Fang Mu shook his head. "No, why?"
"The guy's already missed a ton of classes, including a bunch where the professor took attendance." Zou Tuanjie glanced back into the classroom. "Just now the professor let slip that if Meng Fanzhe misses another class, the professor won't let him defend his thesis when it's time to graduate."
"Are you calling him?"
"I just did," said Zou Tuanjie, waving the phone helplessly. "He didn't pick up."
Fang Mu looked at his watch. Class was about to begin. With no time to say anything else to Zou Tuanjie, he immediately turned and sprinted to his classroom down the hallway. As he ran, he wondered what was going on. Meng Fanzhe was no longer afraid of roll call, so why wasn't he going to class?
It was night in the private study room.
Fang Mu absentmindedly flipped through the book in front of him. Deng Linyue sat quietly beside him, translating an article from English. She was very quick, stopping only now and then to check the dictionary or softly read a sentence aloud.
Fang Mu knew he wasn't absorbing a thing. Looking up, he glanced aimlessly around the room. He abruptly turned toward the entrance to the room, watching it. No one was there.
Humph, he thought, guess that guy really did keep his word.
That afternoon Tai Wei had stopped by. At first he just made fun of Fang Mu, laughing about how he'd been "lucky in love," and that the "beautiful girl had fallen for her heroic savior." Fang Mu knew he was talking about Deng Linyue, and he wasn't surprised that this guy knew all about their recent activity. In fact, he wouldn't have been surprised if Tai Wei had been sitting one table over from them at the restaurant that night.
When Tai Wei was finished joking around, his expression turned serious, and he said that because Fang Mu and Deng Linyue were probably both being targeted by the killer, if they were going to be together, then the police would have to keep a close watch on him. The idea annoyed Fang Mu, and he told Tai Wei that if he went through with that, their relationship would take a nosedive. At first Tai Wei tried to explain why this was necessary and then attempted to play on Fang Mu's emotions. Still Fang Mu wouldn't agree, so Tai Wei had no choice but to give up. Still, he insisted that no matter how Fang Mu felt about it, the police were going to increase their protection of him, albeit according to the prerequisite of "not influencing Fang Mu and Deng Linyue's personal lives." Noticing that when Tai Wei said "personal lives" with a bit of good-natured innuendo, Fang Mu couldn't help but laugh and lighten up a little.
As Fang Mu climbed to his feet in the study room, Deng Linyue inquisitively looked up at him. When he motioned to the pack of cigarettes in his hand she just nodded, a sliver of disapproval in her eyes.
Standing in the hallway a moment later, Fang Mu lit a cigarette and looked around. Suddenly someone popped their head out of the stairwell at the end of the hall and then disappeared. Even though it had only been for a split second, Fang Mu immediately recognized the man as one of the officers under Tai Wei.
Jeez, now he's getting other people to follow me.
Shaking his head, Fang Mu leaned against the wall and smoked in silence. After a while, he looked back down at the entrance to the stairwell. It was black as a cave. Although there wasn't a sound coming from it, he was sure the cop was still there. After a moment of thinking, an idea occurred to him. He looked at his watch; it was 7:26 p.m. Tenth period was about to end.
One of the classrooms nearby was lit up. He could faintly hear the sounds of a lecture underway inside.
Making up his mind, he went back into the study room and walked quickly over to Deng Linyue.
"Get your things," he said quietly.
She gave him a puzzled look.
"The police are following us," he said, smiling mysteriously. "Let's play a little joke on them."
Deng Linyue nodded excitedly. She hurriedly threw her things into her book bag, pulled on her jacket and then in a voice both nervous and eager, whispered to him, "What should we do?"
Fang Mu told her she should first sit back down, put her phone on vibration and keep cool. She nodded and did as he said.
A few minutes later, the bell rang to signal the end of class. Fang Mu silently counted to ten and then took Deng Linyue's arm. "Let's go."
The two of them walked quickly out of the study. The instant they were through the door, he glanced down to the end of the hall. Sure enough, the cop was standing outside the stairwell.
Fang Mu led Deng Linyue toward the class that had just let out. It had been held in a large classroom capable of seating nearly a hundred students. At that moment a huge crowd of them were swarming out the door and filling the hallway.
Fang Mu and Deng Linyue slipped into the throng. Just as they were passing by the classroom, they quickly walked inside.
As he led Deng Linyue to the back of the room, Fang Mu dialed her number on his cell phone.
When they reached the back of the room, Fang Mu cracked open the rear door and carefully glanced out into the hall where he could see the exiting students. As expected, the cop was caught up in the crowd of students, craning his neck and looking all around.
Deng Linyue nudged Fang Mu and held up her vibrating cell phone. "What should I do?" she whispered.
"Answer it and then don't hang up." He turned and saw that the crowd and policeman were heading toward the rear door of the building.
He looked back at Deng Linyue. "Go. Together we're too big of a target, so we need to split up. You head that way." He pointed in the direction opposite where the policeman was going. "Go to the first floor and then wait for my instructions."
"Okay." Shaking from excitement, she gripped her phone in one hand and headed down the hall.
Fang Mu then turned and walked quickly toward the policeman, who was constantly scanning the area ahead, completely unaware that his target was actually behind him. Carefully concealing himself behind a group of students, Fang Mu made sure to stay roughly 15 feet behind the cop at all times.
As he walked, the man took out his cell phone and made a call.
Fang Mu carefully drew closer and did his best to listen in.
"…I don't see them…" the cop said, unaware of Fang Mu. "What floor are you on…the sixth? I'll head to the back door… Exactly, you take the front… Fast as you can."
Just as he had thought. Fang Mu smiled, slowed down and then put the phone to his ear. "Where are you now?"
"First floor. You?" Deng Linyue was panting, but she still sounded nervous and excited over the phone.
"Get to the front door as fast as you can. You need to be out of the building before the police get here."
"Okay, and after that?"
Fang Mu thought for a moment and then said, "Head to the old bunker; we'll rendezvous there. Don't hang up."
By the time Fang Mu had followed the policeman down to the first floor, very few students were going in and out of the back door. The cop ran to the doorway, looked all around, and then headed back inside and sprinted to the reception office. He asked the woman on duty several questions, but she just shook her head in confusion. The cop then hustled back to the door and stood beside the entrance, staring closely at every student who passed.
Fang Mu hid in a corner, thought for a moment, and then whispered into the phone, "I'm going to hang up for now. I'll call you soon."
"Okay, be careful." Deng Linyue giggled.
Fang Mu dialed another number. A few seconds later, a frosty female voice sounded over the receiver: "Welcome to the JiangbinCityUniversity telephone directory. Please dial the extension you wish to call now. For the operator, press zero."
Fang Mu pressed zero. A few seconds later, another woman's voice said: