Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi and his companions found the Cafeteria increasingly strange, and Wei Liang began leading them toward the Convenience Store using his unorthodox method. As Green Apron Chefs closed in, Wei Liang cried out, leaving the group’s escape unresolved.

• Lin Yi saw soul-like doubles in the Cafeteria queue and noticed human outlines and green vapor behind the Blue Apron Chefs.
• A pale figure appeared in Lin Yi’s tray reflection, and Wei Liang accidentally shattered the Blue Apron Chef behind him with a spinning tray.
• Tian Bufan asked Wei Liang to lead them to the Convenience Store so they could stock up on food.
• Wei Liang returned his tray to the Plate Return Area, then followed a route illuminated by sunlight or indoor lights while Green Apron Chefs emerged from Meal Window No. 10 and pursued the group.
• As the Green Apron Chefs drew close and Lin Yi prepared to fight, Wei Liang suddenly cried out.

Lin Yi and the others escaped the Cafeteria, collected food at the Convenience Store, and discussed the strange people and entities they had seen. The chapter ended as Lin Yi and Tian Bufan both brought up the dream from the previous night.

• Wei Liang stepped aside so sunlight struck and destroyed two and a half pursuing Green Apron Chefs, then led Lin Yi and the others to the Convenience Store.
• Lin Yi and the others selected food, followed the checkout reminders, and left the Student Dining Hall without incident; an unseen figure stood in the Convenience Store doorway as a scarred young man watched them go.
• Lin Yi and his group left the Cafeteria at 7:30 on May 9, Year X023, and Lin Yi recalled seeing people lining up at Meal Windows No. 1 and No. 5.
• Tian Bufan considered Lin Yi's account and suggested that the apparent figures might involve a problem with the layer they occupied, while a special being might have affected the Cafeteria's entities.
• Lin Yi and Tian Bufan discussed the absent Green Apron Chefs and the strange Blue Apron Chefs, then both began asking about the dream.

Lin Yi explained the supernatural streetlamps and the Gray Fog Invasion to Tian Bufan and the others as they discussed how to gather information and save Maozi. Tian Bufan warned the group about the coming danger, then revealed they had taken turns watching Lin Yi while he slept to learn what happened in the Dormitory.

• Lin Yi described how supernatural power fueled the streetlamps, and Tian Bufan suggested asking the Head Teacher for information while continuing to investigate.
• The group saw Mountain Man hurry toward the Cafeteria with a bulging backpack, and Lin Yi told them about his earlier encounter with Mountain Man in his dream.
• Tian Bufan showed unusual interest in Mountain Man, advised the group not to spend much effort investigating him, and asked Lin Yi to explain the Gray Fog Invasion.
• Lin Yi explained what he knew about the Gray Fog Invasion, and Tian Bufan said the Cafeteria crisis might be only the beginning and warned Kuai Hongji to be careful.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that the group had taken turns keeping watch over him while he slept, hoping to learn what happened in the Dormitory at night.

Lin Yi listened as Wei Shan, Kuai Hongji, and Tian Bufan described the dormitory’s strange events overnight, including its apparent inversion and an intruder entering through the bathroom. On the way to the Teaching Building, the group noticed missing streetlamp numbers and considered whether they might have to shelter in the Gymnasium during the gray fog invasion.

• Wei Shan described feeling the dormitory flip upside down, hearing tapping at the window, and sensing a wet creature enter before the Dorm Supervisor restored the window and bathroom door.
• Kuai Hongji recounted the oppressive pressure and strange noises he experienced during his watch, while Tian Bufan said the dormitory settled back into position before morning.
• Lin Yi and Tian Bufan noticed that several streetlamps had lost their numbers and worried that the Cafeteria’s troubles could affect their return to the Dormitory Building.
• Tian Bufan suggested they inspect the Gymnasium during PE and consider it as a possible shelter, while Lin Yi worried about the angel sculptures mentioned in its rules.

Lin Yi noticed that the Campus moss grew in unnatural patterns and discovered that listening closely to it brought on a terrifying phenomenon, which he escaped by pulling himself away. He returned to class with Wei Liang and wondered how much his enigmatic classmate knew.

