Volume One (Prequel): The Seventh Reader - Chapter 11: If the Next One Is Me

If you often eat at Cafeteria B, you will notice a group of strange people. They hold their trays, gather in a corner of the cafeteria, sizing each other up, quietly counting heads, whispering to each other, occasionally someone joins, which would elicit a sigh of relief.

The SUO group has been meeting at Cafeteria B for four days at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Fortunately, everyone is safe and sound. Occasionally, a few suspicious things and a few suspicious people are brought up, but they are quickly denied by the ones who brought them up. One particularly absurd incident was when Zou Qi mentioned that Professor Sun, who teaches international trade, had been giving him fierce glares lately. Later, Chen Xi exposed that Zou Qi often leered at the young accounting teacher's chest and buttocks, and her husband happened to be Professor Sun.

Every day, Fang Mu tries to arrange the members of the Law School group to sit together, including Wang Jian. This guy is always cold towards everyone, but it's clear that he doesn't oppose being with everyone. Even though he doesn't speak during meals or when studying alone, he always stays within sight of Fang Mu. When returning to the dorm at night, he walks alone at the back, like a lonely shadow.

This situation makes everyone feel awkward, one of the important factors for the continuation of the group is unity and trust. Someone who keeps hovering on the edge of the circle always causes unnecessary suspicion and panic. So, one evening, when Fang Mu saw Wang Jian walking out of the study room alone again, he decided to talk to him.

Wang Jian went to the restroom. Fang Mu patiently waited at the door.

A few minutes later, Wang Jian walked out, shaking the water droplets off his hands, and saw Fang Mu waiting at the door, looking startled.

"Do you... need something?" Wang Jian asked.

Fang Mu said frankly, "I want to talk to you."

Wang Jian frowned, "About what?"

Fang Mu suddenly realized he hadn't thought about what to say to him at all. He shrugged, "Just chat."

"I'm not interested," Wang Jian said bluntly and turned to leave.

"Wait," Fang Mu caught up with him in a few steps, "Do you also think I'm talking nonsense?"

Wang Jian turned to look at Fang Mu, his expression softened, "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be with you every day."

Fang Mu smiled, "Then let's chat. Consider it a break."

Wang Jian hesitated for a moment, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and handed one to Fang Mu. Fang Mu didn't smoke, but he still accepted it and took a puff, only to choke and cough.

Wang Jian, with a cigarette in his mouth, patted Fang Mu's back, "You don't smoke?"

"No, it's the first time."

"Haha, I shouldn't have given it to you. What a waste of tobacco."

Fang Mu finally managed to stop coughing, wiped the tears from his eyes, and looked at Wang Jian's cigarette, which flickered in the dim light. Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Where do you live? I went to your dorm this morning, but your roommates said you don't live there anymore."

"Oh, I moved to a new place, just across from yours, Room 351."

Room 351? That's Zhou Jun's dormitory, and no one has lived there for a long time.

"Alone?"

"Yeah, it's quiet, perfect for studying."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Afraid? Why? Just because someone died? He didn't die in the dorm, so what's there to be afraid of?" Wang Jian quickly finished his cigarette, lit another one, took a deep drag, and looked at Fang Mu with a sideways glance. "What, do you suspect me?"

"No," Fang Mu hurriedly explained, "Just asking." He lowered his head and took a careful puff of the cigarette.

The two of them smoked in silence.

"Why did you move out?" Fang Mu asked when Wang Jian didn't speak for a while. "Uncomfortable living there, so I moved out," he said, crushing the cigarette butt on the ground. He looked up and asked, "Are you investigating those cases?"

"No, I'm not a police officer. I just don't want to die."

"Do you really think that everyone with a library card is going to die?"

"I don't know, it's just a feeling."

"A feeling?"

"Yes, I feel that the library card must be related to those cases, but I'm not sure how."

"Maybe a few more people have to die before it becomes clear, heh," Wang Jian said with a cold laugh.

Fang Mu fell silent for a moment.

"What do you think about these cases?" he asked.

"Me? I'm not interested."

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"Then why are you with us every day?"

