Chapter 69
Chapter 69
Nan Mu sat up abruptly in bed, switched on his phone’s flashlight, and pulled open the drawer on his nightstand. This was where the medication he had to take daily was kept…
He remembered that today, his thoughts had been in such a mess after parting ways with Wen Miao that he had forgotten to take his medicine…
So, that was why she was so certain he wouldn’t wake up at night. That was why she had the audacity to start rummaging through his phone right beside him.
Had she swapped his medicine? Or had she added something to it that shouldn’t be there? Or perhaps… had he actually been well enough to be discharged long ago?
===
Wen Miao had a nightmare last night.
In the dream, Xu Lei was chasing her and Wen Xin relentlessly. She fled in terror, and as she passed the school gates, she saw Nan Mu.
She wanted to run out of the school, but for some reason, an invisible wall seemed to block her path. No matter how hard she ran, she couldn’t get out.
She cried out to Nan Mu for help, hoping he would give her a hand, but Nan Mu stood at the gate with a cold expression, remaining completely indifferent.
Just then, Xu Lei caught up. Wen Xin was still far away, running toward them.
She tried to retreat, but the invisible wall blocked her escape.
She could only watch helplessly as Xu Lei’s face twisted into a hideous mask, raising an axe before her.
“Wen Miao?”
Her roommate gave her a nudge, finally rescuing her from the nightmare.
She sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, the terror still etched clearly on her face.
“Are you okay?”
Wen Miao looked up and saw her roommate, who slept in the bunk above her, standing by the bed.
She forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Her roommate looked concerned. “You don’t look so good.”
She had only been assigned to the same dorm as Wen Miao when they started grad school. Over the past year, Wen Miao’s schedule had always been incredibly disciplined; she was arguably the earliest riser in the room. This was the first time she had seen Wen Miao sleep in until past ten o’clock when she actually had classes.
Only then did Wen Miao realize it was already after ten!
Her internal clock for waking up early was usually very precise. Why had she slept so late today?
She even checked the time on her phone several times to make sure she wasn’t misreading it.
There were several missed calls on her phone, all from Wen Xin and Wen Tangtang. There was also a string of messages from Wen Tangtang. The first few asked where she was, followed by a question asking if she was “still asleep.”
The last message told Wen Miao to find her at the library once she saw the text.
Wen Miao pulled herself together, went to the bathroom to freshen up, and then sent messages to Wen Xin and Wen Tangtang respectively, saying she had overslept this morning.
Wen Xin didn’t reply, likely busy with something, but Wen Tangtang replied instantly.
Wen Tangtang: [Are you out of bed now?]
Wen Miao: [I’m up.]
Wen Tangtang first sent an “OK” GIF, followed immediately by: [Waiting for you at the library.]
===
Wen Miao organized her books and headed to the library.
As soon as she entered, she saw Wen Tangtang sitting in their usual spot, waving at her.
The moment Wen Miao sat down across from her, Wen Tangtang leaned halfway across the table, getting close to her and whispering, “What were you doing last night? Why’d you sleep so late?”
“Nothing much. I’ve just been a bit tired lately, I guess.”
Wen Tangtang looked suspicious. “That doesn’t seem right. Even when you guys stayed up all night for experiments before, I never saw you sleep in the next day… and you had class this morning!”
“That’s why I said I accidentally overslept.”
“You? Accidentally oversleeping?”
Wen Miao laughed. “I’m not made of iron. Why wouldn’t I be able to oversleep?”
But Wen Miao’s explanation didn’t sway Wen Tangtang. “It’s just because you’re usually so disciplined… Even robots have power outages. In my heart, you’re way more reliable than a robot.”
The conversation was getting more and more ridiculous. Wen Miao didn’t want to be badgered with questions, so she quickly changed the subject. “By the way, you called so many times this morning… was there something up?”
At the mention of this, Wen Tangtang couldn’t help but look a bit smug. “Oh, right. Something big.”
