Chapter Summaries

During swimming training, Lin Yi’s perception shifted the pool into the Black Sea outside the City Wall, where strange night-walking species swarmed over him and dragged him underwater. He discovered that drowning could not kill him, but remained bound and sinking toward the seabed.

• Boss told Li Huiyuan that Lin Yi was gradually recovering his authority, while Lin Yi listened and wondered whether his visions revealed fragments of other times and spaces.
• Lin Yi rejected the idea that his visions had already determined his future, then noticed the far end of the pool receding into darkness as Domain Insight altered his perception.
• Lin Yi realized he had undergone a Layer Leap and was in the Black Sea beneath the City Wall, where he struggled to stay afloat.
• A swarm of unfamiliar jellyfish-shaped night-walking species covered Lin Yi, bound his limbs, and pulled him beneath the sea.
• After choking on seawater and sinking, Lin Yi regained consciousness and realized that he could survive without breathing, but he remained trapped and continued descending.

Lin Yi’s body was stripped and shattered in the Black Sea, leaving him as an incorporeal will that explored a sunken ship’s hold. There he encountered a figure called Crystal Skeleton, who mistook him for someone from the past and spoke of their old promise.

• Lin Yi broke free of the Jellyfish-Shaped Night-Walking Species and discovered that it had torn away all his flesh, leaving only his golden skeleton.
• Flocculent matter clung to Lin Yi’s bones and cracked his golden skeletal body until it shattered, leaving his will alone in the Black Sea.
• Lin Yi remembered Boss’s promise to save him and used his Perception Tentacles to sense the scattered fragments and remnants of his body.
• Lin Yi drifted into a decaying wooden ship’s hold, where he encountered a chained figure whose voice resembled Quartermaster’s.
• The figure revealed itself as Crystal Skeleton, said Lin Yi had finally kept their promise, and recited an Admonition about the Black Moon and the Mourners.

Lin Yi spoke with a chained crystal skeleton in the Black Sea, learned about the Mourners and the world’s approaching destruction, and lied about his location to avoid revealing his coordinates. After escaping the gaze of a Deep-Sea Behemoth, he found his scattered bone fragments covered in strange matter and struggled to regain control of them.

• The Crystal Skeleton called itself one of the Mourners, described the First Apostles’ failed efforts to save the ruined world, and told Lin Yi that he had found it within the Layer of Infinity.
• Lin Yi suspected the Mourner was asking for his coordinates, so he gave it the false details of Year X999, Little Japan, and the Campus.
• The wooden hold collapsed around a Deep-Sea Behemoth’s enormous eye, revealing a dead skeleton that had chained the supposed Mourner; Lin Yi’s will then sank back into the Black Sea.
• The Deep-Sea Behemoth silently acknowledged Lin Yi’s lie and warned someone not to go too far, suggesting the Snake Nest should test the waters first.
• Lin Yi sensed that his bone fragments were covered in flocculent matter that blocked his control, and he began summoning the fragments bearing the Little Girl’s broken golden Mystical Runes.

Lin Yi rebuilt his shattered Golden Skeletal Body into a Glazed Body and used its improved senses to discover a vast network beneath the Black Sea. When he approached a huge mass of pure ashes crystals, something beneath it awakened and revealed eyes identical to one pair of the Angel’s eyes.

• Lin Yi polished the flocculent contamination from his bone fragments with the Mystical Runes Steel Saw and reassembled them into a multicolored Glazed Body.
• Lin Yi sensed the hidden network and realized the Jellyfish-Shaped Night-Walking Species had eaten his flesh and spread it across the mesh.
• Lin Yi regenerated flesh to draw the creatures toward him, letting them devour him repeatedly as he used the process to sense more of the network.
• Lin Yi reached a mesh opening and discovered that the black rock beneath it was a massive body of highly pure ashes crystals.
• Lin Yi’s attempt to sense beneath the crystals triggered a warning as something awakened, engulfed him with its presence, and began encasing his Glazed Body.
• Lin Yi recognized the blazing eyes opening beneath the Black Sea as identical to one pair of the Angel’s eyes he had seen in the Clock Tower.

