Tai Wei came by later that night.
When Tai Wei entered the dorm room, Du Yu was trying to convince Fang Mu to have some of the dinner he had bought for him. Tai Wei saw that a lunch tray was still sitting on Fang Mu's desk, the food long since gone cold.
Du Yu nodded at Tai Wei as he came into the room and then motioned helplessly in Fang Mu's direction.
Only a day had passed, but Fang Mu had already thinned out considerably. His chin was even sharper than usual and his eyes, still staring motionlessly at the ceiling, appeared startlingly huge.
Tai Wei sat down next to Fang Mu's bed and looked at him for several seconds. "You fasting?"
Fang Mu made no response. His eyes didn't even move.
Tai Wei chuckled and picked up Fang Mu's dinner tray. He gave it a good sniff.
"Mmm, smells delicious. Stewed chicken and potatoes with rice. What's this one?"
"Sweet and sour crispy-fried fish balls," said Du Yu, looking at Fang Mu as he answered. "It's an appetizer."
"Wow, what a considerate friend you have!" said Tai Wei. "You'd better eat this quick."
Fang Mu briefly dropped his gaze from the ceiling. "Thank you," he said quietly, and then rolled over to face the inside of the bed.
Du Yu looked at Tai Wei and shrugged helplessly. Tai Wei just smiled and waved his hand to show he didn't mind.
The three of them sat there in silence. After a little while, Du Yu picked up his backpack and water bottle and motioned to Tai Wei that he was going out. Then left, quietly shutting the door behind him.
Now it was just the two of them. Tai Wei looked at Fang Mu, who was still lying there motionless with his face to the wall. Sighing, Tai Wei pulled out a cigarette and gloomily smoked it.
By the time the cigarette had burned all the way down, Fang Mu still hadn't acknowledged his visitor in the least. At last, Tai Wei started to talk.
"Partner, I completely understand how you're feeling right now. I might be a cop, but if I had an opponent like this, I'd be just as scared as you. But scared or not, hiding out in your room all day is no kind of solution. If he wants you dead, then no matter how much you try to escape, sooner or later he's going to find you. That's why we need to strike first!"
Seeing that Fang Mu still hadn't moved, Tai Wei continued. "Today I looked over all of Ma Kai's known acquaintances and didn't find anyone suspicious; therefore, I don't think the problem came from that end. I've also already spoken with the Changhong City PSB and asked for their assistance in investigating if any of the family members or accomplices of the criminals you put away are trying to get revenge." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I know I didn't ask your permission. You're not going to be mad at me, are you?"
Suddenly Fang Mu sat up, startling Tai Wei.
"Is it possible for you to shut your mouth for even a second and not chatter on like an old woman?" Fang Mu yelled.
Doing his best to keep his cool, Tai Wei began: "I understand how you're feeling right now — "
"You don't understand shit!" said Fang Mu roughly. "I'm not afraid at all. Even if he were hiding under the bed right now with a knife in his hand I still wouldn't be afraid. This isn't the first time I've faced someone who wanted kill me, and it won't be the last!" Suddenly his voice choked with sobs. "Why did you need to kill all those people? If you want me dead then do it! Kill me right now! Why end so many lives for no reason?"
He jumped up and knocked all the books off his shelf, then fell dejectedly back onto the bed.
"Son of a bitch…" he said beneath his breath. As he closed his eyes, a tear dropped down his face and onto his pillow.
Tai Wei looked at the books scattered across the floor, and then at the frail young man lying on the bed before him. Now that he knew the real reason Fang Mu was feeling so down, he couldn't help but feel a measure of respect for the stubborn bastard.
Love and duty. No emotions were more precious than those.
Tai Wei stood up, studying the dejected student on the bed. Bending over, he slowly picked up all the books, blew the dust from their covers, and then placed them neatly back on the bookshelf. When he finished, he sat beside the bed. He fixed his eyes on Fang Mu.
"Kid, get up and eat!"
His tone was firm and absolute. All traces of his previously comforting manner were gone.
Noticing this, Fang Mu opened his eyes and looked at him.
Tai Wei didn't avoid his gaze at all. In his eyes, Fang Mu read the trust and encouragement.
As if he was giving a pistol to a diehard partner, Tai Wei placed a spoon in Fang Mu's hand.
"Partner," he said, "we've got to keep going. I don't know how many more victims he's planning on killing, but we need to do everything we can to stop him before more people die. Don't think any more about the ones who have already gone. When you're dead, you're dead; you feeling guilty is not going to bring anyone back. This is your fate, Fang Mu. Great power demands great responsibility, and it's useless to try and hide from it. Catching the killer is the best consolation you can give to his victims. But before all that," he said as he placed the food in front of Fang Mu, "at the very least, you need to not starve to death!"
Fang Mu looked at the food before him. It was still steaming a little. He looked at Tai Wei. The man's expression was deadly serious.
For several seconds the two of them stared at each other in silence. At last Fang Mu took the plate of food and began to eat ravenously.
Damn, that's delicious, Fang Mu thought.
When he finished eating, Fang Mu leapt out of bed and stretched. The tightness in his chest relaxed with each breath and his whole body felt much more alert.
He then summarized some of his recent thoughts for Tai Wei. Even though he had been lying in bed, tormented by anger and guilt for the past day and night, he had still been closely analyzing the details of the case. His mind had not been idle. As he saw it, the reason the killer was targeting him had to have something to do with one of the cases he had helped solve. Even though Tai Wei had not asked his permission before contacting the Changhong City PSB, Fang Mu agreed that at present it was their only feasible lead.
"And as for the numbers," he added, "I believe they have some special significance."
"Oh?" said Tai Wei, his tone curious. "What are you thinking?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but from the five distinct crimes that have occurred so far, there have already been six victims. However, the numbers left at the crime scenes have only been one through five," Fang Mu said. "I found this strange when I first noticed it, because if the numbers corresponded to the victims, this would demonstrate that the killer was showing off and trying to provoke us. But what does it mean if the numbers actually correspond to the crimes themselves? It means that the killer doesn't care about the number of victims killed, but rather the number of crimes committed-or in other words, the number of people he has copied. With this line of thought, this number is most likely fixed, meaning that the killer probably already knows exactly how many people he is planning on copying.
"Because," Fang Mu paused, "if this is a test, then like all tests, it must have an end, at which point it will be determined whether or not I've passed." He looked calmly at Tai Wei and smiled.
Seeing the smile on the kid's lips, Tai Wei felt chilled to the bone. Since he was young, Tai Wei had experienced his share of tests, but none had ever made him feel as thoroughly terrified as this one.
To imagine taking a test where every answer had to be written with a pen dipped in blood was both terrifying and daunting. If answered correctly, then the test was over and everything was okay. But if anything was answered incorrectly, then one person was going to disappear from the world. And it probably wouldn't just stop at him or her.