Lei Mi - Profiler

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 EducationBuilding, 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.