Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi laid out his theory that the Burial Body was divided between the Convenience Store and the Cafeteria, where the Authorities secretly studied its root tendrils and shaped its consciousness. Head Teacher 040 confirmed much of his analysis and suspected his knowledge came from recovered memories, then connected his batchmates’ disappearance to the Fanatics.

• Lin Yi warned Head Teacher 040 that Zhang Lingzhen’s will might have merged with the Burial Body, allowing the dead within it to retain their own wills and form an undead army.
• Lin Yi argued that the Cafeteria was the Burial Body’s true containment facility, with its basement serving as a research site where the Authorities studied its non-main portions and Green Apron Chefs processed them.
• Head Teacher 040 said Lin Yi’s deductions were basically correct and wondered whether he had pieced together lost memories, since the Authorities should otherwise have shared more information with him.
• Lin Yi deduced that the Authorities had created and contained the Burial Body as part of an ongoing plan to arm the Art Building Layer, using the Convenience Store Owner to influence its consciousness.
• Head Teacher 040 grew suspicious that Lin Yi was connected to the project, then recalled that everyone else in his batch had been lured away by the Fanatics.

Head Teacher 040 and Lin Yi analyzed the Ashes collection operation, concluding that a faction within the Authorities stood to benefit regardless of its outcome. As Head Teacher 040 began to suspect Lin Yi and his roommates were abnormal, Lin Yi waited for her to finish thinking and openly admired her before she confronted him.

• Head Teacher 040 suggested that Lin Yi’s incomplete memory might mean the Realm of God had assigned him to the operation, and warned him that his roommates could be abnormal too.
• Head Teacher 040 explained that the Authorities’ Burial Body project had several factions and that a faction within the Authorities could benefit whether Zhang Lingzhen’s group collected Ashes or failed.
• Lin Yi discussed his roommates with Head Teacher 040, who noted that Wei Liang’s extreme-seeming normality might itself be abnormal.
• Head Teacher 040 considered investigating Lin Yi after recalling his inexplicable survival, abilities, and possible effect on her Cognition, but wondered whether his roommates served as Anchor Points.
• Lin Yi waited while Head Teacher 040 thought, then stared at her outfit until she walked over, tapped his forehead, and told him she was coming to get him.

Lin Yi and Head Teacher 040 discussed why Mountain Man had created Fire Person and what it might have accomplished before Mountain Man arrived to say goodbye. He revealed that he had been contaminated and planned to leave Campus, but Head Teacher 040 said he could not bypass the School Doctor to reach the University Gate.

• Lin Yi theorized that Fire Person had seen the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles beyond a broken window and might have helped Mountain Man retrieve something from between the fourth and fifth floors.
• Lin Yi asked Head Teacher 040 to question Mountain Man about Fire Person, and she agreed to speak with him.
• Mountain Man arrived outside the Teachers' Office in changed Exoskeleton Armor and told Head Teacher 040 he had been contaminated and would leave Campus after sharing his latest discoveries.
• Mountain Man asked Head Teacher 040 to help him leave Campus, but she refused, explaining that the Rules required him to see the School Doctor.

Mountain Man shared his discoveries about a hidden Campus unit and left to pursue revenge after obtaining the Ashes Crystals Body. Head Teacher 040 then told Lin Yi that four likely Realm of God newcomers had joined their class and warned him to avoid conflict until their aims were clear.

• Mountain Man told Lin Yi and Head Teacher 040 about a concealed unit near the Fanatics' Matrix and an Ashes Apostle girl, then revealed that Fire Person had helped him gather Ashes crystals for his revenge.
• Head Teacher 040 told Mountain Man to wait until eighteen hundred for the streetlamps to show him a route out, and he left in the rain.
• Head Teacher 040 questioned Lin Yi about the girl Yuan Lijian had mentioned, but Lin Yi argued that he had been in the Gymnasium and convinced her he was bluffing.
• Lin Yi said he needed to return to the Dormitory, while Head Teacher 040 warned him to rest in the classroom because the rain would likely continue.
• Head Teacher 040 told Lin Yi that four newcomers had joined the class and named them as Lu Zhao, Jin Jiuyao, Chen Bing, and Chen Xue.
• Head Teacher 040 said the four were probably from the Realm of God and advised Lin Yi to stay hidden and avoid conflict; Lin Yi agreed unless they interfered with his plans.

