Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi and Li Huiyuan slipped Layers into the Bookshelf Area, where the broken sculptures urged Lin Yi to take them away and repeated a cryptic line about the Mourners returning from the Endless Deep Sea. After they returned to the abandoned classroom, an Ashes Apostle attacked, and Lin Yi threw it into the Covered Corridor with the lingering Grinning Angels and locked the door.

• Lin Yi noticed the nonexistent person had survived bearing Ashes and spotted the Art Building through the fog beyond the classroom window.
• Li Huiyuan slipped Layers, and Lin Yi's consciousness followed hers into the Bookshelf Area, where the broken sculptures begged him to take them away.
• Lin Yi guided Li Huiyuan back to her body, then returned himself while the sculptures repeated, “When the Black Moon Withers, the Mourners return from the Endless Deep Sea.”
• Li Huiyuan woke as Lin Yi raised his hand to slap her, and she angrily accused him of going too far.
• The Ashes Apostle: Fire Man attacked Lin Yi, who dodged its charge and hurled it through the classroom door into the Covered Corridor.
• Lin Yi locked the door between the classroom and corridor, leaving the Ashes Apostle: Fire Man surrounded by the lingering Grinning Angels.

Lin Yi and Li Huiyuan found that the Grinning Angels had been petrified by the fire-wielding Ashes Apostle and discovered refined ashes stored in Blood Bodhi Stone Pillars. Lin Yi harvested the pillars before fleeing back to the Campus, while the Ashes Apostle began breaking the remaining pillars and absorbing their contents.

• Lin Yi realized that Mountain Man's Fire Man might be an artificial ashes collector, and he and Li Huiyuan left Group B Class 13 after the Grinning Angels fell silent.
• Lin Yi found petrified Grinning Angels in the Covered Corridor and led Li Huiyuan toward the Stairwell by Group B Class 15.
• Lin Yi identified the Blood Bodhi Stone Pillars as refined ashes made from Fanatics and Grinning Angels, then absorbed the contents of the pillars he encountered.
• When the Fire Man sensed the refined ashes, Lin Yi grabbed a pillar and hurried with Li Huiyuan into the Stairwell, using the pillar to drive off the Night-Walking Species.
• After Lin Yi crossed back to the Campus, the Fire Man arrived and began smashing the remaining pillars to absorb their ashes.

The Fanatics returned to find the Ashes Apostle had destroyed their harvest, and Zhang Lingzhen transformed into a new Ashes Apostle after being left behind. Lin Yi admitted to Li Huiyuan that he had absorbed Ashes again and planned to leave Campus, then set out to report the Fanatics’ attack and meet Wei Liang for lunch.

• The Weird Art Female Teacher and the Fanatics discovered the Fire Person consuming the Ashes, then fled and left others behind to cover their retreat.
• Ren Jianxiong noticed Zhang Lingzhen was missing, but abandoned the idea of going back for her and followed the Fanatics toward the Barren Land.
• The Fire Person killed the Fanatics left behind, and Zhang Lingzhen emerged from her charred body with the power of an Ashes Apostle.
• Lin Yi returned to Teaching Building B with Li Huiyuan, absorbed the Ashes he carried, and told her he had picked them up again at the Art Building.
• Li Huiyuan urged Lin Yi to have Boss remove the Ashes, but Lin Yi said they had fused with him and that leaving Campus might keep him safe.
• Lin Yi and Li Huiyuan decided to head toward the Cafeteria, with Lin Yi planning to report the Fanatics to Head Teacher 040 and Li Huiyuan going to fetch Wei Liang.

Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 about the Fanatics gathering ashes and the infiltrators hidden among his classmates, then learned Mountain Man’s forbidden method for becoming an Ashes Apostle. The exchange revealed that Mountain Man’s fire-like creation was bait meant to expose the Realm of God’s remaining operatives, and Lin Yi left the office at mealtime.

• Lin Yi reported that Fanatics on the fifth floor were using collected ashes and Blood Bodhi Stone Pillars in an effort to become Ashes Apostles, and that infiltrators from his batch had joined them.
• Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 about Mountain Man’s fire-like creation in the abandoned classroom, and she explained that Mountain Man had called it bait.
• Head Teacher 040 said Mountain Man had learned that becoming an Ashes Apostle required turning oneself into a vessel through regeneration and adaptation, and that he was experimenting on himself with controlled amounts of ashes.
• Head Teacher 040 explained that Mountain Man intended to use the bait to lure out and kill the Realm of God’s planted operatives, then take the ashes they had collected.
• Lin Yi asked whether Head Teacher 040 had any other information, then left the office when she told him to get lost.

