he's definitely growing out his hair a little, if the recent li-ning pictures are anything to go by!!

tbh i didn't have to do much imagining about how qi xia looks because i took visual references from fanart and the official merch that they released :') the official art does differ a little bit (he looks older in some), but generally he's depicted as wearing a classic white turtleneck/shirt and a long trench coat. i'll attach some pictures in a reply when i share this answer on twt!

mini, insignificant context spoiler as to why he's dressed like this: when he was first transported to this strange space where everyone plays death games, he was in the middle of swindling someone out of their money HAHSJASHAJS 😭 he probably had to dress prim and proper to pull off whatever identity he was assuming at the time of the con...

which brings me to a quick spoiler-free introduction! qi xia is introduced to us as a swindler who everyone distrusts at first (because who's going to trust a conman...), but he quickly displays a very high level of intellect and an ability to make sense of the death games that they're all suddenly thrown into. he's described as having a cold, unreadable face; deliberate and careful but also fairly confident in his actions because he has the deduction/analytical skills to back them up. so far my strongest impression of him is that he's just scarily big brain

he, like xz (!!!!), is a study in contrasts: he seems to have empathy for the people around him, but doesn't hesitate to leave them at the drop of a hat if he feels the situation no longer benefits him. he's blunt with his words, but also learned, familiar with wordplay, and has a smooth tongue. he's not imposing or like a traditionally charismatic leader, but is headstrong and very stubborn.... also qi xia and zanghai would be good friends because he has no particular physical strength, but fights his way out of situations with his intelligence

i'm super, super excited to see what sort of qi xia xz will bring to the table — how faithful the adaptation is, what he'll change about his character, how he will embody this extremely complicated role!! i'm about ~100 chapters in and he is a real treat ;v; i'm trying not to tweet so much about it in case people don't want spoilers, but this gives me a bit more confidence sharing my qx thoughts with the world so thank you for your super kind words 💖

(ps: i am also queasy when it comes to watching horror but i find i can read it more easily since they're just words on a page ;v; even so i think tdu is not for the faint-hearted... the violence is VERY graphic and i think they'll have to tone it down a lot for broadcast haha 😭)