Lin Yi was trapped in the Black Sea Layer until Boss tore through it and rescued him, after which he recounted his ordeal at the Swimming Pool. He also told Boss about encountering the Mourners, while a new humanoid figure formed in the Black Sea and departed after repeating “Year X023... May.”

• Lin Yi called for help as the Angel began locking onto his coordinates, and Boss appeared in the Black Sea Layer and pulled him out.
• The Angel and the Mourners discussed their plan to return, the significance of Years X023 and X999, and the need to find spatial coordinates.
• Ashes crystals and Jellyfish-Shaped Night-Walking Species formed a humanoid figure that repeated “Year X023... May” and vanished into the dark waters.
• Lin Yi surfaced in the Swimming Pool with Boss, noticed that only about forty minutes had passed in reality, and found Li Huiyuan pouting beside the pool.
• Boss told Lin Yi to remain in the water and explain what he remembered, so he recounted his fall into the Black Sea, the destruction and rebuilding of his body, and his encounter with the Mourners.

Lin Yi returned from training in the Layers, and Boss explained what he had encountered and how his body and mind had changed. The training ended with Lin Yi learning that he had truly fallen into the Black Sea and could only be retrieved through his Anchor Point, while Boss concealed her surprise at his seeing her glowing marker.

• Boss explained that the Mourners were followers of the First Apostles and suggested Lin Yi's supposed Mourner was a fake restrained by a skeleton that might have been the Quartermaster.
• Boss speculated that Lin Yi's journey into the Layer of Infinity might have influenced the Snake Nest's attack on Little Japan, though Lin Yi could not remember what he had seen beneath the Ashes Crystals Body.
• Boss assessed Lin Yi's physical recovery and said his mental strength might let him perform a Will Leap at certain Layer Levels, but Little Er would be needed to test him properly.
• Li Huiyuan described watching Lin Yi turn into a skeleton, become transparent, and disappear into the Swimming Pool before Boss rescued him.
• Boss explained that Lin Yi had genuinely fallen into the Black Sea and that his Anchor Point connected him to the Gymnasium, allowing her to retrieve him as long as he believed in it.
• Lin Yi asked about the crown-shaped glowing marker above Boss's head, and she said he would have one in the future before declaring his training over.

Lin Yi discovered that his contamination could overwhelm Li Huiyuan and connected the Broken Sculpture to the Library's damaged angel and demon statues. Boss revealed that she had never entered the Library and could not recall its details, leaving Lin Yi questioning how she had gone to the Art Building the night before.

• Boss told Lin Yi to remain in the Swimming Pool so his Primal Contamination could aid others' training, and Li Huiyuan joined him.
• Li Huiyuan stepped on Lin Yi, and their ensuing tussle ended with both of them swallowing water before Lin Yi realized the Broken Sculpture might resemble the Library's ruined statues.
• Li Huiyuan began overheating from Lin Yi's contamination, so Lin Yi drew out most of the ashes inside her and then returned some when she nearly collapsed.
• Lin Yi explained to Boss that the Broken Sculpture resembled the decayed White Angel and Black Demon sculptures he had seen in the Library.
• Boss said she had never entered the Library and found only a blank stretch in her memory when she tried to recall it, prompting Lin Yi to ask how she had gone to the Art Building the previous night.

At the Swimming Pool, Boss explained the changes in Li Huiyuan and answered Lin Yi’s questions about the Kerosene Lamp, Gymnasium sacrifices, and the School Doctor’s Office. She then revealed that she remembered calling Li Huiyuan in the Forest of Bones, though Li Huiyuan said she had heard Lin Yi’s voice, leaving Lin Yi with a troubling mystery.

• Boss told Lin Yi that her reluctance to enter the Art Building had faded around the time the Principal went missing at sea, and asked him to tell her if he learned why.
• Boss explained that Li Huiyuan had tried to save Lin Yi during his swim, sunk herself, and then acted carefree to hide her embarrassment.
• Boss said an Old Kerosene Lamp needed a large supply of supernatural power to relight, and described how people made different sacrifices after Gray Fog Invasions.
• Boss explained that the School Doctor’s Office provided the School Doctor a base and special pathways, while Lin Yi might soon be able to travel through the Campus by understanding its spatial logic.
• Lin Yi asked what happened to Li Huiyuan in the Forest of Bones, and Boss admitted she remembered calling Li Huiyuan even though Li Huiyuan said she heard Lin Yi’s voice.

