Auntie Ding

Auntie Ding is a fourth-floor tenant in Xiang Nuan's door-world. She presents herself as a child-loving neighbor, but the apartment investigation exposes her as an abuser and a participant in the landlord's murder.

Biography

The apartment conspiracy

Auntie Ding first appears through Wu You's mechanically repeated praise of her kindness to children, language that immediately suggests coercion rather than affection. When the landlord's death turns the tenants against one another, she stages concern, reveals the copied keys, and encourages searches that redirect suspicion toward people whose secrets she already knows. She then helps sacrifice the electrician, a fellow conspirator, after Jia Qi's body threatens to expose their shared crimes. Chen Ge ultimately identifies her as a human trafficker, rescues Jia Fu from her apartment, and delivers the same judgment imposed on the conspiracy's other perpetrators. (Chapters 1076–1087)

Appearance and personality

Auntie Ding is a large, strongly built middle-aged woman who can run quickly and is difficult for one person to carry. Her outward grief and surprise are visibly performed: exaggerated expressions, rehearsed claims of maternal devotion, and tears that never come. Beneath that facade she is calculating, coercive, and willing to kill an accomplice to protect herself. (Chapters 1081–1087)

Skills and supernatural abilities

Auntie Ding has no confirmed supernatural rank. She relies on physical strength, intimidation, practiced deception, knowledge of the other tenants' secrets, and coordinated violence with Doctor Li, Big Head, and the electrician. Her greatest weapon is her ability to turn the building's fear toward a convenient suspect. (Chapters 1081–1086)

Relationships

• Jia Qi and Jia Fu: Children whom she calls adopted sons while abusing and controlling them; Jia Qi's death becomes a pretext for eliminating the electrician, while Jia Fu is rescued from her home. (Chapters 1082–1087)
• Doctor Li, Big Head, and the electrician: Her fellow conspirators in the landlord's murder. Their alliance collapses once mutual exposure becomes more dangerous than loyalty. (Chapters 1082–1086)
• Chen Ge: The investigator who manipulates the tenants' infighting, uncovers her trafficking, and removes the child trapped in her apartment. (Chapters 1076–1087)

Items

• Fruit knife: Auntie Ding takes the knife while publicly claiming vengeance for Jia Qi; the ensuing pursuit ends with the electrician fatally wounded. (Chapters 1082–1083)
• Family photograph: Found with Jia Fu, it places Auntie Ding and the child beside boxes labeled with multiple children's names, exposing the scale of her abuse. (Chapter 1087)