Character · from book 1
Li Jun and Zhang
Two warehouse workers plucked out of a hallway between hornets and troglodytes to play Death Watch for the lives of Li Jun's sister Li Na and their manager. They refuse to choose, and Carl gets them sent back with a plan instead of a teleport point.
First appears: Book 1
Series arc
As of book 7. Saved by refusing to choose in book 1, the train's driver in book 3, a vampire cured in book 5, an eye eaten in book 6. In book 7 Li Jun's Walk on Air turns up on Carl's toe ring, he ties wire round a black dragon's neck, and he takes speaker eleven on a cart to lead a god away from Donut and dies: 'I love you with the moon and the sun and all the stars in the sky.' In the roots of a dead changeling he thanks Carl for more time with his sister and his best friend, and the same words arrive from a deceased crawler. Zhang: 'it makes me proud to have you as a friend.' He goes into the stairwell alone.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Eye of the Bedlam Bride: an eye tattooed into Carl's chest | B6 ch. 71 | open · B7 ch. 19 — Hapanzi tells Carl she is trapped in Carl's own body and gives him control of the eye and its containment; Mind Balance keeps her out; 'You're a puppet' (ch. 62). |
| Houston's Beautiful Place: the changelings as the key | B7 ch. 68 | open — 'They are the key. The changelings. This world. Why do you think we come here, cycle after cycle? […] It was here all along, right under our mandibles.' A dead changeling grew roots and became Li Jun's face; Carl was held spinning as with Paulie. The Viceroys' study of life and death, and the thing some see at the moment of death. |
| Li Na: every base stat maxed, three marks unpaid, no healing ever | B7 ch. 82 | open — She marked everyone in the ball and three of Rust's harem reached the eighteenth through the Cosmic Lounge; the AI on 300s: 'we don't actually have a plan to deal with this'; her brother's eye in her socket; she blames Donut and does not speak. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 1
Saved from the Maestro's game by refusing to choose and by Carl's whispered plan (B1 ch. 42). Alive in a safe room somewhere on the second floor with Li Na and their manager at the end of book 1.
Through book 2
Li Jun, a Street Monk at level 25, is ninth on the leaderboard (B2 ch. 26).
Through book 3
Trapped with a thousand at Vermillion 101 and freed by the train Katia rode the front of (B3 ch. 21, B3 ch. 24); Li Jun, a Street Monk, comes to pay his respects, learns to drive it, and takes the thousand to the stand at station 36 (B3 ch. 24, B3 ch. 25). Zhang, an Earth Mover in black-and-gold armour, spends his shrinking wand's last charge so the cart fits the tunnels (B3 ch. 31) and drives the portal onto both god-vessels (B3 ch. 32, B3 ch. 33). Zhang loves Li Jun's sister Li Na, Elle reports, and Li Jun does not know (B3 ch. 27).
Through book 4
Through book 5
Chris's travelling companions (B5 ch. 36); Li Jun had secretly been a vampire, told only his sister and Zhang, and is cured by Miriam's death (B5 ch. 50). Zhang stretches the sleeping guards' timers to ten minutes (B5 ch. 62); jugglers at the talent show (B5 ch. 64, B5 ch. 73). Li Jun is shell-shocked after his sister and Katia come back from Eva (B5 ch. 77).
Through book 6
Through book 7
Walk on Air on Carl's toe (B7 ch. 4); wire tied round a dragon's neck (B7 ch. 51); a celestial eye (B7 ch. 57). Li Jun leads a god away on a cart and dies — 'with the moon and the sun and all the stars' — and thanks Carl from a changeling's roots (B7 ch. 68). Zhang: 'it makes me proud to have you as a friend' (B7 ch. 77); into the stairwell alone (B7 ch. 86).
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 2/48 | Ch. 42, Ch. 43 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 1/26 | Ch. 26 · the book's own page |
| 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook | 12/35 | 3, 13, 21, 24–25, 27–29, 31–34 · the book's own page |
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 3/35 | Ch. 4, Ch. 20, Ch. 33 · the book's own page |
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 13/78 | 11, 21, 36, 50–51, 60, 62, 64, 69, 72–73, 77–78 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 18/74 | 10–11, 19, 22, 38, 40–41, 49, 57, 62–65, 67, 69–72 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 26/89 | 3–5, 18, 28–29, 32, 40, 47, 50–53, 55–58, 65–66, 68–69, 71, 75, 77, 79, 86 · the book's own page |
By book
Li Jun and Zhang in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
Warehouse co-workers frozen out of a hallway between hornets and troglodytes for the Maestro's Death Watch (ch. 42), with Li Jun's sister Li Na and their manager left in the scene. Told to spend two teleport points on whoever they want saved, Li Jun says 'We die together' and Zhang says save the Li siblings; Carl's whispered plan — run through the lizards, leave the sword — gets all four out. They wave at Frank and Maggie before the audience can see them.
Li Jun and Zhang in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Li Jun is ninth on the leaderboard as a Street Monk, level 25; Carl is glad (epilogue).
Li Jun and Zhang in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Li Jun a Street Monk, ninth then off the list (ch. 3, ch. 13); trapped with a thousand at Vermillion 101 and freed by a train with Katia on its nose (ch. 21, ch. 22); comes to pay his respects and learns to drive it to station 36 (ch. 24). Zhang, an Earth Mover in black-and-gold armour, spends his shrinking wand's last charge on a cart (ch. 31) and drives the portal onto a god's vessel with a second to spare (ch. 32, ch. 33). Zhang is in love with Li Jun's sister Li Na, Elle reports, and Li Jun does not know (ch. 27).
Li Jun and Zhang in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
In another bubble, at their last castle, underwater by the end as the waterline rose all floor; their popped bubble's water kills crawlers in the Lacuna (ch. 33). Li Jun and his sister stay to watch a tentacle god for Carl, see Agatha go down the stairs, and are told to look the party up in the guild system (ch. 20, ch. 33).
Li Jun and Zhang in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
Chris's travelling companions (ch. 36); Li Jun had secretly been a vampire, told only his sister and Zhang, and is cured by Miriam's death (ch. 50). Zhang stretches the sleeping guards' timers to ten minutes (ch. 62); jugglers at the talent show (ch. 64, ch. 73). Li Jun is shell-shocked after his sister and Katia come back from Eva (ch. 77).
Li Jun and Zhang in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Li Jun and Zhang in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Li Jun's Walk on Air turns up on Carl's toe ring, '(already obtained)', and Carl's apology goes unanswered (ch. 4); he buys the skill back with a book (ch. 40). The brothers run splash towers in Shanty Town (ch. 18), trail wire through a temple and tie it round a black dragon's neck (ch. 50, ch. 51), stand frozen at Khepri's door (ch. 53), and come round the corner alive with Bianca and Annie — Zhang shaking his fist at the ceiling (ch. 55). Li Jun's new celestial eye slows time (ch. 57); he takes speaker eleven on a cart to lead Harpocrates away from Donut and dies: 'I love you with the moon and the sun and all the stars in the sky' (ch. 68). In the roots of a dead changeling he thanks Carl for more time with his sister and his best friend, and the same words arrive as a message from a deceased crawler (ch. 68). Zhang: 'Jun was always afraid he wouldn't do anything important […] it makes me proud to have you as a friend' (ch. 77). He goes into the stairwell alone (ch. 86).