Chapter Summaries

Lao Mo used his golden supernatural power to destroy the mutated Wrathful Angels inside the Large Plaster Masses, then escaped the Fanatics with Lin Yi before collecting the balance. After explaining the deal and the power he absorbed, Lao Mo gave Lin Yi two of the three scales and led him onward through the Deep Forest.

• The Fanatics' Sub-Leader paid Lao Mo three scales up front and returned to the mist to fetch the balance.
• Lao Mo used his golden aura to destroy the Wrathful Angels inside more than a dozen Large Plaster Masses while absorbing their supernatural power.
• Lao Mo tricked the Weird Art Female Teacher and the lackey, then carried Lin Yi away from the Barren Land before the Fanatics could return.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi that the Large Plaster Masses were supernatural-power crystals whose mutated sequences needed to be removed, and explained why he had taken the job instead of simply fleeing.
• Lao Mo and Lin Yi left the matrix's range and entered the Deep Forest, where Lao Mo handed Lin Yi two of the three scales.

Lin Yi’s heightened spiritual sensitivity connected him to a mysterious creature through the scales Lao Mo gave him, and Lao Mo drew the Pig Slaughtering Knife to drive it back. As they continued through the Dense Forest, Lao Mo explained the scales’ connection and began revealing the creature’s origins in the Apostles’ attempts to depict the Root and later Fanatics’ efforts to create it.

• Lao Mo gave Lin Yi two mysterious scales, and touching them triggered a vision of a dark lake and a colossal creature with golden eyes.
• Lao Mo drew the Pig Slaughtering Knife and tore through the darkness, forcing the creature to retreat and ending the vision.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi that the scales created a telepathic connection to their owner, and Lin Yi’s unusually high spiritual sensitivity might have attracted its attention.
• Lao Mo explained that the Apostles had tried to depict the Root, an image later associated with dragons, and that Fanatics eventually followed their clues to create the mysterious being.

Lao Mo explained the origins and behavior of It, Angels, and Angel Sculptures as he and Lin Yi traveled through the Dense Forest toward the Art Building. Near the end, Lin Yi noticed the trees’ broken branches were covered in eerie eyes, and the sight filled him with nausea and an urge to gouge them out.

• Lao Mo told Lin Yi that It was an uncontrollable artificial supernatural creature that restrained Angels along the road to the Art Building.
• Lao Mo explained that Angel Sculptures were not necessarily controlled by the Fanatics, and that Wrathful Angels were created to hinder the Physical Education Department.
• Lao Mo described how Wrathful Angels, Alien Angels, and Grinning Angels differed, and warned Lin Yi not to speak It’s true name in the area.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi to call It the Great Serpent until they left, and promised to reveal its other name afterward.
• As Lin Yi and Lao Mo continued through the Dense Forest, Lin Yi saw eye-like growth rings on the broken branch stubs and felt compelled to gouge them out.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo crossed the Forest of Bones, where Lao Mo explained how the Fanatics used its strange growths as spare parts and how a colossal being shed supernatural scales. Lin Yi adapted to the distorted road and reached the layer where the Art Building was located, seeing a vortex-filled world that resembled The Starry Night; Lao Mo said the painting might encode coordinates to supernatural mysteries, and Lin Yi asked whether Van Gogh had left something behind.

• Lin Yi saw skulls, eyes, and other organs growing on trees, and Lao Mo explained that the Fanatics used the Forest of Bones as spare parts for Wrathful Angels and their own bodies.
• Lao Mo warned Lin Yi that the road would distort at 22:35, then taught him to find a stable path through its shifting patterns.
• Lin Yi used Advanced perception to match the road’s distortion and adapt to it, allowing him to walk safely through the altered terrain.
• Lao Mo explained that the road marked the third stage of their journey and their first true contact with the Art Building’s world.
• Lin Yi saw a vortex-filled landscape resembling The Starry Night, and Lao Mo explained that Apostles believed the painting might be a set of coordinates to supernatural mysteries.
• Lin Yi asked whether Van Gogh had left something behind, after Lao Mo described the theory that the painting marked its location.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo emerged from the Dense Forest onto a storm-lashed coastline, far from the Art Building. Lin Yi spotted the building through the storm, and Lao Mo began preparing protective items before they set out.

