Volume Two: Portrait - Chapter 11: City of Memories

During the summer vacation, the teacher's university appeared empty. Fangmu walked under the scorching sun on the campus road, with familiar teaching buildings, cafeterias, and sports fields on both sides, as well as unfamiliar, brand new dormitory buildings. Fangmu looked around like a newcomer, feeling not so much a sense of familiarity as a sense of loss.

Three weeks had passed since the summer vacation, and ever since returning home to C City, Fangmu had been diligently behaving like a good obedient child every day. His mother was pleased and made delicious food for him in various ways every day. Fangmu seemed to have nothing to do, spending his days either surfing the internet, watching VCDs with his father, or cycling around the streets. C City had changed a lot, and many places that had left a deep impression on him had now completely changed, often leading Fangmu to get lost in what he thought were familiar places. His high school classmates had invited him to a gathering, but Fangmu had made excuses to decline.

Today, while helping his mother clean the house, Fangmu unexpectedly found many clothes and toys from his childhood. Sitting on the floor, he enthusiastically played with them for a while and even struggled to put on his elementary school uniform to show his mother, making her burst into laughter. As he finished cleaning, he noticed the crutch he had used two years ago, and after a moment of contemplation, he took a car to the teacher's university.

Calculating in his mind, it had been over four months since he had last visited the teacher's university. During this time, many new buildings had been constructed at the university. The club had been transformed into a four-story student entertainment center. Although it was not yet completed, it looked quite grand. Fangmu stood at the entrance for a while, determined to go inside, but was stopped by several people wearing safety helmets. Unclear about his feelings, whether it was disappointment or relief, Fangmu did not linger and went straight to the second dormitory building.

The second dormitory had now become a modern seven-story student apartment. Fangmu still sat on the flower bed in front of the door, gazing at this tall building. Surrounding him was the faint scent of unfamiliar flowers, and occasionally dragonflies flew over, daring enough to land on Fangmu. The sun was bright, and Fangmu had to squint as he looked at the shiny tiled second dormitory. In the upper left corner, the left side of the third floor was no longer the two shaky wooden windows, probably because the people in the dormitory had all gone home, and the PVC windows were tightly closed. After looking for a while, Fangmu got up and walked towards the main entrance of the second dormitory.

The paint-peeled iron door had been replaced by two toughened glass doors, and the floor was shining marble. As he walked in, a cool breeze hit his face. In the duty room, a middle-aged woman in her forties with half-knitted sweater peered out. Fangmu nodded to her and went straight up the steps. She looked at Fangmu with suspicion and then withdrew.

Turning left and going up to the third floor, the corridor in front of him was now very unfamiliar. The original location of Room 352 was now a staircase. The dormitories on both sides were tightly locked with sturdy anti-theft doors. Fangmu stood in the corridor feeling unsure. Suddenly, the door of a dormitory behind him opened, and a half-naked male student in shorts and slippers carrying a basin emerged. When he saw Fangmu, he seemed startled, then frowned and asked, "Student, who are you looking for?"

Fangmu looked at the door of the dormitory he came out of, Room 349.

"Where is Room 352?"

"352?" The male student paused. "There is no Room 352 on the third floor. Look," he pointed to the doors on both sides, "349, 350, 351, 353, but no Room 352."

"Why?"

"I don't know. But I heard from the senior brothers that many people died in the original Room 352 in the second dormitory, and when it was rebuilt, that room was canceled." He looked at Fangmu with a curious expression. "Are you looking for someone in Room 352?"

Fangmu did not answer him and turned and went downstairs.

One dormitory, one number, four people, all disappeared in this cold and solid building.

As long as it was knocked down and rebuilt, it could permanently seal a memory.

If it could really be like that, how nice it would be.

On the way back, Fangmu brushed shoulders with a hurried middle-aged woman, who glanced at him and called out, "Fangmu, is that you?"

Fangmu turned around and recognized her as Teacher Zhao from the library.

"It's really you," Teacher Zhao smiled as she looked at Fangmu. "You've lost some weight, but you haven't changed much."

For the entire afternoon, Teacher Zhao was the only acquaintance Fangmu had encountered, and he couldn't help but smile too.

"Teacher Zhao, how have you been?"

"Pretty good, pretty good." Teacher Zhao placed her hand on Fangmu's shoulder. "I heard you're doing your postgraduate studies at J University. How's it going? Not bad, right?"

"It's okay."

Teacher Zhao looked at Fangmu's lean face and spoke in a softer tone. "I haven't seen you since you graduated. Hey, it's not easy to have come through such a big thing."

Fangmu lowered his head and didn't speak, feeling the warmth from the hand on his shoulder.

"Your matter has almost become a legend at the teacher's university. People are always asking about it, and someone even inquired recently. People are so superstitious nowadays. No one dares to borrow that book anymore..."

