Ling Chao was born on March 23rd, 1977 in Qingdao, China to Han and Xing Chao, a diligent and wealthy businessman and woman. When Ling was 5, her parents followed opportunity knocking at their door, and moved to New York to work for a new American branch of an up and coming Chinese company. Rather than attend American schools, her parents had Ling home school, feeling that sending their child to American schools was beneath her. Her schooling was a unique brand, a mixed of hired teachers, some even flown in from China to aid in her schooling, and lessons and morals instilled in her by her parents in their own spare time.
Among these morals, the single most important instilled in Ling from a young age was that she must succeed in her endeavors at any cost, for with success comes good fortune, and with good fortune comes happiness. Her parents rarely had time to spend with her outside of this work, which made this lesson stick out in her mind even more. It was the constant in her young life, and her parents even went so far as to punish her in the event it seemed she hadn’t adhered by this golden rule.
In 1995, at the age of 18, Ling returned to China at her parent’s behest, with the intention of attending business school in her native country. It was here that Ling’s natural charisma began to show through, the young woman finding herself at the head of a number of organizations, clubs, and groups within her school. She graduated in 2000 at the age of 23, and spent the next several years working in China. A mix of charisma and shrewd (some would say immoral, and possibly illegal) business practices allowed her to make a small mark on the business landscape in her hometown of Qingdao. However, before she could make a true, lasting presence in eh business landscape, the death of her father in June 2004 forced her to return to America. Following the death of her father, her mother also slowly became ill, forcing Ling to remain in the country for the foreseeable future. Reduced at least temporarily to office jobs in the New York area, Ling was unhappy with the turn her life had taken, seemingly forced to work such demeaning jobs, doing work that was clearly below her.
It was one evening in late 2004 that Ling first discovered how truly special she was. Accosted by thugs while coming home late one evening, she should have by all means died when she was seemingly shot by her assailants… only to discover that the bullets had passed harmlessly through her, wispy tendrils of smoke filling the spots they had passed through. Amazed and surprised, Ling holed herself up in her residence for the next few days to experiment and learn this amazing new ability she had discovered. She had gained the ability to assume a smoky, intangible, ethereal like form, almost like a smoke formed ghost. Ling kept her ability to herself, but not without finding ways to use her ability to the most shrewd of advantages at work, often finding ways to spy and watch those above and below her, looking for opportunity and weakness.
It took a bit longer, but over the next year, Ling’s life almost seemed to stabilize. Her mother’s health began to improve, and it finally seemed like she would be able to return home and return to her former, more satisfying line of work. And then, November 8th, 2006 came to pass. Ling had been on the far side of town that day, away form the residence she now shared with her mother – a residence woefully caught on the edges of the blast. Ling lost her home, her mother, and most of her possessions that day. The loss of her last vestiges of success and family would have a profound effect on the woman. Some would say it may have made her a little… crazy.
Picking up the pieces was tough. Ling was able to leverage what money she had left – not enough to return home, and barely enough to remain in New York – into a small apartment. Left with little, and the site of her former job also lost on the explosion, Ling began from scratch, something she had never truly had to do in her life. Things were complicated by the revelation that there were others like her, other Evolved. Feeling it would be more dangerous to reveal her true nature – and worried of losing a potentially useful asset once she got back on her feet – Ling kept her abilities to herself. Two years have passed since then, and Ling now finds herself working at Rapture, a somewhat contemptible place she inwardly loathes. But she feels opportunity waits there, and she’ll seek it out until it takes her back where she wants to be in life.
Most recently, Ling has found herself working on two fronts - Her primary employer is the Linderman Group, for whom she agreed to handle the job of spying on the Flying Dragons, the dominant faction of the Chinese Triads in New York. Her work for Liu Ye had her in many places - working alongside Bao-Wei at the Cong Medical Clinic, as well as being the primary pusher and supplier of Refrain in New York at Liu Ye's request. Her work for the Triads came to a close after several months; following an attack by the Ghost Shadows, a rival faction of the Triads aligned with the Linderman Group, Liu Ye planned an attack in retaliation. It was Ling Chao who leaked these plans to the Ghost Shadows, and she herself murdered Liu Ye in the subsequent clash, outting herself to both the remaining Flying Dragons as well as Adam Monroe.