Volume Two: Portrait - Chapter 5: Doctor

One week ago.

It was lunchtime now, and the library corridor was quiet. A boy carefully walked up the stairs, leaned on the railing, and took a moment to catch his breath.

The corridor seemed endless. The boy adjusted his backpack and walked determinedly to a door, looking left and right. No one was around. He looked up at the sign on the door: Counseling Room. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The knocking echoed loudly in the empty corridor, making the boy shiver involuntarily. No response. He knocked again twice, still no response. He pressed his ear against the door, but there was no sound inside. The boy sighed, his expression difficult to determine whether it was disappointment or relief. He turned to leave, but the door across from him suddenly opened, and a man stuck his head out.

"Who are you looking for?"

The boy was clearly startled, he pointed to the tightly closed door but couldn't speak.

The man walked over and looked at the door, "Looking for Teacher Qiao? He's not here." He looked at the boy, "Do you need to see him?"

"I... have nothing."

The man smiled.

"If you have something, you should speak up. Otherwise, keeping it inside will only make you sick."

The boy looked up at him. Neat parting, kind eyes, white teeth, and a slightly upturned mouth when smiling.

"Sometimes, I feel scared."

The man chuckled softly, "Everyone feels scared. Can you tell me what you are afraid of?"

The boy lowered his head, lips tightly closed.

Seeing that the boy didn't want to speak, the man didn't force him.

"You can overcome this feeling." He gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "For example, you can imagine various dangerous situations, let the worst scenario come first and repeat it. Gradually, you will feel that you are not afraid in any dangerous situation, and naturally, you won't be afraid of what you fear."

The boy looked up, and the man blinked kindly at him, as if to say, "Trust me."

At that moment, the bell for work suddenly rang in the corridor. The boy was startled, he quickly thanked the man and turned to leave.

The briefing on the case analysis chaired by the director has just ended. At the meeting, Tai Wei detailed the preliminary investigation of the home invasion murder case.

There were two victims. The first victim was named Yao Xiaoyang, a 32-year-old divorced female teacher at J City Normal University. Two days before the incident, she had just moved into Unit 401 of Building 3 in Guangming Garden. From the scene, it appeared that the victim, Yao Xiaoyang, had just moved in on the day of the incident and was in the process of arranging her belongings. There were no signs of forced entry on the door lock at the scene. The special investigation team had considered the possibility of the perpetrator being an acquaintance, but after comparing the fingerprints found at the scene with those of the landlord and other individuals closely related to the victim, this possibility was ruled out. Preliminary inference suggested that after the perpetrator entered the room, there was a struggle with Yao Xiaoyang, and ultimately, the perpetrator used a nylon rope (which Yao Xiaoyang used to tie up her luggage) placed on the living room table to strangle her. Subsequently, the perpetrator used a kitchen knife in the house to open the victim's chest and abdomen, which was similar to the modus operandi of previous cases. However, surprisingly, the perpetrator did not drink the victim's blood as in the previous cases. Analysis indicated that the reason the perpetrator did not do so was because at that time, the second victim was discovered.

The second victim was Tong Hui, a 6-year-old girl who lived in Unit 401 of Building 3 in Guangming Garden. On the day of the incident, Tong Hui's parents were at work, and only her grandmother, Yu Huifen, who was in her 70s, was taking care of her. According to Yu Huifen, on the day of the incident, after she and Tong Hui had lunch, Tong Hui fell asleep. In a daze, she felt Tong Hui run out to play by herself, and Yu Huifen said, "Don't go too far," before falling asleep again. It was only when the police were investigating the adjacent crime scene that she woke up, and it was at that moment that she discovered Tong Hui was missing. As for any activity during this time, the elderly Yu Huifen said she had not heard anything. Analysis suggested that it was very likely that Tong Hui accidentally encountered the perpetrator when she went out to play or returned home, and the perpetrator then made a spontaneous decision to choose her as the object of blood-sucking. Based on the conditions of the first scene (Unit 401 of Building 3 in Guangming Garden) and the second scene (the former site of the Da Ming Glass Fiber Factory), and the examination reports of the bodies of the victims, the perpetrator likely used a rope to render Tong Hui unconscious (during this process, a button from Tong Hui's dress fell at the door), emptied a large organizing bag in the bedroom (large, yellow plaid pattern), then put Tong Hui in the organizing bag and took her away from the first scene. The perpetrator walked about 40 minutes in the southeast direction and killed Tong Hui at the former site of the Da Ming Glass Fiber Factory, then opened her chest and abdomen, and drank about 200cc of the victim's blood.

The interviews with the residents near Guangming Garden did not yield any valuable clues, as most of the residents in the community were at work at the time of the incident. Therefore, even though the perpetrator had brazenly taken the victim away in broad daylight, no one had noticed. Important clues were obtained from the interviews with the residents along the road from the first scene to the second scene: according to the owner of a small grocery store on Hongyuan Road (the distance between the grocery store and the second scene was about 3000 meters), a man had bought a bottle of mineral water at his store that day. The man was about 1.72 meters tall, very thin, with dirty and messy hair, an anxious expression, bloodshot eyes, and several blisters around his mouth. The man was carrying a large knitting organizing bag. When the owner asked what was inside, he replied that it was a dog. A composite sketch of the man had been made based on the description provided by the store owner, and a warrant had been issued for the man's arrest.