• Lao Mo explained that The Starry Night’s original painting contaminated those who studied it and that he had never seen it.
• Lin Yi and Lao Mo traversed the distorted Layers and exited the Dense Forest, where they discovered they had arrived at the wrong part of the coastline.
• Lin Yi used his unusual vision to see the Art Building atop a cliff through the storm and told Lao Mo where it was.
• Lao Mo trusted Lin Yi’s sight, crushed a scale, and began turning its contents into protective gear for their journey.

Lao Mo disguised Lin Yi with a Faceless mask and explained the origins and names of the great serpent as a storm gathered around the Art Building. As the tide began to recede, Lao Mo started drawing on Lin Yi's supernatural power to ride the storm toward the building, and Lin Yi realized Lao Mo had unleashed a domain.

• Lao Mo covered Lin Yi's head with a pliant mask that erased his facial features, explaining that Lin Yi could remove it with supernatural power or sunlight.
• Lao Mo revealed that the great serpent was called the Shadow of the Root and Shadow of Jörmungandr, and warned Lin Yi not to use its true name near the Forest of Bones or the Matrix.
• A violent storm surged around the Art Building, and Lao Mo explained that he planned to use the collision of the receding and incoming tides to carry them there.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi to prepare for him to borrow his power, then drew on it as dark green and golden auras rose around him.
• Lin Yi struggled to relax as his power flowed into Lao Mo, then followed Lao Mo's power and sensed it shaping spatial fluctuations in harmony with the storm.

Lao Mo used Lin Yi’s supernatural power to surf through the storm and carry him to the Lookout, where Lin Yi suffered the delayed backlash of the journey. As Lin Yi recovered, he saw Lao Mo pinning down a grinning angel and tearing at its wings.

• Lin Yi fed sky blue supernatural power into Lao Mo, who took control and began drawing power from him.
• Lao Mo carried Lin Yi along the storm’s distorted currents, revealing grinning angels attacking the Art Building and night-walking species swarming its cliffs and bridge.
• Lao Mo left the storm’s current and landed with Lin Yi at the Lookout, splitting the wave’s inertia with his blade.
• Lin Yi suffered a delayed loss of his senses and intense weakness as the backlash from Lao Mo’s power use caught up with him.
• Lin Yi replenished his reserves by absorbing nearby auras, then spotted Lao Mo pinning down a grinning angel and tearing at its wings.

Lao Mo rescued Lin Yi from a Grinning Angel, tore off its wings, and explained how its power could be harvested as light and food. As Purebred Night-Walking Species closed in around the Lookout, Lin Yi ate a tomato from Lao Mo’s bag and began to understand its role as a source of Supernatural Power.

• Lao Mo dragged the Grinning Angel into a physical state, tore off its wings, and snapped its neck to keep it from attacking Lin Yi.
• Purebred Night-Walking Species rushed after the supernatural mist spilling from the Grinning Angel, while Lao Mo used its transforming wings as power-storing lights.
• Lao Mo opened his backpack and offered Lin Yi tomatoes, explaining that they could provide energy and that different kinds came from different Contamination Persons.
• Lao Mo said tomatoes could trigger worsening cravings in contaminated students, and Lin Yi recognized how that warning fit the student rules.
• Lin Yi ate a tomato and found its taste improved when he stopped thinking of it as a heart, then asked Lao Mo what argument had persuaded Green Hat and the others to give him the tomatoes.

Lao Mo explained how Lin Yi could escape the Art Building through the elevator and admitted he might sacrifice himself to get Lin Yi out safely. Before heading to the Art Building, they visited the Art Office, where Lin Yi encountered Head Teacher 039 and the Art Teacher known as Big Golden Retriever.

