"I support you, brother," he said rather loudly. "You did nothing wrong, and neither did Deng Linyue. Next time I hear someone criticize you, I'll tell them what really happened!"
Fang Mu was about to tell him he really didn't need to do anything like that, but when he saw the self-sacrificing look on Du Yu's face, he just laughed and nodded.
With this weight lifted from his mind, Du Yu slept soundly that night. Fang Mu, however, couldn't get to sleep. To his roommate, his explanation had probably seemed perfectly reasonable, but it did nothing to relieve Fang Mu's self-doubts.
Do I really love Deng Linyue?
He had always known that he had the power to see into other people's hearts, and there was no doubt in his mind that Deng Linyue loved him. But could he say the same?
It is difficult for a doctor to treat himself.
At that moment, Fang Mu understood what the old saying meant. He felt like a flashlight — able to illuminate the darkest corners, but unable to shine a light on himself.
Perhaps this was how it had to be.
Everyone had a road they must walk. Some were smooth, others bumpy.
Mine, thought Fang Mu, is covered in thorns and beset by danger on all sides. There will be blood and monsters and regret and sadness, and my only company will be nightmares and the spirits of the dead.
I've already walked so far. And I'm so tired
His thoughts drifting, Fang Mu gradually fell asleep. His doubts had not been answered, but he had already begun to wonder whether that even mattered.
All he knew was that when Deng Linyue held him, he felt so warm.
The next day Tai Wei came to see him.
As soon as he walked inside, he tilted his head and looked at Fang Mu. He chuckled. "Well, you're looking pretty good."
He knew Tai Wei was trying to make fun of him about Deng Linyue. He ignored him.
Tai Wei had grown a lot thinner lately and looked a little green around the eyes. He appeared not to have slept well in some time. "Why didn't you go with Ms. Deng to the study room today?"
"Her parents came to visit her today and took her out to dinner." In fact, all day she had been hinting that Fang Mu should go with them, saying she really wanted her parents to meet him, but he never agreed to go. Perhaps it was because he still had such a bad impression of her mother from that day in the hospital. Also, he knew that if he did go, it would give the unmistakable impression of a future son-in-law paying his respects to his girlfriend's parents — and that was something he didn't want to do at all.
"So how's it going?" he asked Tai Wei. "Any discoveries?"
"None. We haven't made any progress whatsoever." Then without asking for permission, Tai Wei flopped onto Fang Mu's bed. "Right now all we can do is wait around helplessly. Fuck, man, when is all this going to end?"
The previous afternoon Tai Wei had returned to the city bureau to report to the director. Just as he had walked into the office he happened to pass the deputy mayor and the Jiangbin City American consul coming out. The director hadn't looked too pleased, but he had held his temper and listened to Tai Wei give his report. When Tai Wei finished, the director didn't give any specific comments, just told him to stay vigilant and crack the case as soon as possible. Tai Wei knew that after the fat American was killed, the bureau had been under an enormous amount of pressure. He decided not to wait around and returned directly to JiangbinCityUniversity.
The past few days Fang Mu had been mainly thinking about Deng Linyue and Meng Fanzhe, and hadn't paid much attention to the case. But now that he saw how exhausted Tai Wei looked, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Taking out a pack of Hibiscus King cigarettes, he handed one to Tai Wei and then made him a cup of strong tea.
"How about on your end? Anything strange been going on?" Looking like a dignified old man, Tai Wei sipped his tea, his cigarette still hanging from the corner of his mouth. "Of course, besides that time Deng Linyue got pissed at you outside her dorm."
Jeez… thought Fang Mu, glaring at Tai Wei and shaking his head.
Tai Wei chuckled and continued to smoke his cigarette and drink his tea. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked: "Fang Mu, what kind of person do you think this guy is?"
Fang Mu was taken aback. "Didn't I already tell you in detail about his probable physical and psychological characteristics?"
"You did," Tai Wei said, nodding. "There's something else, though, and I don't quite know how to put it." He gave Fang Mu a scrutinizing look. "For a while I've felt that this guy…is very similar to you."
Fang Mu said nothing. Actually, he had been thinking the same thing himself. The killer had designed each of his murders to challenge Fang Mu, which meant that he had to possess a deep of understanding of criminology, or at least think he did, and at JiangbinCityUniversity, Fang Mu only knew of one other criminal profiler.
Fang Mu's heart fell.
Could it really be Professor Qiao?
Impossible. He immediately rejected this idea. From his professional integrity to his personal morality, Professor Qiao was exemplary. Besides, Fang Mu knew his skills were nothing compared to Professor Qiao's. There was no need for the professor to compete against him. Also, not only did these crimes require technique, they also demanded strength, and that was something that the old professor no longer possessed.
Almost 20 days had passed since the last crime and the killer had done nothing. The waiting was really akin to torture.
A gloomy atmosphere gradually fell over the room, spreading like the smoke from their cigarettes. Soon Tai Wei and Fang Mu could barely discern the other.
And, as if to mirror the haze, neither could see the man they were seeking. After a while, Tai Wei rose to his feet, sluggishly extended his arm and looked at his watch. "It's almost nine. I'm going to swing by several of the observation points to check things out. You want to come?"
Fang Mu thought about it. Having nothing else to do, he decided to go.
The police were still focusing most of their attention on the women's dormitories and areas relating to the number six. Although the observation points were all different, the policemen standing watch were all exhausted and irritable.
The nonstop battle had been going day and night for over a month. Anyone in their position would feel just as bad.
Fang Mu and Tai Wei visited several observation points, one after another, and each reported that "everything was normal." The sight of his comrades continuing to man their stations despite their obvious exhaustion was too much for Tai Wei, so he and Fang Mu went to one of the little restaurants outside the school gates and ordered several boxes of take-out food. Tai Wei even went so far as specifically asking the owner to put in a little extra meat and vegetables in the orders to back to the officers. Seeing the few sad-looking bills in Tai Wei's wallet, Fang Mu stopped at the supermarket on the way back and bought two cartons of cigarettes. He was going to buy alcohol, too, but Tai Wei stopped him. When they got back with the food, the officers were delighted. After each took a box, they leaned against the walls or crouched on the floor and immediately dug in. The male cops ate crudely, stuffing huge amounts of food that had already gone a little cold into their mouths, chewing roughly before swallowing it down. Every now and then one of them would bite into a bit of sand or small stone from the unwashed vegetables, but then just swallowed that, too. The female cops ate in a group, quietly commenting on the food and exchanging pieces back and forth — a chunk of meat for you, a bit of ribbonfish for me — that sort of thing. And when they had finished, the women still remembered to hand out tissues to all their male comrades who were about to wipe their faces on their sleeves.