• Tian Bufan warned Lin Yi to be cautious about Song Rentou and told him to focus on questioning the Athlete Students and Head Teacher about the Gymnasium.
• Lin Yi noticed that moss grew on Building B's steps but not on the nearby Pebble Road or Streetlamp Pole, and he heard wind coming from it.
• As Lin Yi listened to the moss, the world turned gray and the moss seemed to grow into tentacles, but he snapped out of the experience by pushing himself upright.
• Lin Yi questioned how Wei Liang repeatedly led him to important discoveries, while Wei Liang insisted that he was merely riding Lin Yi's coattails.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang entered Group B Class 2, where Head Teacher 040 waited for them to sign in, and Lin Yi's expression changed as he looked across the Lecture Hall.

Lin Yi found the Lecture Hall empty, studied Head Teacher 040’s attendance roster, and secretly memorized Song Rentou’s details when he arrived. Seeing a strange black silhouette behind Song Rentou triggered a disturbing vision, and Song Rentou then asked Lin Yi if they had met before.

• Lin Yi worried that the missing Experience Students might have been wiped out, then checked Head Teacher 040’s badge and studied the attendance roster.
• Hu Chuanchang and the other returning students arrived to sign in, followed by Song Rentou.
• Lin Yi covertly memorized Song Rentou’s student number, attendance records, and appearance while pretending to look elsewhere.
• Lin Yi saw a black, grinning silhouette behind Song Rentou as his vision distorted, but the figure slipped back inside Song Rentou when Lin Yi blinked.
• Song Rentou stopped Lin Yi and asked whether they had met before.

Lin Yi saw a faceless version of himself in the Bathroom mirror urging him to flee the Campus and kill Wei Liang, but Xu Shunkang interrupted him before he could act. On the way back, Lin Yi asked about the Gray Fog Invasion, prompting Xu Shunkang to demand how he had learned about it.

• Lin Yi left Song Rentou's classroom feeling tense after Song Rentou said he thought they had met before, while Song Rentou sensed someone watching him and searched the Lecture Hall.
• Lin Yi considered the danger posed by Grinning Angels near the Teaching Building's Elevator Area, then went to the Bathroom to inspect his eyes.
• Lin Yi saw blood vessels retreating from his eyeball and a golden glimmer, then heard a faceless reflection in the mirror command him to run and kill Wei Liang.
• Lin Yi felt a violent urge to smash the mirror, but Xu Shunkang grabbed his wrist and brought him back to his senses; Lin Yi realized he had climbed against the mirror.
• Lin Yi asked Xu Shunkang whether Xie Huayang had been injured during the Gray Fog Invasion, and Xu Shunkang pressed him to explain how he knew about it.
• Lin Yi claimed he had overheard someone in a dark green school uniform carrying a drawing board mention Impersonators, a Bell Sound, and the Art Building, easing Xu Shunkang's suspicion.

Xu Shunkang reported the class’s casualties and asked Head Teacher 040 about a suspected Tier Three threat, while Lin Yi learned that Xu had known about the Basement all along. As Lin Yi organized his clues, he realized Mu Daxian’s strange light bulb might be an Angel Sculpture’s eye, and the Grinning Angel appeared in his mind.

• Xu Shunkang identified Mu Daxian as someone who had left the Art Building and hurried to report the sighting to Boss.
• Xu Shunkang told Head Teacher 040 that three Athlete Students had died, six were injured, and the class had lost at least half its Experience Students.
• Xu Shunkang warned Head Teacher 040 that Teacher suspected something above Tier Three had appeared and advised her not to leave the office at night.
• Xu Shunkang explained that he had known about the Basement but had acted to keep others from thinking about it, leaving Lin Yi to realize their earlier misunderstanding.
• Lin Yi returned to his seat and recorded clues in his notebook, then suspected Mu Daxian’s concentric-ringed light bulb was an Angel Sculpture’s eye.
• Lin Yi pictured the Grinning Angel standing in the rain by the Stairwell exit, then turning half its face toward him.

