Zhu Yuan is Officer 148 of New Eridu Public Security, serving as captain of the Criminal Investigation Special Response Team with a reputation built on discipline and a flawless case record. She approaches her work with strict professionalism, but in the field she is more than an investigator, using close-quarters skill and Ether firearms to bring dangerous criminals under control. (More Zenless Zone Zero Characters in Profile)
Real Name: Zhu Yuan
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9"
Birthday: September 1st
Species: Human
Faction: Criminal Investigation Special Response Team
Attribute: Ether
Specialty: Attack
Zhu Yuan is Officer 148 of New Eridu Public Security and the captain of the Criminal Investigation Special Response Team. She is known inside PubSec as an exceptional officer with a perfect case record, serving on the front line against Hollow Raiders, gangsters, fraudsters, Proxies, and other criminal threats in New Eridu. Her work places her alongside Qingyi, Seth Lowell, and Jane Doe, with Zhu Yuan often acting as the team’s commanding officer during dangerous investigations.
During the case involving the Sacrifice remains and the EMP device, Zhu Yuan and Qingyi investigate the threat with Phaethon’s hidden assistance after the situation pulls them into danger. She is later involved in the Mountain Lion Gang operation, where Jane Doe works as an undercover agent for the Criminal Investigation Special Response Team and Seth Lowell becomes caught in the gang’s trap. After Jane and Seth help expose the gang’s operation, Zhu Yuan and Qingyi arrive with PubSec officers to bring the case to an end and arrest the Mountain Lions.
Appearance:
Zhu Yuan has fair peach skin and a tall, curvy athletic build with a fitted waist, full hips, strong thighs, and long legs. She has dark green-black hair tied into a high ponytail with orange streaks through the bangs and ponytail, plus orange-brown eyes and a small orange earpiece-like detail near one side of her face. A gray mechanical band and segmented device pieces sit around the base of her ponytail.
She wears a blue PUBSEC uniform jacket over a white collared shirt, green-blue checkered tie, and fitted black armored chest panel marked “PUBSEC.” Her upper gear includes gray shoulder armor, black harness straps, small badges, orange accent marks, and compact mechanical attachments around the chest and shoulders.
Her lower outfit has tight gray tactical pants with black armored thigh, knee, shin, and calf panels, visible rivets, seam lines, and segmented plating. A black tactical belt holds a square cartridge device, side pouches, a star badge detail, neon yellow-green hip panels, and blue-gray equipment modules. She wears black gloves with orange accents and dark tactical sneakers with blue soles, gray laces, and red toe details, while carrying a red, gray, and black compact firearm.
Personality:
Zhu Yuan is strict, disciplined, and strongly duty-focused, with a reputation for excellent investigation work, combat ability, self-management, and a perfect record of no unresolved cases. She takes Public Security work seriously and can come across as stiff or overly formal, but her conduct is rooted in responsibility rather than coldness. Her trust events also show a more human side beneath the officer image, including workaholic habits, personal frustrations, and awkwardness outside official duties.
Her main relationship is with Qingyi, her partner in New Eridu Public Security’s Criminal Investigation Special Response Team. Zhu Yuan acts as the more direct and procedure-minded officer, while Qingyi is calmer and more unconventional, making them an effective pair during investigations. Seth Lowell serves under Zhu Yuan’s team while learning the ropes, and Jane Doe is connected to the same PubSec circle as a criminal behavior specialist and undercover operative. Zhu Yuan’s connection to Phaethon is complicated by their Proxy identity, since her job puts her on the side of the law while Phaethon operates in a legally dangerous space.
Combat Overview:
Zhu Yuan fights with disciplined close-quarters shooting, martial arts, and Ether-charged ammunition. She can move between an aggressive assault stance, where she mixes strikes and handgun fire, and a suppressive stance, where she fires piercing shotshells into enemies ahead of her. As she keeps pressure on a target, she loads enhanced shotshells that turn her heavier blasts into much more destructive Ether attacks. She can also reposition mid-attack, firing while adjusting her angle so enemies have a harder time escaping her line of fire.
Her defense is built around fast movement, counterfire, and backup support. Zhu Yuan can dodge through danger, answer a missed attack with an Ether buckshot, and cover allies by firing into enemies when they are knocked off balance. When she commits more power, she unleashes repeated Ether buckshots that explode on impact and reload her enhanced ammunition. At her strongest, she brings out her Modified Master Firearm for a saturated assault of lasers and seeking missiles, overwhelming the area in front of her with concentrated Ether fire before returning to precise gunplay.
Lore:
Proxies are individuals who guide those who enter the Hollows. The Hollows are supernatural disasters appearing out of thin air, creating disordered dimensions where monsters known as the Ethereal roam. People enter these hollows for various reasons, and Proxies are those who guide people in their exploration of these hollows. Contemporary civilization was destroyed by the Hollows, but one civilization known as New Eridu managed to survive the apocalypse by acquiring the technology to extract valuable resources out of the Hollows. The Hollows then became industrialized and monetized under the city's administration, which gradually led to the increasing tension between monopolistic enterprises, gangs, conspirators, and fanatics.
The Ethereals are mysterious monsters that roam the Hollows.
Ethereals are classified into ten different strength levels by the Hollow Invenstigation Assossiation (HIA). Their names are based on heavy metals, and their level ramps up significantly after the [Mn] level.
Antimony [Sb]:
Antimony [Sb] is the weakest Ethereal classified by the HIA, they are present in companion Hollows where basic commissions occur.
Tin [Sn]:
Only a few Tin [Sn] Ethereals are present in companion Hollows.
Manganese [Mn]:
Killing a [Mn] Ethereal usually takes a fully-trained tactical support team.
New Eridu is the last surviving city after contemporary civilization was destroyed by the Hollows. New Eridu managed to survive and thrive after the apocalypse by acquiring the technology to be able to extract resources out of the Hollows.
Bangboo are intelligent devices unique to New Eridu. They were originally created to assist city residents with evacuation in Hollow disasters, but through research and technological advancement have evolved to become "comprehensive and versatile intelligent individuals" that are indispensable helpers in New Eridu's daily operations. Most Bangboo are short and stout, only around knee-height. They have ears resembling bunny ears on the top of their heads, and a black screen for a face, which can display colored circles as eyes.
