Profiler

CHAPTER 1

Jiangbin City had been having an unusually muggy spring. The trees were still bare, without a single green bud in sight, but the temperature was already over 65 degrees. It was on one such hot day that Tai Wei came flying down the road in his jeep, impatiently buttoning his shirt as he drove.

He was on edge, but it wasn't just because of the weather. In his ten years on the police force, Tai Wei had never faced a case as thorny as this one.

On March 14, 2002, in Building 32 of the Brilliant Pearl Residential Area at 83 Taipei Street in the Hongyuan District of Jiangbin City, Ms Chen — female, Han Chinese, 31-year-old — was murdered in her home, Apartment 402. According to the autopsy, the victim died sometime between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, due to mechanical asphyxiation. There were deep bruises on the victim's neck, making strangulation the clear cause of death. An investigation of the crime scene did not find any sign that the apartment had been ransacked, nor that any valuables were taken. As a result, it was deemed unlikely that the murder had happened during the course of a robbery. The victim was discovered naked from the waist up, however from the waist down she was clothed normally, and there was no sign of sexual assault. All in all, it did not have the makings of an ordinary burglary, rape and murder case. But the strangest part was that after the victim was dead, the killer had disemboweled her with a knife, which was then left at the crime scene. The victim's husband later identified this as one of their kitchen knives. The scene itself was horrifying, covered in the victim's blood and viscera. In the kitchen, police located a cup containing trace amounts of an unknown liquid. Tests later determined this to be a mixture of milk and the victim's blood.

This couldn't help but cause those involved to think of a certain mythical monster-the vampire.

Over the following month and a half, two more victims were murdered in their homes. Both were women, between the ages of 25 and 35, and both were found disemboweled. A container, holding remnants of a mixture of blood and other matter, was also found at each scene.

In this mid-sized city of two million residents, homicides were common enough to be almost trivial; however these murders were so savage and strange that they raised a storm of suspicion. All across JiangbinCity, rumors were soon flying back and forth. Had an ancient vampire been revived from its thousand-year slumber? Had the biological weapons left behind by the Japanese invaders during World War II caused some terrible genetic mutation? And these were just the beginning. City Hall started paying attention, too, and they ordered the Public Security Bureau to crack the case as soon as possible.

A special investigation team was quickly established, but one week had passed since then with no progress whatsoever. Just as things were beginning to look bad, Ding Shucheng, a Changhong City Criminal Police officer visiting JiangbinCity on police business, made a startling suggestion: they should talk to a certain Criminology post-grad studying at JiangbinCityUniversity.

Tai Wei was one of the leaders of the special team, and at first he thought Ding Shucheng was joking. But the visiting officer swore he was not, and told Tai Wei the following story.

In the summer of 2001, four successive acts of rape and murder were committed in ChanghongCity. The four victims were all female, white-collar workers between the ages of 25 and 30, and after being raped, all four were strangled to death with a rope. The murders took place on the top floor balcony of four different high-rises that were then still under construction. At the time, Xing Zhisen, Ding Shucheng's direct superior and the leader of ChanghongCity's Criminal Police Unit, had just been promoted to Deputy Director of the entire Public Security Bureau, and he wasted no time in making his presence felt. After revealing the case to the local media, he appeared on television and promised that it would be cracked within two weeks. Two days later, a letter appeared on the desk of the special investigation team. Its writer had watched Deputy Director Xing's recent TV appearance, and in the letter he asserted that the killer was a sexual psychopath unable to have normal relationships with women, which caused him to exercise his desires through rape and murder. The writer even went so far as to conclude that the killer was less than 30-year-old.

At first, the policemen who read the letter assumed it was no more than the amateur effort of some detective fiction fanatic, and they ignored it. But when Deputy Director Xing heard about it, he was intrigued, and he assigned someone to investigate the letter writer's background. Once it was determined that the writer was one Fang Mu, a senior at Changhong City Teacher's College, Deputy Director Xing became very excited, and had Fang Mu brought to the station at once. After the two of them spoke privately in Xing's office for half an hour, the Deputy Director personally drove Fang Mu to each of the four crime scenes. When they returned, all the data from all four murders was brought to Deputy Director Xing's office, where Fang Mu pored over it in detail. Later that night (as according to the autopsies, the murders had each taken place between 10 and 11 pm), Fang Mu was driven back to the crime scenes. This time, Ding Shucheng came along as well. While on the exposed top floor of one of the buildings (which, at the time, happened to be the tallest of the four), the kid stood in silence for a very long time.

