Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi was nearly drawn into the Proto-Type Ashes Apostle’s grasp before the Convenience Store Owner rescued him and sent him back to the Dormitory with Wei Liang. Meanwhile, Mountain Man fled across campus in his Exoskeleton Armor, pursued by a Wrathful Angel and Grinning Angels, and faced an attack from the Wrathful Angel’s thrown staff.

• The Proto-Type Ashes Apostle overwhelmed Lin Yi with Contamination and nearly reached him before the Convenience Store Owner stopped him, took his eyeball, and freed his body from the distorted Layer.
• The Convenience Store Owner sent Lin Yi toward the Dormitory and stayed behind to confront the Proto-Type Ashes Apostle, which he said reminded him of an old acquaintance.
• Lin Yi carried Wei Liang to the Dormitory Building and entered its Elevator Area, worrying about Wei Shan as he remembered his cry to run.
• Mountain Man fled through the rain in his complete Exoskeleton Armor while a Wrathful Angel and several Grinning Angels tracked the Ashes scent.
• The Wrathful Angel hurled its staff at Mountain Man, who realized the weapon was heading straight for his back.

Mountain Man escaped the Angel Sculptures only for the Security Guard to pursue him to the Campus boundary, where the school bus driver threw him off the bus. The chapter then returned to Lin Yi, who was riding a violently shaking elevator in the Dormitory Building with Wei Liang on his back.

• Mountain Man encountered the Security Guard, who destroyed the Wrathful Angel and the Grinning Angels with his Spiked Club.
• Mountain Man fled toward the Campus boundary, detonated his ashes to evade the Security Guard's blow, and escaped through the University Gate after the Security Guard stopped pursuing him.
• Mountain Man boarded the Blue Bus, recognized the school bus driver's voice, and was hurled back out when he saw the driver's face.
• Lin Yi rode the Dormitory Building elevator with Wei Liang on his back as it shook increasingly violently without stopping.

Lin Yi reached the fourteenth floor and crossed the fog-filled corridor toward Dormitory Room 1414 while carrying the unresponsive Wei Liang. After distracting the impersonators with the Feather Pupil, Lin Yi checked on Wei Liang and heard him speak, leaving his condition uncertain.

• Lin Yi used Domain Insight inside the elevator, discovered its impossible geometry, and suffered severe pain when his perception was erased outside it.
• Lin Yi reached the fourteenth floor and followed the Dormitory Building Rules through the fog-filled corridor while carrying Wei Liang.
• Faceless night-walking species and impersonators followed Lin Yi, and he realized they might be targeting the unresponsive Wei Liang.
• Lin Yi drew out the Feather Pupil, attracting the creatures, then infused it with ashes and tossed it down the corridor to distract them.
• Lin Yi returned to Dormitory Room 1414 and asked Wei Liang if he was all right; Wei Liang warmed up and asked Lin Yi's full name.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang reached their dormitory, where Lin Yi discovered that his notebook had transformed its writing into ancient mystical runes. As Lin Yi showered, strange sensations and a voice calling his name emerged, while Tian Bufan, Wei Shan, and Kuai Hongji were still racing the dormitory curfew.

• Lin Yi let Wei Liang into the dormitory and learned that Wei Liang had known what was happening outside but could not explain how he would have rescued Lin Yi.
• Lin Yi worried that Tian Bufan, Wei Shan, and Kuai Hongji had only until 22:00 to return before the dormitory's dangerous late-night rules took effect.
• Lin Yi unpacked his belongings and found that the notebook had stayed dry despite the storm, while its writing had blurred into symbols resembling mystical runes.
• Lin Yi raised the notebook's danger rating in his mind to a disaster rating and decided to keep it safe.
• Lin Yi began showering as the clock reached 21:59, and Wei Liang heard someone enter through the dormitory door.
• Lin Yi sensed a presence in the bathroom and heard a voice murmuring, "Lin Yi, oh, Lin Yi..."

Lin Yi reunited with Tian Bufan, Wei Shan, and Kuai Hongji in the Dormitory and learned how they had survived the storm. Tian Bufan revealed that their group had come to Campus on a secret mission for the Authorities, but had only begun explaining the mission’s purpose when the chapter ended.

