It was the first time Chen Ge had heard this woman's voice. She appeared to be roughly the same age as Gao Ruxue, her tone carrying a hint of impatience and a deeply buried resentment.
"I'm a friend of Gao Ruxue's. I wanted to invite her out for dinner tonight," Chen Ge said casually. "Where is she?"
"She went to get her hair washed. I'll have her call you back in a bit."
"Alright."
The call ended. Chen Ge sat on the bed in the break room with his bag still on his back. "If this were a normal date, it wouldn't matter whether Gao Ruxue washed her hair or took a shower. But she's clearly in a state of panic right now. She agreed to meet me to deal with her roommate's situation. Under those circumstances, knowing her personality, she wouldn't go out of her way to fix herself up."
He felt something might have gone wrong on Gao Ruxue's end.
Five or six minutes later, Gao Ruxue called back. As soon as he picked up, her voice came through: "I'm about to head out now."
The door opened and closed. Gao Ruxue seemed to be walking alone down a corridor — the background noise on the line had thinned out considerably. "Where should we meet tonight?"
"You pick a place. I'll head over right away." Hearing it was Gao Ruxue's voice, Chen Ge relaxed a little. As long as she was safe, that was what mattered.
"Just come straight to our campus. Come in through the west gate — there are fewer people that way. We'll meet behind the old campus teaching building." Gao Ruxue had apparently ducked into a bathroom by herself. "You'd better hurry. I'm getting more and more convinced that something is wrong with my two roommates."
"Something else happened?"
"During class this afternoon, Liu Xianxian slept with her head on the desk the entire time."
"She went to the underground warehouse last night, so it's only natural she'd sleep during the day." Chen Ge didn't see anything unusual about that.
"If she really were sleeping, I wouldn't be telling you this." Gao Ruxue's voice was very low — she was clearly lacking any sense of security. "Halfway through the second class, my pen fell on the floor. When I bent down to pick it up, I noticed by accident that Liu Xianxian had never actually been asleep. Her eyes were wide open, staring at the mirror inside her desk drawer."
"A mirror?"
"Yes. More precisely, she was staring at her own reflection." Gao Ruxue reconstructed the scene for Chen Ge. "Her eyes were full of bloodshot veins. It felt like the person in the mirror was the object of all her hatred — but wasn't that reflection just herself?"
"Your roommate sounds like she might be possessed. Don't sleep in the dorm tonight. Whatever's behind this will very likely make a move on you after dark."
"Alright. Let's meet up on campus first. I still have a lot to tell you."
He hung up and was just about to head out when his phone rang again — this time it was Captain Yan.
"Could this be any more coincidental? Right at this moment, of all times."
He hit the answer button. Before Chen Ge could even open his mouth, Captain Yan's voice cut in: "Get to the city sub-bureau right away. There's something extremely important I need to tell you."
"Now?"
"Yes! Extremely important!"
Captain Yan's tone was deadly serious. Chen Ge thought it over and agreed: "I'm on my way, but I have other things to deal with tonight, so I can't stay long."
"It won't take much of your time."