"So what did you do?"
"I won't die, not like my father and my brother, lying on the hospital bed, withered to nothing. I won't do it," he said heatedly. "I will save myself!"
Fang Mu sat there in a daze, as if he had just received an electric shock. All of a sudden, the words in his ears seemed to grow farther and farther away….
One library card. Eleven trembling students. Chen Xi, her long hair fluttering. A devil's banquet: the twisted bodies of Fourth Brother and Wang Jian, burned black as charcoal.
And him.
A scorched odor filled the air. The person before him blurred. He looked close. A smiling mouth, wriggling slowly open:
Actually, you and I are the same.
Click. The tape recorder abruptly stopped.
With a start, Fang Mu snapped back to reality. Ma Kai's nervous chatter continued to sound in his ears:
"…she was such an ample woman. Her cheeks were so flushed. I followed her all the way back to her building corridor…When I forced my way inside she still thought I was going to rob her…" He chuckled to himself.
"Why always women?" asked Fang Mu as he changed the tape.
"Because their blood is clean and soft and easy to absorb. Male blood is too thick, too coarse."
"Really? How do you know?"
"It's just what I think."
"In that case, why this woman?"
Ma Kai was silent for a moment. He seemed not to have considered this question. After thinking about it for a while, he scratched his head and said, "No reason, really. I was walking along, I saw her, so I followed."
"You never considered whether there might be someone waiting for her at home?"
"If there was, I'd get out of there. It happened once; this woman's husband was already there. Good thing I'm a fast runner!" Ma Kai opened his mouth and laughed aloud.
"Sucking blood," said Fang Mu, staring into Ma Kai's eyes, "does it work?"
At once Ma Kai's expression became serious. "Of course it does. I'm still alive, aren't I? Without it I'd already be dead."
"Then why do you mix the blood with other liquids? Couldn't you drink a lot more of it by itself?"
"Look, I'm not some crazed killer; I just need it to survive. Also," Ma Kai shook his head, "the stuff tastes terrible."
"Well if you want to suck blood, why not just suck it? Why do you need to cut open their stomachs? Wouldn't it just be easier to slit their wrists?"
Ma Kai shook his head, a faint smile on his face. "You don't understand. I like the feeling, all of it rushing out at once. Like a flood. I would do anything to make my blood rush like that."
Ma Kai closed his eyes, his expression that of a man savoring a delicious memory.
What was he imagining? Fang Mu wondered. Was he swimming through a boundless lake of blood, one that was all his, that beckoned him to the endless horizon? Here he could stop to drink his fill whenever he wanted-never needing to wipe his mouth, or worry that it would ever dry up. How wonderful to live forever, even if he was cursed to become a vampire.
"Tell me about the little girl."
"Which one?" asked Ma Kai, sounding puzzled.
"The one you killed." Fang Mu suddenly wanted to vomit.
"Oh, her." Ma Kai leaned back as if it was nothing. "What do you want to know?"
"You already killed the woman, why didn't you suck her blood? Why'd you take the little girl instead?"
"Ah, yes, the little one." Ma Kai smacked his lips. "Oh, she was very pretty. Plump little arms, such delicate skin. She seemed ready to burst if you pinched her. And her neck was so thin. After only the slightest effort she was unconscious."
"Why did you need to kill her? At that point you already had blood ready to drink."
Ma Kai laughed quietly. "Little brother, if I offered you a potato or a cherry, which would you eat?"
Fang Mu's clenched his fists. Potatoes? Cherries? These were two living human beings!" He thought of Tong Hui's big lifeless eyes, still wide open when they found her. Struggling to keep his cool, he forced himself to speak as flatly as possible. "Why did you bring the little girl with you? You could have just killed her and drank her blood right there. Why take that big of a risk?"
"Are you crazy?" Ma Kai frowned at Fang Mu, the look in his eyes like he was sitting across the table from a madman. "How could I let a child see something like that? She was far too young."
Fang Mu's blood, which had only just now settled down, began to boil once more. He looked at Ma Kai in disbelief. The other man stared back at him, a scolding look on his face, as if he were lecturing an ignorant young man.
You need to calm down. He's beginning to trust you. Don't blow it.
"Do I take you to mean that…" Fang Mu forced his voice to remain relaxed, "You still very much respected…those women?"
"Of course." Ma Kai's voice was very serious. "As I said, I killed them purely out of necessity. There was no reason to make them suffer any further." Ma Kai then dropped his head and thought for a few moments. When he looked up, his voice was sincere. "Couldn't my behavior be considered a case of dire necessity? I remember one of my college professors taught us about a legal case in which the British Crown sued two men, Dudley and Stephenson. They were being charged with cannibalism. My situation was the same as theirs; we were each just trying to save ourselves. If you have a chance, do me a favor and talk to the judge. Tell him it was dire necessity."
"Yeah, sure," said Fang Mu, not wanting to continue on the topic. "Now back to the little girl. How did you feel when you drank her blood?"
"Excellent. Pure, clear-headed, full of energy. She was a child, after all." Ma Kai paused for a moment, remembering the sensation. The look on his face was one of great satisfaction. "That night I slept very well, and for many days after, my spirits were high. It's just different when they're young."
"That's why you decided to begin selecting young girls?"
"Correct," said Ma Kai, without a hint of shame. "Their blood is much more ideal."
Fang Mu stared into Ma Kai's eyes. He imagined Xu Jie convulsed with terror, trapped in Ma Kai's apartment. What had this man felt when he strapped her to his bed? Joy? Excitement? Or was it satisfaction?
Noticing the expression on Fang Mu's face, Ma Kai quickly added: "You think I was only considering myself? This way I could last a lot longer." Again he dropped his head. "And I could also hurt fewer people."
"You'll never hurt anyone again!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Fang Mu felt a burst of vengeful delight. There was nothing else he needed to ask. They could send this guy straight to hell. He began organizing his things, his arms shaking. It took a lot of effort to remove the tape from the recorder.
He put on his backpack and glanced over at Ma Kai, and then he walked to the door and pressed the red button.
There was no response.
The whole time Fang Mu was interviewing Ma Kai, Tai Wei was next door in the control room, observing everything on the security camera screen. Next to him stood a prison guard, holding an electric baton. Although he was also staring at the screen, his mind was actually tuning into the on-duty room across the hall where the voices of his coworkers could frequently be heard cheering wildly and swearing in disgust.
It was a World Cup warm-up match: France versus South Korea. The score was tied 2–2. Zidane had been hurt and was sitting out.
Suddenly Tai Wei's cell phone rang. He picked it up.
"Hello, Officer Tai?" said the voice on the end. "It's Little Chen from the Hongyuan substation."