Case Files Chapter 7: Debut (5)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

Guan Jin and Chen QiaoYu questioned the people on site and showed them pictures of Tan Qu. Unfortunately, most of them didn’t remember this type of ‘passerby’ that acted as extras.

“Have you seen this person before?” Guan Jin shoved the picture in front of someone who was clearly an extra. “He used to do the same job as you here.”

The thin young man glanced impatiently at the photo and was suddenly stunned.

This miniscule expression couldn’t escape Guan Jin’s eyes. He leaned forward. “You recognize him?”

“No, no, I don’t recognize him. I’ve never seen him before,” said the young man as he waved his hands frantically.

“Everyone here recognizes him, yet only you say that you don’t. It seems that you’re hiding something. Come on, come with me to the police station and let’s have a chat.” Guan Jin moved to grab the handcuffs hanging from his belt.

The young man balked, “Um, what, what does that mean? I recognize him, I recognize him!”

“Oh? First you say you don’t recognize him, and now you’re saying you do? Are you trying to commit perjury and trick the police?”

“Officer, please don’t scare me like this. I just didn’t see it clearly just then…” The young man wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Name?”

“Tan Qu.”

“I meant your name!”

“My name is Yang Guang. I’m from City X, and I came here to find a job. I met Tan Qu when we filmed a drama, and we were extras together in a costume drama for a long time.”

Guan Jin looked him up and down, “Come with me, we need to talk in detail.”

Yang Guang grimaced and followed Guan Jin as he walked towards Wen JingHan. Guan Jin pointed at Yang Guang, “This person is an extra here, and he says that he knows Tan Qu.” 

Wen JingHan nodded and continued to question Guo Tao and Li MeiXin, who were responsible for recruiting and managing extras. “So you’re saying that Tan Qu isn’t one of your signed actors?”

“Definitely not,” Li MeiXin shook her head. “The actors I recruit are usually of very high quality, and they’re not just background in a show. Some have even played some small roles, and I know all of them.”

“So you don’t have any recollection of him? The last show he participated in was at around the start of last year, you two don’t remember him?”

“Officer, the extras of that drama change everyday since they’re not fixed, so how would we remember him? And even if it was fixed, the person in this picture isn’t very special, so we definitely wouldn’t have paid attention to him,” said Guo Tao.

“You must have records of past actors, or else what would you do if there was a work injury or salary dispute? Just then, I saw some extras receive their salaries and sign a piece of paper,” said Chen QiaoYu as she walked over to them.

Guo Tao’s and Li MeiXin’s expressions changed a little. Guo Tao quickly said, “We’ve already finished the filming of the drama a long time ago, so we already threw away all of that information. After all, we’ve already paid out all the salaries, so there was no need to keep it.”

“Is that so?” Wen JingHan didn’t inquire further about the matter.

Li MeiXin fidgeted as she said, “If there’s nothing else, I——”

Screech! A car braked abruptly, interrupting her. A middle-aged man got off the Audi and ran towards them as he shouted, “Hurry up, the boss is coming and is going to arrive soon! Quick, get ready!”

Dong ChangLong, who was standing to the side, started sweating. “The boss? Manager Wang, which boss?”

“Which? How many bosses do you have, of course it’s President Min!”

The people present immediately panicked.

“Quick, prepare a few high-quality chairs.”

“Where’s the parasol?! We need a parasol!”

“Coffee, go buy some good coffee——”

However, they hadn’t finished preparing when a black limousine arrived and stopped at the side of the road. The limousine’s door opened, and a tall, handsome man wearing a light gray casual suit walked out.

“Boss, why have you taken the time to come here?” Manager Wang and Dong ChangLong bowed, and their smiles widened like blooming flowers.

“I’m just looking around,” Min Yan slowly walked over to them.

“Boss…” A gentle voice floated over, and it turned out that it was the idiotic male lead, Jiang Heng, that was rumored to have been helped by Min Yan.

Jiang Heng walked to Min Yan and said intimately, “How come you have time to come here?”

“Aren’t you filming a show right now? Is it exhausting?” Min Yan asked gently.

“Nope,” replied Jiang Heng as he glared at Yan Qing smugly.

Yan Qing looked at him indifferently and then looked back down at his script, too lazy to even greet his boss.

Min Yan didn’t seem to care, and his gaze landed on Wen JingHan and the others.

“Are these part of the crew? They’re probably not under our company, or else I would definitely remember treasures like these. Join my company, I can boost you to the sky.” Min Yan’s words were directed towards Guan Jin.

