by Lei Mi
Fang Mu was no longer paying attention to what she was saying. He knew there was someone he needed to talk to immediately.
CHAPTER
27
The Great Knight of Hulan
"What did you just say?" cried Tai Wei, leaping up with a start from Fang Mu's bed. "The guy that works in the library? The one in the glasses?"
Fang Mu nodded.
"So this is why Old Zhao was transferred. No wonder the guy flies into a rage at the first mention of criminal profiling." Tai Wei frowned. "But he's such a gentle-looking guy. I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover."
"I never said he was definitely the killer. It's just that according to our analysis," Fang Mu said, "the killer was most likely someone who excelled at criminal profiling. And from the looks of things, the only people on campus who fit that description are me, Professor Qiao, and now Sun Pu."
"Then what should we do? At this point, it doesn't seem like we have any evidence to prove it was him."
Fang Mu thought for a moment. "We both saw the killer, and you even chased him for a little while. So what do you think? Does Sun Pu fit the bill?"
After racking his brain, Tai Wei said, "Their heights are about the same. But that night the killer was wearing a long, hooded windbreaker and the light was very dim. I can't be certain it was the same guy."
Feeling a little disappointed, Fang Mu said nothing.
Seeing the kid's expression, Tai Wei quickly changed the topic. "How's your research going on the passage?"
Fang Mu's face grew even gloomier and he just shook his head.
"You think the passage might have something to do with Professor Qiao's disappearance? I had an idea about this," Tai Wei said. "So the passage was torn out of a school textbook, right, and Professor Qiao's occupation just happens to be teaching. You think it could be hinting that the seventh victim is going to be a teacher?"
"Most likely not." Fang Mu thought for a moment. "When the passage was found, Professor Qiao hadn't yet gone missing. I don't think the killer was expecting Professor Qiao to come visit him, so the seventh victim will probably be someone else."
"So is there nothing we can do then?" cried Tai Wei impatiently.
"That's not true either. Tai Wei, you are an excellent investigator, so right now you need to look into everything having to do with Sun Pu. If he really is the killer, and if Professor Qiao is still alive…" Fang Mu paused and raised his voice, doing his best to appear unaffected by what he was saying, "…then Sun Pu must have hidden him somewhere. If you keep tabs on Sun Pu's whereabouts, perhaps you'll be able locate Professor Qiao."
"All right, I'll go make the necessary preparations." Tai Wei stood up, and then suddenly slammed his fist down on the desk. "No matter if the target is Professor Qiao or anyone else, we won't let him succeed this time!"
He strode to the doorway, but just as he opened the door, he abruptly turned around and said, "Kid, you'd better be pretty careful yourself."
Fang Mu glanced at his backpack which he'd tossed on the bed. The military dagger was still inside. He looked up at Tai Wei and nodded.
The nightmares arrived on schedule.
The shadowy, headless figures crowded quietly around Fang Mu's bed. Without a word, they watched as Fang Mu struggled desperately, and yet couldn't move at all.
Even though he didn't open his eyes, Fang Mu sensed that amid these dead specters, there were a few new members.
Qu Weiqiang, Wang Qian, Tang Yu'e, Jin Qiao, Xin Tingting, Thomas Gill, Meng Fanzhe, Dong Guizhi, Zhang Yao…
All of you…
A hand pressed against his shoulder.
"Actually, you and I are the same."
Suddenly, Fang Mu could move his neck.
He swung his head around.
Sun Pu was smiling at him.
Over the past few days, that face had appeared in Fang Mu's mind more than any other image. Fang Mu was already more familiar with it than with his own face.
The look in his eyes when he reached a crucial point in class. The way the corners of his mouth curled when he was smiling, or his eyebrows knitted when he was thinking deeply about something. The faint twinkle in his eyes whenever he glanced at Fang Mu.
At this moment, the owner of that face was standing at the lectern and enjoying the worshipful looks of the students sitting before him.
"All right, that's all the new material for today," Sun Pu said, placing the chalk back on the blackboard and then clapping off his hands. "But we still have fifteen minutes until class is over, so let's play a little game."
The students, who a moment before had been packing up to leave, now returned their attention to Sun Pu.
"I have here several questions from an intelligence test. Supposedly, the American F.B.I. gave this test to several dozen psychologically aberrant criminals and their answers were all identical, proving that, mentally, they really were different than the average person. Now listen to these questions, and perhaps we'll find that there's a potential criminal genius sitting among us right now."
Excitement went through the students, as if they all felt that being psychologically aberrant would be really cool.
"First question," Sun Pu began. "One evening, an engineer who had once been stationed at a South Pole research station to set up the solar panel array was eating the meat his wife had fixed him for dinner. Thinking that the flavor was very unusual, he asked her what kind of meat it was. 'It's penguin,' she replied. Hearing this, the engineer's face fell, and he stabbed himself in the throat with his fork."
The students all gasped.
Sun Pu continued. "My question for you is: Why?"
So this is what he was talking about, thought Fang Mu.
