Lei Mi - Profiler

The door appeared empty. Meng Fanzhe didn't seem to have written anything.

After sweeping his gaze across the surface, Fang Mu began inspecting the door inch by inch. Suddenly, he noticed something on the room number.

In-between the "3", the "1" and the "3", Meng Fanzhe had written two "+" signs with his felt-tip marker.

"Three plus one plus three…" muttered Fang Mu. Suddenly, he felt a chill pass through his entire body.

Seeing Fang Mu standing motionless in front of the room door, Tai Wei turned to two of the students nearby. "Watch him for me," he said, pointing at Meng Fanzhe, who was still writhing on the floor. He walked over to Fang Mu.

"What is it?" Tai Wei asked.

Fang Mu didn't respond, just stared dumbstruck at the numbers.

Tai Wei followed his gaze. A few seconds later, Fang Mu heard the cop's breathing suddenly quicken. He looked over. Tai Wei's eyes were locked on the room number, his face registering shocked realization.

By this time the other police had arrived at the scene. "What should we do, Captain?" one of them yelled to Tai Wei. "Interrogate him here or take him back to the station?"

Tai Wei just waved his hand. "All of you, get over here right now!"

Once the officers had all crowded around the door, Tai Wei pointed at the number. "Comrades," he said, his voice shaking slightly, "we got him. This is the guy!"

The police all turned to the room number. After a few seconds of silence, shouts of accomplishment suddenly erupted from the group. Filled with the rush of relief, they congratulated and jostled each other. One of the female officers even rushed through the crowd and hugged Tai Wei.

Squeezed in the middle of this madly happy group, Fang Mu was knocked to and fro. But there wasn't a hint of a smile on his face. He just stared blankly at the door number, that single word still the only thing in his mind.

Why?

"All right, all right," said Tai Wei, waving his hand for silence. In a confident tone, he yelled out: "Everyone on your marks! Let's get to work!"

After giving a brief shout of agreement, the officers all attended to their own tasks. They sealed off the crime scene, collected evidence, determined the suspect's identity. It was the typical follow-up.

Before long, all the onlookers were told to disperse, leaving only Meng Fanzhe lying on the floor and Fang Mu still standing in the doorway.

Two of the cops lifted Meng Fanzhe off the floor, and then with one man grabbing each arm, they began dragging him toward the first floor. Fang Mu tried to run after them, but he was stopped by Tai Wei.

"You need to go to the hospital," the cop said. "Your wound looks deep."

"It's fine," said Fang Mu impatiently. "I need to talk to him; something about this doesn't seem right to me."

Tai Wei seemed a little annoyed by the remark. "Anything that doesn't seem right will be cleared up once we start interrogating him. Little Zhang," he said, waving to one of the officers nearby, "take Fang Mu to the hospital."

The cop nodded and walked over. Having no other choice, Fang Mu followed him downstairs.

A number of police cars were parked at the entrance to the building, lights flashing. Fang Mu saw Meng Fanzhe sitting in one, his head down. Police officers were sitting on either side of him, holding his arms tight.

The cop who was taking Fang Mu to the hospital waved him over to a nearby police car. As Fang Mu walked toward it, he kept his eyes on Meng Fanzhe, as if he hoped to find some clue in his face. It was then that Meng Fanzhe looked up at him.

At once Meng Fanzhe leapt at the window, but now the murderous look was gone from his eyes, replaced instead by one of bottomless fear and despair. He knocked against the window as hard as he could, yelling soundlessly, tears streaming down his face.

The two cops quickly restrained him, beating him about the face and the body.

Fang Mu ran forward, wanting to open the door. But just as he reached the rear bumper, the car suddenly sped off, knocking him to the ground. By the time he climbed to his feet, the car had already turned a corner and was nowhere to be soon, leaving only the sound of its siren echoing across campus.

Fang Mu's wound wasn't long, but it was very deep. After cleaning it out, the tired-looking doctor on duty at the hospital closed it up with two stitches. When Fang Mu left the examination room, Little Zhang, the cop that had escorted him, was on the phone. Seeing Fang Mu emerge, he quickly hung up. He then asked him a few brief questions about his injury, and said that he would take him back to the school.

Fang Mu shook his head. "Take me to the city bureau."

"Absolutely not." Little Zhang's tone was firm. "Captain Tai ordered me to take you back to school."

"I was the victim of this crime. Don't you have to take my statement?"

Little Zhang seemed stumped by the question, but after hesitating for a moment, he still insisted on taking Fang Mu back to his dorm.

"Well, I don't need an escort!" Fang Mu yelled. "I can get there myself!" He stormed out of the hospital.

As soon as he was outside, he hurriedly hid around the side of the building. A few seconds later he saw Little Zhang sprint out after him. The cop looked all around, swearing beneath his breath. Then he hopped into his car, started it up, and sped off.

When Little Zhang was far enough away, Fang Mu left his hiding place and walked straight to the line of cabs waiting outside the hospital.

The entrance to the city bureau was ablaze with light. Cars packed the courtyard. After hopping out of the cab, Fang Mu approached the heavily-armed policeman guarding the entrance.

"Officer Tai asked me to come and give my statement," he told the cop.

The cop nodded and went into his sentry box to make a call. A few minutes later, Little Zhang came running out of the building.

"I knew you were going to follow me here!" Little Zhang snapped at Fang Mu. "Don't say anything else. As soon as you finish your statement you're leaving. Captain Tai said he'll contact you in a few days."

Fang Mu had no choice but to follow him as he walked away.

After bringing Fang Mu to one of the detainment rooms, the cop told him to wait there a moment and to not do anything stupid, and then left the room.

As soon as he left the room, Fang Mu snuck out after him. The corridor was jammed with people. Uniformed and plainclothes police officers hurried from one room to the next. Occasionally someone would look suspiciously at him, but no one ever stopped to say anything. As he walked, he kept hearing things like, "Bring these documents to the third floor as fast as you can" and "To the interrogation room."

Everyone seemed to be paying close attention to what was happening on the third floor.

Doing his best to stay inconspicuous, Fang Mu hurried up to the third floor.

A large iron door stood open at the end of the corridor. Beyond that was another room. Its back wall was all glass. At the moment, over a dozen policemen were standing quietly near the glass wall. Fang Mu could hear Tai Wei's voice coming from within the crowd.

"…At that moment I feigned having diarrhea, and hid in the bathroom and listened for sounds of movement," he was saying. "Sure enough, I soon heard someone climbing the stairs, so I quietly followed behind him. After he entered the third floor hallway, I watched as he walked a few steps, stopped, and then walked a little farther, until he was standing in front of Room Three-Thirteen. There he seemed to either knock or write something on the door — I couldn't tell at the distance. Afterwards the victim spoke briefly to him, and since I figured that they knew each other, I turned to leave. But before I had gone ten feet I heard the sound of fighting, after which I restrained him and then brought him back here…"