Fiona Bennett followed her own train of thought. Chronic poisoning—this meant there was a persistent source of poison around her, or that someone had administered small doses multiple times. That was why Susan Wright suspected someone in the same dormitory, and why she herself was the least likely suspect—not because she was Susan Wright's good friend, but because she had only moved into this dorm less than two weeks ago.

Thinking of this made Fiona Bennett uncomfortable. For a moment, she began to wonder whether Susan Wright truly regarded her as a real friend. But she quickly shook off this unpleasant suspicion. Someone who was worried about being poisoned and murdered, facing such immense malice lurking in the dark, was justified in any amount of doubt.

Then, Fiona Bennett thought of the recent changes in Susan Wright. Some subtle, easily overlooked details all connected when she considered the possibility of "poisoning."

Lately, Susan Wright had been very careful about what she ate and drank. The most memorable incident was a month ago, when she thought someone had tampered with her honey and threw away the entire jar. Just two days ago, she poured out a freshly made cup of green tea, and since then, she mostly drank only bottled water. Looking back, these small oddities were probably signs that Susan Wright was feeling increasingly unsafe.

After anatomy class ended, everyone stuffed the body parts back in place, making them look human again. As they left the classroom, Matthew Mitchell, who had been walking a bit ahead, let Susan Wright and Fiona Bennett go first. He had clearly overheard that remark about murder earlier and couldn't help but ask about it.

As soon as he asked, several people nearby looked over.

"You misheard," Susan Wright said with a smile.

Matthew Mitchell shrugged and went to call Marcus Hamilton and Christopher Brooks, arranging to play ball after lunch.

They walked back together and picked up their meal trays for the cafeteria. Fiona Bennett wanted to ask several times, but Susan Wright's expression made it impossible to speak. She didn't seem to have any desire to talk about it; those two sentences from anatomy class seemed like a trivial matter she had already forgotten. Of course, that couldn't be true, so Fiona Bennett understood that Susan Wright simply didn't want to discuss it.

In the cafeteria, Fiona Bennett and Susan Wright sat side by side. As the clinking of bowls and spoons around them gradually faded and the long table emptied, Fiona Bennett finally couldn't hold back and asked in a low voice.

"You really meant it?" Susan Wright replied with a question.

"What, isn't it true?" Fiona Bennett was surprised.

"You'd better just treat it as if it's not true," Susan Wright said.

Fiona Bennett didn't know what to say. She thought her own expression must look strange. She hesitated for a moment, then looked into Susan Wright's eyes and said seriously, "If you ever need my help with anything, please be sure to tell me."

"Of course," Susan Wright replied, with her usual smile.

Fiona Bennett realized she couldn't read Susan Wright's smile; there was more hidden in it than she had ever imagined.

As they left the cafeteria, Fiona Bennett wanted to tell Susan Wright, "Don't force yourself," but she just couldn't get the words out. After all, she had always been the one who needed comforting, and she couldn't switch roles so easily.

The sun was shining, with no sign of rain. Maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed, Fiona Bennett thought. She set her worries aside and, just as Susan Wright had said, decided to treat it as if it wasn't real for now.

Fiona Bennett kept this mindset until evening, until she remembered something.

It was around eleven o'clock, the lights were already out, but a few emergency lights still glowed in the dorm. Lily Carter came back from a date, bringing steaming hot wontons. She was the typical northern girl—carefree, generous, and hospitable. As soon as she came in, she invited everyone to have some wontons. Queenie Adams had gone to bed early, and Susan Wright was silent behind her bed curtain, but the others were lured down from their beds by the delicious smell. When Fiona Bennett saw the rectangular, semi-transparent plastic box holding the wontons, she suddenly shivered. She remembered that she had a box just like that.

She ate a few wontons quickly, not in the mood to chat with Lily Carter and the others, and climbed back to her own bunk, pulling the bed curtain tightly shut.

Tomorrow, she had to find a chance to have a proper talk with Susan Wright, she thought.

Fiona Bennett turned off her emergency light. Outside the bed curtain, shadows flickered and soft whispers and laughter drifted in. Her heart felt icy cold. Compared to her daytime uncertainty, she was now sixty or seventy percent sure that the poisoner really existed.

After a while, the voices faded, the emergency lights went out one by one, and the darkness had never felt so thick, swallowing the whole room. There were no stars tonight, and raindrops began to tap against the glass window—it had started to rain.