“What is it?”
“Guess?”
Wen Miao rolled her eyes inwardly. This was one of Wen Tangtang’s quirks; she always loved to ‘test’ others.
Wen Miao pondered for a moment and guessed a few answers, but none were correct.
Sure enough, without waiting for Wen Miao to ask again, Wen Tangtang couldn’t sit still and began to narrow the scope herself.
She reached out and made a gesture as if she were ‘infiltrating the interior.’
Wen Miao didn’t understand and frowned, her face full of confusion.
Wen Tangtang sighed. “I’ve successfully installed a virus on Xu Lei’s computer. Wen Xin expects to be able to get Xu Lei’s chat logs and movement history very soon.”
This was quite unexpected for Wen Miao, and her eyes lit up. “Impressive. How did you manage that?”
Before they had found Lin Zhengfeng, she had asked Wen Tangtang to try and get some of Xu Lei’s biological samples, wanting to check if Xu Lei was the Motorcycle Man.
However, because Xu Lei wasn’t from A University of Science and Technology and they couldn’t enter his company, Wen Tangtang had waited a long time. It wasn’t until he came to give a lecture that she finally managed to get one of his cigarette butts.
By the time Wen Tangtang’s test results came back saying Xu Lei wasn’t the Motorcycle Man, Wen Miao and Nan Mu had already figured out that the real Motorcycle Man was Lin Zhengfeng.
Afterward, Wen Xin had suggested they could monitor Xu Lei. But since Wen Tangtang wasn’t particularly close to Xu Lei, it was difficult to approach him reasonably without raising suspicion, let alone install monitoring software on his phone.
So, the matter had been dropped. Wen Miao thought the two of them had given up, but she hadn’t expected…
“…Yeah, Xu Lei isn’t a mentor at our school after all, so there aren’t many chances to interact with him. Touching his phone is even harder. But I noticed that every time he comes to lecture, he uses his own laptop. So, I had Wen Xin plant an auto-loading virus on the screen-casting system in our classroom…” The more Wen Tangtang thought about it, the smarter she felt. “So, yesterday afternoon, as soon as that interface connected to his laptop… hehe, the virus went right in. I tried to contact you this morning, but you didn’t pick up… but I’ve already confirmed with Wen Xin. He can already remotely receive information sent from Xu Lei’s computer.”
Wen Miao gave Wen Tangtang a thumbs-up but then hesitated. “Can you find his chat logs on a computer? What if he only communicates with the other person via text message?”
“Oh, well, it’s better than nothing.” In contrast, Wen Tangtang had a much better attitude. “Let’s try this first. Who knows, there might be some useful information. If there really isn’t… I’ll think of a way to get his phone then.”
Speaking of which, Wen Miao suddenly remembered what Nan Mu had told her last night-that Xu Lei might try to harm her on the 24th.
Her expression shifted, and she took out her phone to message Wen Xin.
“Who are you texting?”
Seeing Wen Miao suddenly ignore her mid-conversation to send a text, Wen Tangtang couldn’t help but feel curious.
“I’m messaging Wen Xin,” Wen Miao explained hurriedly. “I’m asking him to try and export all of Xu Lei’s chat logs for me to see before tonight if possible.”
“There’s no need to be in such a rush.”
Wen Tangtang muttered to herself, but seeing that Wen Miao had finished sending the message, she leaned in enthusiastically again. “By the way, Wen Miao~”
She drew out the last syllable, sounding a bit coquettish. Wen Miao looked up in surprise, suddenly having a bad feeling. “What?”
“Do you know why I asked you to come to the library today?”
Another guessing game? Wen Miao scratched her head in frustration. “I don’t know.”
Wen Tangtang gave her a look of exasperation. “Turn around and look toward the back left!”
Wen Miao gave Wen Tangtang a puzzled look, then obediently turned around to look behind her.