• Lin Yi left the Bathroom after hearing a strange voice and found Tian Bufan, Wei Shan, and Kuai Hongji back in the Dormitory.
• Wei Shan told Lin Yi that the Baseball Bat Mystical Rune had broken, while Wei Liang emerged from behind the Bathroom door and went to bed.
• Tian Bufan explained that he and Kuai Hongji had used umbrellas woven from Impersonators to travel through the storm, and that they had also faced attacks on the way.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that the group had entered Campus to carry out a secret mission for the Authorities and began explaining S City University's role.

Tian Bufan explained the Black Moon Outpost’s history, the Gray Fog’s connection to the Torch Dragon, and the Principal’s role in holding back the Gray Fog World. He revealed that the Authorities sent them to retrieve the Principal’s notebook, and Lin Yi concluded that it might be the Principal’s identity credential, leaving him wondering who would become Principal if they found it.

• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that the Black Moon Outpost was founded by the First Apostles and that the Gray Fog Invasion might be caused by the Torch Dragon breathing in its sleep.
• Tian Bufan explained that the Principal had remained at S City University as the Campus held back the Gray Fog World, but the Principal eventually entered that world and the Campus began to collapse.
• Tian Bufan said the Authorities sent them to find the Principal’s notebook, which might contain clues or a pathway connected to the Campus’s collapse.
• Lin Yi connected the notebook to the Principal’s identity credential and suggested that whoever obtained it might become the new Principal.

Tian Bufan explained that Lin Yi was part of the Authorities’ special combat force and that the team had shaped his experiences to help him adapt to the Campus. Lin learned why his memories had been suppressed and what he had studied, but the team’s mission and the danger of Contamination remained unresolved.

• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that the team was the Authorities’ highest trump card, with Lin Yi carrying the team’s Inspiration while Tian Bufan directed operations and Kuai Hongji and Fatty handled support and combat.
• Tian Bufan revealed that Maozi had been sent to the Art Building from the start to break open the situation, while Lin Yi’s attempts to rescue him had also encouraged Lin Yi’s adaptation; Wei Liang had learned the route on a previous run.
• Tian Bufan explained that Lin Yi’s memories had been altered so supernatural beings would have a harder time learning about him before he adapted, and said the team had controlled events and prevented threats while preparing him for the mission.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that his memories of the outside world and the world with Mystical Genealogy were real, and that Grandmother served as a necessary Anchor.
• Tian Bufan confirmed that Lin Yi had studied architectural design and dabbled in all mystical disciplines, while Kuai Hongji said the Authorities feared both their team’s failure and its members losing control.

Lin Yi learned that Song Rentou had been an Impersonator Wei Liang secretly arranged to eliminate, while Wei Liang slept through questions about his latest plans. After Tian Bufan returned from the Bathroom, Lin Yi turned to ask Kuai Hongji what he had been doing.

• Tian Bufan stopped Lin Yi from rushing into the Bathroom as Wei Shan fought unseen creatures there, then Wei Shan emerged healed and said he had killed things that latched onto him.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi to ask Wei Liang about his past actions, but Wei Liang pretended to sleep and answered only in broken, cryptic fragments.
• Wei Liang's sleep-talk revealed that Song Rentou was an Impersonator he had recognized upon entering school and helped trap and kill using a sheet of paper.
• Lin Yi recalled Wei Liang taking paper from his Notebook twice and wondered what the latest sheet had been used for, but Wei Liang kept snoring.
• Wei Shan suggested beating Wei Liang to interrogate him, then Kuai Hongji went to shower when Tian Bufan returned and offered to explain what Kuai Hongji had been doing.

Lin Yi questioned Tian Bufan about Song Rentou and whether Tian’s revelations were another anchor, then learned the likely routes to the Principal’s Office. Tian left him with three suspected locations, ending on the Stargazing Platform as the most likely.