After the meeting, Tai Wei was about to leave when the director called him back. "Xiao Tai, stay for a moment."

The director, who had noticeably gained weight, struggled to change his posture in his leather swivel chair. When he saw Tai Wei still standing, he waved his hand for him to sit down. He turned the teacup in his hand and pondered for a moment before asking, "I heard that you got a student from J University to help solve the case?"

"Yes. Ding Shucheng from the C City Bureau recommended this person to me, saying he's quite extraordinary."

"What do you think?"

Tai Wei carefully chose his words, "This person is quite interesting. It was under his guidance that we discovered the second victim. Besides, his description of the suspect is consistent with what the grocery store owner said. He said he would contact me in the next few days, and I want to hear his thoughts on these cases."

"No!" The director raised his index finger firmly. "Don't let this so-called genius participate in this case anymore. Not only this case, but similar methods should not be used in the future."

“Why?” Tai Wei was surprised.

"Isn't it enough that we suffered losses from that matter?" The director's face turned unpleasant, and his voice suddenly became louder.

Tai Wei was even more puzzled. He looked straight at the director. The director suddenly slapped his forehead, as if he had just remembered something, and asked, "How long have you been transferred here?"

"Four years."

"No wonder," the director's expression softened slightly. "Ignorance is not a crime. But, you must remember what I said. This is an order." With that, he waved his hand, indicating for Tai Wei to leave.

Perplexed, Tai Wei returned to his office. He was about to find an older colleague to ask for clarification when the phone rang. It was Fang Mu calling.

The heavy rain that night had given Fang Mu a bad cold, and he spent the entire next day in his dormitory. Feeling slightly better, he got up and went to the library the following day.

After examining the materials from their first meeting and visiting the scene of the fourth murder, Fang Mu had formed a preliminary conclusion about this series of blood-sucking murder cases. If most serial killers leave their "signature" at the crime scene, what was the signature of this bloodsucker?

Undoubtedly, the reason for naming him the bloodsucker was his characteristic behavior of opening the victim's chest and abdomen after killing them, and drinking their blood. Clearly, this excessive destruction of the body was not for venting anger or concealing the victim's identity, but was driven by a specific need.

So, what was this need?

Drinking the victim's blood could be seen as a way to "supplement" his own blood, indicating that the perpetrator must have had a "fear" and anxiety about his own blood. The source of this psychological fear was unknown, but it was certain that this fear and anxiety had reached an extremely intense level, otherwise, he would not have used killing and bloodsucking as a way to alleviate this emotion.

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The scene also supported this conclusion.

The first victim was killed just after finishing her night shift. When the police arrived at the scene, her keys were still in the door. The perpetrator may have followed the victim into the hallway, then suddenly attacked her as she opened the door, choking her after pushing her into the room, then opening her abdomen and mixing her blood with milk before drinking it.

The second victim was a female doctoral student who was supposed to go to school on the day of the incident. When her neighbors went out to take out the trash, they found the door wide open and her dead body in the living room, killed with a vase placed on the shoe cabinet.

The third victim was a recently laid-off female worker who had just returned from the morning market. She was killed in the bungalow where she lived. The perpetrator first grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the stove, then strangled her with a lamp cord, and finally mixed her blood with unsold soy milk and drank it.

The fourth victim was a divorced female teacher who had just moved in. The perpetrator strangled her with the rope she used to tie up her luggage. Just as he was about to drink her blood, he unexpectedly found the little girl in the hallway. The little girl then became the sacrifice.

Without the signature "bloodsucking" behavior, it would be difficult to imagine that these four cases were the work of the same person. The victims were varied in terms of identity and age, the crime scenes were in both apartments and bungalows, and the methods of killing varied from strangulation with a rope, suffocation, and being beaten to death with a vase. The tools used to open the victims' chests were consistent: they were all weapons found at the crime scene, and were left behind at the scene after use. Furthermore, the perpetrator did not seem to deliberately destroy the evidence: his fingerprints were all over the scene, and he didn't even close the door before leaving the scene.

The only word that came to Fang Mu's mind for such scenes was: chaos.

There were no deliberately chosen victims; no crime tools carried on hand; no careful cleaning of the scene after the crime.

This perpetrator was either an extremely careless person, or someone who was often in a state of mental confusion.

So, what kind of psychological disorder led to this mental confusion, and what was the internal connection with blood?

Fang Mu entered the keywords "blood" and "psychological disorders" on the library computer. The computer indicated that there were several books on this topic in the third reading room. Fang Mu copied down the book titles and went straight to the third reading room.

Since Fang Mu often went to the library to borrow books, he was familiar with the staff at the borrowing counter. Without much small talk, Fang Mu handed the book list to Sun Laoshi, who was on duty, and asked directly where to find these books.

"Oh?" Sun Laoshi looked at the book list, "Aren't you from the Law School? These are books for medical students to read. What are you researching this for?"

