Was He Avoiding Her?

Seeing that he seemed genuinely about to get angry, Zhao Li hurriedly said, "Hey, no, I was just joking. I really did come here for something. Talk as we walk?"

Wen Ce gave him a suspicious look and repeated, "My semester started today."

Wen Ce had only just come of age when he joined the special department, and they had agreed that unless something major happened, they wouldn't disturb him while he was at school.

Uncle Chou cherished talent and had readily agreed back then.

He had kept his word, too. In three years at school, they had only disturbed him twice.

But remembering those two occasions made Wen Ce's expression turn rather unpleasant.

Zhao Li said repeatedly, "I know, I know. This is urgent, too."

Seeing that people were already looking over, Wen Ce had no choice but to stand up and lead Zhao Li out the door toward the university across the street.

Swiping through his phone, Zhao Li said somewhat speechlessly, "You're a computer genius. Why on earth are you studying business administration?"

Wen Ce glanced at him and asked, "Do you know why Little Ming's grandfather lived to ninety-nine?"

Zhao Li didn't catch on right away. "Why?"

"Because he minded his own business." As Wen Ce spoke, he spotted several classmates coming toward them and sighed inwardly.

The campus was so big. Why did he always run into people he knew?

Sure enough, Wang Meng, Qin Yanran, and the others spotted Wen Ce, too.

"Wen Ce, weren't you in the teacher's office?" Qin Yanran's eyes lit up. She hurried a few steps ahead to stand before him, then looked at Zhao Li, who clearly wasn't a student. "Who's this?"

The question actually overstepped a little, and Wen Ce frowned slightly.

He really disliked people with no sense of boundaries, so his tone was rather cool. "My friend. If you have things to do, go ahead. I'll show him around campus."

All of them heard the obvious coldness in his voice.

Wang Meng glanced at him. "In a bad mood, Brother Ce? You're sounding a bit hostile."

That was rather like fanning the flames.

Zhao Li said nothing and simply watched.

Sure enough, Wen Ce, already annoyed at being disturbed during school, grew even more irritable. He gave Wang Meng a cold glance. "Then what attitude should I have? Bow and scrape and talk to you with a big grin?"

Embarrassment flashed across Wang Meng's face. He had relied entirely on his thick skin to win over his girlfriend, and people still said he was a lapdog.

Although he acted as if he didn't mind, it bothered him quite a bit.

He glanced at his girlfriend beside him and saw her staring at Wen Ce, which annoyed him even more.

He was about to speak when the man beside Wen Ce laughed and said, "Haha, you're all Wen Ce's classmates? I'm an older friend from his neighborhood. I happened to be passing by, so I asked him to show me around. Go have fun."

With that, he pulled Wen Ce away.

The others remained where they were, watching them walk off.

One of the boys said, "Wen Ce seems to be in a pretty bad mood."

"He's just showing off!" Wang Meng spat, his expression ugly.

His girlfriend moved a little farther away in distaste. "Can you stop acting like some street thug? He didn't even do anything to you, and you were making snide remarks."

She stepped forward and linked arms with Qin Yanran. "Let's go."

The others' mocking gazes drifted toward Wang Meng. Back when he had pursued his girlfriend, he had relied entirely on being shameless.

Who didn't know Wenwen had been pursuing Wen Ce at the time? He really had some thick skin.

Zhao Li glanced back at the students. "Seriously, kid, if you're this unwilling to socialize, why insist on going to school?"

"Since when was I unwilling? So what's the matter? Make it quick." Wen Ce clicked his tongue.

Anyone can tell at a glance you don't want to talk to people, Zhao Li thought. But he didn't dare argue with the big shot. He took out his phone, which displayed a red dot. "Big shot, your tracker has stopped moving here."

Wen Ce took his phone and glanced at it. The red dot was unmistakably inside their university. He frowned. "Is this that base you were looking for before?"

"That's right, dear. We followed the contact and watched him walk into the university. And this thing is in your laboratory now." With something of a headache, Zhao Li took back his phone and opened a photo showing a face in profile.

The old man was very advanced in years, but his features were still clearly visible.

Wen Ce had even seen him on the professors' wall of honors.

He hadn't expected someone with so many honors to be a spy.

And Zhao Li was saying that the thing taken from them was now in their university's laboratory?

"So?" Wen Ce looked at him.

Zhao Li shrugged. "So I came to take a look. We've already started preparing to haul in the net and bring back both the fish and the bait. So far, there's only one fish. Uncle Chou wants to wait a little longer. Doesn't this thing of yours stay active for a month?"

The tracker had been custom-made from special materials. After a month, everything inside would cease functioning completely and dissolve.

It counted as a novel little gadget Wen Ce had developed with the Special Management Department.

Wen Ce nodded. "Then you still have over half a month."

"So we have to take turns for the next half a month or so. It's so boring, I came to find you for a campus tour." Zhao Li sighed. "That professor doesn't teach any electives, or I'd have liked to sit in on a class."

Wen Ce was speechless. So there wasn't really anything going on after all?

And here I thought it was urgent.

Still, he really hadn't expected them to bring the thing into the university, or for it to involve an old professor.

Thinking about it, it was actually rather terrifying. A spy had made it all the way to professor...

And they had only discovered him now.

All he could say was that beneath the country's peaceful exterior, dangers lurked on every side.

As Wen Ce and Zhao Li walked along, he suddenly heard Zhao Li say, "Hey, there's our fish."

Wen Ce looked up. Sure enough, he saw the old professor with several people beside him. Wasn't the person toward the back their counselor?

Something suddenly occurred to him. "Will everyone who's been in contact with him have to be investigated when the time comes?"

"Standard procedure. But with a professor this time, we'll probably have our work cut out for us." Zhao Li spoke very quietly.

Ahead, the old professor waved to the others, then turned and left.

Zhao Li clicked his tongue. "They aren't all his students, are they?"

"No," Wen Ce refuted without thinking.

Somewhat surprised, Zhao Li glanced at him. "Why do you say that?"

Wen Ce's gaze remained on Luo Lianqing, who was looking down as she replied to a message. "Because one of them is our senior and our counselor. She doesn't study chemistry."

"Oh," Zhao Li said, looking up. "Your senior? The prettiest one?"

He had barely finished speaking when he sensed the prettiest girl raise her head and look over.

A faintly surprised expression appeared on her face.

Somewhat embarrassed, Wen Ce reached out and clapped a hand over Zhao Li's face, pushing his head around as he turned. "Let's tour the campus!"

Utterly bewildered, Luo Lianqing stood there watching Wen Ce in the distance suddenly cover the face of the man beside him, turn, and walk away.

Was he... avoiding her?

Weren't they the ones staring at me just now? I could feel it!

What was he hiding for?