Lingshi Jiang

A wonderful childhood was had by Lingshi. He looks back on it with a smile, much like his sister. He was young enough not to be completely rattled by the birth of another child in the household and took to her like glue. The certifiable overprotective big brother, he could easily consider her his best friend. While he's not overbearing in this sense, it takes a considerable amount of restrain on his part to counteract the urge. He likes to give her space while still leaving the window open for her to come to him. Then again, when he knows she's sad and hiding - he likes to smother her with attention in the form of cooking for her. He had gained quite a penchant for culinary arts early on in his life.

Lingshi has always felt blessed and never took it for granted. He excelled in school and was always well-liked by his peers. While he was one to standout in the crowd, little could be said of his background to warrant such a thing. He was born and raised in Taiwan, and until he graduated from culinary school - he knew nothing else. Though he really wouldn't have had it any other way, as he preferred to be nearby so he could reach his sister in times of trouble. Especially when Teng became involved in the entertainment business and effectively left her behind. He has never forgiven the guy for it, no matter how nice he is or how understandable the circumstances were.

The month of the outbreak, Lingshi had finally decided (with some encouragement from his parents and employers alike) that he should expand some of his cooking horizons. So, he was sent abroad to Rome to dabble in other non-Asian cuisine. Naturally, he was successful at it and had made plans to return quickly from the seminars but the pulse struck. Lost in the aftermath of an overrun Rome, he was unable for weeks to make any outside contact. He was lucky just to find places to hide.

Trying to escape the falling city was simply out the question, so all he could do was wait and hope for something to change. Inevitably it did thanks to the Project. He found shelter with them and was quick to make plans at the cost of doing work at their bidding on the side just to return to Taipei to find his sister.

After the Pulse

After arriving back in Taipei, he was relieved to find his sister safe and sound. Though he was given the news of their parents' passing, he kept it together to support her through it. Since then he has made every effort to remain in Taipei and uses his abilities to see to it that he can do that freely. While he had tapered off slightly in the past with his protective nature of her, he's gotten back his big brother overprotective nature full force with the after effects of the pulse. He won't let anything happened to her if he can help it, and this has caused him some problems along the way. But he feels it's worth it for her.

Due to his previously demanding work schedule prior to the outbreak, Lingshi actually kept very few friends. He would hang out with people when he had the chance, but otherwise he was always immersed in his work. It wasn't until he was sent to Rome to take some lessons that he found himself with an excess of spare time. So, he made some friends while staying there only for the outbreak to occur. After making it home, he kept in touch with them and one of them came to visit him — except she didn't make it to Taipei due to her plane crashing.

When he invited Niav down, he was a little anxious but she managed to get in just fine thankfully. When the disasters began occurring, he kept near his sister and Niav, and sent a few duplicates out to help fend off zombies as well. Niav ended up using her abilities and the results were interesting, but he was too worried about her well-being to care. She became terribly ill in the aftermath and he's been looking after her ever since.

After attending Tablo's Outbreak Asia Concert, he planned to go back to Rome, Italy with Niav for an extended period of time. He took the chance to finish what he had started, too, in lieu of sightseeing.

While his background was rather tame, Lingshi was anything but ordinary. Intelligent and ambitious, he is a fast-learner and has a zest for applying it to his top interest: cooking. Since he was a kid, he always tried to help out in the kitchen and was quite good at it. He loved it. So, it was no surprise to anyone in his family when he chose the occupation that he did. Though some were surprised that he didn't pursue his second interest, that of music. He's a musical encyclopedia, but really isn't interested in what other people listen to -- rather, their reasons.

Though he takes his work seriously, he's very congenial and even playful. Outside of work, Lingshi is somewhat of a playboy that doesn't take it seriously. Laid back, he has a cunning wit and jovial nature that, when meshed together, make him an attractive person. He's not at all arrogant, but he is quite prideful when it comes to his accomplishments. Confident yes, smug - no, only when he's kidding around.