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Fangmu interrupted Teacher Zhao, "Someone asked about me?"

"Yes, a man in his thirties, very capable-looking, was reading that book everyone's afraid to borrow for a long time."

Probably Than Wei, that kid.

Seeing Fangmu lost in thought, Teacher Zhao realized she shouldn't have mentioned it and changed to a cheerful tone, saying, "Let me treat you to a meal. I remember I still owe you one."

Fangmu was about to decline when his phone rang from his pocket.

It was a Motorola V998 that his mother had given him, which cost quite a bit, showing that his mother cared a lot. However, she wanted to be able to contact Fangmu at any time, and Fangmu, being a young man, also thought the gadget was pretty good, so he accepted it.

His mother's voice came through the phone, "Where have you gone again?"

"Oh, I went to buy some game discs. I'll be home soon," Fangmu lied.

"Have you found a girlfriend?" Teacher Zhao asked with a smile after he hung up the phone.

"No, it's my mother, urging me to go home." This topic made Fangmu feel even more uncomfortable.

"Alright, then you should go. Remember to come find me next time you're back at school."

After staying at home for another week, Fangmu returned to J University earlier than expected, only to find that most of his classmates had already returned. Du Yu, in particular, had eagerly returned to J University after only a week at home because Zhang Yao was staying at the school to work for a translation agency during the break. Pushing the door open, he saw Zhang Yao and Du Yu hastily separating.

Damn, in broad daylight.

Fangmu pretended not to have seen anything and went straight to his own bed, taking out a bottle of meat sauce from his bag and handing it to Du Yu. "Here, my mother specifically brought this for you."

Zhang Yao snatched it first, "Hehe, I'll take it, I also love your mother's meat sauce." Du Yu smiled helplessly at Fangmu.

"Hehe, why didn't you say it earlier? I'll ask my mother to make more next time."

"Then you must remember next time you go home."

"Okay." Fangmu smiled.

"Hehe, you actually look quite handsome when you smile. I'll introduce a girlfriend to you when I have time."

Fangmu waved his hand with a smile.

When he went to the bathroom to wash his face, he met Liu Jianjun, who had a basketball magazine in his mouth and mumbled, "You're back?"

"Yeah." Fangmu splashed cold water on his face.

"Has the case been solved?"

"What case?"

"The case of Qu Weiqiang and his girlfriend."

"How would I know?"

"Ah, I wonder when the case will be solved. Damn, it's too miserable." After speaking, Liu Jianjun staggered out.

Back in the dormitory, Fangmu really wanted to call Than Wei, but after hesitating for a long time, he gave up.

The case had indeed not been solved. While Fangmu had been feeling restless at home, the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Cultural Preservation Department had been working frantically.

It had been over a month since the case was opened, and the police had visited the cities of Linjiang in Jilin Province (Qu Weiqiang's hometown) and Hegang in Heilongjiang Province (Wang Qian's hometown) several times, investigating nearly a thousand people, but the case had made no progress. The most troubling aspect for the police was: what was the motive for the crime?

The scene indicated that the victims' belongings showed no signs of being stolen. The few hundred yuan in the drawer and the deceased's mobile phone, jewelry, and other valuable items had not been touched. The possibility of a burglary-homicide could be basically ruled out.

Considering the brutal method of the killer, it seemed that the possibility of a revenge killing was high. However, after repeated investigations, it was found that both victims were university students without complicated social relationships, and no one had heard of any grudges with others. Qu Weiqiang's parents were both workers, and Wang Qian's parents were a doctor and a teacher, which also essentially ruled out the possibility of being killed due to previous generation grudges.

If it was a home invasion and murder, there would be even more questions. Firstly, why would the killer dismember Wang Qian? If it was to cover up the crime, why would they then reassemble her into human form? Where did the medical syringe inserted into the left chest of Wang Qian come from? What did it imply?

Secondly, why did the killer take Qu Weiqiang to the campus sports field and then cut off his hands? The distance between the dumping site and the scene of the crime was over 1000 meters, so why did the killer spend so much effort? If this behavior was understood as a challenge to the police, why did they not choose Wang Qian, who was much lighter in weight?

Despite so many questions in this case, the police were very certain that the killer was a very calm and clever person. They broke in through the window, killed Qu Weiqiang, who was drunk and sleeping, with a blunt object (Qu Weiqiang's blood alcohol concentration was very high), then raped Wang Qian, killed her, dismembered her, then reassembled her into human form, cleaned the scene, took Qu Weiqiang's body to the sports field, and cut off his hands. From the condition of the scene, the killer did all of this very methodically, even cleaning the bathroom where the body was dismembered very thoroughly, leaving no trace for the police.

From the perspective of criminal psychology, the killer's method was very meticulous, and it seemed that they were very satisfied with this meticulousness, which meant that there was a high likelihood of them committing further crimes.

This was a premonition that made the police very nervous.