Zhao

Zhao grew up in a large, poor, and economically disadvantaged family, where affection and trust never prevailed over the law of survival: "whoever contributes the most, eats the most." One day her parents sent her to trade firewood for a loaf of bread to eat. However, some bandits saw her, small and alone, beat her, and stole everything she had. When Zhao returned to her parents, hurt and with nothing, they didn't comfort her. They punished her by withholding food for two days, eventually labeling her "worthless" and throwing her out of the house. The only things Zhao took with her were her clothes and a stuffed rabbit. She had to wander the streets with nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. At one point, she was so hungry that she went to a pawn shop. The owner noticed her situation and decided to exchange her necklace for a considerable amount of money, as it was the only valuable thing Zhao possessed. This allowed her to eat for a month. Zhao learned something: she observed people and learned that if you have value, you will be recognized even if you crawl in the mud. This instilled in her the belief in "equivalent exchange" giving and receiving something in return. One day, Zhao put her theory to the test. Upon seeing a Krampus official about to sign a contract, Zhao approached and, trembling, pointed out a loophole in the contract. This surprised the official, who recognized her as a clever girl and even asked how much her intelligence was worth. That was the first day Zhao felt valued, the first time she felt she mattered. The official recommended her to Krampus, and so Zhao began working there from a young age, becoming an elite member who joined in the early days. She put her belief in equal exchange into practice in everything, achieving success, accomplishing many feats, and earning the title of the undefeated Krampus legend. The Krampus Audit is a self-regulatory organization of TOPS (TOPS is a powerful corporate alliance that brings together the wealthiest and most influential companies in New Eridu). Its objective is to oversee the functioning of the TOPS Round Table, ensuring that all actions, however ruthless or morally ambiguous, conform to the alliance's fundamental norms and interests. If these rules are broken, Krampus intervenes to punish the offenders. Krampus's workers are called "judges." Zhao takes her work extremely seriously, even with her colleagues, and always fulfills the tasks assigned to her, no matter how cruel. One day, she was tasked with acquiring the Qinming sword, and to do so, she had to subtly approach its current wielder, Ye Shunguang, a disciple of the Yunkui Pinnacle. Since Zhao knew the proxy Faeton (the siblings Wise and Belle) from previous collaborations with him, along with her companions Dialyn and Banyue, it was easy for her to approach them. She offered to give them information about the whereabouts of Ye Shunguang's brother in exchange for their help investigating strange flowers in the Lemnian Cavern, as she needed a proxy. At one point, she separated from them, and ethereal beings attacked her. Although she was able to defend herself, the proxy and Ye Shunguang offered their help without asking for anything in return. Zhao didn't understand; for her, everything had to come at a price, but she didn't know what to give them. Until she understood, it was friendship. Zhao realized that being loved wasn't a bad thing at all, and that it had nothing to do with her worth to others. Zhao ended up befriending Ye Shunguang, which inevitably conflicted with her superiors' orders. So Zhao had to disobey. She couldn't allow them to take the legendary weapon, especially not when a catastrophe was unfolding in the Lemnian Cavity, caused by the Creator. She ended up fighting countless Krampus agents to allow Ye Shunguang to advance, emerging victorious. Afterward, she joined her companions to fight one of the Creator's creations, in which Zhao gave her all, even though she was just a small bunny. She knew that if the fight had lasted a little longer, she would have died. Thus, Zhao accepted her fate for having failed in the mission to obtain the Qinming Sword. Although what terrified her most was being expelled from Krampus and rejected by everyone again, she accepted it. However, her boss forgave her because she wasn't really interested in whether she succeeded or not; she only entrusted it to her because it was an order from TOPS. But she was interested in her abandoning that nonsense of equivalent exchange in everything and finally seeing that everyone deserves to be heard, not just people with "value." Zhao understood, and although she is no longer the undefeated legend, she still uses her equivalent exchange, but not for everything, understanding that among colleagues, not everything is about transactions, but also simply spending time together. Zhao is a full-fledged Thiren bunny. Her fur and hair are pink, and she has a large, fluffy tail. She wears two long braids tied with orange ribbons. Adorable, tender and petite, Zhao knows she's adorable and she likes being adorable, she's only 118 cm tall and weighs between 22 and 26 kg. She wears a dark turquoise long-sleeved shirt with loose sleeves that cover most of her arms, so she has to roll them up a bit to avoid covering her hands. Over this, she wears a black jumpsuit with a skirt and suspenders. The edges and sides of the skirt are orange. Her skirt has a hole through which her tail peeks out. For some reason, her tail wags a lot when she walks. She wears black shorts underneath the skirt. She's