This time, Fang Yuan slept very uncomfortably.
She kept having dreams, one after another, each more chaotic than the last.
One moment, she dreamed of Xu Yan crying to her, heartbroken, but she remained indifferent, punching and kicking, venting her anger wildly.
One moment, she dreamed of her father earnestly admonishing her, but she sneered and spoke rudely.
One moment, she dreamed of Li Rong, his polite demeanor gone, chasing her like a ferocious monster.
One moment, she dreamed of Su Ya, the strange roommate who, when she screamed in danger, ignored her and left.
Fang Yuan didn't know how many dreams she had, but each one was short because she kept waking up.
In reality, it was because she was too easily awakened. A girl's yelling, a heavy footstep, the sound of a door opening, even the sound of wind could startle her.
She hadn't slept soundly at all.
The scenes in her dream were blurry, and upon waking, she could barely recall much. Closing her eyes, she quickly forgot them and moved on to another dream.
Sleeps like this made her feel more and more tired the longer she slept.
Six hours later, night fell. Everyone in girls' dormitory 441 had gone to bed, and Nanjiang Medical College finally fell silent. Fang Yuan finally fell into a deep, complete sleep.
This time, she didn't dream; she slept soundly, only waking when her stomach growled.
The old duck soup Fang Yuan had drunk at noon had long since been digested. She felt terribly hungry, and it was impossible for her to fall back asleep without something to eat.
She remembered she still had a pack of Master Kong instant noodles in her living room drawer, so she quietly got up and groped her way out of the bedroom.
She didn't turn on the light. Nanjiang Medical College's regulations require that lights be turned off after 10:30 p.m., except for the bathroom light, which can be left on temporarily. No lights in the bedrooms or halls are allowed. Failure to do so is a violation of school regulations, and the school will deduct points and fine students occupying the dormitory.
Fang Yuan didn't want to cause everyone in the dormitory to be fined because of her.
Luckily, the moonlight was bright tonight, allowing her to barely see a few feet in front of her.
Fang Yuan walked out of the bedroom and stopped as she passed the hall closet.
She noticed something flickering in her closet, a fleeting sensation of vibrant colors and dazzling brilliance.
Fang Yuan rubbed her eyes, then looked again, but saw nothing.
Another hallucination?
Ever since she moved into girls' dormitory 441, she hadn't used her own closet.
Or rather, she hadn't used the closet that once belonged to Cheng Li.
Fang Yuan had only opened it once—and that time, because she thought she heard something calling her from inside.
She remembered it contained only an old Great Wall computer.
Fang Yuan stood in front of cabinet number 7 and fumbled with the cold metal key in her pocket.
Two minutes later, she opened cabinet number 7.
Sure enough, there was only the old Great Wall computer inside. Nothing else, let alone anything that flashed or made sounds.
It couldn't possibly be the Great Wall computer that was making the noise and light.
Fang Yuan suddenly wondered if the computer was still useful.
She first soaked her instant noodles, then enthusiastically assembled the computer and plugged it into the dorm's broadband port.
Then, she pressed the power button and started it up.
The computer was good and still functioning.
Fang Yuan ate her instant noodles while browsing the various documents inside.
She found nothing useful.
Besides some medical information, Cheng Li's files contained only a few of her own short essays.
The essays weren't of high quality, mostly just romantic musings. Perhaps she was just writing them, with no intention of publishing them. Girls of her age are often sentimental.
There was one thing Fang Yuan still couldn't figure out.
Why was Xu Yan so eager to feign madness and murder her?
Logically, even if Li Rong was truly involved in Cheng Li's death, with what Fang Yuan knew at that moment, he posed no threat to Li Rong, let alone Xu Yan. She shouldn't have been so hasty to act against herself.
Could it be that she had something she wanted?
Fang Yuan pondered over it. She still had no clue about Cheng Li's suicide, and she didn't have anything of importance.
Except—except the key to wall cabinet number 7.