Finally, he said something that Ding Shucheng would never forget.

"He's not raping those women, he's raping the city!"

When they returned to the station, Fang Mu made the following suggestions to the special investigation team: First, search every seedy video playhouse in the city, especially those located near construction sites, for a right-handed, short-haired, fairly thin man between 20- and 25-years-old, standing 5'3" to 5'5", wearing glasses, a watch on his left hand and with a scratch on his left wrist, and possessing no more than a high school education. Second, conduct a citywide search of every construction team with projects underway for a man with the above-mentioned characteristics. Third, investigate the towns and villages near ChanghongCity for evidence of a former resident with said characteristics who failed the College Entrance Exam and then moved to the city to work-with an emphasis on only children with no female elders, or boys with older brothers but no sisters. He even went so far as to say that at the time of the killer's arrest, he would likely be wearing a white-collared dress shirt.

Hearing this seemingly wild-eyed speculation, the members of the special investigation team remained somewhat unconvinced; however Deputy Director Xing ordered that they begin searching for a suspect according to Fang Mu's advice. Two days later, the boss of a small video playhouse by the train station said that she knew a man who fit those characteristics; he worked at a nearby construction site. The workers from that site would often arrive in groups to watch movies, however this man always came alone, and only in the hours after midnight when pornographic films were shown. One time, while he was at the theater watching such a film, another worker from his site arrived, and at once the man blushed red from embarrassment and sneaked out. This event left a deep impression on the theater boss, and as a result she remembered the man well.

The police then traveled to the construction site in question, and with the theater boss in tow, they located the man in one of the on-site work sheds. His name was Huang Yongxiao, and he was the project's surveyor. As soon as the police produced identification and asked to see Huang Yongxiao's left wrist, the man leaped to his feet and attempted to flee, however he was quickly apprehended. After being brought back to the station for interrogation, Huang Yongxiao admitted that he had raped and killed the four women, and confessed to everything.

Huang Yongxiao was 21-year-old, a high school graduate, and a former resident of the town of Batai, near ChanghongCity. After flunking the College Entrance Exam in 2000, he decided to redo his final year of high school and retake the test; however, he failed again. Afterwards, he followed his paternal uncle and moved to ChanghongCity. There he worked on numerous construction projects, but never on any for long. Later, with the help of his uncle, he was recommended to this most recent project, and because he had a high school education, was made a surveyor. Huang Yongxiao had always impressed people as a nice, quiet young man, so it was shocking to learn that he had committed these horrifying crimes.

It also did not pass unnoticed that at the time of his arrest, Huang Yongxiao was wearing a white-collared dress shirt-which, although very old, had been washed exceedingly clean.

Fang Mu's description of the killer's appearance, family background, work environment, and lifestyle were startling close to those of Huang Yongxiao. The only discrepancies were that Huang's parents had divorced several years ago and he had no brothers, only an older sister who had gone to live with their mother and her new husband, and with whom he had long-since lost contact. But despite these errors, the officers of the special investigation team had already begun treating Fang Mu, this unremarkable-looking young man, with newfound respect. They even went so far as to wonder whether he'd actually been present during Huang Yongxiao's crimes-for how else could his judgments have been so accurate?

Fang Mu explained himself as follows: Based on his analysis of the crime scenes and the data, he had learned that all four victims had had their pants pulled down just below their knees, and their knees themselves scratched up. Also, traces of skin had been discovered on the balcony railings of each building and that skin perfectly matched the respective scrapes found on the breasts of the four women. This suggested that the killer had chosen to rape his victims from behind.

This was a most significant position.