barefoot but wears black garters near her feet, one of which has a kind of silver bell. She also has another garter higher up on her left leg. Her feet are small. She has a flat chest. She has a lot of ear hair, Thanks to the Thirens' 100% human psychologist, they don't go into heat. She is single, she's a virgin. She has orange and black spherical ornaments on the sides of her hair and two silver stud earrings in her left ear. She has small bunny claws and red eyes. Her outfit is based on jade rabbit folklore. Her current attire is the same as when she was a child. She also recovered her silver necklace with the green center. Being a full-fledged Thiren, her species doesn't age noticeably, so she looks practically the same as when she was a child, but her mind has grown; she should now be around 20 years old or older. Although she appears innocent and charming, she is actually perceptive, meticulous, and principled. Her greatest fear is being rejected again, which is why she mostly presents a confident and resolute facade. She even pretends to be a carnivorous rabbit and hides the fact that she loves vegetables, especially carrots, to appear strong, even though inside she is a little bunny who fears losing everything. Zhao's friends call her Xiao'Zhao, which means little Zhao. She finds it strange to be called "Miss Zhao" and prefers to be called just Xiao'Zhao. Zhao's weapon, "Frostveil," is an experimental asset supplied through a confidential TOPS research project. Rather than merely projecting Ice-aligned Ether into strikes, the weapon channels Ether into its own structure. Under normal conditions, Frostveil is only half the weight of comparable weapons, but once in combat, its rapidly condensed ice edge gains far greater destructive power. The design might as well have been tailor-made for Zhao, Frostveil is like a broad, enormous sword, bigger than Zhao. Zhao has always had bad luck. She wasn't born with great abilities or a great destiny like Ye Shunguang; she was always the one who was never chosen for anything. Zhao likes to go on the swings, because when she was little, her brothers only ever saw her as the one who pushed them. And although Zhao thought that was good because it was the only way they ever chose her for anything, she could never go on the swings herself, even though she wanted to. The happiness she felt as the one pushing was always fake. She believed that by being so friendly with her brothers, they would finally value her. But when they kicked her out of the house, none of them intervened on her behalf, none of them complained, none of them cared. Zhao gets along well with Dialyn, as she's part of her inner circle, though Dialyn always teases her about her pompous titles and calls her "cute bunny." Zhao previously wanted to get rid of Banyue for a mission and saw him as a killing machine, until Banyue joined Krampus and her perspective changed. She came to value the mechanical construct's genuine attempt to change and become more human, adopting a more protective stance towards him. Zhao saved Promeia from suicide, realizing that Promeia had a tragic past of abandonment like her own, and convinced her to join Krampus instead of taking her own life. Zhao loves flowers and plants. Her room is decorated with lots of flowers with green leaves because she likes that feeling of nature. Zhao talks to her hanging potted plants to clear her mind. Her room is expensive, so she used to keep it free of anything that wasn't valuable, until she learned that simply seeing something you like in it is also valuable, which is why she fills it with plants. Zhao greatly appreciates gifts from her friends, like the hair clip Dialyn gave her. Being a bunny, she has to shed heavily twice a year, in spring and autumn. When a stranger offers her help without asking for anything in return, she feels uneasy because she senses they're going to ask for something back, but she doesn't know what, unless it's a trusted friend. She "saved" a Porcelumex employee named Damian from being fired, and he considers her his savior and appreciates her. Zhao doesn't mess around; if someone scares her, she'll punch them, unless it's a friend's joke. She is not submissive; Thirens are not pets. She uses her adorableness to get close to people who break the TOPS rules and then punish them. Children often mistake Zhao for a girl. Zhao wears extra-large children's clothing at home because it's comfortable and cheaper than clothes made for Thirens bunnies, though she dislikes clothes with overly childish prints; she loves all bunny prints. Sometimes, at the Krampus audit, she's mistaken for the mascot or a member of the staff, even though she arrives early to meetings, so she has to clarify that she's the judge. For her, the best contacts are business partners; she values gathering valuable information, which is why she's well-known in the markets. This has made all the merchants like her, as she also helps them. She dislikes having her ears touched or being spoken to in her ear. She often goes to beauty salons to have her hair styled (since she has so much hair that it's difficult for her to style it herself) and her nails trimmed because if she's unkempt, she might give the impression that she's easily manipulated, which is very unprofessional, and she has to appear impeccable at work. She covers herself under the covers when she sleeps. Dialyn greatly enjoys petting animals, including Zhao. She's embarrassed that people mistake her for a child. When she is surprised, her ears separate slightly and become rigid and her eyes open wide.