"Just out of curiosity."

After looking carefully at the book list, Sun Laoshi smiled and said, "They are on the Z1 and Z3 shelves, in that corner."

Fang Mu found the books according to Sun Laoshi's instructions. While processing the borrowing procedures, Fang Mu picked up a newspaper placed on the table. It contained a report on the recent home invasion murder case, along with a composite sketch of the suspect.

"Do you think this vampire won't run away after being reported in the newspapers and being wanted?" a teacher commented as he saw Fang Mu reading the newspaper, shaking the newspaper in his hand.

"He won't," Fang Mu said without looking up, and casually added, "These kinds of people usually don't care about the news media."

"Oh, really?" The teacher suddenly became interested. "How do you know? Were you taught by a teacher?"

"Ha, I'm just guessing." Fang Mu didn't want to say much. He took the book list from Sun Laoshi and left the library quickly.

After being locked in his dorm room for an entire day, Fang Mu called Tai Wei. He first inquired about the hospital investigation, and Tai Wei replied that due to the large number of cases to be investigated, it would take some time and no valuable clues had been found yet. The interviews around the crime scene were still ongoing. Fang Mu told Tai Wei that he had read some books on blood diseases and mental disorders, and he felt that this person may have been to a mental hospital for treatment or counseling.

"So, if you have time, we can go to the mental hospital to investigate together," Fang Mu paused for a moment, "But it's better to do it quickly, because that person will soon commit another crime."

"You're here?"

"Are you busy? Am I bothering you?"

"No, it's okay, come in and sit down."

"Reading books?"

"Just browsing. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Coffee."

"I only have instant coffee, is that okay?"

"That's fine."

"Okay, scratch that, I see that you haven't been sleeping well, I'll just give you water."

"Sure."

"Here you go, be careful, it's hot."

"Thank you. Wow, the books you're reading are quite complex. 'Blood Diseases and Mental Disorders', 'Psychogenic Mental Disorders', and this one is 'The Study on... '"

"'The Study on Agoraphobia.' It's a study on agoraphobia."

"Agoraphobia, what does that mean?"

"Simply put, agoraphobia is when a person has a fear of any situation that could make them feel helpless and frightened. It's similar to acrophobia."

"Oh, it's a fear disorder, right?"

"Ha, it's quite similar."

"You are quite knowledgeable, understanding all this."

"Just reading for fun. By the way, how did the method I taught you last time work? Was it effective?"

"Uh, it's okay."

"Can you tell me what you are afraid of?"

"... Nothing."

"Ha, relax. For many things, if you look at them from a different angle, your perception of them might change. For example..."

Clicking of the mouse.

"Among these animals, which one are you afraid of?"

"Um, mice."

"Mice, okay. Look, this is a picture of a mouse. Ha, don't be nervous, does it still scare you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Okay, don't be nervous. Have you been bitten by a mouse when you were young?"

"No."

"Any of your family members afraid of mice?"

"My mom."

"When you were young, did your mom often take you out to play?"

"Yes."

"Did you see a mouse when you were with your mom?"

"Yes."

"How was it at that time?"

"Once, when my mom was carrying me to kindergarten, we passed by a garden, and a mouse suddenly ran past her. My mom was so scared that she screamed and quickly ran away, almost throwing me out. Another time, there was a dead mouse in front of our door. My mom was so scared that she didn't dare to approach it. She held my hand and stood at the door for a long time, until the neighbor took away the dead mouse, and then we went back home."

"Ha, I understand. Do you love your mom?"

"Of course."

"If your mom were in danger, would you protect her?"

"Of course."

"How old is your mom?"

"Well, 51."

"Okay, imagine this scene: your mom with white hair — has your mother's hair turned white?"

"The hair around her temples has turned white."

"Okay, let's continue. It's winter, there's a strong wind outside, and your mom, with her white hair, is shivering in the wind. In front of her, there is a mouse blocking her way. It's a big mouse with black fur and red eyes, staring at your mom intently. You don't need to shiver, be brave."

"Okay... okay."

"Your mom is trying to find a way around, but the mouse is blocking her path. She's anxious and scared, tears streaming down her face as she mutters, 'What should I do, what should I do?' Are you willing to protect your mom?"

"I am willing!"

"Sit down. Look at it, it's less than a foot long, you just need to step on it and crush it, and it won't scare your mom anymore."

"Yes."

"Go protect your mom! Step forward and crush it."

The chair suddenly fell, and the room was filled with the sound of footsteps as Fang Mu stomped on the ground.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Do you want some water?"

"No, thank you."

"Take a deep breath. Good, good. Here, look at this picture again. Are you still afraid?"

"A little better now."

"It's not worth being afraid of, it's just a despicable little thing. Be brave for your mom's sake."

"Yes. Um, I'm feeling better now."

"Wipe your sweat."

"Thank you. You should be a psychologist."

"A psychologist? No, I just enjoy exploring the human mind."

"Really, teacher. I feel very relaxed and happy when I'm with you."

"That's good, I'm willing to help you."

"You know, you remind me of a friend of mine."