by Lei Mi
Behind that two-way mirror, Fang Mu was in motion. "No!" He suddenly dove against the glass and pounded it with his fists.
Everyone observing froze at his outburst. After standing there stunned for two seconds, Tai Wei blurted, "Fang Mu?"
Fang Mu spun around and grabbed Tai Wei's arm. "Don't hurt him…"
"Who are you?" asked the director, cutting him off.
"Oh, he's the one that the suspect attacked," said Tai Wei quickly. "I asked him here to take his statement." He turned around and whispered to Fang Mu, "Go downstairs, I'll be there in a little bit."
"Tai Wei," said Fang Mu, pulling on his arm almost entreatingly, "let me talk to him. I'm positive something's up. There's no way he's the killer."
"Absolutely not!" Tai Wei threw him off and then whispered sternly, "Where do you think you are? Get downstairs now."
Fang Mu was adamant. "It can't be him; he's nothing like the person I predicted…"
The director, who had been standing to the side and aloofly watching all this, now spoke: "Tai Wei, is this the so-called genius you told me about?"
Realizing that it was already too late to hide anything, Tai Wei had no choice but to tell the truth. "Yes, sir." he said. "This is the one."
The director snorted disdainfully and turned to look into the interrogation room. Meng Fanzhe was still struggling, and had thrown both the cops off of him. One took out his electric baton, turned it on.
"Get out of the way!" he yelled to his comrade. Barely had the other officer moved, than the first officer pressed the baton against Meng Fanzhe's shoulder.
At once Meng Fanzhe's eyes went wide and his body bent like a bow as the current surged through him. The cop prodded him several more times, and after each Meng Fanzhe howled in pain and writhed like a fish on a chopping block. In moments he was no longer struggling, just slumped over in his chair, his whole body shaking.
With a hard look on his face, the observing director said, "We won't interrogate him tonight. Just lock him up for now; tomorrow we'll get some experts over here to give him a psychological assessment." He turned and walked out, glaring furiously at Tai Wei as he passed.
Tai Wei tried to explain, but the director had already passed. Helplessly, he just shook his head and turned back to the interrogation room where Meng Fanzhe was being dragged out of his seat like a dead dog. For a moment Tai Wei stood there with his arms crossed. Without turning his head, he said, "Take him back."
"Yes, sir," said Little Zhang. He grabbed Fang Mu's arm. "Let's go!"
Fang Mu tried to argue, but the cop pulled him roughly away.
The whole way back to the dorm, Little Zhang didn't say a word, just sped through the city streets. Fang Mu didn't want to talk either. He stared at the ink-black sky through the car windshield, his mind blank.
Arriving at the campus, Little Zhang tightly gripped Fang Mu's arm and marched him swiftly up to the third floor of Dormitory 5. By then Fang Mu's whole body ached and he had long since given up resisting.
The hallway was filled with noise and packed with onlookers. Some were students wearing nothing but underwear and a blanket over their shoulders; others were campus security guards who had just heard the news. Through the crowd, Fang Mu could see that all the lights in Meng Fanzhe's room were on and he could hear one of the cops standing outside yell repeatedly for everyone to move back.
The number for Room 313 had already been taken as evidence, and when the cop escorting Fang Mu tried to open the door, he found it was locked.
"Who here lives in Room Three-Thirteen?" Little Zhang yelled into the crowd.
Du Yu was also out watching the commotion, but when he heard this he came running over and opened the door.
Pushing Fang Mu into the room, Little Zhang said, "Don't go running off anywhere." Then he turned to Du Yu and said, "You keep an eye on him." He walked out and slammed the door.
Hands at his sides, Fang Mu just stood there for several seconds. Then he slowly walked over to his bed and collapsed on it.
Giving him a worried look, Du Yu said cautiously, "Fang Mu, you want something to drink?"
Fang Mu didn't say anything, just slowly shook his head. He lay there only seconds before he suddenly leapt out of bed, threw open the door, and ran toward Meng Fanzhe's room. He pushed through the crowd gathered there until he had reached the doorway. He lifted the police tape stretched across it and headed inside.