In the past, Nanjiang Medical College had experienced numerous cases of clothing thefts from dormitories, so the school's logistics department strengthened the security of the wall lockers, installing large iron locks and only having one key per wall locker.
It's easy to get into a dormitory by asking classmates or friends for help, but it's not easy to pry open the wall lockers where students store their clothes, cash, and valuables.
Could it be that Xu Yan really was after this key?
But wall locker number 7 contained only this old Great Wall computer. While still functional, it wasn't worth much. Could she be after this Great Wall computer?
Unless—unless Cheng Li had stored something important on this computer.
Fang Yuan's eyes lit up. This was a possibility.
However, there was simply too much stored on the computer. She couldn't possibly read it all in a short time. She needed to find a way to filter and search.
As Fang Yuan pondered this, she suddenly felt something fuzzy beneath her feet. She shuddered and nearly cried out.
She quickly moved her foot away and looked down, but saw nothing.
What was it?
Fang Yuan's heart leaped into her throat. She stood up suddenly, stepped back, and stood motionless in the darkness.
She looked around, but still saw nothing.
The hall remained shrouded in a hazy darkness. Fang Yuan stood there, bewildered.
What seemed like an eternity passed before she heard a cat's meow.
She breathed a sigh of relief. It was the black cat.
It had slipped under the table at some point, its eyes narrowed to a slit as it gazed at her. It slowly emerged, nuzzled against her foot, and meowed again, a low, mournful cry that sounded like a plea.
Fang Yuan remembered: the black cat must be hungry.
She poured the remaining instant noodles into the cat's bowl. The black cat, unpicky, walked over and began to eat. Fang Yuan yawned, shook herself off the chill, and prepared to turn off her computer and go back to sleep.
Just then, she heard a strange sound.
"Click...click...click..."
What was that sound?
It sounded like a knock on the door.
Who else could be knocking at this late hour?
Fang Yuan glanced at the door of dormitory 441; the sound didn't seem to be coming from there.
The sound was intermittent, pausing for a moment before resuming.
"Click...click...click...click..."
The rhythm was getting faster and faster.
Fang Yuan stared blankly at the dark bathroom, her mouth wide open.
The sound was coming from the wooden door.
Who was in the bathroom?
Xu Zhaodi? Tao Bing'er? Qin Yanping? Su Ya?
She denied all four.
When Fang Yuan emerged from the bedroom, she could clearly see that all four beds were occupied.
If they weren't the four girls from the same dorm, then who could they be?
Fang Yuan's breathing became incredibly labored; she dared not even breathe, her heart beating like a deer.
"Who is it?" Fang Yuan shouted with all her might, but her voice was faint, so faint she could barely make it out.
The things in the bathroom seemed to have heard Fang Yuan's cry and stopped moving. The knocking on the door abruptly ceased.
Silence, a deathly silence.
Her mouth felt dry, her calves began to tremble, and her eyes were fixed on the bathroom.
In fact, the only light in the hall was the glow of the computer screens. She couldn't see the bathroom at all. There, there was only a black shadow.
Fang Yuan remembered that the bathroom's wooden door was never locked. It was always left ajar, then blocked with a chair or something to prevent it from being blown back and forth by the wind and disturbing the girls resting in the dorm.
Since it was only ajar, the door would have opened with just a little force, so there was no need to knock like that.
If the girls from Dormitory 441 were inside the bathroom, how could they not know this?
Before Fang Yuan could figure it out, the sound started again.
This time, it was even more urgent, without a pause.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck..."
The sound, like a death knell, sounded. Fang Yuan's eyes widened, and she stared nervously.
At her feet, the black cat had long since stopped eating. Instead, its tail raised, its fur standing upright, its eyes fixed on the direction with fury.
The knocking on the door suddenly stopped.
Fang Yuan was just about to take a breath when the wooden door to the bathroom creaked open a crack.
A gust of cold wind blew through the crack, making Fang Yuan shiver.