First of all, if a man either holds down a woman's torso or grabs her arms while he is entering her from behind, her ability to struggle will be extremely diminished. And because the women's pants were down around their knees, their leg movements would have been restricted as well. Consequently, this position is the least likely to encounter any effective resistance on the part of the victim.

Second, from a psychosexual standpoint, doggy-style is the most primitive sexual position; as a result, it gives the man the most intense feelings of "conquering" and satisfaction. Therefore, for the man, it is far more psychologically arousing than any other position.

When Fang Mu had stood atop those buildings under the dark sky, he had been given a panoramic view of the whole nighttime cityscape: the immense buildings ablaze with lights in the distance ahead, the flickering river of cars rushing far below his feet.

Savagely thrusting back and forth. The woman beneath him: high class, well-dressed, struggling in vain. The city arrayed before his eyes, filling his heart with delight.

Fang Mu closed his eyes.

Somewhere out there, in some luxury apartment, there's a man anxiously waiting for his wife to come home. Whoever you are, I bet you'd never guess that right now I'm raping your woman-straddling her like a dog!

In his eyes, the whole city was probably nothing more than a gigantic cunt.

And in that moment, he must have felt the delight of conquering it-of conquering the entire city.

Which meant that, in reality, this guy had to be a loser.

Since the killer was raping and murdering his victims as a way of venting his hatred for society, sexual behavior had to possess a special significance for him. The mystery of it must have made him far more curious and excited than the average person. But at the same time, these feelings must have caused him deep shame. When boys are able to form normal relationships with girls from a young age, these sorts of excessively strong feelings toward sex will lessen as their socialization increases. Therefore, the killer was very likely a man unable to form such relationships. And as is often the case with such individuals, he probably grew up in an environment that lacked female affection. Additionally, given his psychological makeup, he was certain to be quite young-for as he grew older, this aberrant sexual fixation would likely be eliminated through normal social experience. And because these problems generally arise during adolescence, an older man still suffering from them would long since have committed a similar crime-however, nothing of the sort had been seen in the city in years.

Thus, the murderer: Male, 25 or younger, from a home with either no female elders or only brothers, and with a history of failure.

As for the location of the crimes, the top floor of an unfinished building clearly satisfied the killer's psychological need to conquer the city. At the same time, it showed that he was familiar with this sort of environment. Therefore, the killer was likely to have had experience working at a construction site.

And given his low wages and psychosexual aberrance, it was probable that he used pornography. Prostitutes? Unlikely, though even if he had visited them, it couldn't have been too many times. His economic situation simply wouldn't allow for it.

Those seedy video playhouses, which often showed pornographic films after midnight, were much more fitting.

According to the autopsy reports, one of the victims had lost a fingernail from her left hand, which was found near her supine corpse. Notably, her body had the fewest cuts and bruises of all the women, meaning that during the rape she must have struggled less violently than the others. The fingernail had probably been torn off afterwards, once the killer had begun to strangle the woman, causing her to fight for her life. Traces of skin tissue (Blood Type A) not belonging to the victim were also found on her broken fingernail. This meant that it probably ripped while the woman was digging her nails into the body of her killer. Because he was strangling her from behind, she would not have been able to reach much of his body, making it highly likely that she had scratched him around the hands and wrists.

Fang Mu also paid particular attention to the fact that the fingernail had torn rather than snapped. This suggested that while the victim was raking her nails across the killer's skin, some object had gotten in the way and ripped one of them off. What kind of thing, worn on the hand or wrist, could do something like that? Fang Mu immediately thought of a watch, and likely a metallic one at that. For a construction worker to wear a metallic watch was rather outside the norm. This man definitely wanted to demonstrate that he was different than those around him.

In that case, he was probably someone who possessed a certain amount of education.

So then, someone no older than 25, with a decent education, a history of failure, and experience working at construction sites.

The likely culprit: a young man from the countryside who failed the College Entrance Exam.

If that's who he was, then there would also be other ways for him to show he was different than the peasant workers laboring at the construction site.

For example, he could keep his hair short and perfectly clean, rather than long and greasy like theirs. Glasses would proclaim his status as an "intellectual", and a white dress shirt would look very different than their cement-stained work clothes.