Lin Yi left Head Teacher 040’s office and entered Group B Class 2, where he examined the new Experience Students and tested the classroom’s Bulletproof Glass. The glass revealed a distorted world and a creature outside, leading Lin Yi to suspect that the Campus’s buildings shared a hidden design principle just as he had an insight.

• Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 he was leaving the Campus, and she warned him to deal thoroughly with anyone severely contaminated by the Burial Body or the Forest of the Dead's Steles.
• Lin Yi entered Group B Class 2 and assessed the four new Experience Students: Jin Jiuyao, Lu Zhao, Chen Bing, and Chen Xue.
• Lin Yi looked through the Bulletproof Glass and saw the rain distort the Campus as an eerie voice began to affect his consciousness.
• Lin Yi wiped the glass and saw a bluish-gray face pressed against it, but the face vanished when he checked again.
• Lin Yi watched the glass reveal strange runes and a clearer view of the creature, then realized the Campus buildings might share a hidden construction principle.

Lin Yi observed abnormal weather and a newborn Grinning Angel outside the classroom before Wei Liang pulled him into the Bookshelf Area to hide until the Teaching Building lights came on. As they watched the classroom, Wei Liang noticed the twin girls, while Lin Yi remained wary of the rules and hidden dangers.

• Lin Yi reasoned that the rules about ignoring calls and abnormalities reflected destabilizing layers, then watched Night-Walking Species and Impersonator Sculptures move through the storm outside.
• A newborn Grinning Angel appeared in the Wooded Belt, and Impersonator Sculptures knelt in worship as Lin Yi reflected on how different beings pursued their own forms of light.
• Wei Liang noticed the worsening darkness and rain, then grabbed Lin Yi and led him to hide in the Bookshelf Area until the Teaching Building lights came on.
• Lin Yi questioned whether the Bookshelf Area was truly safe, but Wei Liang covered his mouth to stop him from voicing another ominous possibility.
• Wei Liang spotted the twin girls through the bookshelves and asked Lin Yi which one he liked, while Lin Yi warned him not to get into trouble.

A storm plunged the Teaching Building into darkness as night-walking species swarmed outside, and Lin Yi discovered that the sky showed an inverted reflection of the Art Building. The chapter ended with Lin Yi realizing the creatures might be falling between layers, though he still regarded them as dangerous invaders.

• The darkness and storm drove several Experience Students into panicked, sleepwalking attempts to leave the classroom, while Lin Yi saw no cause for their visions with Domain Insight.
• Wei Liang joked about rescuing Chen Bing and Chen Xue, prompting Lin Yi to suspect the twins were concealing something and listen to their conversation with Lu Zhao and Jin Jiuyao.
• Lightning revealed that the apparent cracks in the window were gaps between night-walking species covering the Teaching Building's outer wall, and Lu Zhao ordered the group to wait rather than act.
• Jin Jiuyao suddenly collapsed, and Lu Zhao told Chen Xue to watch the surroundings while they tried to wake him.
• A strange fluctuation passed through the building, and Lin Yi saw an inverted reflection of the Art Building in the storm-dark sky as night-walking species fell from its layer into the Wooded Belt.
• Lin Yi wondered whether the night-walking species were trying to return to their layer, but concluded they remained enemies who would devour him.

Lin Yi deduced that the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles was a projection that the Convenience Store Owner was trying to cut off from the Campus, then returned to the classroom as the lights came on. When an Experience Student invited wet, corpse-like Impersonators inside, Lin Yi realized they could cross the classroom’s Door Attribute through an invitation, and feared the open door would let them keep entering.

• Lin Yi reasoned that the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles could not replenish its Ashes on Campus and that the Convenience Store Owner’s expulsion was meant to erase its projection’s coordinates.
• As the lights began flickering, Wei Liang pulled Lin Yi back to their seats before anyone could come looking for him; a Grinning Angel briefly appeared where they had been standing.
• The classroom lights came on, revealing faces at the Corridor windows and terrifying the Experience Students, whom Lin Yi suspected had already been contaminated and might become Impersonators.
• Several Experience Students tried to find a teacher, but one opened the classroom door to a drenched figure and invited it inside; more Impersonators followed it through the entrance.
• Lu Zhao stopped Chen Xue from rushing to confront the Impersonators so she could keep calling to Jin Jiuyao, while Lin Yi considered whether invitations could affect the Door Attribute and feared the open door would let more Impersonators enter.

