Chapter Summaries

On May 6, X023, Lin Yi and his classmates traveled through the fog to S City University for a paid seven-day student experience, while studying its unsettling Student Rules. The coach reached the university gate, but the driver refused to open the door while a woman claiming to be a teacher and several students waited outside in the fog.

• Lin Yi woke on the coach and learned from Wei Liang that they were nearing S City University, where participants could earn thirty thousand yuan by following the Student Rules for a week.
• Wei Liang warned Lin Yi to obey the rules and keep the booklet and Student ID close, while Lin Yi reviewed the rules covering strange campus hazards.
• The rain stopped as the coach approached the university, but thick fog obscured the grounds and made Lin Yi feel watched.
• A woman in professional attire and several boys in school uniforms emerged from the fog and invited the passengers to disembark for enrollment.
• The driver kept the coach door closed and told the passengers to wait while he watched the welcoming group and recited rules from a booklet in his pocket.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang discovered that the female teacher waiting at S City University had a fake name badge and fled toward a streetlight while something pursued them. They reached the lit Teaching Building-023 streetlight, but the teacher and several students remained in the fog, watching them.

• The driver warned passengers not to enter the school until he had checked their name badges, but the passengers pressured him to open the bus doors.
• Lin Yi noticed that the female teacher's name badge was drawn on paper and warned Wei Liang that she and the students might be the Art Teacher and Art Students.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang tried to return to the bus, but the fog disoriented them, and scraping footsteps and urgent calls followed behind them.
• Lin Yi used Student Rule 7 to keep track of their path and waited for the nearby streetlight to turn on at six o'clock.
• The streetlight lit, and Lin Yi and Wei Liang ran beneath it, where they found the label Teaching Building-023 and saw the female teacher and students watching from the fog.

Lin Yi and the others waited for a Security Guard in the fog, then followed him toward the Teaching Building. Along the way, they discovered that a procession of chained Cafeteria workers followed the guard, and one approached them with a free meal.

• Lin Yi learned from Tian Bufan that the School Gate had vanished and that escaping required following the campus rules.
• The group decided to wait beneath a streetlamp for a Security Guard, while Wei Liang warned that they needed shelter before the predicted rain.
• A towering Security Guard arrived with a Kerosene Lamp and Baseball Bat, and Lin Yi urged the group to follow him through the fog.
• As they followed the guard, Lin Yi spotted a chain connecting him to a procession of Chefs carrying meal boxes.
• A Chef approached Lin Yi and offered free Tomato Meat Sauce Pasta, and Lin Yi noticed the Chef wore a dark green Apron.

Lin Yi and his companions escaped the abnormal fog by following streetlamps to the Teaching Building, where they discovered it had an impossible eighth floor and found instructions for obtaining student IDs. The chapter ended as Wei Liang warned that the real Teaching Building had no basement, even though the notice directed them underground.

• Lin Yi ignored the Green Bibbed Chef’s calls, led the group away from the Security Guard, and ran toward a streetlamp while the fog resisted them and imitated Mao Feiyang’s voice.
• Wei Shan pushed Lin Yi through the light, and the others joined him as the streetlamps drove back the shadows; Mao Feiyang briefly fell under the spell of the calls before catching up.
• The group reached the Teaching Building and discovered that it had eight floors, despite Wei Liang knowing it should have only four.
• Inside, Lin Yi read a notice directing participants to Basement Level One to meet their Head Teacher and receive Student IDs, with an alternate route to the Art Teacher if they became lost or unwell.
• Tian Bufan opened the stairwell door to a basement passage, but Wei Liang warned Lin Yi that the Teaching Building had no basement.

Lin Yi and the others descended a seemingly endless stairwell and emerged back at the Teaching Building, where they found the Teachers' Office and began registering for enrollment. Mao Feiyang could not see the office and followed a noticeboard rule down the stairs alone, while Lin Yi was left to knock at the office door and face a different voice.

• Wei Liang warned Lin Yi that the Teaching Building had only four floors, but Tian Bufan confirmed the stairwell was real and led the group inside.
• After descending for several minutes, the group reached a door marked B1 and found themselves back at the Teaching Building entrance.
• Tian Bufan identified the Teachers' Office, answered its questions, and entered; Lin Yi then sent the others in one by one.
• Mao Feiyang could see only a wall where Lin Yi saw the office, recalled the noticeboard's rule, and rushed down the stairwell alone.
• At 20:00, Lin Yi knocked on the office door and heard a woman ask whether he had come with the food delivery.

Lin Yi received his Student ID and a booklet of rules from the head teacher, who warned him never to hand the ID to anyone and urged him to leave quickly. After reaching Group B Class 2, he reunited with Wei Liang, while a mysterious figure watched from the corridor.