• Lin Yi asked whether Tian Bufan and the others had manipulated Song Rentou’s death, and Tian explained that the real Song Rentou died while an Impersonator could leave campus but would need to return.
• Tian Bufan revealed that some Experience Students were already Impersonators and explained that only those who could see the Blue Bus could leave campus.
• Lin Yi wondered whether Tian’s truths were another anchor, but accepted that he would judge them for himself as Tian described the mission to find the Principal’s notebook and deliver it to the Authorities.
• Tian Bufan proposed that the Principal’s Office might be on a hidden 40th floor of the Dormitory Building, reachable through a stairwell on the 39th floor, or accessible through the School Doctor’s Office.
• Tian Bufan named a bedroom outside the prison in the Art Building as another possible location and revealed that he had perceived Lin Yi’s experiences through their shared dreams.
• Tian Bufan identified the Stargazing Platform as the most likely location and warned Lin Yi to hear him out.

Tian Bufan explained that the principal’s notebook could define the principal’s office and outlined a dangerous plan to investigate the Campus and retrieve it from the Art Building. As Lin Yi questioned how Maozi could leave as an Experience Student, Wei Liang’s unfinished scheme began to surface through the name Bai Fangshuo.

• Lin Yi connected The Starry Night’s hidden coordinate to the principal’s office, and Tian Bufan explained that the principal’s notebook could make any location its forbidden ground.
• Tian Bufan described the team’s Campus investigations and proposed checking their suspected locations before attempting to retrieve the notebook from the Art Building.
• Tian Bufan suggested Lin Yi might use Dream Boundary Studies to guide Maozi to the Stargazing Platform, but warned that failure could leave the team with one perilous chance to return for the notebook.
• Tian Bufan explained that Maozi needed an Experience Student identity to board the Blue Bus and leave the Campus, and Lin Yi objected when he thought the plan required Maozi to kill someone.
• Tian Bufan said the Experience Student procedures had already been completed and prompted the sleeping Wei Liang to explain his setup; Wei Liang muttered Bai Fangshuo’s name before abruptly waking to protest Tian Bufan’s accusation.

Tian Bufan explained how Maozi could use Bai Fangshuo’s identity to leave the Art Building and outlined the team’s plans to search for the Principal’s Notebook. He assigned Lin Yi to support Kuai Hongji and Maozi from the Campus, leaving Lin Yi alarmed at the prospect of confronting Night Watchman 002.

• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that Wei Liang had arranged Bai Fangshuo’s enrollment identity so Maozi could overwrite his identity and exit the Art Building as Bai Fangshuo.
• Tian Bufan said the team would investigate suspected Principal’s Office locations and planned for someone taking the Dorm Supervisor pathway to retrieve Maozi and the Principal’s Notebook.
• Tian Bufan assigned Kuai Hongji to take the Dorm Supervisor pathway and told Lin Yi to coordinate support while Wei Shan and Tian Bufan investigated other locations.
• Tian Bufan explained that Lin Yi would stay on the Campus during the operation and use the layers to shield Kuai Hongji and Maozi from threats, including Night Watchman 002.
• Lin Yi questioned whether Tian Bufan expected him to confront Night Watchman 002 alone, and Tian Bufan confirmed that was the assignment.

Tian Bufan explained the team’s plan for Lin Yi’s mission, including how Lin Yi would adapt, escape the campus, and rely on Wei Sang and Wei Liang for support. As the team prepared for lights-out, Lin Yi questioned their shared memories and learned that their dream studies let them exchange experiences, while he alone could sometimes interfere through the time dimension.

• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that his growing adaptability and the Ouroboros Ring could help him face the Night Watchman, but the team had only seven days to finish the mission and escape before drawing the attention of powerful entities.
• Tian Bufan explained that Lin Yi would keep moving across distorted campus layers while Wei Sang protected him, and that Wei Liang would stay near the closest streetlamp and could save him once at his own discretion.
• Tian Bufan said he would sleep in the Dormitory and use his will to coordinate the mission and take over Lin Yi’s body when Lin Yi’s will entered the Art Building.
• The team used the toilet and got into bed, while Lin Yi noticed condensation covering the dormitory window and learned that Tian Bufan’s digital camera had broken while crossing layers.
• Lin Yi asked why he sometimes saw other perspectives, and Tian Bufan explained that their dream studies let the team share experiences, while Lin Yi could also sometimes interfere through the time dimension.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that Maozi could share their memories too, since the team used that connection to pass information and coordinate across the Art Building.

Lin Yi questioned Tian Bufan about the Shadow of the Root, the Ouroboros Ring, and the Art Building’s true nature as the Dormitory prepared for Tian Bufan’s exploration the next day. Tian Bufan confirmed that the Shadow of the Root was calling all of them and explained that the Art Building anchored the shattered Black Moon Outpost, before Lin Yi began connecting that revelation to the Gymnasium.