Lu Zhao’s group discovered that the Angel Sculpture in the Bookshelf Area had become a corpse, while Lin Yi and Wei Liang drew their suspicion because of their unusual resistance to it. After inspecting the sculpture, Lu Zhao concluded that it may have died while attempting to descend through a Layer Rift.

• Chen Xue shut the classroom door, severing the arms of Impersonators that reached through the gap, while the Impersonators already inside took seats in the Lecture Hall.
• Jin Jiuyao woke from a terrifying encounter near the Bookshelf Area and pointed out an Angel Sculpture wedged among the shelves; Chen Bing and Chen Xue found that it had become a Corpse Sculpture.
• Lu Zhao inspected the sculpture while Chen Xue questioned Lin Yi and Wei Liang, but Wei Liang’s inappropriate questions about her measurements left her furious.
• Chen Xue reported that Xiao Zi seemed surrounded by dense fog unless she looked directly at him, and Jin Jiuyao identified the sensation as Reverse Attraction, a mechanism associated with Angel Sculptures.
• Lu Zhao told the group to prioritize their mission and proposed that the Angel Sculpture had been swallowed by a Layer Rift during its descent, leaving its Carapace behind as a sculpture.

Lin Yi realized that a horde of Grinning Angels lurked in his shadow and narrowly escaped being drawn into their abyssal domain. He suspected Wei Liang had killed the Angel sculpture in the classroom, then waited out the storm while considering what to investigate next.

• Lu Zhao concluded that a Grinning Angel could not have entered the classroom unless someone had brought it in, and warned that S University’s instability was limiting its value as a resource zone.
• Lin Yi recognized the dead Grinning Angel sculpture and realized the creatures could have entered the classroom through his shadow.
• Lin Yi saw countless Grinning Angels in an abyss beneath his shadow and felt their Call pulling him toward it, but Ashes’s power awakened him before he fell in.
• Wei Liang misread Lin Yi’s posture, and their joking exchange left Lin Yi wondering whether Wei Liang had been hinting that he should investigate the restroom or the books.
• Lin Yi concluded that the classroom Grinning Angel had been killed as soon as it emerged from his shadow and privately credited Wei Liang with the feat.
• With the storm still raging and nineteen Impersonator Classmates in the room, Lin Yi decided to wait there, then look through the Bookshelf Area before returning to the Dormitory with Wei Sang.

Liu Jing was assimilated by the Forest of the Dead's Steles and nearly let it enter the classroom, but Wei Liang drove it away by angrily ordering it to leave. Lu Zhao's group discussed the danger and their lack of information, then considered asking Lin Yi's group or the Head Teacher about the Campus's secrets.

• Liu Jing left Group B Class 2 without confirming the office's location and became surrounded by Impersonator Classmates.
• Liu Jing opened the classroom door and was assimilated by the Forest of the Dead's Steles, which Lin Yi recognized as it tried to enter through her.
• The Forest of the Dead's Steles' Call dazed Lu Zhao's group, but Wei Liang's angry outburst snapped them out of it.
• Wei Liang told the Forest of the Dead's Steles to get lost, and the classroom door slammed shut, forcing it and Liu Jing outside.
• Lu Zhao urged caution, while Chen Bing noted the strange bond among the figures and Chen Xue proposed asking Lin Yi's group or the Head Teacher for information.

Lin Yi secretly recorded information about the Campus, using his writing to repel the nineteen Impersonator Classmates and leaving Lu Zhao's group wary of him. He then tried to reproduce the spatial distortion associated with the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles, but Minecraft shattered, forcing him to confront how distant and incomprehensible that power remained.

• Lu Zhao persuaded Chen Bing, Chen Xue, and Jin Jiuyao to use the Impersonators to test the waters while avoiding a direct confrontation with the Head Teacher.
• Lin Yi overheard their plan and began recording his discoveries, but the Impersonator Classmates surrounded him and demanded that he continue writing about the Burial Body.
• Lin Yi crossed out the dangerous sentence and wrote that the Fog-Shrouded Light Chaser ultimately became a phantom, making the Impersonators retreat in fear and anger.
• Lin Yi recorded more information in coded shorthand, while Lu Zhao stopped Chen Xue from reading his notes and decided to approach Lin Yi himself.
• Lin Yi headed for the Bookshelf Area and attempted to compress Minecraft's grid lines to imitate the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles' spatial distortion.
• Minecraft shattered, and Lin Yi realized that what he had observed only resembled the Apostles' power and that he could not yet approach its true nature.

