Chapter Summaries

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.

• Lin Yi sensed a mass of ancient Night-Walking Species and Impersonators in the forest, while Mu Daxian led Mao Feiyang along the boundary between light and shadow.
• Mu Daxian collected petrified bulbs from unnumbered Streetlamp Poles and explained that newly born Impersonators drained the lamps’ power as they turned into Sculptures.
• Mu Daxian said the bulbs could mask the dangerous aura on Mao Feiyang, but warned that they might need to endure several more days before it faded.
• Mao Feiyang spotted a man digging near a Streetlamp Pole, and Lin Yi recognized him as Mountain Man, who had previously returned to the classroom carrying a bag.
• Mountain Man opened the buried bag and his hiking backpack, assembled their strange components into a skeletal-looking device, put it on, and bounded away through the mountains.

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 told Mao Feiyang that supernatural exoskeletons had been developed by factions such as the Company, but technology was ineffective against beings that could distort three-dimensional space.
• Mu Daxian compared the Angels and other powerful beings to pictures on paper, leaving Mao Feiyang and Lin Yi shaken by how insignificant they were beside such entities.
• Mu Daxian collected the fourth petrified light bulb and led Mao Feiyang through the misty forest, explaining that the Humanoid Sculptures feared them because their contamination level was lower.
• Mu Daxian told Mao Feiyang that Art Students stayed in the Art Building out of responsibility for protecting the Campus’s fragile peace.
• Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang examined the hole and chalk markings where Mountain Man had dug, and Mu Daxian inferred that someone had delivered the exoskeleton in pieces as part of a preplanned 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.

• Mao Feiyang joked that Mountain Man might be escaping in installments, and Mu Daxian suspected the company had deliberately allowed the exoskeleton onto campus.
• Mu Daxian told Mao Feiyang that the company controlled S City University and treated supernatural power as a form of contamination, while the authorities aimed to protect uninformed students.
• Mu Daxian explained that streetlamps lost their supernatural traits during gray fog invasions and that a black-aproned chef had replaced the abandoned Teaching Building-102 pole.
• Mu Daxian concluded that Mountain Man had a team with connections to factions within the company and said he would deal with Mountain Man if he acted against them.
• Mao Feiyang thought he saw the Art Building in the sky near the Teaching Building, and Lin Yi wondered whether it had been a mirage.
• Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang gave their registration details to Head Teacher 040, who checked them through the peephole and then left them waiting outside the office.

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...”

• Head Teacher 040 registered Mao Feiyang after he produced a handful of Student Commemorative Coins and found the one bearing his number.
• Mu Daxian and Head Teacher 040 discussed the gray fog invasion and decided to send registered Experience Students with medium or high inspiration back to the Dormitory for the night.
• Head Teacher 040 found records describing Mu Daxian’s past gray fog battles and his nickname, “Transcendent Art Student,” then noticed a note addressed to the next head teacher.
• Mu Daxian took Mao Feiyang to Group B Class 2, where Lin Yi realized Mu Daxian had written the earlier blackboard messages.
• Mu Daxian wrote “Run away” on the blackboard, then began adding a warning starting with “Gray...” after Mao Feiyang suggested it needed more explanation.

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.

• Mu Daxian changed the Blackboard warning to tell students to flee the Teaching Building before a violent storm, then searched the Library’s Hentai Manga for traces of supernatural messages.
• Mu Daxian told Mao Feiyang that their supernatural traces could contaminate people, so they left the Lecture Hall rather than risk exposing students who returned later.
• Mu Daxian explained that Athlete Students secretly guarded classroom territory during self-study and recalled how a failed operation during the seventieth gray fog invasion nearly wiped out Group B Class 2’s Athlete Students.
• Mu Daxian said they needed to charge the bulbs and prepare a cheat meal for the Grinning Angel before returning to the Art Building.
• Mu Daxian pushed aside Humanoid Sculptures as he led Mao Feiyang deeper into the Wooded Belt, while Lin Yi noticed they were circling the same area and suspected Mu Daxian was lost.

Mu Daxian exposed two Impersonator Art Students who had been stalking the group and forced one to recharge four petrified light bulbs. He sent the reconstructed two-headed Impersonator off with the bulbs, while Mao Feiyang asked whether Mu Daxian had a backup plan if it fled.

• Mu Daxian lit painted streetlamps, driving the hidden Humanoid Sculptures into pain and revealing two Impersonator Art Students.
• Mu Daxian restrained the Impersonators and removed their limbs while demanding to discuss a favor.
• Mu Daxian persuaded one Impersonator to recharge four petrified light bulbs by siphoning energy from the underworld in the woods.
• Mu Daxian assembled the two Impersonators into one two-headed figure and sent it away with the bulbs, threatening to feed its parts to the Impersonator sculptures if it failed to return.
• Mao Feiyang asked whether Mu Daxian's backup plan involved blowing up streetlamps by hand again.

