When Huang Yongxiao was five, his parents divorced. His mother then remarried, taking his big sister, who was one year older than he, to live with her new husband in another town; from then on Huang Yongxiao lived with his father. Although he was an introverted child not given to speaking with others, Huang Yongxiao was extremely studious, and everyone believed that he was the likeliest of the village students to test into the university. When he was eight, Huang Yongxiao accidentally discovered his father secretly having sex with a local married woman, and was given a harsh beating because of it. Then, when he was 14 and attending middle school, Huang Yongxiao was led by an older girl into the nearby mountains. When the girl took Huang Yongxiao's hand and placed it on her naked breast, he was terribly frightened and ran as fast as he could back down the mountain. But two years later, when the 16-year-old Huang Yongxiao was out working in the fields, he suddenly forced the girl laboring beside him-his classmate and someone with whom he'd always gotten along well-to the ground, where he began to wildly kiss and grope her all over. The girl was so scared she began to scream at the top of her lungs, alerting the other villagers who ran over and saved her.
Later, through Huang Yongxiao's father's compensatory gift of a donkey and the mediation of the village elders, the event blew over, but from then on his academic achievements suffered a disastrous decline. At last, after twice failing the College Entrance Exam, he followed his uncle into the city to find employment. Within a year he had worked at a total of five construction sites, moving from one to the next, and had experienced more than his share of rejection and supercilious looks from the city's populace. Because of his introverted and rather proud and aloof personality, he did not remain at any site for long. In his free time, Huang Yongxiao would go to a nearby video playhouse to watch kung fu movies. It was here that he saw his first pornographic film. Afterwards, things quickly got out of hand. All day long his head would be filled with images of the porn actress' overpoweringly seductive bodies, until finally, late one night, he followed a white-collar woman on her way home…
After that, Fang Mu more or less became the Changhong City Public Security Bureau's "special consultant", and with his assistance, two more murders were solved, as well as a kidnapping case and another involving extortion. In each, Fang Mu's description of the suspect's characteristics proved a huge help in cracking the case.
CHAPTER 2
Hearing this almost absurdly bizarre story about Fang Mu's exploits, Tai Wei remained skeptical.
"This student, Fang Mu," Tai Wei paused, considering his words carefully, "he profiles the suspects?"
Ding Shucheng nodded.
"Is he really that good?"
Ding Shucheng laughed and leaned in close, a mysterious look on his face. "You know why Ronaldo's the best striker in the world?"
Tai Wei was baffled. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Why can't Hao Haidong become the world's number one striker?" (Translator’s note: Hao Haidong is a former international football player widely regarded as the best Chinese striker ever)
Totally lost, Tai Wei just stared at Ding Shucheng.
"Genius. This kid is a genius at understanding crime."
After checking the graduate student rolls at JiangbinCityUniversity, Tai Wei discovered that Fang Mu lived in Building B of Dormitory 5, Room 313. However when he went to speak to him, he found that Fang Mu was out-off playing to play basketball, according to his roommate.
When Tai Wei asked what Fang Mu looked like, the roommate laughed. "Don't worry about that. Just look for someone practicing free-throws all by himself-that's Fang Mu."
The weather was beautiful. A warm breeze blew softly across the campus, and the pleasant smell of pollen filled the air. Most of the students had ditched their thick winter clothes and were bustling about in lightweight attire. Too impatient to wait any longer, some of the girls were even wearing short skirts. Tai Wei's black windbreaker was clearly quite unseasonal, and before long he began to sweat. Pulling aside a short young man with a basketball under his arm, Tai Wei asked where the courts were, and the young man enthusiastically led the way.
The courts were located at the southwestern corner of campus, all of them full-sized and lined up next to each other. There were eight in total, made of cement and surrounded by a chain-link fence. Tai Wei passed court after court of students playing high-spirited games, his eyes peeled for a young man practicing foul shouts all by himself.
He wasn't hard to find.
Standing at the free-throw line of the farthest court was a young man, basketball in hand. He raised his arms to shoot and released the ball, which arced through the air and dropped perfectly into the hoop.
Tai Wei stood beside the court and watched the young man repeat the same actions over and over: shooting the ball, watching it drop through the net, fetching it, shooting the ball, watching it drop through the net…
His movements were graceful and precise, and he almost never missed.
Suddenly, without turning his head, the young man coldly spat out a single sentence: "What do you want?"
"Huh?" Tai Wei was somewhat taken by surprise. He awkwardly cleared his throat. "Ahem, are you Fang Mu?"
The young man's outstretched arms paused for an instant, then he flicked his fingers and the basketball rocketed towards the hoop, ricocheted off the backboard, and dropped back into his hands.
Holding the ball, he turned around.
His face was flushed. Fine beads of sweat rested on the end of his nose. His cheeks were sunken, his chin sharp, his thick eyebrows knitted together. And the look in his eyes-
— It was cold, weary, and yet incomparably penetrating, seeming to pierce the bright rays of afternoon sunlight and bore into the body of the policeman.
Tai Wei couldn't help but shiver. Averting his eyes, he was about to say something, when he realized that he hadn't prepared anything appropriate to break the ice.
"You…you know Ding Shucheng, right?" Tai Wei stuttered.
Fang Mu's frown deepened. Staring at Tai Wei, he said, "You're a policeman?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he turned and, without waiting for a response, walked over to the bleachers beside the basketball court.
Tai Wei hesitated for a moment, then followed behind him and sat down.
On the bleacher lay a very old backpack. Retrieving a pack of tissues from within, Fang Mu removed a few and wiped his face. Then he fished out his glasses and put them on.
"What do you need me to help you with?" His face remained totally inexpressive.
Tai Wei felt a twinge of discomfort; however he had come here for a reason, so he withdrew a sheaf of papers from his leather briefcase and handed them to Fang Mu.
"I work for the Jiangbin City Vice Squad. My name's Tai Wei. Since March of this year we've had three linked forced entry-and-murder cases. These are the materials from those cases. From what I've heard…" At this point, however, Tai Wei realized that Fang Mu wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying, and had begun reading through the pile of documents in his hands, utterly absorbed. Annoyed, Tai Wei shut his mouth and quietly stuffed his police badge, which he had been about to show Fang Mu, back in his pocket.