Mountain Man warned Head Teacher 040 that Wei Liang was dangerous, and her review of the student records raised suspicions about his identity. As Lin Yi, Li Huiyuan, and Wei Liang headed to the Cafeteria, Lin Yi heard an unseen voice calling his name and sensed that the Campus was growing unstable.

• Mountain Man warned Head Teacher 040 that Wei Liang had made him feel more fear than the monsters at Black Moon Outpost and might be connected to the missing Song Rentou.
• Head Teacher 040 found no sign-in record for Wei Liang, then compared the class records with a letter from Head Teacher 039 and became alarmed.
• Lin Yi met Li Huiyuan and Wei Liang outside the Teachers' Office, and Head Teacher 040 watched Wei Liang as they left.
• Near the Cafeteria, Lin Yi sensed drifting ashes and heard a voice calling his name, while unseen Chef sculptures appeared in the Wooded Belt beneath gathering clouds.
• In the damp Student Passage, Lin Yi took Li Huiyuan's hand and realized Wei Liang's remarks had given him an idea about controlling Layer fluctuations.
• Lin Yi felt the passage grow colder and its exit distort, but Li Huiyuan sensed nothing unusual as Wei Liang said rain was coming.

Lin Yi was drawn into a dreamlike distortion caused by the Law-Crafting Master's Mystical Runes, but used the time discrepancy to realize he was outside the Student Passage and escape. He returned to his Original Body at 10:48, recognizing the danger of Dream Boundary Studies as Wei Liang entered the passage.

• Lin Yi saw overlapping passages, chained sculptures, and pale golden patterns as eerie calls and rushing wind destabilized his Layer.
• Lin Yi realized the apparent Li Huiyuan was the Little Girl and noticed the watch showed only 10:47, despite the time spent walking.
• Lin Yi identified the scene as a Double Dream, looked back, and saw himself, Li Huiyuan, and Wei Liang outside the Student Passage before returning to his Original Body.
• Lin Yi confirmed the Law-Crafting Master's Mystical Runes had drawn his consciousness into the dream, while the dark clouds receded and the time reached 10:48.
• Lin Yi considered how Dream Boundary Studies could trap people in endless dreams, then Wei Liang cursed him and entered the Student Passage.

Lin Yi was drawn into a dreamlike version of the Student Passage by the Law-Crafting Master’s power, but escaped by using the passage of time to realize he was outside it. He returned to reality shaken, recognizing the danger of Dream Boundary Studies and the growing activity of the Law-Crafting Master’s mark on his arm.

• Lin Yi saw overlapping passages, heard eerie calls, and watched pale golden patterns appear on his arm as his blood surged.
• Lin Yi mistook the Little Girl for Li Huiyuan, then noticed the time had advanced only from 10:46 to 10:47 and realized he was not truly inside the Student Passage.
• Lin Yi looked back and saw himself, Wei Liang, and Li Huiyuan outside the passage, then pulled his consciousness back into his original body.
• Wei Liang and Li Huiyuan watched Lin Yi recover outside the entrance as the clouds overhead began to recede.
• Lin Yi concluded that the Law-Crafting Master had used her mark to pull him into a dreambuilding state and wondered whether Dream Boundary Studies trapped people in endless dreams.
• Lin Yi called his experience a wet dream, and Wei Liang cursed him before entering the Student Passage.

Lin Yi explored the Student Dining Hall’s shadowy area, sensed a possible link to the well in the Art Building, and then exploited the Green Apron Chef’s tomato-swapping behavior. The chapter ended with Lin Yi accepting one more tomato despite his tray already being piled high.

• Lin Yi probed the darkness in the Cafeteria and heard whispers that seemed connected to the well in the Art Building.
• Lin Yi considered whether the Cafeteria and the well were linked across Layers, while suspecting the Law-Crafting Master might be influencing his perceptions.
• The Green Apron Chef offered Lin Yi its new dry-tossed noodles, and Lin Yi memorized the Name Badge of Cafeteria lady Chef-0256 before collecting his food.
• Lin Yi swiped his Student ID, causing nearby Experience Students to react like Impersonator Classmates, then began trading yogurt for tomatoes as the Green Apron Chef repeatedly swapped them.
• Lin Yi filled his tray with tomatoes and yogurt, then took another tomato from the Green Apron Chef when it offered one, leaving him with little room on the tray.