Mu Daxian explained how the Impersonator Art Students and Experience Students behaved in the gray fog while waiting for the Two-Headed Impersonator Art Student to return with four bulbs. After collecting the bulbs, he broke his promise and killed the Impersonator, leaving Mao Feiyang frightened of him.

• Mu Daxian told Mao Feiyang that the Impersonator Art Students followed a different faith rather than being outright anti-human, and said he was worried about running out of time.
• The gray fog spread through the mountain as night approached, and Mu Daxian explained how Impersonators could feed during Evening Self-Study and how killing them could attract dangerous attention.
• The Two-Headed Impersonator Art Student returned with four bulbs wrapped in its school uniform and handed them to Mu Daxian.
• Mu Daxian told the Impersonator Art Student to take its parts, then attacked and killed it with his drawing board.
• Mao Feiyang recoiled from Mu Daxian, who scolded him and asked why he was afraid.

Mu Daxian explained his plan to use the Impersonator Art Students in a deception feast and assembled them with night-walking species essence into a substitute. The chapter ended with Mao Feiyang realizing Mu Daxian had made the sculpture’s head look like him.

• Mu Daxian reassembled the dismembered Impersonator Art Students into a headless figure and explained that their origins could let them revive.
• Mu Daxian left Mao Feiyang to guard the figure, which came alive and reached for Mao Feiyang’s head.
• Mao Feiyang struck the figure with the drawing board, accidentally splitting it apart with a surge of jade-green energy.
• Mu Daxian returned, scolded Mao Feiyang, then explained that he planned to scramble the Impersonators’ cognition and use them as a substitute in the deception feast.
• Mu Daxian used essence from a night-walking species nest to assemble a half-finished Xenomorphic Sculpture with a head resembling Mao Feiyang’s.

Mu Daxian carried out the Cicada Shedding Plan, using Mao Feiyang’s identity coin and an impersonator to draw the Grinning Angels while the group headed for the Art Building elevator. As the plan approached the elevator, the real Mao Feiyang felt compelled to look toward the Bathroom.

• Mu Daxian explained that he would use an Impersonator Mao Feiyang to distract the Grinning Angels while the group escaped through the elevator, and he instructed Mao Feiyang to hide his identity.
• Mu Daxian carved Mao Feiyang’s Art Student Number onto a blank Student Commemorative Coin and laid out how the real Mao Feiyang should disguise himself and avoid reclaiming his identity.
• Mu Daxian woke Impersonator Mao Feiyang, gave him Mao Feiyang’s original coin, and used a mix of truths and lies to convince him that he was Mao Feiyang.
• Lin Yi’s dream vision jumped forward as a Grinning Angel pursued the group, and he realized that the events were taking place before lights-out in the Dormitory Building.
• Mu Daxian led Impersonator Mao Feiyang through the Teaching Building toward the elevator while the real Mao Feiyang followed; two Grinning Angels hovered nearby, weakened by light from Mu Daxian’s cloth bag.
• As the group neared the elevator lobby and Bathroom, Mao Feiyang felt an unexplained compulsion to look toward the Bathroom.

Mao Feiyang lost his face after the midnight ripple and realized he had to remain Faceless rather than reclaim his identity. In the elevator, six Grinning Angels drained the Impersonator Mao Feiyang while the real Mao Feiyang fought to keep his identity from taking hold.

• Mao Feiyang saw his reflection become a faceless figure and understood that he could not identify himself or assume another identity.
• Mu Daxian led the Impersonator Mao Feiyang and Mao Feiyang into the elevator, where six Grinning Angels surrounded them.
• The Grinning Angels drained the Impersonator Mao Feiyang until cracks spread across its body and its head fell off.
• Mao Feiyang saw the Impersonator Mao Feiyang's head reciting its identifying information and nearly anchored himself to the same identity.
• Mao Feiyang resisted identifying himself as Mao Feiyang when he sensed a Grinning Angel might have noticed him.

Mu Daxian tried to protect Mao Feiyang from the Grinning Angels as the elevator’s lights failed, while Lin Yi observed the gray fog and the strange source of the bulbs’ light from within his dream. The angels finally detected Mao Feiyang, but Mu Daxian drew them away by cutting his hand and became their target.

• Mu Daxian patched Impersonator Mao Feiyang’s crumbling head with stone fragments and a glowing bulb, but the angels soon drained his supernatural power and his body shattered into white powder.
• Mu Daxian used the bulbs’ light and a murmured rhythm to keep the Grinning Angels at bay while Mao Feiyang realized he had not been left to face them alone.
• Lin Yi observed gray malice evaporating in the light and a moth-like mark pulsing inside a bulb, then reasoned that the bulbs generated their own light from within.
• The last bulb went out, and gray fog spread through the elevator, causing Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang to absorb it and begin turning bluish gray like sculptures.
• The Grinning Angels detected Mao Feiyang and approached him, so Mu Daxian cut his hand and drew all six angels toward himself.
• The Grinning Angels latched onto Mu Daxian’s arms and began draining his supernatural power, easing the pressure on Mao Feiyang.