Lin Yi learned that Boss could not explain the conflicting accounts of Li Huiyuan’s Layer Leap, then told Boss about his team’s plan to enter the Dream Boundary and face danger on Campus that night. As Boss grew suspicious of Wei Liang’s forgotten visit to the Gymnasium, Lin Yi handed her the Old Kerosene Lamp, which she rejected as unsuitable.

• Lin Yi told Boss he would stay outdoors on Campus to support his team’s Dream Boundary plan, and Boss warned him to call her if he could not hold on.
• Boss explained that Green Apron Chefs had been lurking in the Gymnasium’s shower room, and Lin Yi suspected Wei Liang had dealt with them.
• Boss questioned how Wei Liang could have visited the school before without anyone remembering him, then decided she needed to speak with him again.
• Lin Yi noticed Wei Shan’s physique was changing toward Glazed Body, took the Old Kerosene Lamp from him, and tried charging it with supernatural power.
• Boss and Li Huiyuan joined Lin Yi, and Boss inspected the lamp and said it would not do.

Lin Yi left the Gymnasium with Wei Shan after Boss lent him an Old Kerosene Lamp, and he reunited with Wei Liang before departing. As Lin Yi and Wei Shan walked into the night, Boss warned Li Huiyuan that Lin Yi might belong to another world; Li Huiyuan awakened a frightening power, while Lin Yi realized he had not properly said goodbye to Boss and then thought of something fun.

• Boss gave Lin Yi an Old Kerosene Lamp after the Hourglass's wick burned out, and Lin Yi passed it to Wei Shan to carry.
• Boss and Li Huiyuan saw Lin Yi off, and Wei Liang appeared with Xia Lian to say goodbye and ask Lin Yi to tell Teacher Lin that he would not return yet.
• Boss told Li Huiyuan that Lin Yi was probably not from their world and that she might never find him; Li Huiyuan tearfully resolved to seek him out.
• A Wrathful Angel Sculpture attacked Li Huiyuan, but she caught its staff and destroyed it with a sudden surge of power.
• As Lin Yi and Wei Shan walked away, Lin Yi regretted not saying a proper goodbye to Boss, then smiled after thinking of something fun when the campus streetlamps lit up.

Lin Yi and Wei Shan used the changing Layers to reach the Teaching Building Area, where they found the Night-Walking Species unusually quiet and prepared to investigate the classrooms. Lin Yi then noticed his Student ID fading and found another group of people sent by the Authorities in Group B Class 2, leaving him worried that he was losing his identity.

• Lin Yi and Wei Shan rode the changing Layers by holding the Gymnasium-009 Streetlamp Pole and reached the Teaching Building Area.
• Lin Yi wondered whether he would see the Gymnasium again, and Wei Shan reassured him before silently following him onward.
• Lin Yi and Wei Shan noticed the Teaching Building Area was unnaturally quiet and agreed to strike first if Impersonator Classmates were in their classrooms.
• Lin Yi saw that the Teaching Building had four real floors and four illusory ones, then parted from Wei Shan at the Corridor.
• Lin Yi found that his Student ID was fading and wondered whether he was losing his Experience Student identity.
• Lin Yi entered Group B Class 2, discovered another batch of people sent by the Authorities, and asked Head Teacher 040 whether he might become something nonhuman.

Lin Yi noticed that his Student ID was fading and asked Head Teacher 040 what it meant. She warned that it might signal his identity—or even his allotted lifespan—rapidly running out, leaving Lin Yi unsure how to reconcile that possibility with his powerful regeneration.

• Lin Yi signed in, declined to sign in for Wei Liang, and sat down while mourning their apparent separation and noticing Wei Liang's manga left behind.
• Lin Yi counted the classroom's students, assessed the three capable newcomer women, and suspected the Authorities were letting stronger teams enter amid the crisis.
• Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 that he planned to kill the Impersonator Classmates, and she allowed him to act as Athlete Students would.
• After Head Teacher 040 closed sign-in, Lin Yi went to the Teachers' Office, where she examined his fading Student ID and suggested it might indicate his life was rapidly nearing its end.