Perhaps due to his being a chef, he is also extremely nit-picky with certain things. Particular as he is, he isn't obnoxious about it and usually tries to accommodate for everyone's needs over his first. Still, he likes to hold it over peoples' heads at the same time just because he can. He feels it smooths the waters. He hasn't met a person he doesn't like save for Teng, and he only dislikes him because his sister was hurt because of him. Otherwise, he's always liked the guy.

One could sum him up easily by saying he's simply bizarre and hard to gauge, and they'd be right. He's unpredictable. He could be a shameless flirt one minute and utterly serious the next. He's a series of extremes, but mostly? He's a mellow guy and has a grand sense of humor to boot. Just disregard that he's slightly perverted about some things at times.

Kinetic Duplication — Lingshi creates an identical physical living duplicate of himself upon any physical impact, possibly via extradimensional mass acquisition. This process is spontaneous and cannot be prevented (yet). Although he can create multiple duplicates, and the duplicates themselves can also replicate, each is only able to create one duplicate at a time. He has the current potential to produce around forty duplicates in this manner. The duplicates think, feel, and act independently, though usually guided by the original. Each tends to manifest one aspect of his personality, which increases in strength with lengthier separation from the original. Lingshi is telepathically and empathetically linked to his duplicates, suffering severe, potentially fatal, trauma if one were to die. If Lingshi himself were killed, one of his active dupes is capable of taking over as the new original and will assume the dominant abilities and collective personality that the original Lingshi had. It is virtually impossible to distinguish the original from the duplicates.

duplication absorption — He can absorb the dupes back into himself at will, at the same time absorbing the memories, skills and experiences of the duplicates. With it, he also takes any injuries they suffered.

duplication healing — Not yet attained.

Speed Stealing — He is able to "steal" speed and/or momentum from anyone, effectively turning them into living statues. Also can steal speed from bullets and other fast moving objects thrown at him or at others. With the devolution of his superhuman speed, this is all that has remained. He still retains the ability to learn rapidly. He also can hold the speed in reserve and use it whenever he wishes, or "give" it to one of his duplicates prior to duplicating. They are also capable of this ability. With this, his mind works "above speed" so to speak, so he can dodge things that are faster than him, tell you how many cars speed by, etc.

Mental Manipulation — While he no longer has complete superhuman speed, his abilities devolved and over time developed into something else in that regard. As his mind moves at a different rate, it altered his inherent speedster ability. Lingshi can selectively interfere with the use of special abilities and selectively erase memories. He uses his power in conjunction with hand-to-hand combat skills that he learned rapidly to subdue others mentally. He can also render individuals unconscious by physical contact. While he can nullify powers of those within his immediate vicinity without physical contact, his other mental abilities require direct contact. His powers do require some mental effort, and sufficient resistance by another of sufficient power and/or skill can cause him physical and mental strain. If someone has mental immunity, then he can do nothing to affect that individual. He cannot use this ability to control someone else, only subdue, restrain them in some way.

Family

Mother & Father — Deceased.
Mingrui Jiang — Sister.

Friendships

Niav Orlos — She helped him out in Rome, and he macked on her. They became pretty good friends out of the ordeal. He thinks she's superfly nice and awesome. After WDD, she was hit very hard from the offset of using her own powers. She had come to visit him prior to the ordeal, and so he took it upon himself to look after her. Considers her nothing but a very dear friend now. A friend he bangs, but a friend nonetheless.
Arden Lin — An old friend since childhood that he kept in touch with on and off throughout the years. After becoming a chef, they were in contact more often as he catered for her on more than one occasion. He doesn't really notice her 'tude toward others.
Lani — *.* So hot, so sweet, so awesome.

Acquaintances

Teng — Still not particularly fond of him, but hey. What can you do? He got to punch him in the face, so he's trying to be nice now.
Brian — He's watching you.