Lin Yi recovered from a disturbing vision of the Grinning Angel and reasoned out what the marks in his notebook meant. He then spotted Mountain Man returning with a third bag, while Song Rentou watched him, and ended the chapter investigating a bizarre manga near the bookshelves.

• Lin Yi imagined the Grinning Angel turning to look at him, feared it was altering his Cognition, and tore up a sketch he had drawn unconsciously.
• Lin Yi noticed Song Rentou watching him and concluded that Song had already set his sights on him.
• Lin Yi worked out that blank, circled, and crossed-out names indicated different student statuses, while checkmarks and crosses recorded sign-ins.
• Lin Yi took Wei Liang's manga to swap for other books, then saw Mountain Man enter carrying a third bag as Song Rentou stared at it.
• Lin Yi secretly watched Mountain Man compare two pocket watches and write in a notebook, then tried reading a strange manga before a nearby book fell open.

Lin Yi discovered strange markings hidden in the scenery of Hentai Manga illustrations but could not decipher them, then went to give Head Teacher 040 a slip of paper. As Head Teacher 040 pulled him into the Teachers' Office to protect him from a supernatural presence, she asked what he had provoked, and Lin Yi began to suspect a recent encounter.

• Lin Yi noticed unusual lines hidden in the scenery in a manga, but he could not work out what information they encoded.
• Lin Yi saw Song Rentou leave the Teachers' Office after following Head Teacher 040, then decided to bring her his slip of paper anyway.
• Lin Yi went to the Teachers' Office with Wei Liang waiting outside, but Head Teacher 040 stopped him at the doorway and dragged him inside as a freezing, distorted presence appeared behind him.
• Head Teacher 040 recited a strange incantation and shut the office door, then asked Lin Yi what he had provoked.
• Lin Yi considered several supernatural beings he had encountered and suddenly thought of a possible cause.

Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 about the chanting Impersonators and learned that he carried an Angel's mark, which could be removed at the Gymnasium. He left with instructions to reach it at midday without traveling alongside Athlete Students, while questions about Angels, the Campus, and his ability to leave remained unresolved.

• Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 that the Occult Scriptures Choir had surrounded him, and she identified it as an Impersonator Symbiote called the Forest of the Dead's Steles.
• Head Teacher 040 explained that Lin Yi had an Angel's mark and warned him not to call the Angels, which answered every plea and came for those who summoned them.
• Head Teacher 040 told Lin Yi to go to the Gymnasium after lunch when the sun was strongest, explain his situation to the Athlete Students, and avoid going there with any Athlete Students.
• Lin Yi asked whether he could become an Athlete Student or leave early, and Head Teacher 040 said his inspiration would prevent him from leaving through normal channels.
• Lin Yi declined to test the School Doctor option, suspecting that the Rules' reference to feeling unwell concealed a danger.

Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 about the Dormitory flipping at night, his dream of the Grinning Angel, and a strange presence in his bed, prompting her to record the unprecedented dream and urge him to seek help at the Gymnasium. He then showed her a note attributed to Song Rentou, and their check-in records revealed a suspicious stretch of absences before Lin Yi left the office.

• Lin Yi asked Head Teacher 040 whether Xenomorphic Sculptures could be in a symbiotic state, and she said some could.
• Lin Yi described the Dormitory flipping after midnight and realized it reminded him of the Hourglass held by the Grinning Angel; Head Teacher 040 questioned him about his dream and wrote it down.
• Lin Yi reported hearing water in the Bathroom and feeling something soft crawl onto his bed, and Head Teacher 040 told him to go to the Gymnasium and ask Xu Shunkang for answers.
• Lin Yi gave Head Teacher 040 a note bearing Song Rentou's name and student number, and she found his April check-in sheet.
• Head Teacher 040 and Lin Yi saw that Song Rentou had several consecutive absence marks before normal check-ins resumed, followed by a mark showing he had left the Campus.

Lin Yi discovered that the markings in the Hentai Manga encoded fragmented records of the Gray Fog Invasion, while Head Teacher 040 investigated Song Rentou's records and questioned why Lin Yi had been placed in the classroom. Lin Yi decoded warnings about past events and an approaching invasion, but the clues remained incomplete.