Lin Yi learned that his fading Student ID might no longer matter to his role in the plan, while Head Teacher 040 warned him against roaming the Campus at night. As fog spread across the Campus, Lin Yi saw Lu Zhao and Little Genius return and went back to class, where the Hell Rose women were waiting beside his seat.

• Head Teacher 040 told Lin Yi that Hell Rose was an all-female faction whose members might seek him out, and warned him not to underestimate them.
• Lin Yi told Head Teacher 040 that he planned to leave the classroom at night; she warned him that the open Campus was extremely dangerous and urged him to stay safe.
• Lin Yi contacted Tian Bufan, who explained that his Experience Student identity was no longer useful as an anchor point but that he should keep the Student ID card.
• Lin Yi sensed Lu Zhao and Little Genius emerging in the fog outside the Teaching Building and worried about what their return meant.
• Lin Yi entered Group B Class 2 and found the three Hell Rose members waiting beside his seat.

Lin Yi rejected the Hell Rose trio’s offer and returned Wei Liang’s manga, then lured the classroom Impersonators with a tomato and attacked them with Hundred Shiki: Oniyaki. He realized the Impersonators were enjoying the power killing them as they pursued it like moths drawn to a flame.

• Lin Yi took back the manga from Sister Zhou and the Hell Rose trio, refused their advances, and returned the books to the shelves after finding no messages from Wei Liang.
• Lin Yi reviewed the plan for Tian Bufan, Kuai Hongji, and Mao Feiyang, then decided to use the time before they returned to clear the classroom Impersonators.
• Lin Yi brought out a tomato, attracting thirty-two Impersonator Classmates while ten offshoots of the Forest of the Dead's Steles remained in their seats.
• Lin Yi unleashed Hundred Shiki: Oniyaki and engulfed the thirty-two Impersonator Classmates in his aura.
• Lin Yi saw that the Impersonator Classmates enjoyed being consumed by his power and concluded they were drawn to it like moths to a flame.

Lin Yi destroyed the Impersonator Classmates and the Forest of the Dead's Steles sub-bodies, then learned that Wei Shan had already killed a Little Genius identical to the one approaching with Lu Zhao. As Lin Yi went to meet Wei Shan in the Corridor, the Hell Rose trio considered recruiting him before acting that night.

• Lin Yi killed thirty-two Impersonator Classmates with the Tomato's ashes, then destroyed their Corpse Sculptures after realizing they might reveal how to become an Ashes Apostle.
• Lin Yi ate the Tomato and burned all ten Forest of the Dead's Steles sub-bodies after they tried to draw out the ashes inside him.
• Lin Yi waited for Lu Zhao and Little Genius, then called his teammates and learned that Wei Shan had already killed a Little Genius the previous day.
• Lin Yi left the classroom to meet Wei Shan in the Corridor and investigate the second Little Genius.
• The Hell Rose trio recognized how badly they had underestimated Lin Yi and discussed whether to recruit him before their mission that night.

Lin Yi and Wei Shan confronted a grotesquely altered Little Genius in the bone-white fog, while the Hell Rose trio arrived and witnessed Wei Shan's golden aura. Wei Shan restrained Little Genius, and Lin Yi began dismantling it to learn what it was.

• Lin Yi and Wei Shan spotted Lu Zhao and Little Genius approaching, and Wei Shan decided they would kill Lu Zhao and capture Little Genius for examination.
• Lin Yi recognized that Little Genius carried a flashlight and suspected that parts of it were original remains; Wei Shan drew it toward them with his dense aura.
• Little Genius lunged at Wei Shan and wrapped him in fleshy tendrils, but golden ripples beneath Wei Shan's aura burned them away and forced them to loosen.
• The Hell Rose trio opened the classroom door and recognized Wei Shan's golden aura as the legendary Supreme Judgment.
• At Wei Shan's request, Lin Yi tore off Little Genius's limbs and head, and the detached parts began wriggling and changing into smaller entities.

