After he finished washing up, he returned to the room to find Du Yu on the phone again.
"Well," he said, "did she pick up?"
"Her phone's off," said Du Yu, tossing his phone on the desk. "What the hell? Where could she have gone?"
"There's nothing to worry about. It's really late; I'm sure she's just asleep." Fang Mu took off his glasses and then hopped in bed and pulled the covers up.
Du Yu didn't seem ready in the least to go to sleep. He just continued to lean back in his chair, staring at his shoes, lost in thought. After a while, he suddenly said, "Fang Mu." His voice was slightly trembling.
"Yeah?"
"You don't think…something happened to her, do you?"
"I don't think so." Fang Mu paused. "People were out all over the city tonight; nothing bad could have happened. You should get some sleep and not worry about it."
Du Yu stood up and walked anxiously around the room several times. Then he once more grabbed his phone and dialed.
"Hey, where'd you run off to…? Oh, Deng Linyue. Did Yaoyao come back yet?… Oh, I see… Yeah, he's here… You want to talk to him?… Oh, okay. Talk to you later."
Du Yu sat heavily at his desk. Without turning around, he said, "Deng Linyue asked if you were back."
"What about Zhang Yao?"
Du Yu didn't say anything.
"Maybe we should go look for her," said Fang Mu, reaching for his pants.
"No way!" yelled Du Yu suddenly. "Let her be an idiot if she wants!" He leapt to his feet, strode over to the door and angrily switched off the light. "Go to sleep!"
At 6:30 in the morning Fang Mu was woken by the sound of his ringing phone. He groggily sat up and reached for it, only to see that Du Yu was still sitting at his desk, phone in hand.
"You didn't sleep at all?" Fang Mu asked.
Du Yu's face was covered with stubble and he looked a lot more haggard. Squinting his eyes, he nodded at Fang Mu.
Fang Mu noticed that Du Yu's other hand was holding his stomach. "What's wrong?"
"My stomach hurts a little. I probably drank too much last night."
Fang Mu climbed out of bed and pulled on his clothes. "Come on. Let's grab some porridge at the dining hall and then find Zhang Yao."
The dining hall was fairly empty. Most people had probably stayed out late the night before and were sleeping in. Fang Mu had Du Yu find them seats while he went and bought them breakfast.
Two girls were standing beside him, scooping tea eggs onto their plates and chatting about the party they'd went to the night before.
When Fang Mu had stacked his tray high with food, he headed back to his table. As he passed the two girls, he happened to hear one of them say, "…It's really strange. It's so cold out today, but for some reason the pool's full of water…"
Fang Mu suddenly slowed his pace, and as he walked toward where Du Yu was sitting, he looked back at the two girls.
Abruptly, he placed his tray on one of the tables beside him and began running for the exit.
R was for river!
The symbol on the left wasn't a q — it was an uppercase G! Water droplets had dripped down the two letters, elongating them, which had made the G look like a q with a line through the middle.
GR. Green River!
The Green River Killer.
As Fang Mu burst out of the dining hall doors, he knocked a male student to the ground, but at this point he no longer cared.
Run! Run! Run!
Don't die! Don't die! I'm begging you…
He sprinted over the withered yellow lawn, darted around the tennis courts… He could see the outdoor swimming pool, its gray water rippling faintly.
No matter who you are, don't die!
He ran around the chain-link fence bordering the pool as fast as he could. The branches from the pine trees surrounding it struck his face, but he felt no pain. When he reached the entrance, he saw that the chain lock had already been pried off and was lying curled on the ground like a dead snake.
He pulled open the gate and ran inside.
Before him was a huge pool, already filled with water. He circled it, anxiously searching the depths. Before he had gone more than a few steps, he saw something moving underwater in the deepest part of the pool.
Someone was down there.
My God! The thought froze in his mind.
Without thinking, he took several hurried steps and then dove headlong into the pool.
The ice-cold chill spread from the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his feet. In a flash, he felt like he was going to suffocate.
When his feet touched bottom, he kicked off hard and rose back to the surface. With his head above water, he oriented himself, took a deep breath, and dove back under.
Although the water was extremely murky, Fang Mu could still see a young woman standing on the bottom of the pool. She was wearing a yellow tube top, short leather skirt, and black platform heels. Her arms were slightly raised and her head drooped, and her dyed-blonde hair fluttered with the movement of the water.
Fang Mu swam over, grabbed her clothing, and pulled as hard as he could, but she didn't move at all. Looking down, he saw that her ankles were tied to the drain with a piece of thick rope. This was why the girl had looked like she was standing up at the bottom of the pool.
Fang Mu swam back to the surface and dug wildly through his pockets. When he found the dagger, he put it between his teeth, took another deep breath, and swam back down.
As soon as he reached the bottom, he used all his strength to hack the rope in half. At once the girl's feet lifted off the bottom. Grabbing her clothing, he struggled to swim her back to the surface.
At last, using his final bit of strength, he heaved the girl onto the side of the pool. There she lay, eyes closed, not moving at all. With no time to rest, Fang Mu slapped the girl back and forth across the face, trying to wake her up. He head lolled, but her eyes did not open.
Wake up, please wake up! I'm begging you!
Lifting the girl's upper torso, he desperately shook her back and forth. The movement caused some water to trickle from her mouth. Seeing this, Fang Mu quickly hoisted her onto his shoulder and ran like madman back and forth beside the pool.
A few students who were walking by the pool caught sight of this frightening scene and ran to get a closer look. Dumbstruck, they watched as a man, who appeared to be a lunatic, sprinted about with a corpse held over his shoulder.
Fang Mu's hair had already frozen solid and his pant legs and shirt sleeves were stiff from the cold. Shivering all over, he continued to run rigidly back and forth, carrying the girl all the while.
More and more people continued to surround him. Some called the police, some whispered to each other, some cried softly, and some screamed aloud.
Fang Mu wasn't aware of any of this. His mind blank, he ran mechanically, repeating the same thing over and over to himself.
Wake up, wake up, I'm begging you…
At last, his strength gone, his legs went limp and he collapsed to the ground. The girl fell beside him.
Panting for breath, he crawled over, laced his hands over her chest and pushed down forcefully. After doing this several times, he pinched her nose closed and breathed deeply into her mouth.
Wake up! Wake up…
He repeated this several times, but the girl still didn't show any response. Still he gritted his teeth and continued on, hot tears rolling down his face.
Wake up, please wake up!
Fang Mu felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. It was Du Yu.
"Enough, Fang Mu, give it up. She's dead."
Fang Mu pushed his hands away and again placed his mouth over the girl's.
Taking hold of Fang Mu, Du Yu pulled him away from the girl. But as he did, Fang Mu reached out and, unwilling to give up, grabbed onto her hair.