Wang Jian lowered his head, crushed the cigarette butt under his foot, "Bored, I guess. At least you guys are more interesting than those people over there." He nodded toward a nearby classroom, his eyes filled with disdain and contempt. It was the exclusive classroom for the Basic Class, brightly lit inside.

"I'm going in there." Wang Jian ran his hand through his hair. "What about you?"

Fang Mu thought for a moment. "Since we're in the same group, I'll try to stay in touch with everyone in the future and not stay alone all the time."

"Okay."

"Also, be careful living alone."

Wang Jian looked at Fang Mu and turned away. At the moment he turned, Fang Mu heard him say, "Okay, thanks."

Fang Mu stood alone in the dark corridor, looking at the cigarette about to burn out in his hand, and threw it on the ground, crushing the butt like Wang Jian had done.

As he walked back to the study room, passing the exclusive classroom of the Basic Class, he glanced inside. The room was full of people, but it was quiet, each person buried in thick books, studying hard.

Fang Mu remembered Wang Jian's look just now, and he felt that, in addition to disdain and contempt, there was also envy in his eyes.

He suddenly felt a little sorry for Wang Jian.

After a week of peace, it seemed that everyone was slowly relaxing. Those with lovers began to resume their dates, and more and more people were moving around alone. Once, Gao Guodong suddenly went missing, and his family didn't know his whereabouts. Fang Mu and the others were almost frantic in their search. Two days later, when Fang Mu was about to report to the police, this guy came back with a smile, saying he had gone to meet a friend in a neighboring city. "You can't expect us all to go, can you?" The people sitting at the fixed table in Cafeteria B at 5 o'clock every evening were becoming fewer and fewer.

One evening, only five people showed up for the meeting: Fang Mu, Wu Han, Wang Jian, Qi Xin, and Chen Xi from the Economics Department. Chen Xi told Fang Mu the whereabouts of the other Economics Department students, and seeing Fang Mu's gloomy expression, she hesitated to say, "I'm going out to buy something, how about you guys..." Her gaze became shifty.

Fang Mu looked at the other Law School students, "I'll go with you."

It was the first time Fang Mu had gone out alone with a girl.

Walking lightly beside him, Chen Xi greeted familiar classmates from time to time, looking relaxed and cheerful. But Fang Mu seemed a little uncomfortable, feeling the unusual looks from Chen Xi's classmates: Could they think we're in a relationship?

Sensing Fang Mu's mood, Chen Xi asked with a smile, "What, don't want to accompany me?"

Fang Mu hastened to say, "It's not that."

Pursing her lips, Chen Xi said, "You look so down, as if you've suffered some great injustice. What's wrong?" She tilted her head to look at Fang Mu, "Do you think a plain girl like me isn't good enough for a handsome guy like you?"

"Not at all, you... you're quite pretty."

Chen Xi giggled, "Thanks for the compliment."

They went to a supermarket near the school. Chen Xi was interested in looking at this and that, while Fang Mu didn't have anything to buy, so he patiently accompanied her as she browsed.

"Hey, how's your investigation going?"

"What?"

"The murder cases, you're investigating them, aren't you?" Chen Xi sounded casual, as if she were talking about something fun.

"Where have I been investigating? I'm not a detective," Fang Mu said grumpily. Chen Xi was reading the instructions for a bottle of toner, her long ponytail revealing her fair, slender neck.

She's quite pretty.

"Why, are you still angry?" Chen Xi asked as Fang Mu remained silent.

Fang Mu admitted honestly, "Yes, I am."

"Hehe, it's a good thing to have the courage to admit your vulnerability. You're better than people like Liao Chuang, who are too scared to come to class."

Fang Mu remembered the Economics Department student who had left in a huff.

"If it's fated for the next person to be me, I hope they can kill me in one go, preferably from behind, without me realizing it, without any pain," Chen Xi crossed her arms in front of her, looking up at the sky with a wistful expression.

Fang Mu silently watched her. The girl's figure bathed in the strong supermarket lights seemed somewhat blurred.

She turned her gaze back, smiling at Fang Mu.

"Wouldn't that be great?"

Translator's Note: This is the translation of the first part of the text. Let me know if you would like me to continue with the rest of the text.