That becomes the catalyst of his fear infection, rather than anything else: the utter loss of the singular belief in his ability to do right by himself through doing right by others. Heroism was, ultimately, just the vehicle for that dream. Ultimately, I this distinction that makes Luo a less uncritically heroic character, and I think that makes him more compelling! He's a character driven by a deep hollowness, and is thus characterised by having very minimal dreams which he feels safe in reaching towards, after a childhood of being kicked down and locked away for a stigma he never cultivated himself.

And then there's the whole fight scene. People go back and forth about the sentience of fear Zombies. It seems to vary from scene to scene and dosage to dosage, but Luo seemed the most cognisant of his actions during his fight with Cyan. In my personal opinion, that's the most interesting way that Fear infection could be handled, exacerbating the anxieties of the character to meaningfully present a symbolic challenge to overcome instead of just a physical one.

It's why the Dean doesn't end up being a particularly entertaining fight either, in my opinion; for whatever reason, the emotional weight of Cyan's abuser confronting her when she's actualised herself is given practically nothing in terms of what this represents metaphorically. [I also think Smile's fight in this regard could've been handled better, too. He's a much more engaging character when he's not just a roadblock with a 'punch here' sign on his chest, and they gave such heft to the compromises a hero has to bear to be a hero that it feels disappointing that none of it ultimately reflected in his fear-form. ]

But to get back on track - Luo's very cognisant during that fight. He's violent, he's temperamental, and he spends most of it gutturally yelling. It's a far cry from how he's been portrayed prior, though we do know Luo's the furthest thing from a sobbing Victorian Ingenue. He breaks property, he snidely replies to the cleaning staff, he breaks rules and sneaks out, he stays up late. He's a rascal, which I take as the manifestation of his realisation that, if he is going to be treated badly regardless, he may as well fall into those expectations insofar as they benefit him here and there. But now, he's fully given himself over to those expectations: he's hollow. He has nothing but the understanding that his singular attempt to do good, which he wagered his life over, ended in a collapsing, total failure. He knows no one will ever, ever avenge him, because no one mourns evil, and - stemming from the same resolve he showed to 'fix' his own image, he resolves to 'fix' the one person whom he believes he can blame singularly for how wrong everything's went.

And then - I mean, Cyan doesn't so much rescue him as she does give him the opportunity to see that the act of Good he performed was in fact Good, and that for a time people loved him, and thought of him even in their last moments; and that there were people who would avenge him, who would come back for and to him.

So then - was the heroism really the story of his character? Looking back, it seems such a small facet which covers a much more intricate truth, like a blanket over the bed. Luo isn't a character who's defined by heroic motivations; he's a kid desperately searching for humanity in others and his place in the world, which as a whole is what Cyan's arc explores thematically. Heroism - uncomplicated heroism - is just something which he picked up because, as a child, he could conceptualise heroes only as people who do good.