One year ago, Fang Mu had happened across these same questions, and out of curiosity, had tried to answer them. There had been seven in total, and he had gotten five right. As a result, the test determined that he had a strong tendency toward psychological aberration.
The other students, however, had never seen these questions before. They soon began calling out theories, and the classroom grew noisy. But when no one was able to get the question right, Sun Pu finally revealed the answer: The engineer had once been stranded, and one of his colleagues was killed. Afterwards, he and several others had been forced to eat what he was told was penguin meat so that they could survive until the rescue party showed up. When he tried the actual penguin meat that his wife gave him, he realized that what he had eaten before was actually the flesh of his dead colleague.
Hearing this, several of the students made squeamish faces, like they wanted to vomit, but most were already waiting excitedly for the next question.
Sun Pu continued the test.
Question Two: A man who had been suffering from a chronic ailment looked everywhere for a doctor who could help him. Finally he found a hospital where he was completely cured. But on the train back home, he suddenly began to cry hysterically, injured several other passengers in his frenzy, and then broke the window and leapt out of the train. As a result, he fell beneath the wheels and was crushed to pieces. Why?
As the students enthusiastically discussed the question, Sun Pu walked leisurely around the classroom, his hands behind his back, stopping every now and then to shake his head at a student's answer.
Finally one of the students answered correctly: the man's chronic ailment was that he had gone blind. After being cured, the man believed that he had permanently regained his sight, but then when the train went through a tunnel, the darkness made him think that he had gone blind again, and in his disappointment he leapt from the train and committed suicide.
"Very well done," said Sun Pu, clapping his hands. "Ten points onto your final grade!"
This development made all the students as excited. As the kid who got it right sat there blushing, his classmates all looked at him, some with admiration and some with envy, while everyone waited anxiously for the next question.
Question Three: A man and his fema
le friend were strolling beside a river when the woman lost her footing and fell in. Although she struggled to stay afloat, she quickly went under. Panicked, the man immediately jumped in, but he was unable to save her. Several years later, while walking past the scene of her drowning, the man saw an old-timer fishing on the riverbank. When the man saw that the fish the old-timer had caught were completely clean and free of seaweed, he asked him why they didn't have any seaweed on them. The old-timer replied that there was no seaweed in this river. Hearing this, the man threw himself in the river without another word, committing suicide. Why?
The answer: When the man had jumped into the river to save the girl, he had grabbed onto something that felt like water seaweed, and so hadn't pulled it up. But hearing the old-timer's answer, the man had finally realized that in fact what he grabbed wasn't seaweed, but his female friend's hair.
No one got it right.
Question Four: A man was found dead headfirst in the desert. Pieces of luggage of various sizes were scattered around him. In his hand was half of a match. How did he die?
The answer: The plane this man had been riding on had malfunctioned, forcing everyone to parachute off; however, it was discovered that there was one parachute too few. So everyone decided to draw lots, with the person who picked the short match being forced to jump without a parachute. This man had been unlucky enough to draw the short match.
No one got it right.
Question Five: An older sister and younger sister attend their mother's funeral. While there, the younger sister sees an extremely handsome young man, and instantly falls in love. Unfortunately, this man is nowhere to be found once the funeral is over. A few days later, the younger sister stabs the older sister to death with a knife in the kitchen. Why?
The answer: The younger sister loves the young man, and desperately wants to see him again. But because she knows that she can only see him at a funeral, she decides to create one.
A female student answered this one correctly.
Question Six: A circus troupe has two dwarves, one of whom is blind. One day, the director of the troupe tells them that they only need one dwarf. The two dwarves are both extremely dependent on this job for their survival. The next morning, the blind dwarf is found dead from suicide in his room. The room has wooden furniture and the floor is covered with sawdust. Why did the blind dwarf kill himself?
The answer: While the blind dwarf was asleep, the other dwarf snuck into his room and sawed off a portion of the legs of all his furniture. When the blind dwarf woke up and felt his way around his room, he discovered that all his furniture seemed smaller. Believing that he had grown tall overnight, he killed himself in despair.
No one got it right.
As everyone watched Sun Pu, the sky outside grew darker and darker.
"The final question," said Sun Pu as he held a finger to his lips to demand silence from the eager class, "is also perhaps the hardest. So you must do your best to listen and think it through; don't just start calling out answers."
Everyone held their breath and stared at Sun Pu, listening silently as he read aloud the final question.
"There was a man who lived in a small cabin on top of a mountain," read Sun Pu in a low voice. "One night it began to rain very hard. Then all of a sudden, just as the man was about to go to bed…" his voice rose sharply, causing several girls to cry out softly in alarm, "…he heard a knocking at the door. The man opened it and looked out…" Sun Pu stopped and glanced across the silent classroom, "…but there was no one there."
At this point someone laughed.
"The man then closed the door and went to bed. But only a few minutes later, the mysterious knocking started again."
Noticing that several girls had their hands over their mouths to keep from crying out, Fang Mu couldn't help but chuckle.