• Lin Yi entered the head teacher’s office, noticed a suspicious food container and scraps of paper, and resisted an urge to investigate the container.
• The head teacher gave Lin Yi his Student ID and the Teaching Building Rules, warning him to protect the ID and explaining that the person wearing her badge would be his head teacher.
• Lin Yi learned that Wei Liang had already visited and left, copied his Student ID, and secretly pocketed a discarded paper ball.
• The head teacher directed Lin Yi to check the classroom beside the office, and Lin Yi found Group B Class 2 where the stairwell had been.
• After Lin Yi left, the head teacher saw the wall clock alternate between 8:05 and 7:39, then checked that the blue envelope remained in her drawer.
• Lin Yi noticed a thin figure watching him in the corridor, entered Group B Class 2, and joined Wei Liang, who immediately asked to see his Student ID.

Lin Yi studied the Teaching Building Rules and realized that the stairwell where Mao Feiyang remained could not exist within the building’s stated layout. After classmates silently surrounded him while he nearly fell asleep, Wei Liang unfolded a campus map, and Lin Yi noticed something that shocked him.

• Wei Liang told Lin Yi that staying on Campus could muddle their minds and suggested their Student IDs might protect them.
• Lin Yi read the Teaching Building Rules and realized the building had no basement, despite the group’s earlier trip into a basement stairwell where Mao Feiyang was still trapped.
• Lin Yi began to grow exhausted and nearly fell asleep, but Wei Liang shook him awake as their classmates silently gathered around them and then returned to their seats.
• Wei Liang admitted he had only followed the routine between the Dormitory, Cafeteria, and Teaching Building during his previous visit, despite claiming he had explored the whole Campus.
• Wei Liang unfolded the map hidden inside the rules booklet, and Lin Yi seized it and repeatedly asked how it could be like that.

Lin Yi investigated the Campus’s distorted roads and streetlights, but thinking about the mystery caused him to fall into a sleep-like state and draw a crowd of eerie classmates. Xu Shunkang warned Lin Yi that learning the Campus’s secrets would make him part of them and prevent him from escaping.

• Lin Yi and Wei Liang compared the map with their journey and noticed that the short route to the Teaching Building had taken nearly two hours, while the streetlamp numbers appeared jumbled.
• Xu Shunkang introduced himself as an Athlete Student and urged Lin Yi and Wei Liang to follow the rules instead of investigating the Campus.
• Lin Yi insisted on learning what had happened to Mao Feiyang and examined the thick classroom windows, spotting scattered streetlights through the fog.
• As Lin Yi pondered the strange road and lights, an exhausting influence overtook him, and Wei Liang shook him awake while a crowd of smiling classmates surrounded him.
• Xu Shunkang confronted the classmates and shielded Lin Yi and Wei Liang until the group returned to their seats.
• Xu Shunkang warned Lin Yi that the Campus did not need people who thought, and that anyone who learned one of its secrets would become part of it and never escape.

Lin Yi questioned Xu Shunkang about the Campus’s anomalies and learned that uncovering its secrets could make escape impossible. After Xu and Xie Huayang left, Lin Yi compared the Dormitory and Teaching Building rules and began assessing the students still in the classroom.

• Lin Yi told Xu Shunkang that he had been separated from Mao Feiyang on the stairs leading to the basement, and Xu briefly remembered a forbidden stairwell before suppressing the thought.
• Xu Shunkang refused to share more information, but Xie Huayang arrived and warned Lin Yi that learning the Campus’s secrets could draw him into danger.
• Xie Huayang urged Xu Shunkang to leave, and Xu warned Lin Yi and Wei Liang that night belonged to the other students and that following the rules was their only protection.
• After the Athlete Students left, Lin Yi studied the conflicting overnight instructions and concluded that students might return to the classroom if they failed to reach the Dormitory by 22:00.
• Lin Yi noticed that many students remaining in the classroom seemed abnormal and told Wei Liang, who questioned how Lin Yi had judged the others.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang left Group B Class 2 to use the restroom before the 21:00 curfew, but the fog and an unseen influence disoriented Lin Yi as they made their way through the corridor. They reached the restroom after Wei Liang woke Lin Yi from a trance, where Lin Yi noticed a thin figure watching from a dark corner.