• Lao Mo explained that Lin Yi had to ride the elevator to the Library before four in the morning, obey its rules, and follow the Security Guard back to campus.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi he had not promised Boss he would return alive, and Lin Yi urged him not to die.
• Lao Mo drained the Grinning Angel's Supernatural Power, crushed its petrified body, and led Lin Yi toward the Art Office.
• Lao Mo brought Lin Yi to the Art Office to ask the Art Teacher for information, and Lin Yi recognized Head Teacher 039, who did not recognize him.
• Big Golden Retriever emerged from behind the bookshelves, and the Art Teacher asked Lao Mo why he had come to get himself killed.

Lin Yi learned that Teacher Bai Fangshuo had lost memories of the night an entity entered a classroom, while Lao Mo insisted it could not have been an Angel and suspected it carried Ashes. Lao Mo led Lin Yi toward the Art Building, telling him to pass the secret to the Convenience Store Owner after returning to the Campus.

• Lao Mo asked the Art Teacher, “Big Golden Retriever,” to locate Mu Daxian, and the search revealed Mu Daxian was heading toward the Clock Tower.
• Teacher Bai Fangshuo told Lin Yi that Bai Fangshuo had been a missing student whose Student ID appeared in her desk, and that she had lost memories of the night he disappeared.
• Teacher Bai Fangshuo recalled that she had seen an entity enter a classroom and get dragged away by a Security Guard, though she believed it was an Angel.
• Lao Mo took Lin Yi from the Lookout and explained that no Angel had ever infiltrated the Campus, suggesting that Bai Fangshuo had mistaken an Angel Sculpture carrying Ashes for one.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi to inform the Convenience Store Owner that the being carrying Ashes was roaming the Campus in search of something, then led him toward the Art Building to obtain an Identity Credential.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo crossed the storm-lashed Stone Bridge toward the Art Building while Lao Mo explained the history of its carvings and the danger posed by Black Moon Outpost. They entered the Covered Corridor with Grinning Angels and Night-Walking Species close behind, and Lin Yi sensed an unknown presence watching them.

• Lin Yi and Lao Mo crossed the Stone Bridge as Big Goldie illuminated a path toward the Art Building, while hostile creatures followed without attacking.
• Lao Mo explained how the candlestick carvings depicted Xenomorphic Sculptures and connected myths, ancient Apostles, and the supernatural.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi that Black Moon Outpost lay beneath the Art Building and had to be anchored to the Campus to prevent a catastrophic invasion through the Layers.
• Lin Yi and Lao Mo passed through the stone arch into the Covered Corridor, where Grinning Angels and Night-Walking Species followed them inside.
• Lao Mo used the Big Eyeballs' light to drive back the Night-Walking Species, while Lin Yi felt an unseen presence watching them from the corridor's darkness.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo reached the Art Building lobby, where Lao Mo revealed that an Art Student had overwritten its appearance to hide a deadly trap. As Lin Yi began seeing through the illusion, blood mist and the true lobby emerged, while a mysterious voice calling his name raised new questions about his identity and altered memories.

• Lao Mo explained that the sculptures in the Covered Corridor were Purebred Night-Walking Species, then used his domain to crush them and draw out their green powder.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi that a lantern-carrying Grinning Angel could be a transformed Dorm Supervisor, but hunting one would kill it and leave little chance of restoring its humanity.
• As they reached the lobby, Lin Yi heard chains and a voice calling his name, and Lao Mo realized something had been reaching Lin Yi despite his lack of identity.
• Lao Mo suspected Lin Yi's memories had been overwritten and said the truth would become clear soon; Lin Yi connected this to Tian Bufan's promise that the fifth day would explain everything.
• Lao Mo revealed that an Art Student had overwritten the lobby's layout to conceal a trap, and Lin Yi used his pale golden flame to see the hidden blood mist beneath the illusion.

Lin Yi followed Lao Mo through the Art Building’s damaged hall, learning that the Art Students were sacrificing their bodies to hold back the gray fog and could become Obsession Sculptures. As they continued toward the Clock Tower to find Mu Daxian, Lao Mo explained how the sculptures guarded the hall and could fight Grinning Angels.

