Ling, Xiaoli

リン＝シャオリー

Lin Shaolee in the manga
He took over as Number X after his predecessor, Ash, was killed by Creed. Before joining the Chronos Numbers, his idol was Train Heartnet, owing to his unique style of completing missions. A master of quick-change and disguise, his nickname is "The Magician." His weapon, "Seiren," is a hagoromo, or feather mantle, lined with orihalcon wires. This allows it to block attacks or cut through metal with its edges. He plays a major role in two distinct parts of the story: The first is when he, under disguise, convinces Train to head for the Apostles of The Stars' hideout, as Sephiria believes the Cerberus team should have support from Train, not by helping them, but because Sephiria thought Train would want to eliminate Creed upon seeing him. Unlike Sephiria's plan, Train, upon entering the castle, leaves Cerberus and the Apostles battling without making an intervention, and only rescues Rinslet. Also, in the Sweeper Alliance part, Lin disguises himself as "Grin," a character who is the founder of the Sweeper Alliance and plans to take the sweepers to Clarken Island to eliminate Creed, but actually he wants to use them as a diversion so that the Chrono Numbers can attack the headquarters unexpectedly. He created a video game that he distributed to every sweeper, which contained various intellectual and other tests, and only those who passed it should know the address of their final meeting where they would depart for Clarken Island.
(Some of the
Lin Shaolee in the anime
In the anime, Lin did not appear until the Sweeper Alliance, and his role was different: He merely summoned the sweepers and granted them a place in the trip to Clarken Island instantaneously. He also attempted to persuade Train to rejoin Chronos once his identity had been revealed, a scene which occurred in the anime (Ep 17). He also shows a "darker" personality in the anime, as in the manga he was an innocent Number who admired Train and just wanted to fight for world peace, but in the anime his admiration for Train is more directed toward "admiring his power," and he has no problems offending the sweepers many times. He also accuses them of fighting without receiving anything in return, which makes him sound a bit materialistic. But it seems his personality evolves as he shows a more sympathetic side, which appears to start when he says, precisely, that sweepers are idiots for fighting without getting anything in return, but after a chat with Train, when they're helping townsfolk, Train asks him if he isn't one of those fools, and he answers smiling "You might be right."