Lin Yi discovered that Little Genius was a puppet made from the Weird Art Female Teacher and the Fanatics, assembled by an unknown being he dubbed Grand Duke. After severing Grand Duke’s mysterious line, Lin Yi regrouped with Wei Shan and prepared to deal with Impersonator Lu Zhao, leaving the Hell Rose trio sprawled on the classroom floor.

• Lin Yi and Wei Shan destroyed Little Genius’s torso and discovered the Weird Art Female Teacher’s face growing on its heart.
• Lin Yi projected his will, found an iridescent strand leading into the Wooded Belt, and cut it with the Mystical Runes Steel Saw.
• Lin Yi told Wei Shan that Grand Duke had fashioned Little Genius from the Weird Art Female Teacher and the Fanatics, whom Kuai Kuai had killed in the Forest of Bones.
• Lin Yi and Wei Shan discussed whether their plan had accounted for Grand Duke, then checked the time as rain threatened and Tian Bufan and Kuai Hongji headed back toward the Dormitory.
• Lin Yi sent Wei Shan back to the classroom and turned to face Impersonator Lu Zhao, while the Hell Rose trio fell through the doorway after he dodged them.

Lin Yi let Zhou Yi question the dead Lu Zhao, who retained memories and revealed that his team had died at the Forest of the Dead's Steles before attacking her. Lu Zhao then blamed Lin Yi for not saving him, and Lin Yi destroyed him before returning to the classroom, where Zhou Yi and her teammates stayed close by.

• Zhou Yi recognized Lu Zhao as an Impersonator and persuaded Lin Yi to let her question him for information.
• Lu Zhao recalled that Jin Jiuyao, Chen Bing, and Chen Xue had died at the Forest of the Dead's Steles during torrential rain, but attacked Zhou Yi when she asked about Ashes.
• Lin Yi realized Lu Zhao's obsession had taken control of his dead body, and Lu Zhao accused Lin Yi of abandoning him before attacking.
• Lin Yi took Lu Zhao's Fire Axe, cut him in half, and burned him and the Night-Walking Species inside him to ashes.
• Lin Yi returned to the classroom, noticed the door rejecting him more strongly as his Student ID faded, and found Zhou Yi and her teammates waiting inside.

Lin Yi warned Zhou Yi and the other Hell Rose members that the Campus was too dangerous for them and urged them to stay put, leading them to abandon their plans and remain in the classroom. As 21:00 approached, Tian Bufan contacted Lin Yi through their mental link.

• Zhou Yi and the other two Hell Rose members asked to team up with Lin Yi, but he refused and warned them that following him could get them killed.
• Lin Yi explained that Lu Zhao's team had been drawn to him, encountered the Forest of the Dead's Steles, and been wiped out, then advised the trio to stay on Campus for the next two nights.
• Zhou Yi decided to believe Lin Yi and postpone the trio's original plan, and they chose to remain in the classroom rather than return to the Dormitory.
• Head Teacher 040 announced that students could return to the Dormitory or stay for self-study, then left after noticing the scorch marks and glancing at Lin Yi.
• At 20:59, Tian Bufan contacted Lin Yi and asked whether he could hear him.

Lin Yi sensed the Art Building Layer by extending his perception through the sky, discovering a protective membrane around the Teaching Building and reaching a shallow part of the Black Sea. Tian Bufan joined his perception in the Dream, but they abandoned the first position among the Grinning Angels and prepared to find Maozi together.

• Tian Bufan told Lin Yi to remain in class until the lights flickered or Kuai Kuai reached the Art Building, then instructed him to sense the Art Building Layer.
• Lin Yi looked through the window and extended his Perception Tentacles, discovering a membrane around the Teaching Building that he suspected was a cognitive shell protecting it.
• Lin Yi’s Perception Tentacles merged into a rope that reached the clouds and touched a shallow part of the Black Sea, where he sensed the Art Building and drew the Grinning Angels’ attention.
• Tian Bufan entered the Dream and fused with Lin Yi’s Perception Sky-Piercing Rope, but told him to withdraw because their position among the Grinning Angels was unsuitable for a Will Leap.
• Tian Bufan said he would guide Lin Yi to Maozi and warned him not to attract the Night Watchman or provoke Sanctuary.