Lin Yi examined the Grinning Angel sculpture’s Dead Body in the Bookshelf Area and began to uncover strange Mystical Runes beneath its sculpted appearance. As the surrounding Layer distorted and the corpse showed signs of movement, Lu Zhao and the others prepared to attack Lin Yi, while Wei Liang abruptly reacted to his manga.

• Lin Yi saw Grinning Angels watching him through his shadow, dismissed their calls, and continued toward the Bookshelf Area.
• Lin Yi closely inspected the Grinning Angel’s Dead Body, noticed moss, shifting wing shapes, and Mystical Runes, and suspected the runes formed its Original Body.
• As Lin Yi studied the corpse, the space around him distorted and the Dead Body began to tremble, though he did not notice.
• Lu Zhao and Chen Xue saw Lin Yi acting frantically, and Chen Xue brought Chen Bing and Jin Jiuyao to the scene.
• Jin Jiuyao sensed a Grinning Angel’s aura, and Chen Bing called for Protocol Three as the twins joined hands and aimed their power at Lin Yi.
• Wei Liang threw away his manga and complained about its plot.

Lin Yi escaped a distorted layer after accidentally shattering a Grinning Angel sculpture, then recovered a Feather Pupil from its remains. Lu Zhao recognized the sphere as a highly contaminating supernatural item and decided his group should trade for it from Lin Yi.

• Lu Zhao warned Jin Jiuyao and the Chen sisters not to confront Wei Liang, and led them away while Wei Liang kept reading manga.
• Lin Yi entered a distorted layer while studying the Grinning Angel sculpture, and his attempt to flick away the spreading runes shattered it after he returned to reality.
• Lin Yi recovered a sphere from the sculpture's remains, mistook it for a possible light bulb, and pocketed it before heading to browse books.
• Lu Zhao and the others discussed Lin Yi's apparent ability to cut the sculpture and the possibility of learning the Black Chef's methods.
• Chen Bing noticed Lin Yi's sphere, and Lu Zhao identified it as a Feather Pupil that could cause severe contamination.
• Lu Zhao urged his group to approach Lin Yi and trade for the Feather Pupil before Lin Yi damaged its supernatural properties.

Lin Yi tried to learn what Lu Zhao and the others had seen when he fell through the Layers, while Lu Zhao sought to trade for the Feather Pupil. The chapter ended with Lu Zhao offering jadeite and explaining that gemstones could contain supernatural power, leaving Lin Yi astonished by the revelation.

• Lin Yi realized Lu Zhao and the others had likely witnessed him falling through the Layers and decided to ask Lu Zhao what he had seen.
• Lu Zhao and Chen Xue approached Lin Yi, and their awkward attempt to greet him with a handshake nearly derailed their conversation.
• After Lu Zhao described Lin Yi's strange behavior around the Angel Sculpture, Lin Yi asked why they had come looking for him.
• Lu Zhao admitted that he wanted the stone Lin Yi had taken from the sculpture, but he had brought no money to trade for it.
• Lu Zhao offered a piece of jadeite and explained that gemstones could hold supernatural substance and serve as the Spirit Stones found in cultivation stories.

Lin Yi traded the Feather Pupil to Lu Zhao for jadeite, but it unleashed a dangerous mystical framework that only Lin Yi could calm. He realized the Feather Pupil might preserve a Grinning Angel’s framework and serve as a class-change item for its pathway, though he remained unsure what conditions or differences that entailed.

• Lu Zhao explained that minerals could contain supernatural power and offered his jadeite for Lin Yi’s Feather Pupil, arguing that the stone would be difficult for Lin Yi to use or take out of the Campus.
• Lin Yi agreed to the trade after struggling to recall what currency was, then tossed the Feather Pupil to Lu Zhao.
• Chen Xue wrapped the Feather Pupil in her jacket, triggering a violent supernatural reaction that began spreading across her arm and appeared to distort space.
• Lu Zhao gave Lin Yi the jadeite and begged him to take back the Feather Pupil, and Lin Yi grabbed Chen Xue’s arm to stop the framework from spreading.
• Lin Yi saw mystical rune threads retract into the Feather Pupil and concluded that it might preserve a Grinning Angel’s framework and enable someone to enter the Grinning Angel Pathway.

