Case Files Chapter 101: Horror at the Studio (10)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

It was dark in New York, but the lights were still shining.

Lu YunYang was sitting by himself in a room, staring at the tuna sandwich on the table in front of him. Then, he picked up his phone and looked at the first contact before looking back at the sandwich. This back and forth went on for a while.

Exactly what kind of complicated relationship was there between Guan Jin, Hei Xiao, Tony, and this innocent sandwich that had been dragged into things? Lu YunYang was very keen and intelligent, but he was stumped by this. The reasoning seemed very clear, but because he was missing a very important link, he had no way of forming a logical relationship. Exactly what was he missing? Or was there a flaw somewhere?

Lu YunYang wondered what Guan Jin was doing right now. In the end, he couldn’t help but press the call button.

However, before he could, his phone started ringing on its own, and “Dear Wife” appeared on the screen. Lu YunYang picked up practically within one second.

“Darling.”

Guan Jin seemed to be taken aback, and he was silent for a bit before saying, “How come you picked up so fast?”

“I hold my phone everyday, eagerly awaiting your calls and texts.”

“Come on, you’re on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, don’t make me throw up my afternoon tea,” Guan Jin said bluntly. “Are you free to talk right now?”

“Mn, I’m almost done taking care of things.”

“Your celebrity brother-in-law is causing trouble again, you know.”

Lu YunYang stood up and walked to the window. “I know. My older brother happened to fly to the States that night, but right when the plane landed, he received the news and flew right back.”

Guan Jin tsked. “His love really is as deep as the sea.”

“Little Jin, don’t envy them, I won’t lose to my brother.”

“You’re secretly in love with your brother-in-law?”

“…Don’t say that in front of my brother.”

“Anyway, back to business. Don’t you think that all this is really strange? It all keeps coming back to Yan Qing.” Guan Jin said as he paced back and forth.

“True, but before, it didn’t affect Yan Qing that much. The first two murders to frame Yan Qing didn’t work, so they were like a calculation error, although that doesn’t make sense. The killer killing people is also a goal, and framing Yan Qing might be incidental, or it could be two birds with one stone. I’m worried this will continue.”

“It seemed that way after the team’s discussion from before. However, we’ve been investigating for a long time without much progress, as if we’ve missed the key points.” Guan Jin definitely wouldn’t say that he was seeking a different thought process, but Lu YunYang immediately understood.

“The killer is very cautious and doesn’t leave any traces at the crime scenes. It’s clear that their planning is very thorough and bold. Since it’s very hard to determine a motive from the evidence, we’ll have to rely on observations of your suspects.”

“Observations? These types of psychotic killers are usually very confident, and that group of people act all day, so they’re even better than the average person at pretending.” Guan Jin thought back to their earlier interviews; it seemed that no one was telling the truth, but it was also hard to put a finger on exactly which part they were lying about.

“Look at the killer’s methodology. They’re obsessed with scenes from movies and bring their victims into the movies. At the same time, they bring themself into the movie as well. I believe that the killer has been unwittingly acting in a play they are directing. However, even though the killer is an excellent actor and acts vividly, there will still be flaws. Why do people like to watch movies? Because these feelings and conflicts that come from life are glorified, so people yearn for people or things from movies to be real. Similarly, if there is a person who is acting among real people, they will definitely be different, because they’ll purposely do things that people like them wouldn’t do. They’ll say things they normally wouldn’t say, pay attention to things they normally wouldn’t. They aren’t living, they’re acting out a role on their own stage. Precisely because they are so invested in the role and act well in it, they’ll forget about it and unintentionally expose themself.”

Lu YunYang stopped talking. On the other end, Guan Jin was silent, and he seemed to be thinking. After a while, he suddenly asked, “What are you doing right now?”

Lu YunYang’s eyes lit up, and he immediately cast his thoughts about the case to the back of his mind. “I’m about to eat a late-night meal.”

“A late-night meal?”

“A sandwich with a very unique taste.”

“How interesting.”

“It’s really good, I ate one at the store earlier and even brought another back to analyze it.”

“You’re analyzing a sandwich? Are you going to change your career to be a chef?”

“I’ve always been your personal chef, but since the industry is so competitive nowadays, I must keep learning and refine my cooking skills in order to satisfy my lord’s excellent food-tasting genes.”

Guan Jin humphed; that actually sounded pretty useful. “Then you can keep studying hard.” Then, he hung up.

…How unaffectionate, I didn’t even have time to say “I miss you”. Thus, the dissatisfied Professor Lu texted him:

[I miss you a lot. Remember to dream of me tonight~ xoxo]

He received a precious reply of two words: [You’re crazy.]

Professor Lu looked at the text for a while in satisfaction before putting his phone down and concentrating on analyzing the sandwich; this was his first priority!

---

“Miss Yu, I hope you don’t mind this sudden visit.” Wen JingHan sat down on a couch in Yu ManTing’s house.

“Of course not. You two officers are here for work, so I’ll naturally cooperate fully. It’s just that there’s been so many accidents lately, so I’m still a little shaken up.” Yu ManTing was wearing casual clothes and didn’t have any makeup on, but she was still dazzling.

“Miss Yu, were you close with the previous victim, Guo ZiZhen?” Guan Jin asked directly.

