Arc 22Chapters 543–567
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
Tian Bufan explained the Black Moon Outpost’s history, the Gray Fog’s connection to the Torch Dragon, and the Principal’s role in holding back the Gray Fog World. He revealed that the Authorities sent them to retrieve the Principal’s notebook, and Lin Yi concluded that it might be the Principal’s identity credential, leaving him wondering who would become Principal if they found it.
Tian Bufan explained that Lin Yi was part of the Authorities’ special combat force and that the team had shaped his experiences to help him adapt to the Campus. Lin learned why his memories had been suppressed and what he had studied, but the team’s mission and the danger of Contamination remained unresolved.
Lin Yi learned that Song Rentou had been an Impersonator Wei Liang secretly arranged to eliminate, while Wei Liang slept through questions about his latest plans. After Tian Bufan returned from the Bathroom, Lin Yi turned to ask Kuai Hongji what he had been doing.
Lin Yi questioned Tian Bufan about Song Rentou and whether Tian’s revelations were another anchor, then learned the likely routes to the Principal’s Office. Tian left him with three suspected locations, ending on the Stargazing Platform as the most likely.
Tian Bufan explained that the principal’s notebook could define the principal’s office and outlined a dangerous plan to investigate the Campus and retrieve it from the Art Building. As Lin Yi questioned how Maozi could leave as an Experience Student, Wei Liang’s unfinished scheme began to surface through the name Bai Fangshuo.
Tian Bufan explained how Maozi could use Bai Fangshuo’s identity to leave the Art Building and outlined the team’s plans to search for the Principal’s Notebook. He assigned Lin Yi to support Kuai Hongji and Maozi from the Campus, leaving Lin Yi alarmed at the prospect of confronting Night Watchman 002.
Tian Bufan explained the team’s plan for Lin Yi’s mission, including how Lin Yi would adapt, escape the campus, and rely on Wei Sang and Wei Liang for support. As the team prepared for lights-out, Lin Yi questioned their shared memories and learned that their dream studies let them exchange experiences, while he alone could sometimes interfere through the time dimension.
Lin Yi questioned Tian Bufan about the Shadow of the Root, the Ouroboros Ring, and the Art Building’s true nature as the Dormitory prepared for Tian Bufan’s exploration the next day. Tian Bufan confirmed that the Shadow of the Root was calling all of them and explained that the Art Building anchored the shattered Black Moon Outpost, before Lin Yi began connecting that revelation to the Gymnasium.
Lin Yi told Tian Bufan about the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles, the Law-Crafting Master’s rune, and the strange sculptures haunting him, seeking explanations for their origins. Tian Bufan planned to investigate Lin Yi’s encounter with the Apostles through a Dream and warned him not to underestimate the sculptures, while Lin Yi’s theory that they came from a Library chessboard remained unconfirmed.
Lin Yi entered Mao Feiyang’s dream after Tian Bufan warned him not to lose himself in its sense of time. He witnessed the events of May 9 unfold from Mao Feiyang’s perspective and realized Yan Jinming was taking him to the Gymnasium’s Giant Dome for the “feast.”
During the Feast, Lin Yi’s drifting consciousness approached Boss, saw the distorted two-dimensional Campus, and encountered the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles. Its touch showed him a vision of the Campus’s future collapse and left him wondering whether it was his future self and whether the Time Compass could help him change what was coming.
Lin Yi followed Maozi, Yan Jinming, and the Art Students from the Gymnasium toward the Art Building, discovering an inverted, Möbius-strip-like corridor involved in their Layer Leap. As the corridor crumbled into the void, he heard strange calls and glimpsed what looked like the Mirror World.
Lin Yi discovered that the students’ Layer Leap had taken them through the Obsession Sculpture Covered Corridor and back to the Art Building, where he realized the building’s dome would soon be breached. An invasion began earlier than expected, scattering the students in the corridor as Yan Jinming rushed to protect them.
Lin Yi discovered that he could communicate telepathically with Mao Feiyang through the dream boundary, and Mao Feiyang set out to follow their plan through the Art Building. Mao Feiyang headed toward the Clock Tower while avoiding the Gallery until he could find a Grinning Angel and use the rules for protection.
After Lin Yi’s prediction causes the Art Building’s dome to break, Mao Feiyang realizes their words can anchor future events in time and uses the resulting Grinning Angel to draw it away. He enters the Gallery with the Angel in pursuit, where its eerie surroundings begin to change as he calls for the Night Watchman.
Lin Yi watched the Night Watchman destroy the Grinning Angel and open a path back to Mao Feiyang’s classroom, but Mao Feiyang instead demanded passage to the Clock Tower. After Mao Feiyang proved his agreement by beginning to recite a secret code, the Night Watchman transported him near the Clock Tower, where Mao Feiyang revealed he had visited many times in simulations.
Mao Feiyang brought Lin Yi to the Clock Tower to collect a Deposit from Night Watchman-02, who gave him a mysterious Bronze Key connected to another Clock Tower and a sculpted feather for protection. Mao Feiyang left with a promise to begin the requested task, while Lin Yi suspected that Mao Feiyang and Young Master Tian were hiding part of their plan from him.
Mao Feiyang used the Night Watchman’s blessing to grant himself a way around the Art Student Rules and set out toward the Bedroom, while revealing his hidden plan involving the Time Compass. He also confirmed that the Stairwell led to the Ancient Deep Well, whose mysterious occupant might know Lin Yi.
Mao Feiyang used the Feather Sculpture to protect himself and Lin Yi from the Night-Walking Species and the Gallery’s supernatural atmosphere while searching the Art Building for the Bedroom. As he inspected the Gallery’s paintings, he asked Lin Yi whether he remembered the images that had appeared before his consciousness reached the Little Girl’s Bedroom.
Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang searched the Gallery for the pathway to the Little Girl’s Bedroom and found a painting that served as the starting point for a layer leap. Mao Feiyang entered the painting’s fog and continued forward as a sinister chant filled the space.
Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang crossed the Gray Fog and reached the graveyard inside the painting, where they discussed how each Layer’s reality depended on belief and cognition. A strange figure appeared in the cemetery, and Mao Feiyang warned that people drawn too deeply into a Layer could become trapped Lost Souls.
Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang searched a cemetery for a route to the next layer while a dangerous old cowboy pursued them. Mao Feiyang found a broken Wordless Stele, incapacitated the cowboy, and left Lin Yi wondering how Mao Feiyang had used a skill Lin Yi had only recently learned.
Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang found the Quartermaster in a sunken ship’s hold, where it recognized them and said it had been waiting. After they escaped, Mao Feiyang explained that the Quartermaster had summoned them and hinted at a connection involving Lin Yi’s future self and time.
Mao Feiyang and Lin Yi reached the Little Girl's Bedroom, where Mao Feiyang survived the iron door's deadly attack after a mysterious force pulled him inside. They searched the room for the Principal's Office, but the chapter ended as Mao Feiyang noticed a fairy-tale book on the bookshelf.
Mao Feiyang used the Bronze Key to wind Amon's Music Box, revealing that the Quartermaster was hidden in the painting behind the curtains and that its music could guide Night Watchman-02 to the location. After Lin Yi left the dream, Mao Feiyang departed the Bedroom, and a shadowy little girl appeared and took the music box.