Lei Mi - Profiler

"Ahh!" An earth-shattering cry burst from Fang Mu's chest.

With it, everything in front of his eyes disappeared.

Once more he was back in the ice-cold water dungeon. The flame inside the cage was already much smaller. Only a portion of Professor Qiao's body was still burning.

Fang Mu struggled to sit up. He stared silently at the flaming cage before him.

Goodbye, professor.

Fang Mu's tears were already gone. He would not cry again. He pulled the knife from his pocket and tossed away the burdensome sheath. He no longer felt cold at all.

From the light of the flames, he could see the opening above through which he'd fallen. It wasn't far away. The cold-looking ladder stood there silently.

Fang Mu hurried to it. He quickly climbed the rust-covered rungs and looked at the black corridor overhead.

Get up there , he said to himself.

Even if hell is waiting for you.

A few seconds later, Fang Mu once more reached the first floor corridor.

The flames from the water dungeon below lit up the previously dark hallway. Without hesitating, he hurried toward the far end of the corridor.

Cell 3… Cell 5…

Past Cell 5, the corridor came to an end. In front of him was an iron door.

Was Cell 7 on the other side?

Grabbing the door handle, he pulled with all his strength.

The door rumbled open and Fang Mu's eyes were once more met with darkness.

Flicking on his lighter, he discovered that he seemed to have reached the end of the bunker.

Before him stood a cement wall, with a door to either side of it. Unlike the barred doors on the previous cells, these were made of solid iron. The floor was also no longer a wrought-iron see-through walkway, but was made of cement, with a three-square-foot removable iron lid at its center. Beside it sat a plastic barrel. A small amount of red liquid was still inside.

Fang Mu's hands trembled slightly. This was where the gasoline had come from.

Composing himself, he raised his lighter and looked at the number on the door to the right.

7. Just as he'd thought.

He walked over and stood before door number seven for several seconds. At last, he took a deep breath and pushed it open.

The space before him was suddenly filled with bright light. Having grown accustomed to the darkness, Fang Mu couldn't help but shield his eyes.

"Welcome!"

The voice was icy and coming from somewhere in front of him.

Dropping his hand, Fang Mu looked toward the sound of the voice.

Smiling thinly, Sun Pu leaned against the opposite wall, aiming a pistol in Fang Mu's direction.

"You've reached the core of the bunker, Cell Seven." He nodded at something to the side. "The torture room."

Beside him stood a large iron cross on which Tai Wei was bound, hands and legs. Yellow tape covered his mouth. He was staring at Fang Mu, struggling desperately. Although he tried to speak, his words were unintelligible.

"What's wrong? Do you want to say hi to your friend?" Sun Pu laughed darkly. "Or are you begging him to save you?"

He made a show of sighing sorrowfully. "But I'm afraid that our hero won't even be able to protect himself. What do you say to that, shidi ?" His attention turned from Tai Wei to Fang Mu. "How did you like my present just now? It was nice, wasn't it?"

Fang Mu stared at him without expression. After a few seconds, he calmly looked away and sized up the room.

Cell 7 was the same size as the other cells, but it was filled with a number of strange iron racks and chairs. There were two ventilation openings in the cement ceiling, allowing the sun to shine through. This was why the room was so bright.

After looking the room over, Fang Mu turned his attention back to Sun Pu. "Not bad," he said. "You planned this all the way from one to seven. It must have taken a lot of thought."

Seeing that Fang Mu appeared to be neither angry nor frightened, Sun Pu seemed a little puzzled. As he looked at Fang Mu, whose behavior was more like that of a curious tourist, his smile started to come a little forced. "That's right," he said. "I just hoped that after all my hard work you wouldn't let me down."

Fang Mu actually smiled. "Is that so? Then what did you hope I'd do?"

Sun Pu's smile disappeared at once. "What did I hope you'd do?" He cocked the pistol. "Why don't you tell me?"

Struggling violently, Tai Wei bellowed something from behind the tape. His wrists had already begun to bleed from the strain.

Fang Mu glanced over at him, still smiling. "Die?" He laughed. "You're not the first person who's wanted to kill me." He paused. "And I'm afraid you won't be the last."

"Oh?" Sun Pu made an exaggerated show of surprise. "Who do you think is going to come save you?" He stomped his foot. "That old piece of shit down there?"

Raising his arm, he pointed the gun barrel at Fang Mu. "The facts have shown that you're nothing more than an overconfident, conceited little fool."

"Really?" Fang Mu stared at the muzzle of the gun. "Is that why you wanted to kill me?" His eyes moved from the gun to Sun Pu's face. "You're jealous of me," he said softly, "isn't that right, shixiong ?"

Sun Pu immediately paled.

"Ever since you killed Qu Weiqiang, I've understood what kind of person you are. To cut off a goalie's hands is to deprive him of his power. You're jealous of my intellect, aren't you?"

"Shut up!"

Seeming not to hear, Fang Mu continued unabated. "It started at that assembly, didn't it? When you saw me invited to the stage like a hero while you, just an insignificant librarian, could do nothing but huddle in the corner and watch, lying to yourself that those honors belonged to you!"

"Shut up!"

Again Tai Wei cried out unintelligibly. Looking at him, Fang Mu saw the pleading, worried look that filled his eyes, clearly begging Fang Mu to stop talking.

"So you schemed and schemed, wanting to compete against me one on one." Fang Mu gritted his teeth and slowly stepped backward. "You killed one person after another, all to prove that I was not as good of a criminal profiler as you. But did you really win? Do you really not have nightmares when you sleep at night? Are you still able to make love to your girlfriend? Or did Thomas Gill already turn you…?" Fang Mu smirked, and then his voice abruptly turned serious. "Well? Am I right, shixiong ?"

Sun Pu's face suddenly twitched and he pulled the trigger.

Fang Mu instantly dove to the side. At nearly the same moment, he heard the gunshot. A bullet flew past his cheek and smashed into the door of Cell 8.

With no time to think, Fang Mu spun around and sprinted out of the room, pushed open the iron door, and burst into the corridor.

Another bullet cracked from the gun and whizzed into the door.

With his heart nearly bursting from his chest, Fang Mu ran down the corridor and ducked into Cell 5. Panting, he leaned against the wall and tried to catch his breath.

Hurried steps sounded from the corridor outside. Just as they passed the door to his cell, they stopped.

Holding his breath, Fang Mu listened closely.

Sun Pu stood there, breathing heavily. After a few seconds, he laughed. "You made me lose control, shidi ." He paused. "Truly disgraceful, no? A shixiong should always be better at keeping his cool than his shidi ."

Two gunshots rang out.

Fang Mu quickly calculated; at most Sun Pu had only five bullets left.

Sun Pu knew this, too. The darkness was the best cover he could hope for. Standing in the inky hallway, he didn't dare act rashly. Raising the gun, he listened for movement.

"Where are you, shidi ?" he yelled. "Don't hide like a little rat!"

As the echo from his voice slowly vanished, Sun Pu held his breath and listened closely, but no sounds emerged from the darkness.