Love, or Obsession?
There are many types of love explored through the cast of The Zodiac Mystery. Some relationships are tender, some conditional, and some quietly suffocating.
For Jianwei, a humble carpenter with nothing to his name but his skill and devotion, love acts as both his driving force and his slow undoing.
His story raises a question that is as classic as it is unsettling, making it a perfect topic of exploration for our game:
When does love stop being love, and start becoming obsession?
The Earnest Carpenter
Jianwei was known around Liulitai for his steady hands and hardworking nature. He lived a simple life with his aging mother and kept to his work. A fiery Aries, he was earnest, straightforward, and had his sights laser-focused on one goal: Xiaoping.
His love for the beauty queen of Tianbao’s property defined him. The two often snuck off for secret dates, spending hours together chatting like young lovers. However, for reasons unknown to outsiders, their relationship never quite materialized into anything official…
When Tianbao’s death rocked the household, Jianwei was a clear suspect. But to everyone’s surprise, he hurled accusations against Tianbao, Jinrong, and he dance school they ran, claiming it was simply a front, masking far more sordid affairs beneath its polished surface.
Were his statements a clumsy attempt to distance Xiaoping from her family, a self-serving tactic to shift suspicion from himself, or the dark truth that no one else was willing to admit?
The Shadow of Desire
Why their relationship never eventually blossomed into something more is a question that only a few know the answer to. Regardless, after Xiaoping’s life was taken in the Zodiac Murders, Jianwei’s composure collapsed. In the interrogation room, he wept openly. He was completely shattered, mourning the only person he had ever loved.
However, a witness recalled a heated argument between Jianwei and Xiaoping the night before she disappeared. Was he simply a man destroyed by grief, or one who mistook control for affection?
Though a suspect from the very beginning, the police could never find any concrete evidence tying him to either case. Even years later, when the Zodiac Murders were hastily closed, Jianwei’s name remained quietly entangled in their memory. He never even married, continuing to live out his days taking care of his mother.
Point of Resonance: The Line Between Devotion and Control
When we designed Jianwei, we wanted to explore a type of love that many unfortunately recognize: the kind that begins in sincerity and ends in obsession.
There is something profoundly human about wanting to be chosen, longing to be seen. Yet when that yearning hardens into need, when affection becomes ownership, the boundary between devotion and destruction begins to blur.
Perhaps Jianwei loved Xiaoping too deeply, or perhaps he resented her for leading him on all those years. Whatever the case may be, his love for her became a puzzling factor in both cases that further complicated the already muddy waters.
Through him, we invite players to consider a simple, haunting question:
When we say we love someone, do we truly see them as they are, or only as we wish them to be?