Furina

To understand Qiqi at a biological and supernatural level, one must examine the traditional Chinese folklore of the Jiangshi ('stiff corpse' or hopping zombie) reimagined through Liyue's adeptal cosmology. Unlike undead monsters corrupted by Abyssal filth or Tatarigami怨念, Qiqi is an adepti-infused revenant: when both adepti and demons were moved by pity for the innocent herb-gathering child caught in their war, each adeptus poured a fraction of their own illuminated life force into her small frame to bring her back from the brink of death.

Because a mortal child's vessel could not contain the raw, overwhelming power of multiple adepti at once, Qiqi initially went berserk until Mountain Shaper was forced to seal her inside golden karst amber for centuries. In the present day, her zombie physiology means she has no pulse, no body heat, and no sense of smell or taste, and she must perform daily calisthenics to prevent rigor mortis from stiffening her joints. To keep her residual adeptal energy stable, Qiqi wears paper talismans across her hat and shoulders and carries her Cryo Vision—which crystallized in the final second before her mortal heart stopped because of her desperate wish to freeze time and live on with her family.

Centuries before the Traveler set foot in Liyue, Qiqi was a cheerful, ordinary mortal girl who climbed the misty crags of Jueyun Karst with a wicker basket on her back to gather medicinal herbs for her family. One fateful day, she fractured her leg after slipping down a steep cliffside and took shelter inside a rocky cavern to bandage her wound—unaware that the cavern had become the epicenter of a ferocious clash between Liyue's adepti and ancient demonic remnants.

As a massive landslide crushed the cavern ceiling, the dying girl thought of her parents waiting at home and wished with all her heart that time could simply freeze so she could stay alive. Instantly, a glowing Cryo Vision materialized before her dimmed eyes just as her life slipped away. Discovering her small body beneath the rubble, the warring adepti ceased fighting in shared grief and each imparted a spark of adeptal energy to resurrect her—only to seal her inside Mountain Shaper's amber when the excessive immortal power drove her into an uncontrollable frenzy.

Hundreds of years later, humans mining in the mountains discovered the amber crystal and carried it toward Liyue Harbor for burial, during which Qiqi finally broke free from the weakened seal. Still operating on her last living memory—'must pick herbs'—she wandered into the woods until Doctor Baizhu of Bubu Pharmacy took her in. Although Baizhu originally harbored ulterior motives to study her immortal constitution for his own pursuit of eternal life, Qiqi eventually learned to issue orders to herself ('Qiqi, cancel orders') and stayed at Bubu Pharmacy where she is genuinely cared for.