Lin Yi took the Green Apron Chef’s heart-tomato, triggering its petrification and making the other chefs fear him. After helping himself to a meal, he faced a pleading Experience Student and then used his understanding of space to foil another chef’s charge.

• Lin Yi took the tomatoes from the Green Apron Chef, found its last one in its chest, and pulled out its heart as it tried to kill him.
• The Green Apron Chef petrified into a Corpse Sculpture, and the other chefs and Impersonator Classmates became wary of Lin Yi.
• Lin Yi dumped his tomato-tainted food, joined the line at Meal Window No. 4, and made the chef promoting tomato noodles withdraw in fear.
• An Experience Student asked Lin Yi to save him, but Lin Yi directed him to seek his Head Teacher and walked away.
• A Green Apron Chef lunged from Meal Window No. 10, and Lin Yi used Advanced Perception to manipulate the spatial lines and keep it from reaching him.

Lin Yi reached the Convenience Store through the mist, where he discovered hound-shaped night-walking species held back by its light and heard iron chains beyond them. At the entrance, he found ashes binding him to the doorway and realized he might be caught in a trap meant for him, perhaps because the Convenience Store Owner was gravely injured.

• Lin Yi used the Green Apron Chef's spatial force to jump to the Convenience Store, while Mountain Man entered the Student Dining Hall and ignored the Chef's recommendation.
• Lin Yi found the Student Dining Hall had vanished behind him and saw hound-shaped night-walking species prowling beyond the Convenience Store's protective light.
• Lin Yi detected iron chains in the mist and wondered whether the Campus's hidden layers extended beyond the apparent real world.
• Lin Yi noticed ashes floating across the Convenience Store's entrance and suspected the store could carry and collect them without being affected.
• Lin Yi entered the store, but the ashes clung to him and stretched into a binding tether that pulled him back toward the doorway.
• Lin Yi suspected the ashes formed a trap and considered that the Convenience Store Owner might be gravely injured.

Lin Yi tried to understand the Convenience Store Owner’s possible motives while resisting ashes pulling him toward a door. He absorbed the rekindled ashes into himself and rebuilt his flesh with them, then found himself before a door marked Group B Class 2.

• Lin Yi questioned whether the Convenience Store Owner might regard him as a tool and realized the Security Guard’s command may have steered him away from the Cafeteria.
• Lin Yi set aside his suspicions and reached toward the ashes with his Perception to deconstruct them.
• The ashes erupted into flames and burned Lin Yi’s flesh as his Perception failed to grasp their power.
• Lin Yi recalled Tian Bufan’s words and drew the ashes into his body, leaving his golden skeleton standing in the flames.
• Lin Yi rebuilt his flesh with the burning ashes, giving his body a glasslike, diamond-bright appearance like the Ashes Apostles.
• Lin Yi heard the rushing train and drifted through a mirrored, glass-filled corridor until he stopped at a door marked Group B Class 2.

Lin Yi relived fragments of the night of May 6 through the concept-level sculpture, uncovering a possible time loop and seeing himself as the Ashes Apostle Fire Man. As ash flames reshaped his body, he concluded that the Ashes Apostles might be a special state rather than a single individual.

• Lin Yi saw the concept-level sculpture enter his classroom on May 6, heard a warning about running and leaving, and wondered whether his future self was communicating with him.
• The Security Guard dragged the sculpture from the classroom, where Lin Yi glimpsed Head Teacher 039 and blurry scenes from May 8.
• Lin Yi briefly inhabited the Ashes Apostle Fire Man and watched it charge at his past self before being thrown out of the abandoned classroom.
• Back at the Convenience Store, Lin Yi noticed the ash flames were transforming his body while leaving his watch and clothes untouched.
• Lin Yi ruled out the Ashes Apostle Fire Man as his future self and theorized that the Ashes Apostles referred to a special state of bearing ashes without perishing.

After breaking free of the ashes and gaining control over crystalline, ash-like power, Lin Yi entered the Convenience Store and found it wrecked and apparently abandoned. Searching for the injured Convenience Store Owner, he followed a strange call into the Bookshelf Area and came face-to-face with a monstrous mound of corpses.