Lin Yi struggled to understand how Grinning Angels and Feather Pupils were connected, while his control over the Feather Pupil unsettled Lu Zhao and Chen Xue. Lu Zhao suspected Lin Yi might be a lost soul who had entered the Campus in Year 99 and remained trapped there ever since.

• Lin Yi's thoughts warped his face into a vortex before he regained control and noticed the Feather Pupil had been slightly deformed in his grip.
• Lu Zhao and Chen Xue retreated from Lin Yi, then refused to take the Feather Pupil back after seeing how it became dangerous in Chen Xue's hand but quiet near him.
• Lin Yi accepted the jadeite from Lu Zhao, accidentally cracked it by injecting supernatural power, and went to look for history books.
• Lu Zhao realized Lin Yi did not know the value of Raw Stones and recounted how the Feather Pupil's behavior changed around him.
• Lu Zhao connected Lin Yi's unfamiliarity with modern society and unusual abilities to the Authorities' Year 99 Campus operation, then suggested Lin Yi could be one of the lost souls trapped there.

Lu Zhao’s team concluded that Xiao Zi and William were absent from the recent sign-in records and might not be ordinary people, while Lin Yi searched for clues to history in the Campus’s blank books. Chen Bing returned from the office with confirmation that neither name appeared on the recent lists, as the team prepared for a dangerous night.

• Lu Zhao theorized that Xiao Zi’s lust was an imprint anchoring his humanity and that the Grinning Angel may have tried to use Xiao Zi to escape the Campus; he told the team to investigate Xiao Zi and William without disrupting their mission.
• Chen Bing went alone through the mist to the office, while Lu Zhao’s team waited in the classroom and agreed to meet Yuan Lijian when he appeared.
• Lin Yi found that the history books in the Bookshelf Area had blank pages, and Wei Liang suggested looking for biographies or art books to find traces of the past.
• Lin Yi returned to the Bookshelf Area to search for other books, while Wei Liang asked him to bring back manga.
• Chen Bing returned through the mist and reported that Xiao Zi and William were not on the recent sign-in lists, confirming Lu Zhao’s suspicion that neither name existed in the records.

Lin Yi found Echoes of the Black Mist in the Bookshelf Area and witnessed the Traveler’s account of the Black Moon Outpost, its living archways, and the figures who rescued him from the black mist. The account warned that the Outpost and its memories must be banished, while its final page revealed the Traveler was speaking from within the Eternal Dream.

• Jin Jiuyao concluded that Xiao Zi and William were lingering ghosts, since their names could not have been false without undermining their identity anchors.
• Lin Yi found Echoes of the Black Mist and read its handwritten message, which said its events had to be anchored as a story to prevent It from descending through a dream.
• A phantom recounted how the Traveler entered the Black Moon Outpost, encountered living archways, and watched an assistant suffer a strange transformation after touching one.
• The Traveler described being swallowed by an archway and then rescued by cloaked figures as the black mist threatened to consume the Outpost.
• The Traveler warned Lin Yi not to return and said the Black Moon Outpost and its memories had to be banished to prevent It from returning.
• Lin Yi returned to the present and read the book’s final warning that the archways were wounds of It and that the Traveler spoke from within the Eternal Dream.

Lin Yi found connections between the supernatural records and the events of '99 and '00, then recovered from a disturbing episode when Wei Liang called to him. He discovered a painting collection titled The Crime of Faceless, whose final painting depicted a vast maze and an enormous eye beneath the sea.

• Lin Yi studied Echoes of the Black Mist and questioned why his memories of the world diverged from those of the people around him, before the broken sculptures’ voices drove him into distress.
• Wei Liang called Lin Yi to request a comic, and Lin Yi’s strange state abruptly faded; he then connected the traveler’s account to the Night Watchmen and events at Black Moon Outpost.
• After Lin Yi left the shelf, Jin Jiuyao took Echoes of the Black Mist, found it blank, and resumed following him; Chen Xue noticed discomfort in her marked hand as something flickered in her shadow.
• At 17:55 on May 10, Year X023, Lin Yi found The Crime of Faceless by Painter No. 3 and examined its oppressive paintings, including one that appeared linked to the Art Building’s clock tower.
• Lin Yi stopped at a nested painting of faceless sculptures in a storm and a slimy maze whose center held an enormous eyeball beneath the water.