A number of police were already inside inspecting the scene. Little Zhang was among them. Seeing Fang Mu enter, he rushed over to stop him.
"What the hell are you trying to do now?" he asked.
"What have you guys found?" asked Fang Mu anxiously.
The other cops just looked at one another.
Now Little Zhang was angry and he turned Fang Mu around and led him towards the door. "Get out of here. This isn't your business. If we find anything, Tai Wei will let you know.
Fang Mu shoved the cop's hand off of him and darted back into the room, yelling, "Just what have you guys found?"
"Fang Mu!" Little Zhang yelled, sliding a pair of handcuffs from his belt. "You're obstructing police business. Don't make me do this!"
Pushing through the crowd, Du Yu grabbed Fang Mu and pulled him away, saying quietly, "Brother, let's head back now; you can figure the rest out tomorrow."
Still fuming, Little Zhang turned to one of the security guards standing nearby. "Make all these students return to their dorms! They're getting in the way of our work!"
One after another, the security guards sprang into action. "Everyone back to your dorms," they told the curious students. "Anyone who sticks his head out again will receive a public criticism… No, a demerit in their permanent record!"
After being dragged by Du Yu back inside their room, Fang Mu stood by the door for a long time, his breath coming heavily. Before he could even catch his breath, he suddenly tore open one of his desk drawers, grabbed several thick brown paper folders, and tossed them on the desktop with a thud. He pulled several stacks of files out of them and began studying each in silence.
Du Yu stood some distance away, cautiously trying to see what Fang Mu was looking at. He could just barely make out several pictures of blood-soaked murder scenes and could hear his roommate whispering to himself.
"Impossible," Fang Mu murmured. "It can't be him… It can't be him…"
Where am I?
My head hurts so bad, like it's gonna explode…
What did I do...?
…
"Do you have a lucky number?"
"No, I don't really believe in that kind of stuff. Anyway, the reason I came this time was –"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Do you know which number the majority of people like the most?"
"I don't know. Is it…eight?"
"Only Chinese people think that way. And mainly just the nouveau riche and low-class, rural moneybags. (Translator’s note: The Chinese word for eight is pronounced ba, meaning "to get rich.") Look, you're smiling. I told you, don't be anxious."
"I'm not anxious, it's just that I feel…I feel like we've sort of taken a step backward. Because the past few days in class, I started to be afraid of roll call again."
"Oh? When did this begin?"
"The last time…the last time we met."
"Don't worry; this is very normal. Some things need to be repeatedly reinforced before you can reach the optimum result."
"I hope you can help me."
"All right, but you must follow what I say exactly. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
…
My God, now I remember…
Fang Mu, are you dead?
…
"What should I do? Tell me, what should I do?"
"Don't worry; let me think."
"I embarrassed myself so badly today. I was in front of so many people and I just couldn't say 'here'…"
"Perhaps we should change tactics; however, this other tactic will probably seem a little harsh. A
re you sure you can handle it?"
"I…"
"If you can succeed, you will eliminate this fear forever."
There was a pause.
"But if you feel that you are simply a weak person, then forget it. I can't help you."
"...I…I'm willing to try."
"Very good. Now I want you to lie down on that couch. Relax, and then we will began."
There was a moment.
"You are now in class. Try and imagine it. Your classmates are all around you. There are so many people… The teacher takes the attendance sheet…begins reading the names one by one…Meng Fanzhe!"
Pause.
"Meng Fanzhe!"
He writhed uncontrollably, sweat pouring down his face.
"Meng Fanzhe!"
"Meng Fanzhe!"
"Meng Fanzhe!"
"Meng Fanzhe!"
"Aghh!"
…
It's so cold…
My arms and legs won't move. I want to hold my shoulders, but I can't…
Help me, help me…
…
"Are you scared of death?"
"Of course; who isn't scared of death?"
"Actually, there's nothing scary about death. What do you do when you feel unhappy?"