• Lin Yi severed the ashes binding him to the doorway, absorbed the remaining ashes, and discovered he could command crystalline power and red-gold flames.
• Lin Yi found the Convenience Store cold, foggy, and ransacked, with signs of violence but no trace of the Convenience Store Owner.
• Lin Yi decided to deliver Lao Mo's heart to the Convenience Store Owner and searched the store while heading toward the exit.
• Lin Yi heard a voice calling "lyset" from the Bookshelf Area and saw a huge shape writhing in the mist.
• An unseen force pulled Lin Yi's vision toward a monstrous mound of mutated corpses, whose largest body bore familiar tentacle-like growths and watched him with an oppressive presence.

Lin Yi found Convenience Store Owner-003 in the depths of the Convenience Store and learned that he was preparing to restore Lao Mo using the heart Lin Yi brought. The owner began the process at the Burial Body, an Alien Angel that slowly absorbed supernatural traits, leaving Lin Yi to watch as the heart’s golden aura pushed back the surrounding chill.

• Lin Yi resisted the Burial Body’s strange call and confirmed that he could warp back to where he had been.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 emerged from the direction of the corpse pile and revealed that he was the Convenience Store Owner Lin Yi had met before.
• The owner explained that he had been processing a trophy taken from an Angel and accepted Lao Mo’s heart from Lin Yi.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 told Lin Yi that Lao Mo was dead but might recover partly, then led him to the Burial Body.
• The owner explained the Burial Body’s Funerary Sacrifice trait and said its effects on Lin Yi would be negligible.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 took out Lao Mo’s heart to begin the process, and its golden aura dispelled some of the surrounding chill.

Convenience Store Owner-003 used materials from the corpse pile and scraps of the Alien Angel to reconstruct Lao Mo’s body, then explained Lao Mo’s Ashes Apostle state and its limitations to Lin Yi. The chapter ended with Lin Yi wondering whether the Root had extinguished the Sun and whether the black Sun above the Art Building was the one that had gone out.

• Convenience Store Owner-003 wrapped Lao Mo’s heart in golden aura and buried it in the corpse pile, which convulsed and released painful airwaves before he declared the process done.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 explained that he had placed a rune in Lao Mo’s heart and was using supernatural materials, including Alien Angel scraps, to rebuild Lao Mo’s body.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 described Lao Mo’s strong will and humanity, then explained how Lao Mo became an Ashes Apostle by enduring the ashes and turning invaders into fuel.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 explained that Lao Mo’s Ashes Apostle powers were strongest within the Cafeteria and that his ashes came from the Convenience Store, limiting him outside its grounds.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 said the Codex described ashes as embers left when the Sun went out, leading Lin Yi to suspect the Root had extinguished it and that the black Sun in the Art Building might be the same Sun.

Convenience Store Owner-003 explained the nature of ashes, the Supreme Judgment pathway, and the projected Proto-Type Ashes Apostle to Lin Yi. He revealed that Lao Mo might be reborn with a restricted version of Supreme Judgment, then retrieved an inscribed black bone from the Burial Body and offered it to Lin Yi.

• Convenience Store Owner-003 explained that ashes could burn organisms whose rank was too low, and that tempering and perception were their lingering supernatural traits.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 told Lin Yi that Supreme Judgment existed above the Ashes Apostles and explained that the Proto-Type Ashes Apostle projected onto campus could suppress other Ashes Apostles by rank.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 said Lao Mo’s rebirth would take time, and that he might gain a restricted form of Supreme Judgment limited to the cafeteria.
• Lin Yi learned that Convenience Store Owner-003 had seen him with Wei Liang on May 6 and had encountered Wei Liang several times, though Wei Liang had always slipped away.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 calmed the Burial Body with a strange phrase and drew out a pitch-black bone covered in crude golden inscriptions.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 held the inscribed bone out to Lin Yi.

Convenience Store Owner-003 gave Lin Yi a Bone Spike to use against Zhang Lingzhen, then explained how the Campus served as a containment system for the Root. The chapter left Lin Yi learning that the Principal had gone alone into the Great Sea, while Convenience Store Owner-003 feared he might have to take over the Campus’s burden.