"Trembling, the man opened the door again, but still no one was there. That night, the knocking sounded again and again, but every time the man opened the door and looked outside, no one was there. The next morning, a corpse was discovered at the foot of the mountain, covered in bruises."
Sun Pu paused for several seconds and looked contentedly at all the terrified faces before him. "My question," he said slowly, "is how did this man die?"
This time the students' response was much more serious than before. They quietly discussed all sorts of possibilities, often arguing passionately among themselves.
Seeming very pleased with his students' behavior, Sun Pu walked slowly between the rows. "You must consider this problem very carefully," he said loudly, "the answer will probably exceed anything you've imagined."
Fang Mu already knew the answer, and he couldn't help but feel that Sun Pu's deliberately mystifying style was a little excessive. Organizing his belongings, he prepared to leave when the bell rang.
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he looked up, his eyes met Sun Pu's.
Although the man was still smiling, his eyes, hidden behind his glasses, suddenly shot forth a look of immense coldness. It was fierce look, like something from hell, and even the sight of his faint smile was enough to make Fang Mu tremble with fear.
Suddenly Sun Pu's grip on Fang Mu's shoulder tightened. Still smiling, he bent over slightly and whispered in his ear: "This is number seven, the final question. Can you answer it?"
It was as if a clap of thunder had exploded overhead. In an instant, everyone around them seemed to disappear without a trace. In the whole world, all that was left was Fang Mu and the person standing in front of him.
Six questions, nine dead, and a friend who would never be right in the head again.
Bloody memories flashed through Fang Mu's mind at lightning speed. He felt all the blood suddenly rush to his head. He leapt to his feet.
All the students around him were startled and they shot him looks of surprise.
Sun Pu didn't move a muscle, just continued to look into Fang Mu's eyes, the same faint smile on his lips. "Well, are you able to tell me the answer?"
Clenching his teeth, Fang Mu held on tightly to the edge of his desk.
Sun Pu's gaze dropped to his watch. "All right, class is about to end. Now I'll tell you the answer."
The students' attention shifted from Fang Mu's strange behavior back to Sun Pu.
"The answer is: the dead man had climbed up to see the man in the cabin – remember, he lived on top of a mountain – and after he knocked on the door, the man who lived there opened it and accidentally pushed his poor visitor down the mountain."
Several students began to laugh.
"But the unlucky guy wouldn't give up," Sun Pu said, "so again he climbed up to the cabin, and again he was pushed back down."
The laughter grew louder.
"This happened over and over again, until finally the visitor could take no more, and perished."
The whole class erupted with laughter as all the students began to clap.
Amid this noise the bell rang, and Sun Pu waved his hand. "Class dismissed."
The students all quickly rushed out of the classroom. When Fang Mu finally came back to reality, he found himself standing there alone.
The dais was empty. Sun Pu must have already left.
Still, Fang Mu stared hard at the place where he had once stood.
No matter what, I will find the answer to the seventh question!
When he emerged from the Education Building, the sky had already grown dark. Looking up, he watched as a big black cloud swallowed the last bit of blue sky. Although it was still afternoon, the hour already felt late.
It looked like another blizzard was coming.
His mind in turmoil, Fang Mu took a few deep breaths of the dry, cold air. Gradually he began to feel a little better. Realizing that he should probably give Tai Wei a call, he dialed him several times on his cell phone, but the cop never answered. After hesitating for a moment, Fang Mu decided to head back to his dorm.
Sitting on Fang Mu's desk were all the materials relating to the Zhang
Yao murder. At the top of the stack was a photocopy of the passage that had been found on her body and underneath it was the book it was from, Legends of the Hulan River.
He picked up the photocopy. By now he was as familiar as could be with the passage, even down to memorizing the locations of all the punctuation marks. But no matter how he approached it, he was unable to locate a single clue to the killer's next crime. He had tried combining the seventh word of every sentence, even the seventh of every paragraph, but the result was a bunch of nonsense, containing not even the most obscure hint of meaning.
It seemed that the clue wasn't going to be found in the passage itself, but rather in its source.
The direct source of the passage was the sixth edition summer reading textbook for fourth-graders published by the People's Education Press. It also rested levelly on the desk, looking completely innocent. Fang Mu had read every passage inside, completed every exercise, and still he hadn't found a single clue.
The indirect source was Legends of the Hulan River itself. Resplendent Sunset came from the first chapter. Legends of the Hulan River was far from a long book, but finding a single clue hidden inside would be more troublesome than any of the other possibilities, so Fang Mu had left it until the end. Now it seemed this was his only hope.
Legends of the Hulan River was written by Xiao Hong, a modern Chinese author. She had been born into a landholding family on June 2, 1911, in Hulan County, Heilongjiang, and died of an illness on January 22, 1942, in Hong Kong. Legends of the Hulan River was less a novel than a long prose collection of Hong Xian's cherished childhood memories.
Twirling his fountain pen – a gift from Professor Qiao – Fang Mu patiently read through, page after page.
As he searched for clues, he discovered that the word troublesome didn't even begin to describe the difficulty of the task before him.