In sum, he should be rather thin with short hair, wearing a white dress shirt and a metallic watch on his left wrist; there should also be scratches on the skin nearby. And, the fact that he wore his watch on his left wrist meant that he was likely right-handed.

Once Fang Mu had finished relating the grounds for his conclusions, the members of the special investigation team were silent. Each man's face wore a complex expression. Indeed, now that every step of his reasoning process had been explained in painstaking detail, cracking the case seemed perfectly natural-the simplest thing in the world. Yet, how many people could have even taken the correct first step?

At last, it was Xing Zhisen who broke the silence. "Man, you should have just told us Huang Yongxiao's name from the start and saved us all this trouble."

Everyone roared with laughter.

Everyone but Fang Mu, that is. The whole time he remained staring at the floorboards beneath his feet, lost in thought.

After that everything went smoothly, and Huang Yongxiao's trial date was soon scheduled. By this point the people of ChanghongCity were all praising the incredible speed with which the police had cracked the case. Xing Zhisen wanted to give Fang Mu some kind of reward (he had already explained to him, tactfully, that the police could never publicly announce that the case had been solved with the assistance of a 22-year-old university student, and Fang Mu had indicated that he understood). However, Fang Mu refused to accept anything. So Xing Zhisen asked Fang Mu if he had any requests. Fang Mu's answer was simple: He wanted to speak alone and in person with Huang Yongxiao before he went to trial.

Many people were filled with curiosity about this face-to-face chat; however Fang Mu persisted, and in the end the bureau arranged it so that he could speak one time with Huang Yongxiao, by himself and uninterrupted. The conversation lasted more than two hours. Fang Mu jotted notes the whole time. When it was over he had filled half a notebook and recorded two tapes. Ding Shucheng once listened to a segment of the recording, and based on what he heard, it seemed that the talk barely involved the case itself. Fang Mu seemed to be much more interested in Huang Yongxiao's life experiences, from as far back as he could remember up until he was 21.

When Huang Yongxiao was five, his parents divorced. His mother then remarried, taking his big sister, who was one year older than he, to live with her new husband in another town; from then on Huang Yongxiao lived with his father. Although he was an introverted child not given to speaking with others, Huang Yongxiao was extremely studious, and everyone believed that he was the likeliest of the village students to test into the university. When he was eight, Huang Yongxiao accidentally discovered his father secretly having sex with a local married woman, and was given a harsh beating because of it. Then, when he was 14 and attending middle school, Huang Yongxiao was led by an older girl into the nearby mountains. When the girl took Huang Yongxiao's hand and placed it on her naked breast, he was terribly frightened and ran as fast as he could back down the mountain. But two years later, when the 16-year-old Huang Yongxiao was out working in the fields, he suddenly forced the girl laboring beside him-his classmate and someone with whom he'd always gotten along well-to the ground, where he began to wildly kiss and grope her all over. The girl was so scared she began to scream at the top of her lungs, alerting the other villagers who ran over and saved her.

Later, through Huang Yongxiao's father's compensatory gift of a donkey and the mediation of the village elders, the event blew over, but from then on his academic achievements suffered a disastrous decline. At last, after twice failing the College Entrance Exam, he followed his uncle into the city to find employment. Within a year he had worked at a total of five construction sites, moving from one to the next, and had experienced more than his share of rejection and supercilious looks from the city's populace. Because of his introverted and rather proud and aloof personality, he did not remain at any site for long. In his free time, Huang Yongxiao would go to a nearby video playhouse to watch kung fu movies. It was here that he saw his first pornographic film. Afterwards, things quickly got out of hand. All day long his head would be filled with images of the porn actress' overpoweringly seductive bodies, until finally, late one night, he followed a white-collar woman on her way home…

After that, Fang Mu more or less became the Changhong City Public Security Bureau's "special consultant", and with his assistance, two more murders were solved, as well as a kidnapping case and another involving extortion. In each, Fang Mu's description of the suspect's characteristics proved a huge help in cracking the case.