• Convenience Store Owner-003 gave Lin Yi a Bone Spike made from a thorn of the Burial Body’s heart and told him to kill Zhang Lingzhen if they met.
• Lin Yi revealed that he had already encountered Zhang Lingzhen at the Teaching Building, and Convenience Store Owner-003 explained that she had not yet fully merged with the Burial Body’s will.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 explained that Angel Sculptures craved Ashes and warned Lin Yi that the Burial Body would be dangerous if it escaped the Cafeteria.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 told Lin Yi that the Campus was an enormous containment facility, with its layers and inhabitants anchoring and protecting the Root sealed beneath it.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 revealed that the Principal had left the Art Building and entered the Great Sea alone, leaving him worried that responsibility for the Campus would fall to him.

Lin Yi learned that the Campus rules and hidden signs were designed to guide and screen students, while Convenience Store Owner-003 explained why he could not directly reinforce the Art Building and warned Lin Yi about the Law-Crafting Master's Mystical Runes. As Lin Yi left the store, he reported the Fanatics' activity around the Matrix, only to learn that the Convenience Store Owner already knew about it.

• Convenience Store Owner-003 explained that the Student Rules and painted-over Art Building signs could guide curious students into being screened according to their abilities, with the final rule offering a way off Campus for those who could not be saved.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 told Lin Yi to follow his own judgment about the Stargazing Platform and explained that he could not precisely cross the Layers to fight at the Art Building or retrieve Lao Mo's heart himself.
• Lin Yi showed Convenience Store Owner-003 the Mystical Runes branded on his arm, and the owner concluded that the Ouroboros Ring had amplified Lin Yi's Dreambuilding ability and drawn the Law-Crafting Master's signals to him.
• Convenience Store Owner-003 warned Lin Yi to use the Law-Crafting Master's runes sparingly, then told him that the Campus's Layers fluctuated violently after midnight and physical laws might not always hold.
• Lin Yi reported that Fanatics were experimenting with a Matrix in the Wooded Belt that created Wrathful Angels and seemed connected to Glorious Evolution, but Convenience Store Owner-003 said he already knew.

After visiting the Convenience Store, Lin Yi met Tian Bufan and the others, shared what he had learned about the Fanatics and Ashes Apostle, and discussed the dangers gathering around Campus. The group planned for Lin Yi to lure their enemies away with a Puppet while Tian Bufan explored the upper classrooms, and Kuai Hongji revealed he already had the adhesive substance Lin Yi needed.

• Convenience Store Owner-003 watched Lin Yi leave and murmured that Lin Yi had promised to take them away.
• Lin Yi returned to the Student Passage, sensed a Black Apron Chef in the Other Passage, and saw its hostility vanish when it noticed Lao Mo's bag.
• Lin Yi met Tian Bufan, Wei Shan, Kuai Hongji, and Wei Liang at the Notice Board, where Tian said he would answer more of Lin Yi's questions that night.
• Lin Yi told them about Mountain Man, Ashes Apostle · Fire Man, Zhang Lingzhen, the Fanatics, and the Bone Spike he had received from Convenience Store Owner-003.
• Tian Bufan warned Lin Yi to avoid trouble that afternoon and to return to the Dormitory with Wei Shan and Wei Liang, then discussed searching the upper classrooms for clues.
• Lin Yi proposed building a Puppet from Impersonator Sculptures to lure the threats away from Group C Class 18 while Tian explored Building A, and Kuai Hongji said he already had the Supernatural Substance for its adhesive.

Lin Yi followed a Blue Apron Chef who claimed to have news about Lao Mo, but discovered that a Green Apron Chef was controlling him. Lin Yi pulled the Blue Apron Chef out of the Other Passage and began examining the strange overlapping state.

• Lin Yi and Tian Bufan arranged to prepare a supernatural substance and a uniform before carrying out their plan, but a Blue Apron Chef interrupted them to ask Lin Yi about Lao Mo.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi to go with the chef, while Wei Shan warned that something was wrong with him.
• As the Blue Apron Chef described Lao Mo's departure, Lin Yi heard a call from Basement Level One of the Cafeteria and realized it was the same voice he had heard before.
• Lin Yi used Domain Insight and his perception to see a Green Apron Chef controlling the Blue Apron Chef with strands of substance.
• At the entrance to the Other Passage, Lin Yi noticed the Blue Apron Chef's detached arm, then yanked him out and threw him onto the Pebble Road.
• Lin Yi watched the Green Apron Chef struggle to control the Blue Apron Chef and wondered whether the green powder associated with deep contamination represented an incomplete view of this state.