"Well done…" Sun Pu said, restraining his anger. He forced a smile. "You're cleverer than I thought, shidi." Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he continued. "You made me bleed, kid. Lucky for you I'm not Ma Kai, otherwise I'd suck all the blood out of your body!"
Startled, Fang Mu couldn't help but say, "Ma Kai?"
The sound gave away his position.
Realizing immediately that Fang Mu was up ahead in Cell 6, Sun Pu gripped his pistol and cautiously drew closer.
"Surprised? That's right; Ma Kai was once my patient, just like Meng Fanzhe. He was ripe for research, but sadly he didn't trust me and ran off after only a few sessions. Later," Sun Pu said, pressing himself against the wall and slowly feeling for the doorway, "when I heard someone was going around killing people and sucking their blood, I knew it had to be him. Do you know what a pleasant surprise that was? I thought that I had finally found an opportunity to prove myself again. I never expected that you would get there first…" He finally felt what seemed to be the doorway. He could faintly hear Fang Mu breathing rapidly inside.
He was on the other side of the wall, right beside the doorway.
"That should make you understand how much I hate you!" Sun Pu burst through the door and spun to the right. At the same instant he aimed and fired at the space just beside the doorway.
The gunshot echoed into the space ahead.
As the bullet flashed from the end of the gun, Sun Pu saw that the direction he had fired in was empty.
Before he could react, Fang Mu leapt from his crouched position at the foot of the wall. He smashed headlong into Sun Pu's chest.
Sun Pu squeezed the trigger and two more bullets burst from the end of the gun. He lost his balance, falling backwards to the floor.
The collision left Fang Mu dizzy as well. Feeling his legs go weak, he fell heavily to the floor.
Across from him, Sun Pu squeezed the trigger again, but the gun clicked emptily.
Relief flooded Fang Mu.
Now you've got no more bullets.
Holding his blade, Fang Mu slowly stood up, pulling out the lighter and flicking it on.
With a small whiff, a little flame appeared in his hand. Despite its size, it clearly illuminated their surroundings.
Sun Pu sat on the ground a few feet away. His face was shining with sweat and he was madly searching for something on his body.
Gripping the knife, Fang Mu walked closer and closer.
Sun Pu tried to scoot back, mumbling, "Don't…don't…"
Seeing the fear and despair in his eyes, Fang Mu felt a burst of retribution.
"Are you scared?" He slowed his steps. "Did the people you killed ever ask you for mercy? Did they?"
"I'm begging you…don't kill me…please…" Sun Pu's voice sounded like he was crying and his eyes seemed to fill with tears.
But in a flash, that penitent look was replaced with a cunning smirk. He suddenly stopped moving backwards. With one hand, he popped the empty magazine out of the gun and snapped another new clip in with the other.
Fang Mu froze. He had more bullets!
He instinctively hurled the lighter at Sun Pu and then turned and ran.
In the blink of an eye, Sun Pu had loaded the ammunition, cocked the gun, and fired two shots in Fang Mu's retreating direction.
Fang Mu felt the bullets whistle past him and slam against the iron bars of the cell across the hallway. Another shot roared from behind him and the bullet smashed into the floor beside his foot.
Fang Mu sprinted to the iron door at the far entrance of the corridor and pushed it as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge. He felt the door. An iron lock had been placed over the handle.
Behind him another gunshot cracked out. Another bullet struck the door beside him, sending up sparks.
Diving out of the way, Fang Mu scrambled into Cell 1. Having seen Fang Mu escape into Cell 1, Sun Pu slowly stood up and felt the floor around his feet until he found the lighter. He walked down the corridor.
When he reached the entrance to Cell 1, he flicked on the lighter.
One side of the room was stacked with old, broken-down desks and chairs. The other side was empty.
Sun Pu chuckled, unable to contain his satisfaction. "Tai Wei had an extra clip on him. You didn't know?"
Fang Mu was lying behind the desks and chairs, his heart filled with fear and hatred.
Damn, I was too careless.
"You want to try again, shidi?" Sun Pu asked, sounding as if he thought victory was already assured. "Will you still not admit that you've lost?"
Fang Mu's knife hand began to tremble. His opponent still had three bullets and he knew where Fang Mu was hiding. His death was just a matter of time.
Is this how it's going to end?
"Are you really going to be this stubborn?" Sun Pu sighed dramatically. "You're just like that old fool, you know that?"
Professor Qiao…
"Do what you have to do, using your own methods."
"That's right, I am like Professor Qiao," Fang Mu said, slowly and carefully climbing to his feet. He pressed himself against the wall in the narrow space between it and the desks. "But do you know what the difference is between us and you?"
"Oh?" Sun Pu sounded a little surprised. "What difference is that?"
"You really are an excellent psychological profiler," Fang Mu said, keeping an eye on the light in the doorway. "But you're soulless. Therefore you lack the sense of duty and respect that your profession demands. Everything you've done has been for yourself alone. We, on the other hand, are willing to sacrifice our own lives to protect those of others."
At that moment, Fang Mu finally understood why Professor Qiao had made no sound when he died in the flames.
Killing him had been Sun Pu's final attempt to send Fang Mu into a psychological breakdown. He knew that flames, the scent of burning flesh, and the anguished cries of pain would awaken Fang Mu's most devastating memories. But Professor Qiao knew this as well. Therefore, he had kept quiet, even as he was being burned alive, because he wanted to lessen the psychological impact on Fang Mu.
"Shut up! You're talking nonsense!" Sun Pu's voice trembled as he stepped inside the room.
Fang Mu carefully shifted his body.
"Do you know why Professor Qiao despised you and favored me?"
"You're just an idiotic bungler!" Sun Pu yelled, his voice a little hoarse from the strain. "I'm ten thousand times stronger than you, a million times!"
Fang Mu slowly slid toward the space between all the desks and chairs. Gradually he drew closer and closer to the doorway.
"In fact," Fang Mu said, "you're just an arrogant man who doesn't know a thing; a pitiful wretch whose only chance to save face was to torture a confession out of the wrong man!"
"Shut up!" It was the last wrong thing to say for Sun Pu, driving him past any logic. He charged wildly into the room, firing in Fang Mu's direction.
Fang Mu smashed his whole body against the enormous pile of desks and chairs, toppling them forward with a crashing roar. Standing beneath them, Sun Pu only had time to scream in surprise before they showered down on him.
Fang Mu also fell forward, landing on an upside down desk. Ignoring the sharp pain in his calf, he scrambled over to where Sun Pu had fallen.
Sun Pu had just thrown one of the desks off and was groping desperately for the fallen gun.
Fang Mu grabbed a chair and smashed it over Sun Pu's head.
The force of the blow broke the chair to pieces and opened a huge cut in Sun Pu's head. The gash immediately gushed blood.
Kneeling on Sun Pu's chest, Fang Mu brought his dagger to Sun Pu's throat with lightning speed. "Move again and I'll slice you open!"
Sun Pu opened his mouth, and then his head fell to the side and he lay still.