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Main Characters
Zhao Yunlan (赵云澜)
Voiced by: Cheng Feng Gui Qu (audio drama), Bai Yu (live-action)
Played by: Bai Yu (live-action)
General Tropes
- Beware the Silly Ones
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He may not look like much at first, but there's a reason why he's the leader of SID and why his teammates never doubt him.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
- The Leader
- Men Can't Keep House: When Shen Wei first enters his apartment, he sees that it's a complete mess, complete with unwashed dishes and expired food in the fridge.
Tropes that apply to him in the novel:
Tropes that apply to him in the series:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the novel, he's the reincarnation of Kunlun, a deity of the mountain with the same name. This is tweaked in the drama where he's not Kunlun (who, in the adaptation, is a human war chieftain that got killed) and only posed as him for a time when he accidentally traveled into the past.
- Adaptational Personality Change
- Anger Born of Worry
- Death by Adaptation
- Doesn't Like Guns: Played with. He can use his gun in dealing with the Undergrounders, but he has bad memories with said gun, which often causes him to hesitate.
- Sweet Tooth: In the live-action drama, he's often seen with a lollipop in his mouth, since he recently quit smoking and is eating sweets as a healthier alternative.
Shen Wei (沈巍)
Voiced by: Ace (audio drama, track 1), Mic (audio drama, track 2), Zhu Yilong (live-action)
Played by: Zhu Yilong (live-action)
General Tropes
- Anger Born of Worry
- Badass Teacher: He's a university professor, as well as an ancient, powerful being.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Combined with Beware the Quiet Ones.
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to Ye Zun's Cain.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: One small cup of wine immediately knocks him out flat.
- Hopeless with Tech: Downplayed. It's telling that even in the modern age, he still doesn't own a cellphone. A few characters even lampshade this.
- Smart People Wear Glasses
- Really 700 Years Old: On the surface, he looks like he's in his thirties. But in actuality, he's a few thousand years old.
Tropes that apply to him in the novel
Tropes that apply to him in the series
- Adaptational Job Change: Zigzagged; he's a university professor in both the novel and the live-action drama, but he teaches Classic Literature in the former and Biology in the latter.
- Adaptational Name Change: Title change, to be more accurate. In the novel, he's known as the Ghost King (in the past) or the Ghost Slayer (at present); whereas in the drama, he's known as the Black Robe Envoy.
- Adaptational Personality Change
- Cool Mask: In the drama, whenever he's in his Black Robe Envoy getup.
- Death by Adaptation
- Energy Donation: He does this a few times in the live-action drama, which slowly kills him.
- Sinister Scimitar: His other main weapon in a scimitar. Although the sinister part is half-inaccurate, since Shen Wei may be the last person anyone would want to cross, he's not a villain.
Special Investigation Department (SID)
Guo Changcheng (郭长城)
Voiced by: Dong Dong (audio drama), Shen Dawei (live-action)
Played by: Xin Peng (live-action)
- All-Loving Hero
- Butt-Monkey: His naivety and inexperience easily makes him a punching bag.
- Decoy Protagonist
- The Empath
- The Load
- Naïve Newcomer
- Nepotism: Zigzagged. Because his uncle has connections to the SID and is in a higher position of power over them, majority of them assumed that this was the reason Guo Changcheng got into SID in the first place. It doesn't help that he starts out as The Load of the group. Then it's revealed that his uncle didn't actually approve of his decision out of fear for his safety.
- Nice Guy: Sometimes, he's too nice for his own good. At times, his kindness nearly costs him his life.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: To sum it up, he's afraid of a lot of things. It goes to the point that Lin Jing makes him weapon that generates electricity whenever he's frightened, and Guo Changcheng is afraid of electricity as well.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist
Da Qing (大庆)
Voiced by: Tian Yun Xiao Xiao (audio drama), Wang Zi (live-action)
Played by: Li Yan (live-action)
The deputy chief of SID.
- Animorphism: He can transform into a cat.
- Cats Are Mean: Averted in the live-action, where he's a bit mischievous and playful but far from mean.
- Hellish Pupils
- Laser-Guided Amnesia
- Number Two
- Really 700 Years Old: He's as old as Shen Wei.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Dried fish.
Chu Shuzhi (楚恕之)
Played by: Jiang Mingyang (live-action)
General Tropes
- The Big Guy: His powers and fighting ability make him one of the most reliable members of SID, especially when combat is involved.
- Not So Above It All: He may be a serious guy by default, but he's not completely humorless.
Tropes that apply to him in the novel
Tropes that apply to him in the series
- Adaptational Backstory Change
- Big Brother Instinct
- Clothing Reflects Personality: He wears black clothing all the time. Fitting for a serious character like him.
- Dark and Troubled Past
- Defrosting Ice King
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Marionette Master: He has the ability to use magical puppet strings, and he's very efficient with it.
- Undying Loyalty: In the drama, he's steadfastly loyal to Shen Wei since he saved him from punishment.
Zhu Hong (祝红)
Voiced by: Su Qingyan (audio drama)
Played by: Gao Yu'er (live-action)
The secretary of SID.
General Tropes
- Action Girl
- Not Now, Kiddo: She tends to get this treatment from her uncle, who tends to treat her like a child despite meaning well with his actions. Granted, he's not wrong in that Zhu Hong tends to be impulsive and emotional.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Subverted. Despite her reptilian characteristics, she's on the side of good.
Tropes that apply to her in the novel
Tropes that apply to her in the series
- All Love Is Unrequited: She has feelings for Zhao Yunlan. He's aware of her feelings, but he doesn't reciprocate them.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She becomes this whenever Shen Wei is involved.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes glow red whenever she uses her powers.
Wang Zheng (汪徵)
Voiced by: Lin Su (audio drama)
Played by: Li Siqi (live-action)
The accountant of SID.
General Tropes
- Dark and Troubled Past
- Friendly Ghost
- Off with Her Head!
- Sickeningly Sweethearts
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Not so much on the stringy hair, but she's got the "ghost girl" part down pat.
Tropes that apply to her in the novel
Tropes that apply to her in the series
- Death by Adaptation
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Sins of Our Fathers: She's lynched by her own tribe because of her family's misdeeds, which she wasn't even a part of.
Lin Jing (林静)
Voiced by: Xiao Ran (audio drama), Hu Yi (live-action)
Played by: Liu Minting (live-action)
The scientist of SID.
- Becoming the Mask
- Mad Scientist: He's saner than most examples of the trope, but he's still quite eccentric. Compared to his teacher though, he's definitely a lot more benevolent.
- The Mole
Sang Zan (桑赞)
Played by: Wang Chaowei (live-action)
Wang Zheng's paramour, and eventually the librarian/archivist of SID.
General Tropes
- Easily Forgiven: Though she mourns their deaths, Wang Zheng doesn't hold a grudge against Sang Zen for murdering her father and brother.
- Fate Worse than Death: He spent a hundred years in a crystal beneath a cave plagued with the Ghost Beasts and the vengeful spirits of the Hanga Tribe.
- Friendly Ghost
- Sickeningly Sweethearts
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After a century of isolation, being hired into the SID definitely serves as this for him since he's given a second chance at living.
- The Unintelligible: Downplayed. Spending a century trapped in a crystal caused him to nearly forget how to speak, although he can still understand what others are saying to him. He tries to fix this by re-learning how to talk properly.
Tropes that apply to him in the novel
Tropes that apply to him in the series
- Death by Adaptation
- Dying Curse: He utters this when the Hanga Tribe turns on him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the drama, he and Wang Zheng sacrifice themselves to prevent Ye Zun from absorbing Shen Wei.
