Chapter 38

Chapter 38

To ensure Nan Mu actually rested, Wen Miao sent him messages every morning, noon, and night. She even required him to “check in” with her, terrified that he would slip out again the moment she wasn’t looking.

On October 15th, Wen Miao woke up early.

Graduate school was different from undergraduate life; she was used to early mornings and late nights for the sake of experimental projects. So even though she had gone to bed late the night before, she woke up right on time as soon as her internal clock hit the mark.

She was in the bathroom washing her face when Wen Tangtang called.

“Miao Miao, are you up?”

“I’m up.” Wen Miao propped the phone between her ear and shoulder, freeing her hands to tuck the books she needed for the day into her bag. “What’s up?”

“The blood test report is in.” There was a lot of background noise on the other end of the line. After a moment, Wen Tangtang’s voice became louder and clearer. “Wen Xin and I are heading to the First Cafeteria. Come over, and we’ll talk while we eat breakfast.”

By the time Wen Miao rushed to the First Cafeteria, Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin had already bought her usual breakfast items.

“What’s the verdict?”

Wen Tangtang pushed an A4-sized document toward Wen Miao. “We’re in luck. The blood sample was usable, and they extracted the DNA.”

“That’s great,” Wen Miao said, her tone light with relief.

“Don’t celebrate too early,” Wen Xin said, swallowing a mouthful of egg. “If this person hasn’t committed a crime before, they might not be in the police DNA Database.”

Wen Miao remained optimistic. “It’s fine. At least we have a lead now.”

However, she was more concerned about another matter. “Are you sure you can hack into the DNA Database?”

Wen Xin didn’t even look up. “I’ve never actually tried it. But there’s only one way to find out if it’ll work, right?”

Judging by his tone, even if he wasn’t a hundred percent certain, he was at least ninety-nine percent sure.

Wen Tangtang noticed the dark circles under Wen Miao’s eyes, a clear sign of a late night. “By the way, you didn’t come back with us yesterday. Where did you go? You just went through such a major ordeal-how did you dare to walk alone at night?”

Yesterday, Wen Miao had insisted that the two of them leave first. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, Wen Tangtang wouldn’t have agreed to it in a million years.

“Speaking of that…” Wen Miao remembered Nan Mu’s request and looked at Wen Xin. “Can you help me look up information on two more people?”

“Who?”

“Xu Lei and Gu Zhishu from Wisdom Biotech Company.”

“Xu Lei? The one who gave a lecture at the school a few days ago?” Wen Tangtang looked surprised; she had just attended one of Xu Lei’s lectures recently. But the point was, Xu Lei was a biology researcher, while Wen Miao was in the Materials Department. “Do you know him? Why are you investigating him?”

In truth, Wen Miao also felt that suspecting Xu Lei was a bit far-fetched, but Nan Mu had been so solemn about it that she couldn’t help but harbor some doubts herself. “I suspect he might know the motorcyclist… but maybe I’m overthinking it. Let’s just look into it first.”

Wen Xin didn’t mind; investigating wasn’t a difficult task for him. He was just a bit curious. “Gu Zhishu has been missing since April. Why did you suddenly think to investigate him yesterday? And that Su Yu person?”

“I heard someone say yesterday that Gu Zhishu might not be missing, but was actually murdered.”

“What?!” Both Wen Xin and Wen Tangtang were shocked. “Wasn’t it said that he was already seriously ill and didn’t have long to live?”

“Yeah.” Wen Miao nodded, but as they pointed this out, a sudden realization struck her.

That was true. Why would someone risk committing a murder to personally kill a man who was already terminally ill and destined to die soon anyway?

It shouldn’t be out of hatred. If it were hatred, it would be much more satisfying to watch him suffer and wither away from his illness in his final days rather than giving him a quick end.

It shouldn’t be a crime of passion either. After all, what could one possibly take from a dying man?
It had to be a secret. Perhaps Gu Zhishu had stumbled upon some fatal secret, so dangerous that the other party couldn’t even wait a few days and felt compelled to silence him immediately.

She couldn’t help but shudder. “Wen Xin, how long would it take to pull the chat records between Gu Zhishu and Su Yu?”

Wen Xin pondered for a moment. “Gu Zhishu’s should be fine, but do you know Su Yu’s mobile number? The best-case scenario would definitely be getting their physical phones. As long as we have their communication accounts, I can crack the passwords. Otherwise, I’d have to search for registered accounts using their phone numbers before cracking them…”

“You know how it is; there are massive amounts of registered accounts these days. Searching through a database of hundreds of millions takes time for the programs to run…” He pointed his chopsticks toward the dormitory building. “In any case, I definitely can’t do it in the dorms. If the dorm manager cuts the power, all our progress will be lost.”

Wen Miao pulled Gu Zhishu’s phone number from her contacts and sent it to Wen Xin.

“I’ll ask around. If I can’t get the accounts, we’ll have to stick with the phone numbers.”

“Sure,” Wen Xin agreed readily. “Having the phones would be even better. If we get the physical devices, I can just restore the data directly. That’s faster than anything!”

“Alright, I’ll do my best.”

After all, the Gu Family didn’t know yet that Gu Zhishu was dead. If she rashly showed up at their door asking for his belongings, she would certainly arouse suspicion…

Wen Miao thought about it and felt she couldn’t handle this part alone, so she sent a message to Nan Mu, deciding to leave this problem for him to solve.

=

When Nan Mu woke up, the old lady in the neighboring bed was fussing, demanding her daughter take her out for a walk.

The sky was overcast today, and a light drizzle pitter-pattered against the window.

October weather was like this-yesterday it was so hot that short sleeves felt like too much, but as soon as it rained today, even adding a cardigan wasn’t enough to ward off the chill.

The daughter couldn’t talk her mother out of it, so she could only help the old lady into a wheelchair and push her out.

Nan Mu got out of bed, went to the bathroom to freshen up, and then headed to the bun shop downstairs to buy breakfast.

Because of the rain, the shop was packed. The floor of the dining area was covered in a layer of water from customers’ umbrellas, which had been trampled over repeatedly by the crowd. Mixed with dust, the pale yellow tiles looked muddy and filthy, causing anyone sitting there to lose their appetite instantly.

Nan Mu bought some buns and soy milk and headed back to the hospital.

The ward was empty now. He moved a chair to the window.

The glass was foggy from the moisture, so he pushed the window halfway open, watching the scenery while he ate.

His thoughts gradually drifted back to yesterday. He remembered what Wen Miao had said-that someone might be monitoring her movements through phone GPS tracking.

He had many theories before about how Xu Lei had managed to lure Wen Miao to the Biology Research Lab, but he had never considered the possibility of her movements being monitored via her phone.

But even if this were true, Nan Mu still felt there were many inconsistencies.

First, if Xu Lei could monitor Wen Miao’s movements in real-time, why wouldn’t he choose to strike off-campus? Why act inside the school where people were constantly coming and going?

Second, assuming Wen Miao went to the Biology Research Lab that day because of that anonymous letter… then who exactly sent that letter?

It couldn’t have been Xu Lei. There was no reason for Xu Lei to risk sending a letter-a piece of physical evidence-when he could monitor her in real-time. He would have had plenty of opportunities to wait for Wen Miao to be alone, just like during the previous motorcycle incident.

Right, and there was a third question: why did Xu Lei change his modus operandi? Previously, every time something happened to Wen Miao, it was at the Biology Research Lab, but this time, it had changed to a motorcycle hit-and-run.

Qiu Ziyu had once said that criminal methods are closely related to a suspect’s personality and experiences, yet the method used this time was worlds apart from the previous ones.

Why?