3

The histology and embryology lab had many specimens, all soaked in wide-mouthed jars. They were various organs, as well as twenty-three fetuses—Fiona Bennett had counted. The largest was seven months old, about the size of a normal newborn; the smallest was six weeks, less than ten centimeters long, but already had facial features. Every time Fiona Bennett entered the lab, she felt surrounded. During the first class, the teacher said, "See? They're watching you." It was probably meant as a joke, but after he said it, the room fell silent. Doctors need this feeling of being watched, Fiona Bennett thought—the dead are still here.

While observing a kidney section under the microscope, Fiona Bennett invited Susan Wright to stroll down Sichuan Road since they had no classes that afternoon. She tried to sound as casual as possible, but still realized her attempt was clumsy.

Susan Wright agreed.

Before the scream rang out, Fiona Bennett was focused on the microscope.

After staining, the kidney section appeared red and purple under the microscope. Fiona Bennett carefully observed the clusters of glomeruli, the flattened cells forming the vessel walls, and a few red blood cells in the middle. That was once blood, now dried up to just a few cells. Thinking of their owner, those blood vessels had once been elastic, in a healthy kidney, on one side of someone's spine. Yes, they had once made up a person.

At that moment, a hysterical scream pierced her ears—short, sharp, and terrified. Fiona Bennett felt goosebumps explode across her back and turned in shock to look at Susan Wright.

It was the first time she had seen Susan Wright look so frightened—her features twisted, veins bulging on her neck, and the mineral water bottle in her hand looked like it might burst at any moment. A microscope could make someone completely absorbed, so Fiona Bennett had no idea what had just happened. She vaguely felt that Susan Wright had just returned to her seat, maybe from the restroom.

The scream had clearly startled everyone, but before anyone could react, Susan Wright rushed out of the lab.

"What happened to her?" the professor asked.

No one knew.

Fiona Bennett stood up and said she'd go check. As she stepped outside, she saw Susan Wright walking back from the far end of the hallway—the direction of the restroom. Fiona Bennett anxiously asked her, and she nodded slightly, though it was hard to tell if it was a nod or a shake. Fiona Bennett noticed her hands were empty, and when she looked at her desk, the water bottle was gone. She was sure she remembered correctly—Susan Wright had rushed out with that bottle of mineral water.

Susan Wright apologized to the professor, saying she hadn't slept well the night before, had dozed off and had a confusing nightmare, but after washing her face with cold water, she felt much better.

Everyone had been focused on their microscopes, and the professor was reading, so no one doubted Susan Wright's explanation. The room burst into laughter. Fiona Bennett glanced at Susan Wright, stood up, and left the lab.

The bottle was in the trash can by the women's restroom. Fiona Bennett picked it up; the surface was a bit wet. She thought it was dirty water at first, but the trash can was almost dry. It was an unopened bottle—the cap had only been loosened a little, not fully broken. So where did the water on the outside come from?

The water had come from inside the bottle. Near the mouth of the bottle, there was a tiny hole—a pinhole.

Fiona Bennett thought that if it had been her, she probably wouldn't have noticed. The hole was so small, and in that spot, unless you squeezed the bottle hard, water wouldn't leak out. After drinking a few sips and the water level dropped below the pinhole, it would be even harder to notice. But Susan Wright wasn't her—she was someone who worried day and night about being poisoned, suspicious of everything. She was right.

Fiona Bennett's hands trembled as she held the bottle.

This new evidence shattered the last bit of wishful thinking she had clung to the night before.

She was so scared her teeth chattered, her gums felt loose.

4

The bicycle was parked at the entrance to Lu Xun Park, and the two of them strolled south along the road. When Fiona Bennett was in middle school, Sichuan Road was still struggling to rival Nanjing Road, but now its decline was obvious. Still, in the Yangpu and Hongkou districts, it remained the top commercial street.

Fiona Bennett kept thinking about how to begin. But what she wanted to talk about was so overwhelming that every attempt got stuck in her throat.

Outside the Yong'an Cinema, there was still a poster for the movie "Keep Cool" from a few months ago. Fiona Bennett had watched her first movie here, "Painted Skin," and spent an hour of the ninety-minute film crying behind her fingers. "Do you remember that line from Jiang Wen?" Susan Wright asked. "An Hong, I love you," they answered together and laughed. Next to the "Keep Cool" poster was an ad for "The Dream Factory," labeled as a new New Year's film, though the concept was borrowed from Hong Kong movies. Susan Wright's tone held little excitement, since the director wasn't famous. Feng Xiaogang—Fiona Bennett had never heard the name before, either.