Lin Yi witnessed Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang escape the Grinning Angels, only to discover that the Art Building layer was under attack during the gray fog invasion. His dream then revealed that the Security Guard had sensed his future self, warned that time was a curse, and Lin Yi finally awakened in Dormitory 1414.

• Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang escaped the elevator as the Grinning Angels pursued them, and the Art Teacher protected Mu Daxian with his Searchlight.
• Mu Daxian revealed that his petrified arm had been an illusion anchored by Mao Feiyang's cognition, and that he had hidden his real arm against his chest.
• Lin Yi's vision showed night-walking species swarming toward the Art Building during the gray fog invasion on May 9, Year X023.
• Lin Yi's dream shifted to his previous walk with the Security Guard, who seemed to sense Lin Yi watching and heard his past self ask whether his future self was present.
• The Security Guard warned that time was a curse, and Lin Yi woke in Dormitory 1414 at 6:23 to find Wei Liang packing his shoes.

After a disorienting night, Lin Yi learned that his roommates had taken turns watching over him and recounted his dream about Maozi and Mu Daxian. Their discussion raised the possibility that the Night Watchman Iron Laws restrained the Night Watchman, perhaps making the Art Building his cage.

• Lin Yi saw white powder vanish from his quilt and briefly saw his face become featureless in the mirror, then noticed the dormitory window was open and shut it.
• Tian Bufan revealed that Wei Shan had knocked away the creature that approached Lin Yi, and the roommates had taken turns staying awake to watch over him.
• Lin Yi described his dream, explaining that Maozi and Mu Daxian had visited campus and sharing clues about the Art Department, the Library, and Mu Daxian's knowledge of many rules.
• Lin Yi told the group about the black-apron Chefs and Mu Daxian's Night Watchman Iron Laws.
• Tian Bufan suggested that the Iron Laws might restrain the Night Watchman, and Lin Yi wondered whether the Art Building was also the Night Watchman's cage.

Lin Yi explained the entities called “It” and the Angel Sculptures to Tian Bufan, while the group reasoned through the Cafeteria’s layered structure and its dangers. As they entered the Cafeteria area, they sensed that something was wrong with the entire zone.

• Lin Yi described three kinds of “It,” the Angels and Angel Sculptures, and Mao Feiyang’s encounters with the Grinning Angels to Tian Bufan.
• Tian Bufan proposed the names “It-I,” “It-II,” and “It-III,” and he compared the Cafeteria’s different Layers to plies of tissue paper.
• Lin Yi and Tian Bufan reasoned that Cafeteria Rules about strangers prevented interactions between people on different Layers, while warning that Green Apron Chefs remained dangerous through contamination.
• Lin Yi asked Wei Shan how he could attack Green Apron Chefs, and Wei Shan said he did not know why he was unaffected by them.
• Lin Yi, Tian Bufan, and Wei Shan entered the area marked “Cafeteria-001” and sensed that something was wrong with the whole Cafeteria zone.

Lin Yi sensed that a hostile Layer in the Cafeteria area was trying to pull him away from the normal Layer. As he investigated, his Vision activated and revealed the area in black, white, and gray, leaving him poised to examine what was wrong.

• Lin Yi felt malice press against him as he entered the Cafeteria area, while Wei Liang noticed nothing unusual.
• Tian Bufan sensed an air of death, and he asked Lin Yi to use his Vision to investigate the area.
• Lin Yi realized that another Layer was calling to them and using malice to force them out of the normal Layer.
• As the sunlight vanished and the path distorted, Lin Yi's perspective separated from his body before returning, triggering his Vision.
• Lin Yi saw the Cafeteria area turn black, white, and gray, then spotted a clue as he examined his surroundings.

Lin Yi discovered that blood-like tomato sauce beneath the Pebble Road absorbed sunlight and sent blue supernatural power into streetlamps, helping stabilize the Cafeteria’s Layer during the day. He then identified an unnumbered streetlamp as the source of the malice and realized that stepping beyond the road had distorted his perception of the ground.

• Lin Yi used My Vision to observe blue steam rising from tomato sauce beneath the Pebble Road and flowing into a streetlamp, and he deduced that it helped restrain the Cafeteria’s Layer in daylight.
• Lin Yi told Tian Bufan and the others about his discovery, while Tian Bufan focused on finding out why the group had become targets of the malice.
• Lin Yi noticed a streetlamp with no visible number, found the number Cafeteria-051 at its base, and connected it to the Impersonator Experience Student’s actions the previous day.
• Lin Yi stepped beyond the Pebble Road, and Wei Liang pulled him back before he could enter the Wooded Belt.
• Lin Yi realized that he had perceived flat ground where there was actually a small slope, revealing that his cognition had been distorted.

