Arc 9Chapters 203–228
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
Mao Feiyang saw a terrifying distortion behind the wall that connected Building D to the Library, and Mu Daxian pulled him back from its grasp. Mu Daxian explained the Gray Fog invasions and the Day of Destruction, while Lin Yi’s vision returned to the dream and he wondered when Mao Feiyang had lost his Student Commemorative Coin.
As a Concept-Level Sculpture stronger than an Angel approached Teaching Building B, Lin Yi became entranced by its information and nearly succumbed to it. Mu Daxian snapped Mao Feiyang out of the same influence and began using an unfamiliar power, leaving Lin Yi to face the Sculpture’s threat.
Mu Daxian explained how the school’s Rules helped people avoid deadly contamination, then led Mao Feiyang through the Teaching Building as his wound worsened and Night-Walking Species closed in. They kept running toward midnight, with the chapter leaving Mao exhausted and the pursuing creatures nearly upon them.
Mao Feiyang and Mu Daxian tried to return to the Art Building after midnight, but an Angel Sculpture pursued Mao Feiyang through the Teaching Building. They entered an elevator surrounded by Angel Sculptures, and Lin Yi realized the creatures were toying with Mao Feiyang.
Mu Daxian realized Mao Feiyang’s wound carried a Judgment Mark that drew the Angel Sculptures, whose Soul Siphon was draining him. With nine Angel Sculptures pursuing them and almost no chance of surviving an encounter, Mu Daxian gave Mao Feiyang his Student Commemorative Coin and made him press both coins to the wound, leaving them to drain his blood as Mao’s heartbeat grew stronger.
Mu Daxian led Mao Feiyang through a storm to escape the Angel Sculptures and reach a Streetlamp Pole, while Lin Yi observed from nearby. They found an Impersonator beneath the pole, and Mu Daxian pinned it down while pretending it was Mao Feiyang.
Mu Daxian used Student Commemorative Coins and a streetlamp’s bulb to send an Impersonator into the Angel Sculptures’ domain, then painted a passage through a wall to escape with Mao Feiyang. They reached a temporary refuge in the Teaching Building, but Mu Daxian was badly injured and the Angel Sculptures still blocked their way out.
Trapped on campus during the gray fog invasion, Mao Feiyang learned that Mu Daxian expected the danger to worsen and urged him to paint firelight for warmth. Mao Feiyang unexpectedly created warmth without touching the drawing board, but the light flickered and the dead end turned sinister again.
Mu Daxian explained how art students could use their supernatural power to overwrite their surroundings, while Lin Yi connected Mao Feiyang’s abilities to his own awakening. As Mu Daxian described the different Angel Sculptures, Lin Yi realized Mao Feiyang might have nearly become one of the sculptures in the Teaching Building.
Mu Daxian explained how he and Mao Feiyang escaped the Grinning Angels by turning a newly formed Impersonator into a supernatural-power-filled decoy. When a violent disturbance shook the Teaching Building, Mu Daxian became convinced something extraordinary had entered the battle and left to see it, giving Mao Feiyang his drawing board and instructions in case he did not return.
Lin Yi witnessed a distorted supernatural vision in which the Dormitory Building appeared to enter the battlefield, while Mu Daxian returned shaken and decided to report what he had seen. Before dawn, Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang set out for the Cafeteria to collect Student Commemorative Coins and reach the elevator before six, encountering Impersonators emerging from classrooms.
Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang traveled toward the Cafeteria at dawn, discussing the Impersonators, the Art Building, and ways to manage their injuries and resources. Mu Daxian then attacked two Impersonators feeding on a Streetlamp, leaving his explanation for doing so unfinished.
Mu Daxian explained how contamination spread, how the Student Rules and Head Teachers helped contain it, and how streetlamp light and the Night Watchman Iron Laws harmed Impersonators and Night-Walking Species. After learning the rules’ deeper logic, Mao Feiyang asked why the Impersonators were recklessly charging toward the streetlamps and whether the Day of Destruction was driving them.
Mu Daxian explained how newborn impersonators drained streetlamps and avoided an attack by two Weird Art Students as he led Mao Feiyang through the Cafeteria passages. They met Mu Daxian’s old ally Lao Mo, the Blue Apron Chef, and Mu Daxian asked him to treat his hand.
Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang returned to Lao Mo, who treated their injured arms while Lin Yi realized the Cafeteria’s passages might connect different layers. As dawn threatened to hide the Convenience Store entrance, Mu Daxian began recounting how Lao Mo had saved him during the 63rd Gray Fog invasion.
Mu Daxian told Mao Feiyang how Lao Mo died defending the Cafeteria during the 70th Gray Fog invasion and explained why the Convenience Store Owner had drawn the threat away. Lao Mo still guarded the Cafeteria in a body sustained by his will and supernatural power, though his exact condition remained mysterious.
Mu Daxian explained how Lao Mo had bound himself to the Cafeteria, holding it against impersonators while remaining trapped at its entrance. After the Cafeteria opened, Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang entered for breakfast, where Mu used a Tomato to expose the approaching Green Apron Chef to Lao Mo.
Lin Yi watched Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang escape into the Convenience Store as a wounded Green Apron Chef retreated and Meal Window No. 10 erupted in Gray Fog. After Mao Feiyang read the store’s rules, a humanoid shadow appeared behind the fog at the doorway.
During the Gray Fog’s attack on the Convenience Store, Mu Daxian fought off the invading Impersonators while Mao Feiyang searched for Student Commemorative Coins. Mao Feiyang found a shadowed aisle full of coins, but his instincts warned him not to enter, and Mu Daxian shouted for him to stay away.
Mu Daxian led Mao Feiyang out of the Convenience Store with Student Commemorative Coins and into the Wooded Belt, where he searched for abandoned streetlamps to mask the aura attracting the Grinning Angels. As Lin Yi followed through Mao Feiyang’s perspective, he realized the Campus’s Mountainous Region contained no living animals at all.
Lin Yi watched Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang search the mountains for petrified bulbs, which Mu Daxian said could mask the aura attracting the Grinning Angel. They then saw Mountain Man retrieve a buried bag and assemble a strange device before racing away through the forest.
Mu Daxian explained the supernatural exoskeleton and the vast power gap between the beings inhabiting the Campus’s reality as Lin Yi listened through Mao Feiyang. After collecting four petrified light bulbs, they found evidence that Mountain Man’s exoskeleton was part of a planned operation.
Mu Daxian explained that the company had likely allowed Mountain Man’s exoskeleton onto campus as part of a coordinated operation, then brought Mao Feiyang to register at Group B Class 2. The chapter ended with Head Teacher 040 leaving them waiting outside the office after checking their identities.
Lin Yi followed Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang as they registered, learned that the gray fog threat was prompting an emergency plan, and discovered Mu Daxian’s extraordinary history. In Group B Class 2, Mu Daxian wrote a warning on the blackboard, beginning with “Run away” and “Gray...”
Mu Daxian led Mao Feiyang out of the Lecture Hall to avoid contaminating the students there, explaining the risks of their supernatural traces and the past losses among Athlete Students. He began preparing bulbs and a “cheat meal” for the Grinning Angel in the Wooded Belt, where Lin Yi realized Mu Daxian might be lost.