• Lin Yi learned that Kuai Hongji had altered and detonated the Wrathful Angel matrix in the Wooded Belt as part of Monster Control, and Tian Bufan explained that the group’s power grew as Lin Yi adapted to their shared contamination.
• Lin Yi described his visions of the Shadow of the Root, and Tian Bufan said that all of them heard its call through Lin Yi and that he would explore the Wooded Belt the next day to seek clues.
• Tian Bufan explained that the Shadow of the Root had been created by the First Apostles and imprisoned between the Forest of Bones, the Returning Tide, and the Layers as a barrier against the Gray Fog Invasion.
• Tian Bufan said Lin Yi had received the Ouroboros Ring because finding the Quartermaster completed the Authorities’ deal with the Night Watchman, and the group’s plan had required the ring to reach Lin Yi.
• Tian Bufan revealed that Black Moon Outpost was shattered and that the Art Building had later been formed by overwriting reality to anchor both the outpost and itself, prompting Lin Yi to wonder about the Gymnasium’s fog.

Lin Yi told Tian Bufan about the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles, the Law-Crafting Master’s rune, and the strange sculptures haunting him, seeking explanations for their origins. Tian Bufan planned to investigate Lin Yi’s encounter with the Apostles through a Dream and warned him not to underestimate the sculptures, while Lin Yi’s theory that they came from a Library chessboard remained unconfirmed.

• Tian Bufan explained that the Gymnasium’s anomalies came through cracks in its Layer-level City Wall and warned Lin Yi to refuse an Athlete Student recruitment attempt.
• Lin Yi described hearing the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles mention a Notebook, a Compass, and being lost, and wondered whether the Apostles were transmitting a message from the Principal; Tian Bufan postponed discussing it until he could observe the encounter in a Dream.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi that his growing difficulty controlling the Law-Crafting Master’s rune came from his own weakness and suggested he might learn more by visiting her bedroom.
• Tian Bufan identified Lin Yi’s vision of a hammering figure as the Divine Artisan, and explained that Lin Yi’s heightened Inspiration could pick up lingering supernatural signals.
• Tian Bufan warned Lin Yi that the broken sculptures haunting him could possess a dangerous mechanic despite seeming harmless, and advised him not to provoke them.
• Lin Yi proposed that the broken sculptures were projections of the Library’s black-and-white chessboard, and Tian Bufan said his theory might be correct.

Lin Yi entered Mao Feiyang’s dream after Tian Bufan warned him not to lose himself in its sense of time. He witnessed the events of May 9 unfold from Mao Feiyang’s perspective and realized Yan Jinming was taking him to the Gymnasium’s Giant Dome for the “feast.”

• Lin Yi asked Tian Bufan whether similar Xenomorphic Sculptures might be parts of a larger parent entity, and Kuai Hongji offered to accompany Tian Bufan and use the Fanatics’ matrix during the next day’s operation.
• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi to guide Mao Feiyang toward the Law-Crafting Master's room or the Stargazing Platform and warned him not to lose himself in the dream’s time.
• Lin Yi fell asleep at midnight and entered a dream in which he found himself among Art Students in a passage under attack by Grinning Angels.
• A Grinning Angel broke through the passage wall and killed an Art Student, while Lin Yi’s instinctive guidance helped Mao Feiyang dodge the attack.
• Yan Jinming led Mao Feiyang out of the Stairwell to the Gymnasium’s Giant Dome, and Lin Yi realized they were heading to the “feast.”

During the Feast, Lin Yi’s drifting consciousness approached Boss, saw the distorted two-dimensional Campus, and encountered the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles. Its touch showed him a vision of the Campus’s future collapse and left him wondering whether it was his future self and whether the Time Compass could help him change what was coming.

• Lin Yi watched Boss observe the Feast and dodged Boss’s sudden killing strike after Boss sensed his presence.
• Lin Yi looked beyond the Giant Dome and saw the Campus flattened, distorted, and filled with moving figures.
• The Proto-Type Ashes Apostles appeared behind Lin Yi, targeted him, and touched the will of his past self as it returned to its body.
• Lin Yi saw a vision of black tides destroying the Campus and realized it matched the supposed hallucination from May 9.
• Lin Yi wondered whether the Proto-Type Ashes Apostles was his future self and whether its words about notes, a compass, and being lost pointed to the Time Compass, Time Zero.

