Qingmu stared blankly at the rows of cypresses racing past the window. A thin mist veiled the distant mountains, which cast enormous shadows.
Hu Xing thought her question had stunned Qingmu senseless. She burst out laughing and said, "You haven't actually killed anyone, have you? Hey, why aren't you saying anything?"
Qingmu turned back and said, "Why would I tell you police officers if I'd killed someone? Don't ask me such idiotic questions again!"
"You..."
Hu Xing was so angry she wanted to rip out the steering wheel and smash it over Qingmu's head. She really had no idea what brand of paste filled this fellow's skull!
"Go on. How did you know the scene in his dream wasn't real?" Hu Xing said irritably.
"Have you heard the story about the Native Americans who couldn't see ships?" Qingmu asked.
Hu Xing shook her head.
"On October 12, 1492, Columbus discovered the Americas and first landed on Watling Island in the Bahama Islands. When their fleet approached Watling Island, the Native Americans on the island noticed nothing. Even when the Europeans appeared before them, the Native Americans were still wondering where these people who looked like them had come from. In fact, their flagship, the Santa María, was twenty-three meters long. With the sails on the entire fleet's masts spread out, the sight was spectacular. There was no way an ordinary person could fail to see it."
"The Native Americans failed to see what was right in front of them because they had no concept of sailing ships in their minds, nor any memories of them. When the sailing ships appeared, their consciousness briefly opted for 'selective blindness,' because they couldn't combine the memories in their brains to give what was before their eyes a reasonable explanation."
Hu Xing thought for a moment and said, "Now that you mention it, I think I remember. I've read stories about that before, but I always thought they were just distorted tales passed around. Put that way, though, it does make some sense. It wasn't really that their eyes couldn't see, but that they weren't aware of it. So even though their brains received the visual information, they didn't react in time. Is that right?"
"Exactly!" Qingmu said. "All the material that makes up dreams comes from our memories. People can't see things beyond their knowledge in dreams. In other words, you can't dream of something you've never seen."
"For example, a person from the United Kingdom who has never encountered Chinese won't dream of Chinese characters. Even if he's heard about their features, such as their square shape, their pictographic nature, and so on, all he can do in a dream is simulate a script made up of letters, images, or things he's seen, such as cuneiform. He can't dream of real Chinese characters with horizontal strokes, vertical strokes, left-falling strokes, right-falling strokes, and dots."
"That's why all the ghosts, monsters, gods, demons, and aliens we see look like people, complete with noses and eyes."
Qingmu paused briefly and glanced at Hu Xing before continuing:
"Freud regarded sex as the most important component and cause of dreams, because sex is humanity's most instinctive need. Men and women alike have dreamed of the bodies of the opposite sex, but it's hard to be sure who that person is. This is especially true of adolescents, who may never have seen a complete body of the opposite sex."
"People often dream of someone of the opposite sex whom they like. But because they've never seen his or her body, only the face is real. The body might belong to a neighbor lady you peeped at while she was bathing when you were little, or to some performer in a Japanese adult film. If you aren't so certain about whom you like, even the face in the dream can keep changing."
Hu Xing cut in, "You mean the person that fellow dreamed of wasn't any one person at all, but a composite of all the women he's seen?"
Qingmu nodded. "Exactly. Maybe women he loved, maybe women he hated."
"That's incredible." Hu Xing suddenly recalled many of her own dreams, and her face abruptly burned.
The car turned onto a narrow road surrounded by small, worked-out stone quarries. Many of the pits were full of water. They stopped in front of a large pond.
Deputy Captain Gao got out and pointed at the pond ahead. "This used to be a large stone quarry. After quarrying was banned, someone used it as a fishpond. Later, there was an accident, and the operation was shut down for rectification. It's been abandoned ever since. The victim was found here, but this wasn't the primary crime scene, so there aren't any valuable clues."
Hu Xing was just about to suggest taking another look when Qingmu said, "Oh, yes, there couldn't possibly be any clues here! So, Deputy Captain, please head back. We're going back too!"
Are you messing with me?
Deputy Captain Gao's eyes widened. He really wanted to sink this fellow's corpse to the bottom of the lake. He couldn't put up with accompanying them any longer, either. Without a word, he got into his car and slammed the door, then pointed at Qingmu. "You little punk! I'll remember you!"
Hu Xing found it amusing. She didn't like this potbellied, overbearing Deputy Captain Gao anyway, so she didn't step in to smooth things over.
Watching Deputy Captain Gao's car disappear into the distance, Hu Xing asked Qingmu, "What do we do now?"
Qingmu said, "Isn't that up to you?"
Hu Xing thought about it and decided that seemed right, but a moment later she realized he had led her astray. He was clearly the one who had suggested coming to inspect the scene! Then, once they arrived, he said they wouldn't look after all, infuriating the deputy captain of a county criminal investigation brigade so much that he could barely get his words out.
So Hu Xing said, "We police officers have to listen to the public's opinions too."
Qingmu said, "Then let's go back to sleep."
Hu Xing said, "I knew you'd say something flippant. All right, what exactly do you want to do? Out with it!"
Qingmu said, "You investigated Ma Fuqing, so you know where he lives, right?"
"Yes," Hu Xing said.
Qingmu said, "Open the navigation app and bring up all the routes from here to Ma Fuqing's home."
"Hah, why do I get the feeling you sound more and more like our Captain Shi?" Hu Xing teased as she opened the navigation app, then exclaimed, "Oh! It's actually this close-less than fifteen kilometers."
She pointed out the navigation results to Qingmu. "This is where we are now, in Lu County. This is Ma Fuqing's home, in Tong County. I never expected the two places to be so close."
Qingmu shook his head. "There's not much to look at here, either."
"Then why did you tell me to check the navigation?" Hu Xing demanded angrily.
Qingmu said, "You police can take your time investigating whatever needs investigating. Let's go see whether Ma Fuqing is in."
Hu Xing hadn't been able to find any more information about Ma Fuqing in the system. All she knew was that he was an ordinary villager from Majia Creek in Tong County who worked away from home year-round, and that he had an elderly mother and a mentally unstable younger brother at home.
Qingmu and Hu Xing first drove around Majia Creek, then parked on an empty patch of ground at the entrance to the village and went in.
The weather was very hot, and hardly anyone was outside. They finally encountered a middle-aged woman and managed to get directions.
"Oh, you're looking for Fuqing? Just back there, that little two-story house."
Qingmu and Hu Xing thanked the woman, followed the narrow path around a bend, and arrived at Ma Fuqing's front door, where they rang the bell.
Doorbells in the countryside were either broken or exceptionally loud. For a moment, Hu Xing was reminded of the bell between classes at her elementary school.
An old woman answered the door and asked whom they were looking for. They said they were looking for Ma Fuqing.
"What do you want with him?" The old woman looked rather unfriendly.
Hu Xing said, "We're Ma Fuqing's friends..."
Before she could finish, the old woman slammed the door shut and said coldly, "He's not here."
Shut out at the door, Hu Xing almost pulled out her credentials to handle things in an official capacity. She exchanged a glance with Qingmu and rang the bell again.
After another long while, the door opened.
This time, it was Ma Fuqing who answered.