• Lin Yi decided to leave the classroom with Wei Liang before the 21:00 curfew, and their classmates watched them go.
• The head teacher entered Group B Class 2, warned students not to leave after 21:00, and allowed Lin Yi and Wei Liang to go to the restroom.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang walked through the fog, and Lin Yi realized they had been circling near Group B Class 2 before he guided them toward Group B Class 1.
• Lin Yi became absorbed in the sound of waves and an urgent calling voice, but Wei Liang shook him awake and brought him back to his senses.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang found a long line at the restroom, and Lin Yi spotted a thin figure watching him from a shadowy corner.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang escaped a strange student’s attempt to lead them to an elevator and returned to Group B Class 2, where the Head Teacher warned the overnight students about a dangerous blackout. After she locked the classroom door, she found herself in the Teachers’ Office as the corridor lights flickered and a voice called to her from behind.

• Lin Yi noticed a student behaving unnaturally in the restroom and realized he was absent from the mirror.
• The student invited Lin Yi and Wei Liang to take an elevator to Class 6, but Lin Yi recognized the danger and fled with Wei Liang.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang reached Group B Class 2 unusually quickly, and Wei Liang distracted Lin Yi from thoughts that were exhausting him.
• The Head Teacher registered Lin Yi and Wei Liang, then warned the overnight students to stay low and avoid looking around or communicating if the classroom lights went out.
• The Head Teacher shut the classroom door and left, but found herself at the Teachers’ Office as the corridor lights flickered and a hoarse voice called, “Teacher...”

Lin Yi and Wei Liang returned to Group B Class 2 after escaping the fog, and Lin Yi recorded practical observations while trying to avoid exhausting speculation. When the classroom lights began flickering and figures appeared outside, Lin Yi remembered the Head Teacher’s emergency instructions and called Wei Liang over as someone pounded on the door.

• The Head Teacher secured the office door against the fog and pounding, then checked that the blue envelope remained in her drawer.
• Lin Yi concluded that the corridor was dangerous and questioned whether the classroom was truly safe, while Wei Liang described why he had joined the trial course.
• Wei Liang fetched manga, a notebook, and a pen for Lin Yi, who wrote down campus observations and rules for himself.
• Lin Yi noticed a ceiling light flickering, and the classmates’ vacant eyes began to show signs of hunger as thunder and rain struck outside.
• Lin Yi recalled the Head Teacher’s instructions to crouch beneath desks, hold on, keep his eyes down, repeat his name and student number, and ignore anyone entering; he called Wei Liang over.
• Wei Liang turned toward Lin Yi as someone began pounding on the classroom door.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang hid beneath desks as the Circular Lecture Hall plunged into darkness and a fog-shrouded presence entered. After an eerie classmate began roaming and a student with a flashlight was seized, another classmate spotted Lin Yi beneath his desk.

• Lin Yi and Wei Liang crouched beneath desks and held on as the classroom lights flickered out and the hall shook.
• The pounding at the door eased, but Lin Yi realized the danger had not passed when someone unlocked the classroom door and white fog poured inside.
• A classmate switched on a flashlight, and Lin Yi remembered the warning not to look around, keeping his gaze fixed on the desk leg.
• An eerie classmate left his seat and walked past Lin Yi, who stayed motionless and focused on the desk leg.
• The flashlight-holder was lifted into the air, and the dropped flashlight revealed a shadow standing beside Lin Yi's desk.
• The shadowy classmate bent to pick up the flashlight and saw Lin Yi hiding beneath the desk.

Lin Yi survived a terrifying encounter by following the rule to ignore unusual figures, keeping his gaze on the floor and distracting his thoughts. After the Security Guard dragged something out of the classroom and the lights returned, Lin Yi cautiously waited at his desk and heard a classmate ask if he was okay.

• Lin Yi ignored the wax-faced classmate's pleas and avoided looking at him, then escaped his grasp by shifting his gaze from the desk leg to the floor.
• The classmate dragged Little Genius's corpse through the classroom, and several students who saw it screamed, drawing the figures beneath the desks toward them.
• Lin Yi stayed focused on the floor and counted time until the Security Guard arrived, seized something with his Iron Chains, and dragged it out of the classroom.
• The classroom lights came back on and the fog dissipated, so Lin Yi slowly rose but stayed by his desk to see whether the room was safe.
• A classmate beside Lin Yi asked whether he was okay.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang discovered that focusing on a single point and distracting the mind could block the eerie classmate’s influence. The classmate continued watching Lin Yi, who ended the chapter asking how to make him stop paying attention.

• Lin Yi recognized the grinning classmate as the one who had attacked him during the blackout, and the classmate’s gaze followed him between hiding places.
• Wei Liang revealed that he had stayed safe by staring at a desk leg cross-eyed and thinking about unrelated things.
• Lin Yi realized Wei Liang’s trick had cut him off from the eerie surroundings, then agreed to read manga instead of dwelling on the danger.
• Lin Yi noticed scratches on the desk where he had hidden, signs of the classmate’s attempt to reach him, and a rule forbidding most students from reading at the desks.
• At 23:45, Lin Yi was still troubled by the classmate’s stare and asked Wei Liang how to stop the classmate from paying attention to him.