Yu ManTing’s expression didn’t change much, but Wen JingHan and Guan Jin keenly picked up on how she stiffened, almost imperceptibly.

“We didn’t work for the same company, and we’d never worked together before this. We only met when we started filming this movie. However, we didn’t have a lot of scenes together, so we didn’t talk much.” Yu ManTing picked up her cup of tea and slowly took a sip.

“Then do you know if anyone was sponsoring Guo ZiZhen?”

“In the entertainment industry, people are stepped on or supported all the time. It’s very normal,” she said vaguely.

“I heard that there’s actually a wealthy businessman supporting Guo ZiZhen. However, this businessman is already publicly in a relationship with another female actress in the industry, and they’re about to get married. Have you heard of this?” asked Wen JingHan.

“There’s news like this everywhere in the industry, but it’s not like anyone can verify whether it’s true or not,” Yu ManTing replied casually.

“We believe that this might be a motive behind Guo ZiZhen’s murder. I hope you can do your best to think back, any information would be of use to us.” Wen JingHan’s tone was gentle, but his deep, penetrating gaze was chilling. Yu ManTing looked up and happened to make eye contact, and couldn’t help but shiver slightly.

She pinched the armrest of the couch before finally looking a little exhausted as she said, “Officers, if that woman is smart enough, she should probably know that sooner or later, he’ll get bored, and when he does, he’ll want to return to the stable and peaceful family life and will give her an honorable marriage and a good life. Moreover, even if that man really does want to play around for the rest of his life, she can still choose other, better paths. Why put all her eggs into one basket?”

“Thanks for your information, Miss Yu. It’s been really helpful for us, and we’ll take our leave now.”

“That woman really is quite the character, being so vague with us and all.” Guan Jin was a little unhappy.

“When some things are said outright, it’s actually harder for everyone involved.”

“Do you believe her excuse?”

“I think that she’s a smart woman and wouldn’t do anything dumb. Moreover, tying a man to the door would be extremely difficult for her to do alone.”

Suddenly, Wen JingHan’s phone rang, and Lin Bai exclaimed on the other end, “Boss, something went wrong again! Look at the trending topics on Weibo!”

---

Yan Qing was sitting on a sofa in the CEO’s office, impassively browsing his phone. Mo Wei was furiously reprimanding someone on a phone call. Min Yan was sitting in his chair, though he seemed very calm.

“Say, boss, can’t you show some emotion, this will definitely have a negative impact on Yan Qing,” Mo Wei said helplessly to Min Yan after he hung up.

Min Yan drummed his fingers on his desk, still staring at the message on his screen that was being reposted countless times: [Yan Qing was at the scene where Zhang Xin was attacked, and he can’t produce an alibi. It’s because he was meeting a wealthy male businessman at the hotel, and according to reports, the businessman helped Yan Qing on his road to stardom. The heavenly king, whom millions of people admire, actually had to resort to such low tactics to get to the top!]

Min Yan’s landline suddenly rang, and he picked it up.

“President Min, I question your ability to protect your own artists. I hope you can take care of all of this as soon as possible, and I don’t want Yan Qing to be affected by this whatsoever, or else I’ll have to take care of matters myself,” a man said in irritation on the other end.

“Ah, Mr. Lu, don’t be so scary, just sit back and let us take care of it.”

Lu YuShen ignored him. “Is Yan Qing there with you?”

“He’s in my office.”

“I’ll come pick him up.”

“Yes, please do.”

---

“How’s it going? Did you find anything?” Guan Jin had been standing behind Lin Bai for a while.

“I found the IP address of the person who first posted it on Weibo, but just like the last time, it’s coming from a different public network that’s a large shopping mall. I reckon it’ll be difficult to find the suspect on surveillance cameras too.” Lin Bai scratched his head. “The company already deleted the messages right away, but it’s been forwarded so much that they couldn’t get all of them at once, and it’s already moved to other websites and discussion forums.”

“It looks like Yan Qing is in a pickle.” Ding Ding sighed.

“Having said that, this message isn’t necessarily false, right? It seems suspicious that Yan Qing would go to a hotel by himself to think about the movie. He must be hiding something,” Zheng Fei pointed out.

“The king of acting and a business tycoon… Could it be forced love?” Ding Ding’s expression changed a little.

“Stop! Don’t be so illogical.” This time, Chen QiaoYu unexpectedly didn’t start daydreaming with her. The others were just about to express their gratitude when she continued seriously, “It must be true love!”

…They shouldn’t have thought that this type of person could ever change.

“Okay, let’s get serious. It seems that this person’s ultimate goal is to drag Yan Qing through the mud. If it’s confirmed that Yan Qing really did get to the top like how the message said, his acting career might be ruined. If he wants to prove himself innocent in terms of his career, he can’t admit to being together with a man, but if he wants to prove himself innocent in terms of the law, he’ll have to admit that he’s affiliated with a wealthy businessman. In short, he now has to explain himself to us, as well as the public,” said Wen JingHan.

Everyone except for Guan Jin stared at Wen JingHan.

“So you’re saying that the message is true?!”

“Did I say that?” Wen JingHan’s expression was oblivious.

Everyone exclaimed indignantly, “Yes!”