• Lin Yi returned to class after speaking with Head Teacher 040, and Wei Liang teased him about the visit while Song Rentou and Mountain Man watched him.
• Lin Yi counted the students remaining after the night and recorded the numbers in his notepad as an anchor against his worsening Visual Hallucinations.
• Head Teacher 040 questioned why the company had placed Lin Yi in the classroom, then examined Song Rentou's records and found a document dated March 2.
• Wei Liang's rapid page-turning revealed that the manga's markings could form encoded scenes, and Lin Yi copied Wei Liang's reading method to decode them.
• Lin Yi uncovered messages about a failed event on March 3, a hidden path sought on March 9, an impending invasion on May 2, and other events involving the Night Watchman, Night-Walking Species, and Impersonator Art Teacher.

Lin Yi’s attempt to gather clues from Hentai Manga drew him into a vision of a foggy forest, a storm-lashed coast, and a ruined classroom filled with hanging sculptures. He realized he was experiencing a visual hallucination, but the sculptures began repeating his identity as he tried to ground himself.

• Lin Yi noticed Song Rentou and Mountain Man watching him, then returned books and planned to leave for lunch at 10:20.
• Lin Yi deciphered scattered entries describing a cave in the mountains, a deadly encounter with the Night Watchman, and a voice calling someone toward supposed salvation.
• Lin Yi became absorbed in a vision that followed a path through the Wooded Belt to a cave’s light and then to a desolate coastline.
• Lin Yi’s Vision activated as the scene shifted into a ruined classroom, where a monstrous sculpture startled him and broken glass cut his hand.
• Lin Yi recognized that he was in a visual hallucination and tried to recite his name and location, but hanging Impersonator Sculptures echoed his words and mocked him.

Lin Yi escaped a terrifying hallucination by combining memories of Boss and Wei Liang, then left the classroom with Wei Liang to eat before heading to the Gymnasium. As they departed the Teaching Building, the voice calling Lin Yi returned, and the building seemed to merge with the shadowy Wooded Belt like a structure sunk beneath the sea.

• Lin Yi used a fantasy of Boss with Wei Liang’s face to break free of the hallucination and realized the manga clues needed to be pieced together, with desire helping anchor readers.
• Lin Yi noticed the manga’s fragmented warning that the world was broken and time was running out, then saw the surviving experience students looking increasingly numb while Mountain Man assembled a device.
• Lin Yi told Wei Liang that Teacher Lin had warned him something supernatural was attached to him and ordered him to go to the Gymnasium after eating.
• Wei Liang joked about the Campus’s spooky reputation and promised that his luck would help them, while Lin Yi suspected he was dodging the truth.
• As Lin Yi and Wei Liang left the Teaching Building, Lin Yi heard a voice call his name again and saw the building and Wooded Belt appear to overlap in a gloomy, underwater-like vision.

Lin Yi went to the Cafeteria with Wei Liang, where his growing paranoia made him notice a strange afterimage and the transformed Sailor Uniform Girl. The Impersonator Art Students planned to recruit Lin Yi, while Zhang Lingzhen revealed he had been in the same batch as her.

• Lin Yi and Wei Liang headed to the Cafeteria, where Lin Yi found that the Cafeteria Rules had been restocked and noticed an afterimage among the waiting Experience Students.
• Wei Liang pointed out the green-tinged Sailor Uniform Girl, and Lin Yi saw a Penguin-like Impersonator Art Student step between them and meet his gaze.
• The Penguin-like Impersonator Art Student called Lin Yi a promising prospect and assigned a bandaged Impersonator Art Student to approach him outside the Cafeteria area.
• Zhang Lingzhen told the Impersonator Art Students that Lin Yi might be the person she sensed and that he had been in the same batch as her.

Lin Yi entered the Student Passage with Wei Liang and was pulled into a terrifying layer of rushing water, wind, and chained Humanoid Sculptures that tried to lure him into anchoring himself. Trapped between the hostile layer and his original one, he realized the steps might offer a way out.