• Lin Yi saw that the broken dome let rain and blood mist into the hall, while the Art Students and murals helped resist the damage.
• Lao Mo explained that the Art Students were expending supernatural power to keep the hall’s wound from widening and that the hall was forcibly requisitioning power from visitors like Lin Yi.
• Lin Yi noticed hidden sculptures watching him, and Lao Mo revealed that they were dead Art Students transformed into Obsession Sculptures by their powerful obsessions.
• Lao Mo warned Lin Yi that Obsession Sculptures devoured supernatural power, defended the Art Building, and attacked anything that threatened their obsessions, including Grinning Angels.
• Lao Mo led Lin Yi along the wall toward the Clock Tower, and Lin Yi reasoned that the Art Student Rules directed students to the Night Watchman because Obsession Sculptures might attack them too.
• Lao Mo realized Lin Yi had read the Art Student Rules and silently resigned himself to the risks posed by Lin Yi’s leaking supernatural power.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo crossed the Art Building lobby, where the Art Students and Obsession Sculptures attacked the pursuing Night-Walking Species and Grinning Angels. They headed toward the Gallery, then entered gray fog that threatened to turn Lao Mo and prevented them from replenishing supernatural power.

• The Art Students destroyed the Purebred Night-Walking Species that approached them, absorbing its power while suffering contamination from its impure auras.
• The Obsession Sculptures and the flesh in the murals caught and dragged away several Grinning Angels, showing Lin Yi they could kill the angels outright.
• Lao Mo explained that the damaged emblem on the stone platform was the Black Moon Outpost totem, and he led Lin Yi toward the Gallery to locate the Clock Tower.
• Lin Yi followed Lao Mo through the corridors, reasoning that Lao Mo's authority made following him the rule he should obey.
• Lao Mo and Lin Yi entered gray fog, where Lao Mo warned Lin Yi not to use an identity anchor and explained that the fog suppressed supernatural power and made him especially vulnerable to being turned.

Lao Mo and Lin Yi fought their way through the fog-filled Covered Corridor, where Lao Mo used his domain to drain Hound-Shaped Night-Walking Species and Grinning Angels. They continued toward the Gallery with the angels’ wings transformed into Big Eyeballs, while the Night-Walking Species left behind merged into a powerful new creature.

• Lao Mo used exploding Big Eyeballs to drive back packs of Hound-Shaped Night-Walking Species as he led Lin Yi through the Covered Corridor.
• When their last lights ran out and the creatures lunged, Lao Mo told Lin Yi not to resist, then expanded his domain and drained the attackers’ Supernatural Power.
• Lao Mo trapped several Grinning Angels but found no Lantern-Bearer; he cut off their wings, which transformed into four strings of Big Eyeballs.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi that they needed to hunt a Grinning Angel for its lamp and credentials, then hurried toward the Gallery with the new lights.
• After Lao Mo and Lin Yi left, the remaining Hound-Shaped Night-Walking Species devoured the drifting Supernatural Power, merged, and produced a powerful, featureless creature that murmured about Fanatics.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo reached the Gallery as Amon’s Music Box began playing, then pushed through its eerie halls toward the guidance Big Golden Retriever had left. A faceless Little Girl’s music and nursery rhyme stopped Lin Yi’s heart, but he recognized the Iron Chains behind her as a visual hallucination and forced his heart to beat again.

• At midnight, Lao Mo and Lin Yi heard the Night Watchman’s Bell Sound and realized Amon’s Music Box had started playing near the Gallery.
• Lao Mo hurled the Big Eyeballs to blast open a doorway and dragged Lin Yi into the Gallery, where they advanced through fog, shifting shadows, and unsettling artworks.
• Lin Yi heard voices calling his name and a sinister nursery rhyme as a Little Girl in a black-and-red Lolita Uniform approached with a music box.
• The Little Girl’s presence crushed Lin Yi and stopped his heart, leaving him collapsed on the Gallery floor.
• Lin Yi saw Iron Chains emerging from the Little Girl and recognized the image as a visual hallucination, then pressed his chest until his heart began beating again.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo escaped the Gallery through a storm-filled passage while a colossal tsunami of Night-Walking Species loomed beyond the Art Building. Lao Mo revealed that the tsunami was an Angel as he perceived it, and the pair headed for the Clock Tower to confront Mu Daxian.

