"I have here several questions from an intelligence test. Supposedly, the American F.B.I. gave this test to several dozen psychologically aberrant criminals and their answers were all identical, proving that, mentally, they really were different than the average person. Now listen to these questions, and perhaps we'll find that there's a potential criminal genius sitting among us right now."
Excitement went through the students, as if they all felt that being psychologically aberrant would be really cool.
"First question," Sun Pu began. "One evening, an engineer who had once been stationed at a South Pole research station to set up the solar panel array was eating the meat his wife had fixed him for dinner. Thinking that the flavor was very unusual, he asked her what kind of meat it was. 'It's penguin,' she replied. Hearing this, the engineer's face fell, and he stabbed himself in the throat with his fork."
The students all gasped.
Sun Pu continued. "My question for you is: Why?"
So this is what he was talking about, thought Fang Mu.
One year ago, Fang Mu had happened across these same questions, and out of curiosity, had tried to answer them. There had been seven in total, and he had gotten five right. As a result, the test determined that he had a strong tendency toward psychological aberration.
The other students, however, had never seen these questions before. They soon began calling out theories, and the classroom grew noisy. But when no one was able to get the question right, Sun Pu finally revealed the answer: The engineer had once been stranded, and one of his colleagues was killed. Afterwards, he and several others had been forced to eat what he was told was penguin meat so that they could survive until the rescue party showed up. When he tried the actual penguin meat that his wife gave him, he realized that what he had eaten before was actually the flesh of his dead colleague.
Hearing this, several of the students made squeamish faces, like they wanted to vomit, but most were already waiting excitedly for the next question.
Sun Pu continued the test.
Question Two: A man who had been suffering from a chronic ailment looked everywhere for a doctor who could help him. Finally he found a hospital where he was completely cured. But on the train back home, he suddenly began to cry hysterically, injured several other passengers in his frenzy, and then broke the window and leapt out of the train. As a result, he fell beneath the wheels and was crushed to pieces. Why?
As the students enthusiastically discussed the question, Sun Pu walked leisurely around the classroom, his hands behind his back, stopping every now and then to shake his head at a student's answer.
Finally one of the students answered correctly: the man's chronic ailment was that he had gone blind. After being cured, the man believed that he had permanently regained his sight, but then when the train went through a tunnel, the darkness made him think that he had gone blind again, and in his disappointment he leapt from the train and committed suicide.
"Very well done," said Sun Pu, clapping his hands. "Ten points onto your final grade!"
This development made all the students as excited. As the kid who got it right sat there blushing, his classmates all looked at him, some with admiration and some with envy, while everyone waited anxiously for the next question.
Question Three: A man and his female friend were strolling beside a river when the woman lost her footing and fell in. Although she struggled to stay afloat, she quickly went under. Panicked, the man immediately jumped in, but he was unable to save her. Several years later, while walking past the scene of her drowning, the man saw an old-timer fishing on the riverbank. When the man saw that the fish the old-timer had caught were completely clean and free of seaweed, he asked him why they didn't have any seaweed on them. The old-timer replied that there was no seaweed in this river. Hearing this, the man threw himself in the river without another word, committing suicide. Why?
The answer: When the man had jumped into the river to save the girl, he had grabbed onto something that felt like water seaweed, and so hadn't pulled it up. But hearing the old-timer's answer, the man had finally realized that in fact what he grabbed wasn't seaweed, but his female friend's hair.
No one got it right.
Question Four: A man was found dead headfirst in the desert. Pieces of luggage of various sizes were scattered around him. In his hand was half of a match. How did he die?
The answer: The plane this man had been riding on had malfunctioned, forcing everyone to parachute off; however, it was discovered that there was one parachute too few. So everyone decided to draw lots, with the person who picked the short match being forced to jump without a parachute. This man had been unlucky enough to draw the short match.
No one got it right.
Question Five: An older sister and younger sister attend their mother's funeral. While there, the younger sister sees an extremely handsome young man, and instantly falls in love. Unfortunately, this man is nowhere to be found once the funeral is over. A few days later, the younger sister stabs the older sister to death with a knife in the kitchen. Why?
The answer: The younger sister loves the young man, and desperately wants to see him again. But because she knows that she can only see him at a funeral, she decides to create one.
A female student answered this one correctly.
Question Six: A circus troupe has two dwarves, one of whom is blind. One day, the director of the troupe tells them that they only need one dwarf. The two dwarves are both extremely dependent on this job for their survival. The next morning, the blind dwarf is found dead from suicide in his room. The room has wooden furniture and the floor is covered with sawdust. Why did the blind dwarf kill himself?
The answer: While the blind dwarf was asleep, the other dwarf snuck into his room and sawed off a portion of the legs of all his furniture. When the blind dwarf woke up and felt his way around his room, he discovered that all his furniture seemed smaller. Believing that he had grown tall overnight, he killed himself in despair.
No one got it right.
As everyone watched Sun Pu, the sky outside grew darker and darker.
"The final question," said Sun Pu as he held a finger to his lips to demand silence from the eager class, "is also perhaps the hardest. So you must do your best to listen and think it through; don't just start calling out answers."
Everyone held their breath and stared at Sun Pu, listening silently as he read aloud the final question.
"There was a man who lived in a small cabin on top of a mountain," read Sun Pu in a low voice. "One night it began to rain very hard. Then all of a sudden, just as the man was about to go to bed…" his voice rose sharply, causing several girls to cry out softly in alarm, "…he heard a knocking at the door. The man opened it and looked out…" Sun Pu stopped and glanced across the silent classroom, "…but there was no one there."
At this point someone laughed.
"The man then closed the door and went to bed. But only a few minutes later, the mysterious knocking started again."
Noticing that several girls had their hands over their mouths to keep from crying out, Fang Mu couldn't help but chuckle.
"Trembling, the man opened the door again, but still no one was there. That night, the knocking sounded again and again, but every time the man opened the door and looked outside, no one was there. The next morning, a corpse was discovered at the foot of the mountain, covered in bruises."
Sun Pu paused for several seconds and looked contentedly at all the terrified faces before him. "My question," he said slowly, "is how did this man die?"
This time the students' response was much more serious than before. They quietly discussed all sorts of possibilities, often arguing passionately among themselves.