"Um, play video games, or hole up and sleep for a long time."
"Is that so? Actually, death is just a much longer kind of sleep. In it you can forget all your troubles. Many people would rather die than lose their dignity. Have you heard of Hemingway?"
"Yeah, The Old Man and the Sea."
"When faced with an incurable disease, he chose to kill himself rather than forfeit his dignity. To be honest, sometimes I really envy him."
A pause.
…
What should I do?
Did I kill someone?
I'm finished…
…
"Have you ever noticed that seven is a very interesting number?"
"Oh, is that so?"
"Think about it. There are seven days in the week, seven colors in the spectrum, seven notes in the diatonic scale. Therefore, seven symbolizes satisfaction."
"Oh, is that so?"
"And when you're satisfied, there's nothing else to worry about, isn't that right?"
…
I'm a murderer…
Everyone will know that I'm a murderer…
For the rest of her life my mother will be filled with shame…
I'm twenty-four…
My life, this is how it ends…
…
"Take this…go back to your dorm room…search your surroundings, find the number seven…there you will fulfill all your desires…"
…
It's hopeless…
It's hopeless…
…
Fang Mu didn't fall asleep until nearly four in the morning, and he was still at his desk.
He awoke later that day to the noise of people bustling about outside. A feeling of discomfort hung over him. His chest hurt from having been pressed against the edge of the desk and his body felt heavy. He struggled to stand up. A blanket lay on the floor behind him. He figured Du Yu must have placed it over his shoulders.
His finger ached, too. Blood had leaked through the gauze. He must have reopened it in the commotion last night.
But he didn't care about any of this. Reaching unsteadily for the cup on his desk, he downed the lukewarm water in one gulp.
Too impatient to wash his face, he quickly organized his things and got ready to leave.
He had to see Meng Fanzhe that day. All the clues indicated that he could not be the killer. However, some questions remained, and only Meng Fanzhe could answer them.
As Fang Mu opened the door to leave, he bumped into someone standing the hallway.
It was Tai Wei.
"You're just in time. Take me to see Meng Fanzhe." Saying no more, Fang Mu took hold of Tai Wei's elbow and tried leading him toward the door.
But Tai Wei didn't move. "It's too late."
"Huh?" Fang Mu stopped and looked back at him.
"Meng Fanzhe is dead," Tai Wei said somberly.
Fang Mu stared at him for nearly half a minute, until Tai Wei pulled him back inside the room.
"We'd better talk in here," he said.
Fang Mu stood in the center of his room, staring blankly out the window. He didn't look at Tai Wei, didn't say a word.
"This morning before dawn – " Tai Wei began.
Fang Mu suddenly raised his hand to stop him from going on. He crouched down and put his head between his knees as the events caught up with him, his whole body shaking fiercely.
Tai Wei waited for Fang Mu to calm down a little before slowly helping him to sit on the bed. He handed him a cigarette and lit it for him.
With a dull look on his face, Fang Mu put the cigarette in his mouth and inhaled viciously. He smoked the cigarette before turning to Tai Wei. His voice was hoarse as he asked, "How did he die?"
"He smashed his head against the wall," Tai Wei said simply.
"Why did no one stop him?" Fang Mu asked in an almost demanding tone.
"We had already taken all the necessary precautions," Tai Wei insisted. "We shut him inside the detainment room and shackled his hands and feet to the chair. At first, the guard on duty heard him crying, and then he heard something thumping. But when he ran inside it was already too late."
"His hands and feet were both shackled, so then how…?"
Tai Wei smiled wryly. "You're not going to believe this. Meng Fanzhe managed to get both his hands and feet out of the shackles. In all these years, I've never seen anything like it." He shook his head. "The skin on his hands and feet was torn off, and the metacarpal bones in both his hands were broken." He gestured with his hands. "It's hard to imagine just how determined this kid was to die."
The room was silent for some time. At last, Fang Mu asked without expression, "What's the bureau's opinion on this?"