• Lin Yi anchored himself through Lao Mo, found him in the Gallery, and followed him past a vanished girl and her eerie music box.
• Lao Mo and Lin Yi opened an iron door onto a violent storm, fought off Night-Walking Species, and shut the door against their swarm.
• Lin Yi saw the Night Watchman standing before a frozen tsunami filled with Night-Walking Species and a vast dark shape, while Lao Mo warned him not to focus on it.
• Big Golden Retriever used a Searchlight to reveal another door in the Art Building's outer wall, guiding Lao Mo and Lin Yi into a passage toward the Clock Tower.
• Lao Mo told Lin Yi the tsunami was an Angel as he perceived it and said only the Principal could contend with such a being; he then gave Lin Yi a tomato to replenish his strength.
• Lao Mo said Mu Daxian might not be completely dead, and Lin Yi asked why he could absorb Lin Yi's supernatural power when he could not absorb the power around them.

Lin Yi wolfed down food and supernatural power after Lao Mo drained him to force his recovery, revealing a strange ability to filter and absorb energy. As they continued through the Covered Corridor, Lao Mo explained that Amon’s Music Box was created by the Apostle known as the Designer, who had designed most of the Black Moon Outpost.

• Lao Mo explained that he had been absorbing Lin Yi’s supernatural power and that Lin Yi’s recovery had improved while carrying the burden of that drain.
• Lao Mo drained Lin Yi to the brink of death, prompting Lin Yi to absorb supernatural power and devour food while filtering out unusable energy.
• Lin Yi lunged for the remaining tomatoes after Lao Mo took his backpack, but Lao Mo slammed him to the floor and stopped him; Lin Yi remembered little of his feral behavior.
• Lao Mo and Lin Yi walked deeper into the quiet Covered Corridor, where Lin Yi asked about Amon’s Music Box.
• Lao Mo revealed that Amon had created the music box and was an early Apostle who designed more than ninety percent of the Black Moon Outpost and held the title Designer.

Lin Yi learned that Amon designed Black Moon Outpost and created the music box that became a Forbidden Artifact, while Lao Mo warned him about the Little Girl he had seen. At the Night Watchman’s iron door, Lin Yi experienced a vision of someone forging the inscribed plate, and Lao Mo opened the door.

• Lao Mo explained that Amon designed Black Moon Outpost, created the music box, and may have shaped its mutation through repeated voyages.
• Lin Yi told Lao Mo he had seen a filthy Little Girl carrying the music box, and Lao Mo urged him to be careful and seek clues if she appeared again.
• Lao Mo explained the Night Watchmen’s independent pathway, their role defending the Art Building, and why Mu Daxian had gone to the Clock Tower.
• Lao Mo and Lin Yi reached the iron door bearing a Night Watchman maxim, and Lin Yi heard a sequence of chimes when he touched its plate.
• Lin Yi saw a vision of a thin figure forging the plate, then Lao Mo pushed open the rust-covered door.

Lin Yi and Lao Mo entered the Clock Tower’s downward stair passage and used the left-hand stairs to leap between Layers, emerging on steps that climbed upward. As they approached the Fog Zone, Lao Mo warned Lin Yi not to be distracted by the Grinning Angels while the Night Watchman resisted the Angel’s descent.

• Lao Mo used Layer Leap to slip through the iron door after Lin Yi, and Lin Yi worried aloud that their return route would be nearly impossible and urged Lao Mo to survive with him.
• Lin Yi questioned why the Clock Tower’s stair passage descended, and Lao Mo explained that keeping to the left would reveal the reason Campus rules required people to use the right side.
• Lin Yi held Lao Mo’s hand and followed him up the left side of the stairs, enduring spatial distortions as they crossed Layers and found the staircase spiraling upward.
• Lao Mo explained that his Absolute Will anchored a Layer as a reference, and warned that Experience Students who took the left stairs could become lost and die, later drifting into blind spots as Corpse Sculptures.
• Lao Mo warned Lin Yi to watch his footing and avoid the Grinning Angels in the Fog Zone, explaining that the Night Watchman was resisting the Angel’s descent while Angel Sculptures threatened his undefended back.