Lei Mi - Profiler

Jin Bingshan looked at the clock on the wall. It was already almost 10 p.m. He turned his attention back to the phone and dialed forcefully. Seeing this, Yang Qin stopped crying and struggled upright, looking expectantly at the phone in her husband's hand.

The call went through. After speaking briefly to the person on the other end, Jin Bingshan hung up. He turned toward his wife, but unable to meet her eyes, just shook his head.

With the piercing wail of an injured animal, Yang Qin collapsed back on the couch. As the sobs reached her throat, she began to choke and her face went bright red.

Jin Bingshan hurried over and began hitting his wife soundly on the back. A moment later she coughed violently, and then burst out crying once more.

"I don't care what you have to do, Jin Bingshan," she said, pointing a finger as skinny as a chicken's talon at her husband, "you are finding our daughter and bringing her home! What kind of father are you, ignoring your child for the sake of some goddamned clients?" Grabbing a pillow, she hurled it at him.

Jin Bingshan let the pillow bounce off of him and drop to the floor. At that moment, his normally dignified, understanding wife, an assistant professor at the university, had become little more than a screaming shrew. Looking at her, he felt his heart fill with immense grief.

Turning away, he glanced quickly around the room and then yelled, "Little Chen!"

Little Chen, his driver, immediately scurried out of the kitchen. Wiping instant noodle soup from his mouth, he said, "I'm here, Boss Jin."

"Do we still have more missing person notices?"

"A few."

"Then let's go. We're going to make one hundred more copies and then paste them up."

Saying this, he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. While putting on his shoes, he looked back at his wife. She was crying soundlessly on the shoulder of one of her coworkers. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped out.

By the time he returned, it was already two in the morning. Jin Bingshan quietly opened the door to his apartment. The light in the living room was still on, but the room was empty. He tiptoed to his bedroom door and quietly pushed it open. His wife was already asleep on the bed, her face streaked with tears. In one hand she clutched a piece of their daughter's clothing.

Jin Bingshan's heart was seized with pain. After a moment, he carefully shut the door and returned to the living room. He stood there dazed for a moment, and then took off his ripped jacket and lay down on the couch.

While posting the notices, he had gotten into an argument with several security guards, and one of them, a young punk, grabbed one of his daughter's missing person photos and ripped it to pieces. Enraged, Jin Bingshan struck the kid, and as a result he and his driver Little Chen were beaten up. Later, after they were dragged into the local police substation and questioned, the officers on duty decided not to give Jin Bingshan any more trouble, and let him off with only a warning.

After sleeping restlessly on the sofa for a few hours, Jin Bingshan got up and decided to post the remaining notices in a more distant location. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to open the door, only to discover that something was blocking it from the other side. Then with a strong push he opened it. In the hallway sat a large cardboard box.

Jin Bingshan froze for an instant, and then, instinctively, began tearing off the tape sealing it closed. As soon as he peeled back the lid, a putrid scent shot forth.

His daughter, Jin Qiao, was curled inside, her body stark naked and covered with wounds.

In the courtyard of the Public Security Bureau, Tai Wei and his fellow officers had just switched on their sirens and were about to leave when Tai Wei saw Zhao Yonggui rush out of the building and into another police car. Hurriedly rolling down the window, Tai Wei called out. "Where are you off to, Old Zhao?"

"HegangCity," he said, and then without another word stepped on the gas and peeled out.

Seeing the smug look on Old Zhao's face, Tai Wei figured the guy must have finally gotten a lead.

Tai Wei thought about the still-unsolved hospital murder case, and then about his destination that night. At last he gave a tired wave of his arm and said, "Let's head out."

Once more they were driving to JiangbinCityUniversity. Tai Wei didn't know what in the world was wrong with this school, but in the last three months, two students and the wife of a staff member had already been killed. And from what he had heard, this time the deceased was a professor's daughter.

It can't be a curse , thought Tai Wei. That kind of thing just doesn't happen.

The squad cars flew through the city and before long they had reached the JiangbinCityUniversity campus. Tall buildings stood on either side as far as the eye could see, giving the campus a very modern, impressive air. But to Tai Wei, these peaceful ivory towers now appeared enshrouded by a dense and gloomy haze, which, although it was a sunny morning, seemed to be spreading a somber chill through the air.

Tai Wei knew that because of the nature of their work, many of his fellow officers carried some sort of protective talisman on them, and in the past he had always been quick to laugh at their superstitious nature. But now, speeding toward JiangbinCityUniversity, he felt a nameless terror come over him, and deeply wished he had some good luck type of object to hold and calm his fears.

Several officers from the local substation were waiting at the entrance to the JiangbinCityUniversity residential area when Tai Wei arrived, although he hardly needed to be told where to go, for as he drove into the courtyard he saw a large crowd had already formed outside of one of the buildings.

Feeling for the gun on his waist, Tai Wei roused himself and called out, "All right, let's get to work!"

Zou Tuanjie told them the news at dinner. While playing soccer that afternoon, a philosophy student had told him that Assistant Professor Yang Qin's daughter had been murdered.

"What the hell?" said Du Yu, smacking the table. "This is happening way too often."

"I heard the girl was only seven-year-old," said Zou Tuanjie, shaking his head. "How could anyone be so goddamn cruel?"

Just as Du Yu was about to say something else, he suddenly turned and prodded Fang Mu.

"Look over there," he said.

Holding a tray of food, Deng Linyue was looking all around for an empty seat.

"Come on, Tuanjie, let's go sit somewhere else," said Du Yu, hurriedly grabbing his tray and standing up. "Once we're gone," he said to Fang Mu, "you've got to quickly call her over."

"Stop acting crazy," said Fang Mu, blushing. "Sit down and eat your food."

"Damn, too late," said Du Yu regretfully, as he craned his neck for a better view.

Fang Mu looked back to find that Deng Linyue had already found an empty table, and was in the process of cleaning it with a tissue from her bag.

"Let's just eat in peace, all right?" said Fang Mu as he sighed and poked at the potatoes on his plate.

"What? I don't believe it!" Du Yu was still looking back at Deng Linyue, his neck stretched like a giraffe's.

Again Fang Mu turned to look, only to see that Liu Jianjun was now sitting opposite Deng Linyue, and the two of them were chatting freely. This did not seem to be their first meeting.

"See, this is what happens when you wait," said Du Yu, his voice thick with annoyance. He retracted his neck and looked at Fang Mu.

"There's a kind of person who will do anything to help set-up his friend with a girl," said Fang Mu, glaring back at Du Yu, "when all he subconsciously wants is to be with that girl himself."

His mouth full of food, Zou Tuanjie tried to keep from cracking up.

"Bastard!" yelled Du Yu, his face scarlet.