Not long after she was back in Sheng Ying that day, Tian Mo Xing received a notice from the dorm that there was a letter waiting for her. She quickly went to check her mailbox.
Surprisingly, she learnt that it was sent from the cafeteria. She opened it up and read, "Xiao Xiao Xing, please see to it that you enclosed with this note from me, your hard-earned ticket to Celine Rose Gardens. I have taken it back and specially retained this when you selflessly gave it up the other day." Tian Mo Xing paused and fingered deeper into the envelope. Truly indeed, Tai An Ge has recovered it for her.
She continued, "And as for your question about that rare survey we supposedly have about looking into the various reasons why people like strawberries, I shall honestly tell you that we never did it. I gave some thought on your question and figured out that it could be Zhan Shi De actually lying to you to cover up the fact that he worked extremely hard to clean up my cafeteria one night to exchange for my offer of a fantastic triple-layered strawberry cake for you the next day. The reason being, he missed the challenge on the day before. This aside, just to satisfy your curiosity about strawberries, no matter whom I need to serve, I, as the baker, will always treat all three aspects - the scent, taste and appearance of that fruit, just as equally important. Wish you and Zhan Shi De happiness always...
Take care,
Tai An Ge."
Tian Mo Xing only realised now that 007 has doen so much without her knowing. She hurriedly stuffed the letter into her bag and rushed determinedly on the way to the counselling room.
In the library, 007 has been making use of the computer workstations available there since the MIT room's one was still not working. He managed to figure out that the text messages sent to Miss Cherry did not originate from another cellphone source. Instead, they were each emailed through the web. He decided to check on the IP address later and switched his focus to the dormitory bookstore's popular book recommendations chart. What struck his interest was that before the novel, "Night-Keepers" came into the limelight, no horror-themed story ever topped the chart. He then looked at the two pieces of note. He got one of them earlier that day while the other was discovered together with the gang in the MIT room. Upon closer inspection, he made out that the words on them were written with a similar cursive-style handwriting so obviously by the same person.
Tian Mo Xing was met with disappointment upon finding out that 007 was nowhere to be seen in the counselling room. The others were also not around. She thought hard and changed her mind to head for the school's library.
007 went over to the "Latest Releases" section to look for "Night-Keepers" novel. Luck has it that the book was already on shelf. He quickly grabbed hold of it to get the gist of its contents. He did a thorough reading of the intensely gripping storyline. Somehow, through the heart-wrenching descriptions, something struck his mind heavily. His thoughts sped back to the day when Miss Cherry opened the copy of Yuan Lan Ying's CD in her office. That moment when the deafening sound effects blared through the speakers reignited once again from the depths of his memories. "A car explosion..." his senses told him. Realisations followed one after another when his quick mind began recalling those questions which popped up continuously on the computer monitor screen. He now worked out that apart from all those events having taken place in the same year 2005, they all occurred in the month of June. 007 hastily replaced the book and attempted to rush to the "News Archives" section when a commotion not far away at the front desk caught his attention. He then saw Tian Mo Xing with the librarian and hurried over.
"I don't care, Li Xiao Xing...It was indeed you who borrowed this magazine. All those big red nasty-looking marks drawn on these pages will cause you a penalty!" The librarian told sternly.
"But Miss Xue, those are really not done by me," Tian Mo Xing tried to explain. 007 walked up to them.
"Listen," the librarian continued without taking heed. "If you're not able to clean those ink off and return to me in good condition, you'll not be permitted to borrow materials from here for at least a month. And, another thing, you got to pay the fee for misusing the library's property," she then merely left.
007 already saw the magazine on the desk the moment Tian Mo Xing thought it was too late to hide from him. Just then, 187 and 747 spotted them and went over.
"007," Tian Mo Xing uttered but has no idea what she should carry on to say.
"Wow, Tian Mo Xing," 187 noticed. "This mag - 'Tracking down Sheng Ying's league of Idol-like Boyhood...Not bad, where did you get it??"
Tian Mo Xing was at a lost for words. 187 took the magazine and started flipping through, "Everyone's pictures in here are so 'handsomely' taken. I just knew that girls like your age cannot resist chasing after guys with fresh nice looks. Hmmm...can you find me in here?? Which gentleman in these pages are you searching for??"
747 nudged him from behind, "Do you need to spoil Tian Mo Xing's angel-like reputation in front of everybody?"
187 only cast a wry glance at him. Next minute, 007 took the magazine away from him, "Let's get back to the counselling room..."
