Lei Mi - Profiler

Instantly a plainclothes cop appeared beneath him. With a cold look in his eyes, he asked, "Where's the registration slip for that hammer?"

Glancing contemptuously down at him, the student said, "I don't have one."

Liu Jianjun, who was helping to hold up the poster, quickly explained. "It doesn't belong to the maintenance department. It's from our dorm."

As soon as he heard this, the cop walked over and pulled on the student's pant leg. "Get down."

"What do you think you're doing?" yelled the student.

"Give me your student ID card!"

"I don't have it!" returned the student, shaking the cop off his leg.

The cop's face went dark and he kicked at the ladder. "Get down here!"

The student staggered atop the ladder, nearly falling. Now he, too, was enraged. "You trying to kill me?" he yelled, pointing the hammer at the cop's face. "You can't catch the killer, so you've decided to throw your weight around with the students, huh? You guys are real brave. How the hell did our country produce trash like you?"

The cop's face immediately set hard as steel. He reached up and pulled the student off the ladder.

Fang Mu hurriedly tried to break it up, but before he could say anything, Tai Wei had sprinted over and grabbed the cop, who had just begun rolling up his sleeves.

"What's going on?" Tai Wei asked the student. "Where's your student ID?"

By now the student was a little afraid. "I didn't bring it," he said quietly.

Liu Jianjun quickly spoke up. "He's a chemistry major. His name is Qin Dahai. I can vouch for him."

"And who are you?" asked Tai Wei.

"I'm at the law school. My name is Liu Jianjun." He pointed at Fang Mu. "He can vouch for me."

Fang Mu quickly turned to Tai Wei and nodded.

"Then whose hammer is this?" said Tai Wei, looking at Fang Mu.

"Our dorm's," he said.

Tai Wei took the hammer and weighed it in his hand for a moment. Then he passed it back. "Keep an eye on it. Don't lend it out and don't lose it. I hope you can support our work here."

"Yes, sir," said Liu Jianjun, quickly nodding his head. He pulled on the sleeve of the other student. The miffed student softly and reluctantly said, "Yes, sir."

The plainclothes cop was still livid. Patting him on the shoulder, Tai Wei said, "All right, go on and get back to work."

"These little brats," muttered the cop, still fuming. "We work from dawn to dusk to protect them and the bastards still don't — "

"Enough!" yelled Tai Wei, cutting him off. "Get back on patrol."

"Yes, sir!" The cop glared once more at the student, and then spun around and walked off.

When he was some distance away, Tai Wei shook his head and sighed. "It's not their fault. They've been working day and night recently. Now they're exhausted, so it's no wonder tempers are flaring a little."

Fang Mu smiled to show he understood. When he turned back around, he saw that Liu Jianjun and the other students were still awkwardly standing around. He hurried to smooth things over.

"What are you guys up to? Is some event coming up?"

Liu Jianjun gave a big smile. "Tomorrow night the provincial basketball team is going to play our school team in a friendly match." He pointed at the poster. "Su Jun will be there, too. You know the guy's on the national team, right?"

"Whoa! That's awesome." Fang Mu couldn't help but feel a little envious.

"Man, I told you! You should have joined the team. You could be competing against one of the top players in the country."

"I wouldn't have a chance," said Fang Mu, laughing and playing it cool, although inside he really wished he could take part as well.

He looked back at Tai Wei. The guy was frowning deeply. Fang Mu knew exactly what he was thinking. Working security at an event this big would be astronomically difficult. There would be a ton of spectators and a million things to watch for. The scene did not lend itself to being easily controlled. If they messed up, the killer could use this as an opportunity to strike.

Of course, none of this had occurred to Liu Jianjun.

"Tomorrow you'll have to come and cheer me on!" he said, glowing with excitement.

By then Tai Wei had already started walking away. Fang Mu gave Liu Jianjun a quick "I'll be there", and hurried to catch up with Tai Wei.

"How the hell did the school not tell us about this sooner?" asked Tai Wei angrily. He shook his head and waved Fang Mu away. "You get back to your dorm. I need to go and figure out how we're going to secure this thing. Oh, and be careful."

Having no choice, Fang Mu just nodded and said, "Okay."

The following evening, the basketball game began on schedule in the school gymnasium.

The gymnasium was a fully functioning sports arena, with a court that conformed to international standards and retractable bleachers that could seat over 2,000 people. Although the game wasn't set to begin until 7:30, by 6 p.m. students had already filled every seat and even the aisles were packed tight.

Zou Tuanjie and the rest of the diehard fans had long since hurried to the stadium and saved seats, two of which belonged to Du Yu and Fang Mu. The two of them waited until nearly 7 p.m. to begin strolling over to the stadium. As they reached the stadium steps, Fang Mu saw Deng Linyue and a group of girls walk past, chatting happily. A teacher standing nearby yelled impatiently, "Let's go, let's go! What took you ladies so long? Hurry up and get changed."

"Cheerleaders," said Du Yu, staring at all the gorgeously dressed girls. He grinned. "With beauties like that cheering him on, Liu Jianjun will be showing off for sure."

After squeezing through the jam-packed crowd and stepping on more feet than they could count, Fang Mu and Du Yu finally arrived at their seats. Before they could catch their breath, the sound of whistles and excited applause filled the stadium, followed by an earth-shattering roar. Looking up, Fang Mu saw a pack of scantily-clad girls run out to center court and begin dancing, with Deng Linyue in the lead.

At once everyone's attention shifted from thoughts of the game about start to the sight of the girls' legs, particularly their thighs. Du Yu's mouth was hanging wide open and his eyes were fixed straight ahead. Fang Mu found this hilarious and he reached over and handed him a tissue.

"What's this for?" asked Du Yu.

"To wipe the saliva off your mouth."

Du Yu laughed and socked Fang Mu on the arm.

After a few minutes, the cheerleaders' dance routine ended. A very loud and clear noise sounded overhead, announcing that the game was about to start.

Suddenly, as the announcer began to speak, all the lights in the gymnasium went out, save for the spotlight, which shined brightly on the entrance to the court. The players from the provincial team appeared first. They ran out under the light, one enormous athlete after another, as their familiar names echoed throughout the gymnasium. They stood imposingly across center court. The last to emerge was Su Jun, the member of the national team, and as soon as his name was announced, the crowd erupted, screaming and whistling so loud that it seemed the roof would blow off the building.

Next came the members of the JiangbinCityUniversity team. As they entered the arena under the glare of the spotlight, they appeared much more flustered than their professional counterparts. One point guard even slipped and fell as he was about to reach the court, causing the whole crowd to laugh good-naturedly. As team captain, Liu Jianjun was last to enter, and Fang Mu noticed that when he appeared the cheerleaders seemed to scream extraordinarily loud. Liu Jianjun made a point to grandstand as he ran out, waving at all the spectators.

The game began. Although the members of the provincial team were treating it like a practice match, the play was obviously one-sided. Compared to the professionals — whose average height was around 6'4" — the students looked tiny, clumsy, and scared. At the end of the first quarter, the provincial team was already leading 35-6.