Lin Yi followed Maozi, Yan Jinming, and the Art Students from the Gymnasium toward the Art Building, discovering an inverted, Möbius-strip-like corridor involved in their Layer Leap. As the corridor crumbled into the void, he heard strange calls and glimpsed what looked like the Mirror World.

• Lin Yi realized his dream perspective became unstable when it moved too far from Maozi, then followed the Art Students out of the Giant Dome.
• Lin Yi observed the eerie stairwell and realized its space was inverted, with the Art Students walking on the underside of the stairs.
• Lin Yi connected the inverted staircase to the Dormitory Building’s gravity reversal and suspected the Campus buildings shared overlapping layers or logic.
• Lin Yi recognized the distorted corridor as a Möbius-strip-like hidden path that appeared at specific times and unfolded parts of the Art Building.
• As the corridor crumbled into the void, Lin Yi heard strange calls and glimpsed crystalline mirror fragments that resembled the Mirror World.

Lin Yi discovered that the students’ Layer Leap had taken them through the Obsession Sculpture Covered Corridor and back to the Art Building, where he realized the building’s dome would soon be breached. An invasion began earlier than expected, scattering the students in the corridor as Yan Jinming rushed to protect them.

• Lin Yi recognized the Mirror Worlds and Obsession Sculptures along the route as signs that the Layer Leap led through the Obsession Sculpture Covered Corridor.
• The Art Students emerged from the corridor into the Art Building, and Lin Yi checked the Grandfather Clock and saw that it was 18:23.
• Lin Yi noticed that the dome was intact despite remembering it breached later, and concluded that it would be struck within the next two hours.
• Yan Jinming sent Mao Feiyang toward the classroom, but the Art Building shook from an impact and Yan Jinming was ordered to escort the new students while the others took their positions.
• At 18:25, a sinister wind swept through the corridor, the students panicked and scattered, and some who stepped into the darkness fell silent.

Lin Yi discovered that he could communicate telepathically with Mao Feiyang through the dream boundary, and Mao Feiyang set out to follow their plan through the Art Building. Mao Feiyang headed toward the Clock Tower while avoiding the Gallery until he could find a Grinning Angel and use the rules for protection.

• Yan Jinming found Mao Feiyang safe in Art Classroom-IV and warned him to stay there until morning.
• Lin Yi entered Mao Feiyang's consciousness, and Mao Feiyang told him to share only what he needed to do now, not information about the future.
• Lin Yi transmitted his map of the Art Building, and Mao Feiyang chose to visit someone at the Clock Tower first.
• Mao Feiyang left the classroom carrying an easel and confused a newly born impersonator by calling it Zhang Lang and inventing a shared memory.
• Mao Feiyang explained that he was avoiding the Gallery until he could encounter a Grinning Angel and follow the rules that would protect him.

After Lin Yi’s prediction causes the Art Building’s dome to break, Mao Feiyang realizes their words can anchor future events in time and uses the resulting Grinning Angel to draw it away. He enters the Gallery with the Angel in pursuit, where its eerie surroundings begin to change as he calls for the Night Watchman.

• Lin Yi tells Mao Feiyang that a Grinning Angel will come through a broken dome, and the Art Building’s intact dome breaks moments later.
• Mao Feiyang explains that Lin Yi’s foreknowledge may have anchored the event in time, then runs to lure the Grinning Angel away before the Art Students can organize.
• Mao Feiyang strikes the newly arrived Grinning Angel with a sculpture fragment, draws its attention, and races toward the Gallery as Art Students clear his route.
• Yan Jinming recognizes Mao Feiyang running with the Grinning Angel, while Mao Feiyang remains focused on reaching the Gallery.
• Mao Feiyang enters the oppressive Gallery and refuses to let Lin Yi tell him what lies ahead, then calls for the Night Watchman after noticing something strange.
• As Mao Feiyang repeatedly calls for help, the Gallery’s candlelight grows warmer and its distorted paintings begin returning to normal.