Yao Qinglan

is one of the main characters of the Digimon Liberator. Her partner is , and she plays an Aquatic Control deck.
==Description==
Yao Qinglan is an engineer who works for the company that created . A fan of Japanese media, she became deeply involved with Digimon through game development. She gets along well with Shoto Kazama, a fellow Digimon enthusiast.
Serious and often straightforward, she is also nurturing towards younger individuals, displaying an adult's composure. With a flexible mindset, she excels at finding optimal solutions to problems. Recognized for her talent, she was appointed as chief engineer by Cool Boy at a young age. However, she prefers enjoying the game as a player, spending most of her waking hours in LACUNA as a Game Master.
==Appearance==
==Etymologies==
;Yao Qinglan ()
Official name and romanization used on the Digimon Liberator website. The English version uses Chinese name order, where Yao is the family name and Qinglan is the given name.
==Fiction==
===Digimon Liberator===
Yao created Altea whilst working for the company that created . She then spent four months teaching him how to play the . After said teaching, she asked Altea if he had any goals — to which he asked Yao to take him to see the outside World. Unable to do this but still wanting to do it, she began creating a virtual version of Shinjuku so that she could at least take him to a virtual recreation of part of the outside world.
Yao was hired as a for Digimon Liberator during the game's 160 hour maintenance period. During this period, Cool Boy tells her about Shoto Kazama and Arisa Kinosaki with this causing her to gain an interest in them. They also check the duo's duel logs, learning that they had acquired new previously unknown cards.
After maintenance, Shoto and Arisa are summoned by the GMs and as such they force their partners to stay inside their D-STROAGE. This just angers , since it had only just gotten free from its trading card and now was trapped inside another device. After waiting around, they are called in by Cool Boy who after some small talk points out how often and for how long the two of them log in — much longer than other players — and apologises for causing them to be unable to play for so long. As he asks about what they did whilst logged out, he takes them by surprise when he asks if they were worried about their new friends. He tells them to calm down as he wasn't accusing them of anything and is joined by the arrival of Qinglan. Qinglan enjoys getting to know the duo, with Cool Boy making it even more clear that he knows about their new cards and how he knew. Arisa cries and apologises for keeping it secret, saying she had been worried that they would've gotten in trouble for having the cards — begging for them to not ban the duo. Rather than ban them though, the two GMs have the duo go through a portal that leads them to an area with lots of Digimon. They're surprised to see so many wild Digimon, though Cool Boy tells them that they're not wild — nor are they NPC — and that they are in fact real Digimon. This fact shocks both of them, with Cool Boy telling the duo that the Garden they're in is where all the real Digimon live as they had no where else to go in LACUNA. With little time to react, Cool Boy asks if they're ready to hear why he brought them there.
Cool Boy asks the duo what they know about Digimon, with Shoto talking about how they're fictional characters used in various media like anime, manga, video games and of course — the TCG. Yao says he's right, though then moves into asking them what "real Digimon" are. They tell them that Digimon are real, with the fictional characters being based on actual real Digimon and that this is done to allow Digimon to be preserved. This information surprises Shoto; he had heard of the "backstory" of Digimon, but just thought it was made up lore for the franchise — not something from actual real life. They explain how I.D.E.A had found LACUNA and modified it for use in Liberator, which lead to them coming across Digimon, and then lead to the creation of the video game. 