• Lin Yi realized that the crowds entering the Other Passage could include people who had lost their Student IDs, and wondered whether Zhou Yuting had produced an Impersonator.
• Lin Yi and Wei Liang entered the Student Passage, where an eerie voice called Lin Yi’s name and the surrounding people appeared to occupy separate layers.
• Lin Yi fell into a layer of flooded steps and violent wind, where chained Humanoid Sculptures urged him to anchor himself and take them back with him.
• Lin Yi recognized that using an anchor could let the Humanoid Sculptures follow him into his original layer, leaving him trapped as Wei Liang continued ahead.
• While crouched on the steps under the wind, Lin Yi suddenly realized that something there could serve as a way out.

Lin Yi escaped the Student Passage’s endless Layer by relying on his certainty that it had one hundred steps and took just over four minutes to cross. After rejoining Wei Liang and Tian Bufan, he discussed the camera footage, the Head Teacher’s warning, and what an “Angel” might be, while a new sense of unease lingered.

• Lin Yi climbed the flooded steps and escaped the Layer on his hundredth step, using his memory of Wei Liang’s claim that the Student Passage had exactly one hundred steps and his own time checks.
• Wei Liang laughed at Lin Yi’s windblown hairstyle, while Lin Yi felt a sudden chill and glanced behind him, finding nothing there.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that the Digital Camera had recorded the Dormitory flipping over and strange noise, but its limited memory had run out before the Dorm Supervisor appeared.
• Lin Yi explained that the Head Teacher suspected Maozi’s mark had drawn something’s attention to him, and he and Tian Bufan considered why the effect had not affected everyone.
• Tian Bufan suggested that the Head Teacher and Art Students might use “Angel” for an entity with vague boundaries, and Lin Yi wondered whether it referred to a range of It-I contamination.
• Lin Yi told Tian Bufan that the Head Teacher had shown him Song Rentou’s last sign-in record, which contained only a few clues.

Lin Yi and Tian Bufan discussed Song Rentou’s disappearance, clues hidden in Hentai Manga, and Tian Bufan’s discoveries about Building D and the Night-Walking Species. After the light bulb drew the attention of a mysterious presence, Lao Mo appeared, destroyed its stored power, and warned Lin Yi that the Grinning Angel had marked him.

• Tian Bufan suggested that the Head Teacher knew more about Song Rentou’s missing days than she had told Lin Yi, and Lin Yi shared his method for decoding Gray Fog Invasion clues in Hentai Manga.
• Tian Bufan described how he had deduced the locations of Building D and the areas above the fifth floor, and said Night-Walking Species could travel between Layers.
• Tian Bufan gave Lin Yi a petrified sphere he had found near Building D’s Library, and sunlight transformed it into the light bulb Lin Yi recognized.
• When Lin Yi held the light bulb in sunlight, he sensed that something was watching him, then Lao Mo appeared and absorbed the light bulb’s power.
• Lao Mo used his Pig Slaughtering Knife to confront a doorway concealed in Lin Yi’s shadow, where the Grinning Angel appeared before the doorway vanished.
• Lao Mo warned Lin Yi to hide the light bulb and not charge it, and said the Gymnasium could remove the mark that would draw them back to him.

Lin Yi and his companions entered the Student Dining Hall, where Lin Yi recognized a Green Apron Chef disguised as Li Huiyuan and helped destabilize its stolen identity. The creature fled Meal Window No. 3, while the group continued through the cafeteria.

• Lin Yi told Tian Bufan that Lao Mo had appeared unseen by others and urged him to go to the Gymnasium after eating.
• Wei Shan arrived, kicked open the Plastic Air Curtain, and followed Tian Bufan, Lin Yi, and Wei Liang into the Student Dining Hall.
• Lin Yi spotted Li Huiyuan's stolen identity at Meal Window No. 3 and recognized the chef as Ge Qing from the Student ID digits on its badge.
• Tian Bufan confused the chef by disputing which dish Lin Yi had ordered, and Wei Shan and Wei Liang further muddled its identity.
• Wei Liang pointed out that the chef's badge looked like a Student ID, causing the creature to collapse into boneless sludge and crawl toward the exit.