in order to commit crimes. It's revealed in season 2, he is the "Red Eyes" controlling others and leading them to their deaths.- Big Brother Instinct: It appears that everything he does for the most part is to protect his little sister, Li Tianxi. From teaching her sign language, and even trying to protect her from witnessing the abuse their father puts their mother through.
- Big Bad: After season 1 aired, he is confirmed to be the main villain for the series.
- Coordinated Clothes: He and his twin appear to wear similar looking attire. It turns out he can easily pass for his sister by wearing a wig and pitching his voice up.
- Dissonant Serenity: Is perfectly calm once he stabs Lu Guang as Qiao Ling, and happily tells Cheng Xiaoshi that he now reset the "game".
- The Dog Bites Back: After witnessing the abuse their father continues to put their mother through, Tianchen finally has enough and tries to fight back. He then uses his powers for the first time to possess their mother and kills their father through her.
- Domestic Abuse: Their father was incredibly abusive towards their mother and in a jealous rage, attempted to hit her with a hammer. Li Tianchen gets in the way in order to protect his mother, only to get injured on his head.
- Eviler than Thou: He possesses Liu Min and forces him to strangle himself to death with his own handcuffs while he's being interrogated.
- Evil Twin: He's the twin who gets his hands dirty by actually killing his victims with the help of his sister. Li Tianxi is so horrified by the crimes her brother commits she runs away from him.
- The Faceless: He hasn't made a physical appearance as of season 1, since they can possess and inhabit the bodies of others. Season 2, it's revealed he is Li Tianxi, one of the twins Cheng Xiaoshi sees in the photo left behind for Lu Guang.
- False Friend: Liu Min addresses him as his "friend". The sentiment is clearly not truly shared considering they possess Liu Min and choke him to death while he's being interrogated.
- It Amused Me: When Cheng Xiaoshi interrogates them, they claim that this is their reason for killing all of their victims. Although he does mention that he's an "agent" and not just doing this for his own amusement, and it's later revealed that Qian Jin sometimes offered his services as an assassin to clients.
- Laughing Mad: After the murder of their father and supposed suicide of their mother, Li Tianchen maniacally laughs with Qian Jin joining in. He does so again as he corners Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi, asking the two why they didn't change the twins fate.
- Leave No Witnesses: When it seems like they're about to leave, they make sure to take their host down first. Such as forcing Emma to jump, Lu Ming to strangle himself and nearly has Qiao Ling kill herself with a knife had Cheng Xiaoshi not ran towards her to grapple the knife out of his friend's hands.
- Logical Weakness: If he's physically present, he can possess someone via touch. However, this ability is useless if his opponent knows this and slaps his hand away or dodges out of reach.
- Powers via Possession: They can possess other people's bodies, from Emma in the past to Qiao Ling and Liu Min in the present. He even possessed Liu Min to commit his crimes and can even get rid of Liu Min's disability when he possesses him, similar to Cheng Xiaoshi when he dives. Li Tianxi writes to Qiao Ling that she works in tandem with her brother so their powers combined cause the possession to actually take place.
- Psycho Knife Nut: A serial killer who sees killing as a game. They attempt to attack Xu Shanshan and Lu Guang with a knife, but is more successful with Lu Guang who was caught off guard.]]
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Whenever they possess someone their victim has glowing red eyes. He does this to Liu Min, Emma, and Qiao Ling.
- Self-Made Orphan: Both of his parents kill each other in a domestic violence case, with them attacking one another. When he recounts the situation, he was acutally possessing his mother to attack their father and kill him off for good. Unfortunately, his mother gets stabbed in the scuffle, leading her to die as well.
- Serial Killer: The true person behind all of the murders. The reason they can't be caught is because they possess other people in order to commit their crimes.
- The Sociopath: Takes absolute delight in killing their victims and shows absolutely no remorse despite Cheng Xiaoshi trying to make them face their crimes.
- Theme Twin Naming: His name is "Tianchen" while his sister is "Tianxi".
- Unusual Euphemism: Refers to their killings as a "game", even giddily telling Cheng Xiaoshi the next time they meet they hope he won't "cheat" in their next game.
- Violently Protective Child: He wants to be strong in order to protect those he cares for, such as his sister and his mother. When he finally does gain this "power" He possesses his mother to finally lash back at his father and beats him to death with the same hammer he used. He later on uses his powers to "get back" at the people who had spread rumors about his mother.
- Worthy Opponent: Sees Cheng Xiaoshi as this, which is why they are so keen to meet him and go against him since they both seem to share the same kind of power.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to have any discussions about this person without going into the fact that they have been possessing Liu Min and committing murders through him and likely others as well.
Qian Jin
Voiced by: Wei Chao (Chinese), Aaron Campbell (English)
A mysterious lawyer who represents Liu Jing and is Xiao Li's former police partner. He seems to know more than he lets on as the season goes on, especially about the powers Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi possess.- Big Bad: Of Season 2, alongside Li Tianchen.
- Dark Is Evil: He's always donned in a dark suit with dark gloves covering his hand. It's not hard to pin him down as the villain for this season.
- Evil Is Petty: For the hostage exchange at the theatre, he singles out Qiao Ling as the civilian allowed to come with Cheng Xiaoshi simply because she slapped him several episodes before.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He suspected his wife was having an affair with her fellow actor who spent a lot of time together after their rehearsals. Turns out, nothing was going on between the two, and she just wanted some time away from Qian Jin who she admitted could be a bit intense in his emotions. But he still to this day deludes himself into believing she was cheating.
- Hero Killer: He has an attempted murder under his belt for almost killing the detective. But he's more successful when she shoots Li Tianxi through the chest as she begs her brother to go home with her.
- Mr. Fanservice: One of his first scenes of the seasons is showing him getting dressed while taking a call. Slowly putting a dress shirt on as his muscles and scars are being shown.
- Never My Fault: He was the one who killed his wife, and had Li Tianchen possess her co-worker who he thought she was having an affair with to hang himself. However, he refuses to admit he was wrong in doing these actions, and deludes himself into believing his own lies about an affair that never even happened. Tian Chen even calls him out on it. Reminding Qian Jin he had the twins go through his wife's memories to find any evidence of cheating and found nothing, but still had them be killed.
- Nightmare Face: Prone to making these, especially at the start of the season when we're first seeing him with his pleasant lawyer mask off.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: He acts fairly polite and reserved in public when speaking to others - usually defined as a friendly face by others. But in private or away from his target, he is cold, calculating, and will kill or do whatever he can to get what he wants.
Liu Jing
Voiced by: Lin Qiang (Chinese), Anthony Bowling (English)
The father of Liu Min and the CEO of Quede Games, who requests Qian Jin's services. Xiao Ma
Voiced by: Ya Jie (Chinese), Bryan Massey (English)
Part of Qian Jin's possee, he takes care of his dirty work and coordinates with others on how to get rid of Qian Jin's "problems".- Good Old Fisticuffs: His fighting style is brutal and unpredictable, easily overwhelming the inexperienced but leaving him open to advanced martial arts techniques. Xiaoshi realizes he's an experienced street fighter.
- Made of Iron: Man can really take a beating. Qiao Ling and Cheng Xiaoshi working together can only manage to briefly knock him out or stun him. Even getting shot by Qian Jin isn't enough to put him down, at least initially.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Qian Jin ends up shooting Xiao Ma once they had to the sewers, proclaiming he no longer needs him and he needs no witnesses to the crimes he committed. He manages to get back up later and tries to shoot Qian Jin for betraying him. Qian Jin ends up offing Xiao Ma for good later on.