Tai Wei hesitated for a moment. "The preliminary conclusion is that he killed himself to escape punishment."
"On what basis? Don't tell me you decided he was the killer because of what happened last night."
Doing his best to keep a calm tone, Tai Wei said, "Fang Mu, I understand how you're feeling. However, we wouldn't just suspect someone without any evidence. Meng Fanzhe may not have said anything to us during the interrogation, but we discovered these in his dorm room." He took a stack of documents out of his briefcase and handed them to Fang Mu.
As Fang Mu looked through the files, Tai Wei explained further.
"This picture is of a black sheet," he said as Fang Mu examined a photo. "After comparing it to the one that Jin Qiao was lying on in the video, we feel they're very similar. We also found a number of possible bloodstains on it. They're examining it at the crime lab right now and the results should be in by this afternoon…" He nodded to the next photo Fang Mu studied. "This is a hammer. After Liu Jianjun was attacked, we analyzed the wound and made a rough prediction of the weapon that could have caused it. This size hammer is exactly what we were thinking of. And there's this, look here," he said as he pointed at a picture of over a dozen books. "These were also found in Meng Fanzhe's dorm room. They're all about human anatomy, Western criminal history, and serial killers. You remember all those books we looked through in the library? Well, they were all in his room. We've already sent someone to check out Meng Fanzhe's library record… This little plastic bag we found in the pocket of one of Meng Fanzhe's jackets. Inside was a small amount of powder. The lab already determined that it's heroin –"
Fang Mu cut him off. "What about the car? The killer needed a car to commit his crimes, so where's Meng Fanzhe's? And you don't expect me to believe that he killed Jin Qiao and skinned Xin Tingting in his own dorm room, do you?"
"Renting a car would not have been a problem. And he most likely also rented a place somewhere off-campus to commit his crimes."
"Rented a place? Then why'd he bring all this stuff to hi
s dorm room? Wouldn't it be a lot safer to just leave it in his apartment?"
For a moment Tai Wei couldn't respond.
The door suddenly opened and Deng Linyue ran in, breathing heavily. Du Yu followed behind her, a tray of food in his hands.
Deng Linyue froze when she saw Tai Wei, but rather than say hello to him, she immediately turned to Fang Mu. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
Seeing the gauze on his finger, she made an alarmed outcry, rushed closer and took his hand.
"My God! You're injured and it's still bleeding! We need to get you to the hospital." She looked Fang Mu up and down, speaking rapidly before he could reply. "You're not hurt anywhere else, are you? I'm sorry, I'm sorry; I only just heard the news. I came too late."
She seemed about to cry, but Fang Mu pushed away her hand and continued to stare at Tai Wei, waiting for him to answer his last question.
Tai Wei ignored Fang Mu's questioning look and opened the documents to the photo of the hammer.
"You came just in time," he said to Deng Linyue. "Look here. Was this what the killer was holding on the night of the crime?"
Deng Linyue looked at the photo. "It seems…like it was. Yes, it does look like it." But noticing Fang Mu's stern expression, she quickly added, "I'm not really sure. Aren't all hammers the same? Oh, I don't know, I don't know!"
Tai Wei glared angrily at Fang Mu, slammed the folder closed, and then stood up. "I'm going to go. Keep your phone on and don't run off anywhere in the next few days. As soon as there's any news, I'll let you know." He grabbed his briefcase and left.
The dorm was enveloped in silence. Du Yu looked at Deng Linyue, and then at Fang Mu. He pointed to the food on the desk. "You should eat something, Fang Mu. I bought you breakfast."
When Fang Mu didn't say anything, Deng Linyue smiled apologetically and said, "Thank you, Du Yu."
"I guess I'll be going then," Du Yu said, grabbing his backpack. On the way out, he whispered to Deng Linyue, "Make sure you look after him."
After Du Yu left, the dorm room fell into an even more unbearable silence. For a while Deng Linyue sat quietly beside Fang Mu, but when she saw that he wasn't going to say anything, she took the food tray and tried to hand it to him. "You should really eat something."