Lin Yi rejected Wei Liang’s risky plan and pieced together a way to survive by limiting his thoughts, ignoring strange events, and following the rules. At 0:08, a battle erupted outside the classroom, and the eerie classmates turned together to watch the shadows in the windows.

• Lin Yi refused to deliberately think himself into danger, choosing instead to seek safety by following the school rules.
• Lin Yi concluded that he should avoid forbidden lines of thought, ignore strange sights and sounds, and follow emergency rules when needed.
• The Corridor lights flickered as impacts shook the classroom, and Lin Yi saw a shadow moving in the fog beyond the windows.
• Wei Liang told Lin Yi to treat the tremors as falling rocks and distracted him with a manga, helping him stop focusing on what was outside.
• At 0:08, figures battled in the fog as more than thirty eerie classmates turned in unison to stare at the shadows on the windows.

Lin Yi deduced that the classmate killed anyone who saw him and tracked people through their attention, so ignoring him was the key to survival. He tried to distract himself with manga, while Wei Liang supplied increasingly unsuitable recommendations.

• Lin Yi reviewed the classroom events and concluded that the classmate was blind and killed people who saw him.
• Lin Yi reasoned that noticing the classmate let him sense and track the person, and that ignoring him could break the connection.
• Lin Yi recalled that the Head Teacher had warned them not to close their eyes and decided to follow the rules through deliberate action.
• Lin Yi tried reading Water Shadow Ninja: Kawaki Chronicles to divert his attention, then angrily threw it to the floor.
• Wei Liang recommended other manga and explained that he had warned Lin Yi about Kawaki Chronicles.
• Lin Yi asked Wei Liang whether he had spent all seven days of his last visit reading manga.

Lin Yi used manga to erase the Classmate’s attention, then discovered that the Classmate could still sense his presence and tested the limits of that ability. As the abnormal Classmates left the lecture hall before dawn, Lin Yi and Wei Liang prepared to face the mist outside.

• Lin Yi lost himself in manga, and the Classmate who had targeted him could no longer find him by sight.
• At 4:30, abnormal Classmates began leaving the lecture hall, and Lin Yi deduced that staying in the classroom overnight was only an option, not necessarily the safe choice.
• A Classmate approached Lin Yi, who moved aside and watched it feel around his empty seat before leaving; Lin Yi concluded that it had some ability to sense him.
• Lin Yi noted that light seemed to restrict the abnormal Classmates and reminded Wei Liang that they could not leave the classroom until 7:40 after spending the night there.
• At 4:53, an abnormal Classmate opened the classroom door, letting in the morning air and revealing S City University immersed in blue mist.

Lin Yi recovered from a strange trance in the classroom and recorded new survival rules while trying to make sense of the vanished corpse and abnormal classmates. At dawn, he and Wei Liang waited for the Head Teacher, whose appearance immediately seemed wrong to Lin Yi.

• Wei Liang pulled Lin Yi out of a trance before he could follow an eerie voice, and Lin Yi realized more than ten minutes had passed.
• Lin Yi found no blood or corpse in the classroom and updated his notebook with rules about following instructions, trusting the Athlete Students and Head Teacher, and staying safe during flickering lights.
• At dawn, Wei Liang noticed a figure outside the window, but Lin Yi said the lit classroom and Corridor made looking safe; the Chef then visited the Teachers' Office at six.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang decided to wait until 7:40 rather than risk rushing to the Cafeteria for breakfast.
• The Head Teacher entered Group B Class 2 at 7:40, and Lin Yi immediately sensed something was wrong.

Lin Yi listened as the head teacher gave Group B Class 2 new rules and claimed the missing students had been eliminated in a school exercise. After seeing the head teacher’s uncanny golden eyes, Lin Yi connected them to the security guard’s and went to inspect the timetable.

• The head teacher announced a temporary timetable and warned students to follow rules about teachers, PE classes, athlete and art students, and entering the correct classroom.
• When a student asked about the previous night, the head teacher said the school was holding a joint anti-terrorism and riot-control exercise and that missing students had been eliminated.
• The head teacher called the roll, and Lin Yi noticed Bai Fangshuo was absent and that the names on the roster had different marks.
• Lin Yi asked whether the school had any novels, and the head teacher’s eyes turned golden as she looked at him.
• After the head teacher left, Lin Yi suffered eye pain and recognized her golden eyes as nearly identical to the security guard’s; he then went to examine the timetable.