Lin Yi discovered that the abandoned Cafeteria-051 Streetlamp Pole had stopped blocking supernatural forces, and traced the spreading malice to a Wooded Belt filled with ruined Chef sculptures and petrified Angel feathers. When an eyeball opened inside one feather, Lin Yi fell into another layer and was overwhelmed by a voice demanding that he worship the Angels.

• Lin Yi examined the unnumbered Cafeteria-051 Streetlamp Pole and realized Streetlamp Poles could block malice from other layers, while this abandoned one could not.
• Lin Yi followed the supernatural energy flowing down the slope and saw a mass of battered Chef sculptures in the Wooded Belt, which he suspected were Black Apron Chefs killed fighting Angel Sculptures.
• Lin Yi spotted petrified feather fragments among the sculptures and realized they came from Angel Sculptures, whose presence explained the overwhelming killing intent.
• An eyeball with golden circular patterns opened inside a feather fragment, and Lin Yi felt himself pulled into another layer.
• Lin Yi tried to orient himself using his Student ID, but a voice warped his thoughts and the Chef sculptures began chanting for him to worship the Angels.

Lin Yi resisted the Angel's Ashes by focusing on Boss, then discovered that the Wooded Belt's malice came from dead impersonator experience students and a feather-shaped sculpture. He explained what he had seen to Tian Bufan and the others as they continued walking, leaving Wei Liang to accuse him of fantasizing about him.

• Lin Yi broke free of the Angel's hypnotic influence by shouting that he believed in Boss and using memories of her to resist conversion.
• Lin Yi realized the Chef sculptures and the feather had pulled him into another layer, where dead impersonator experience students radiated malice through the inactive Streetlamp Poles.
• Lin Yi suspected the malice was bait meant to lure people who could sense it, then returned to the normal layer and found it was 7:00.
• Lin Yi told Tian Bufan and the others about the sculptures, the feather, and the newly formed impersonator experience students, then clarified the terms for different impersonators and night-walking species.
• Wei Liang teased Lin Yi about what he had imagined while resisting the Angel, then concluded that Lin Yi must have been fantasizing about him.

Lin Yi and his companions discovered that the Cafeteria Rules had been deliberately destroyed, then crossed a Student Passage that seemed to shift into a cold, gray-white layer. After a Blue Apron Chef appeared beyond the Plastic Air Curtain and vanished from view, Lin Yi entered the Student Dining Hall and realized Lao Mo was missing.

• Lin Yi told Tian Bufan that Mu Daxian and Maozi escaped the Gray Fog by using a plan that involved Student Commemorative Coins.
• Lin Yi explained that the Blue Apron Chef who seemed As If Present was Lao Mo, a black-apron chef and the Cafeteria's last line of defense.
• Wei Liang found the Cafeteria Rules missing, and Lin Yi concluded that someone had deliberately torn them up and discarded the paper scraps.
• Lin Yi noticed the Student Passage had turned gray-white and seemed lit by cold moonlight, though Tian Bufan urged everyone to keep going.
• Wei Liang lifted the Plastic Air Curtain, revealing a mist-shrouded Blue Apron Chef who turned toward him, but the curtain closed before Wei Liang saw it.
• The passage returned to its usual warm appearance as Experience Students emerged, and Lin Yi entered the Student Dining Hall before noticing Lao Mo was gone.

Lin Yi noticed the Student Passage had changed after Lao Mo disappeared and struggled to distinguish the Cafeteria’s ordinary reality from a frightening layer visible only to him. After grounding himself and reaching the meal window, he realized Wei Liang had avoided food that looked like stones, then saw the Impersonators in the shadows begin skipping frames when he swiped his student card.

• Lin Yi noticed that Lao Mo was gone and sensed that the Cafeteria had changed, with Impersonators waiting in the shadowed lines and Blue Apron Chefs drifting through the hall.
• Lin Yi saw the lines turn into rows of broken sculpture-like students and nearly succumbed to a strange call, but grounded himself by recalling people and scenes that stirred positive emotions.
• Tian Bufan said Lin Yi had only glanced aside, while Wei Shan confirmed that something had been wrong with him; Lin Yi continued through the line with his friends.
• Wei Liang ordered rice porridge and fried dough sticks, and Kuai Hongji and Tian Bufan ordered the same; Lin Yi noticed that the eggs and pickled mustard stems looked like stones.
• Lin Yi swiped his student card and saw the Impersonators watching him withdraw their attention, then begin skipping frames in his vision.