Getting to why they brought them here, Cool Boy tells them that wild Digimon do not exist in Liberator. This confuses Shoto, since they obviously do, with him saying that's just a lie they tell everyone. He admits that it is indeed a lie, with the admins telling them that LACUNA's environment isn't conducive for Digimon to survive. He explains that Digimon can only survive for a few days at most in LACUNA, and so the admins send them to the garden and seal them inside trading cards to allow them to live. Further confused, Shoto points out that Pteromon had been stalking them for three months yet was still alive. The admins had checked the data of Pteromon and Shoemon and had learned that they had both lived in LACUNA for over a year, since the beta test, and tell the duo that only a few Digimon (those belonging to the admins and Debug team) had managed to survive for such a long period of time. Finding it odd, they tell the duo they want to investigate and ask them to bring Pteromon and Shoemon to them. They agree, and summon their partners. Everyone becomes startled when Yao suddenly screams, with her declaring that their partners are adorable. She nerds out and goes on a monologue about both of them, as she asks them many questions and chases them around trying to hug them. This freaks them both out, with them asking to be saved from her. As she does so, Cool Boy continues the explanation without her. He tells them that Digimon able to survive without cards are valuable, with Shoto assuming that meant the admins would take them away, though Cool Boy alleviates those worries by saying that wont happen. Instead, they ask them to co-operate with them so that they can study their partners. He tells them they had learned a lot because of Bulucomon, and that they now know wild Digimon had been hacking NPCs and taking in their data as that was one way for them to survive in LACUNA. This however, would cause the NPCs to go rogue. He reminds them that interacting with wild Digimon can result in their accounts being deleted, and invites them to join the game's debug team. As Shoto is confused over regular players being invited, Cool Boy points out that as they can delete their accounts at any time, the duo actually have no choice but to accept the job. Yao tells them that Cool Boy had actually been protecting them for a while, and was making compromises to ensure their safety. 
As they're in the middle of accepting the blackmailed deal, they are interrupted by Owen Dreadnought — who had been eavesdropping on the conversation. He expresses annoyance at the duo being amateurs, feeling they would just drag the admins and debug team down. This upsets Pteromon, with appearing and and laughing at Pteromon. They're shocked to see Owen with an unknown Digimon, and realize he is just like them. Elizamon and Pteromon bicker, though Owen tells his partner to cut it out as there was no point getting involved with amateurs. Yao asks Owen why he had shown up, with him stating he had overheard their terrible decision and wasn't happy with it. She insists that they're just trying to protect the duo, but this enrages Owen with him declaring that it'll just lead to the admins suffering from the consequences of allowing them to join. He claims they'll just run away the second trouble comes, this setting off Shoto. He yells back at Owen, saying he is sick of listening to him, and agrees to join the debug team purely to spite Owen. Owen becomes sick of the conversation, not wanting to talk to a terrible card game player, with this giving Cool Boy an idea. He asks Owen if he would approve if Shoto showed he was a good player and tells Yao to duel him so that everyone can see Shoto's skills. Owen tells them to do whatever they want. The agreement then changes and becomes that Shoto and Arisa can join the debugging team by proving he is a good duellist.
Shoto eventually wins, with Yao shocked at him using instead of Zephagamon (unaware he had lost access to Zephagamon). Shoto and Arisa celebrate, with Yao and Cool Boy congratulating him. The GMs receive a message, with Cool Boy realizing what time it was — causing both to quickly leave. Shoto tells Arisa about his childhood history with Owen, with Arisa surprised and annoyed to have only just learned this. Owen tells Shoto he is weak as he lacks the passion to win and just wants to have fun and tells him that if he can't find that passion he never wants to see him again. Shoto didn't hear him say this though, due to some sort of glitch. Though he doesn't remember what was just said, he still gains the desire to one day impress Owen. As Shoto won the match, he and Arisa receive messages saying they been accepted into the debugging team.
A few weeks later, Cool Boy and Yao have Shoto and Arisa attend a debugging team meeting so that they can officially induct them into the group. He has them join him on stage, and introduces everyone to the newest members of the debug team. As they introduce themselves to the crowd, Shoto notices Owen hadn't show up and figures he was avoiding them. Shoto also notices Close, recognizing her from when he saw her running away from Frozen Knight. Cool Boy is surprised when he notices Shoto recognizes someone, though Shoto denies this being a thing. Doubting his denying, Cool Boy simply laughs and says that he'll be even more surprised very soon. Cool Boy tells the crowd that they had been accepted into the team as Shoto had defeated admin Yao Qinglan in a duel, and that Arisa had defeated a member of the debugging team. This confuses Arisa, who says she had never defeated anyone from the team — with Cool Boy, , and insisting she had. Cool Boy's earlier statement then comes to life, as Violet arrives and apologizes for being late. A shocked Shoto and Arisa learn she had been a member of the debug team this whole time. She then personally welcomes the duo as the newest members of the debugging team. 
Yao finally finishes her virtual Shinjuku for Altea, it having taken her eight months to make it. Rather than take Altea there herself though, she has Cool Boy do it for her.
==Notes and references==
Category:Tamers
Category:Characters in Digimon Liberator
Category:Protagonists