Xia Xiaoman is the protagonist, a college student from a remote mountain village in Yunhai City. Raised by her grandfather until age 12, she inherited his unyielding and stubborn personality. After his death, she returned to live with her abusive parents who favored her younger brother, Xia Haoming. She fought back against their beatings by retaliating against her brother, eventually forcing them to stop. When her parents hid her household registration to prevent high school enrollment, she hid her brother until they relented. At 18, after they planned to marry her off to an old widower, she set fire to her home, threatening them with a burning torch until they agreed to let her live independently. She moved to Fucheng for university, working part-time at a bakery while studying. She possesses a thumb-sized jade gourd inherited from her grandfather, which granted her a mysterious dimensional space after she accidentally cut her hand and bled on it. The space is infinite, pitch black, and time stands still inside, allowing indefinite storage of non-living items. For two years, she collected nearly-expired bread from her bakery job, stockpiling enough to open three bakeries. During a subway flood, she demonstrated quick thinking by attempting to break a window to escape, later guiding rescuers to the trapped train. She is pragmatic, self-reliant, distrustful of others' help, and prepared for disasters by hoarding food and supplies.
