Qingyi — Zenless Zone Zero

Qingyi's official designation is “01 Neo-Genesis VI,” marked on her body in abbreviated form as 01NG Ⅵ. A White Star Institute researcher who discovered her read the marking as “QING YI,” and that accidental reading became her name. The seemingly personal name therefore comes from a model code rather than a conventional birth name.

In Chapter 2 Interlude, “Mission Unthinkable,” Qingyi and Zhu Yuan investigate a wave of disturbances involving electromagnetic interference around Sixth Street. Their work connects the local incidents to a larger threat against a vehicle transporting evidence. Rather than leave the matter to routine procedures, the officers pursue the endangered shipment into a Hollow, where the protagonists help them recover it.

The incident also brings Qingyi into a complicated early acquaintance with the video-store siblings. As officers who must enforce the law, Qingyi and Zhu Yuan have reason to be cautious around unregistered Proxy activity, yet help in an immediate crisis takes priority over a tidy account of everyone’s legal status.

In the Agent Story “The Case of a Missing Bangboo,” Qingyi takes a report from Holly, a young girl desperate to find her missing companion Teddy. Careful questioning reveals that Teddy is not a human child but a Bangboo. Qingyi nevertheless investigates, tracing clues from the cinema where he vanished to a suspicious vehicle and the possibility of a Hollow-linked kidnapping.

Because Teddy is a Bangboo rather than a human missing person, Qingyi cannot obtain the personnel and Hollow-navigation support she requests through an ordinary missing-person investigation. Holly's father buys a replacement, and Qingyi helps refit it to resemble Teddy, while still looking for a way to retrieve the original. But Holly recognizes the imitation immediately: Teddy's particular dents, marks and shared history cannot be reproduced. Qingyi accepts that this substitute is not enough and resolves to find the real Teddy, even without approved backup.

Qingyi enters the Cretan Hollow alone to locate the Bangboo kidnappers, and Phaethon follows the lead to assist her through Eous. When Eous is badly damaged, Fairy proposes a distributed-computing link that will let the Proxies use Qingyi's senses for navigation. Qingyi accepts the sensory synchronization despite the warning that Eous's Ether corruption could spread to her. The kidnappers have been using concentrated Ether solution to disable Bangboo and strip them for parts. Qingyi and Phaethon locate the captives, and she presses on through mounting damage rather than abandon Teddy and the others.

After the rescue, Qingyi collapses from the severe corruption affecting her and Eous. Zhu Yuan and Seth respond to Phaethon's call and retrieve the injured rescuers. Following several days of maintenance, Qingyi returns to thank the siblings and reports that Teddy has been repaired and reunited with Holly. Her willingness to risk her own body for a particular Bangboo stands in sharp contrast to her earlier explanation that machines are replaceable.

In the “Undercover R&B” Special Episode, Qingyi works with Zhu Yuan and Seth on Public Security’s operation against the Mountain Lion Gang. A raid initially appears to be complicated by Jane Doe, who seems to be aiding the criminals; Qingyi subsequently learns from Zhu Yuan that Jane is secretly working undercover for Public Security. The unexpected capture of Seth and civilians remains a genuine complication rather than part of Jane’s planned disguise.

When the operation concludes, Qingyi responds to its tense revelations with characteristic irreverence, teasing Seth over his earnest conviction that Jane could be persuaded to turn away from crime. The exchange reinforces a familiar contrast: she is perceptive and dryly amused, while her colleague tends to take appearances at face value.

In Chapter 5, “A Storm of Falling Stars,” Fairy sends Qingyi an encoded request for help when the video store's systems malfunction and a Public Security inspection threatens to expose its owners. Qingyi and Zhu Yuan intervene. Once the siblings explain their involvement in the case surrounding Perlman and Bringer, they explicitly admit that they are Proxies. Qingyi says she had suspected their identity and had even discussed the possibility with Zhu Yuan on their way over. Zhu Yuan, who had bet Qingyi 1,000 Dennies that the managers were not hiding such a secret, is visibly shaken.

Zhu Yuan declines to report the siblings immediately, giving them the rest of the day to obtain evidence while she investigates independently; she also orders Qingyi to stay near the store. This is no longer merely Qingyi keeping a private suspicion to herself. The siblings' Proxy status has been acknowledged directly to both officers, although Zhu Yuan makes clear that her temporary restraint is not blanket immunity.

As the investigation turns toward Bringer's escape, Qingyi learns that he may be using the Hollow around Port Elpis to leave Janus Quarter. She contacts Jane Doe, whose undercover contacts identify the attempted smuggling arrangement. Qingyi helps bring the protagonists and the pursuing officers together at the port, where Jane's false identity is used to lure Bringer toward a designated meeting point. The episode shows Qingyi's investigative contribution beyond direct fighting: she knows whom to call and how to act on information that the ordinary chain of command cannot safely handle.

In the later Elpis Ultimate Angler Championship event, Qingyi draws the Phaethon siblings into a fishing competition at Port Elpis while pursuing leads about stolen artwork and thieves using the waterfront. She helps direct the inquiry as tournament stages intersect with Hollow excursions and the search for illicitly moved valuables. This is an event storyline rather than a new permanent promotion or change in her police rank.