“It seems that the rumors aren’t fake, he really does like this type…” Chen QiaoYu mumbled quietly.

“How about it? Are you interested——”

Before Min Yan could finish, a shiny silver police badge was shoved in front of him, only a few millimeters away from his nose. Actually, Guan Jin had wanted to shove his badge into Min Yan’s face, but unfortunately, he had miscalculated this body’s arm span and couldn’t execute his plan.

Min Yan wasn’t surprised, and his smile actually widened. “So you’re from the police? Ah, police officers these days are all in such good condition! What are you doing here?”

“We’re investigating the case of a missing boy, and he’s been a background actor here before,” said Wen JingHan lightly.

Min Yan didn’t seem to care, and he didn’t continue this topic. “How boring is being a civil servant? If you want to come, then I’ll welcome you at any time.”

“Right, and as an actor, as a celebrity, there is unlimited glory!” exclaimed Mo Wei.

At this time, there was a shrill wail coming from where they were filming a scene. 

“Give him back to me! Ah!” screamed an actress as she rushed forward, but was kicked to the ground by another actor.

“KaKa! Your emotions have to be more realistic, it’s not just yelling. What’s the use of more decibels?!” shouted the director.

“Give him back to me! Ah!”

“You were kicked down, who told you to fall like that? Do you think this is a dance?!”

“Give him back to me! Ah!”

“Pay attention to your position!”

“Give him back to me!” Ah!”

Guan Jin looked straight at Mo Wei and remarked, “It’s very glorious indeed.”

“…” 

“We’re done with our questioning for now, thank you for your cooperation. However, we’ll have to bring this person with us to question him further, so I’m afraid you’ll have to find a replacement for him,” said Wen JingHan. Then, he, Guan Jin, and Chen QiaoYu brought Yang Guang with them as they walked away.

Min Yan didn’t say anything, and the others didn’t dare to say anything either.

Before they had walked very far, Guan Jin abruptly stopped and looked back at a tall, European-style building.

“What are you——” Before Chen QiaoYu could finish, there was a light thwack, and Yang Guang trembled slightly before he limply collapsed to the ground.

Wen JingHan stepped forward and shouted, “Call an ambulance, he’s been shot!” Then, he reached out to feel Yang Guang’s pulse. “Wait, there’s no need… he’s dead.”

Killed in one shot.

“Ahh!” screamed Li MeiXin, and everything became chaotic.

“Quick! Protect the president!” someone shouted; their loyalty was quite admirable.

Mo Wei had already moved in front of Min Yan and was alertly looking around.

Wen JingHan glanced at the people around him and motioned for Chen QiaoYu to order the film set’s security guards to calm people down. Then, Wen JingHan followed Guan Jin, who had already started running towards the tall building.

“What did you see?” asked Wen JingHan. He had run up to the third floor and saw Guan Jin standing by the window.

“They escaped,” Guan Jin said dully.

“Those people would rather expose themselves and murder in front of us to prevent someone from talking, so it’s evident that Yang Guang knew some important things,” said Wen JingHan. Then, he dialed a number and ordered them to increase security in Tan Qu’s hospital room, just in case.

“Come on, people from the Identification Bureau will be coming soon to take care of things. Next time, don’t act so rashly, you don’t have any weapons,” said Wen JingHan.

Guan Jin was silent before he curtly turned around and went back downstairs.

Wen JingHan watched his receding back and wanted to say something, but he stopped himself.

*****

“Fuck, we’ve lost another lead! They must be really bold to dare to kill someone in front of the police!” swore Zheng Fei.

“It might not be boldness. Perhaps they’re frightened.” Wen JingHan rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the whiteboard.

“Desperation drives people to do things like this.” Gu Xiang nodded.

“But that Min Yan sure is powerful. This was such a big event and there were so many eyewitnesses, yet there hasn’t been much of it in the media, and they only mentioned it casually,” Chen QiaoYu said in admiration.

“Is Min Yan really like how he is in the rumors?” DingDing’s gossipiness was piqued.

“Come, come, I’ll show you some pictures.” Chen QiaoYu waved her over. “These are cherished candid shots.”

The two women gasped in excitement for a while.

“Is Min Yan related to this case?” DingDing suddenly asked.

“If it’s purely illegal business, with his financial resources, it should be nothing, unless this goes deeper than we think,” analyzed Gu Xiang.

“I’ll go see if I can find anything from the media and see how JingTian made them keep their mouths shut,” said DingDing before she hastily ran off.

Guan Jin was silent the entire time and was sitting in a corner by himself, a chill still lingering around him.

“Guan Jin… are you okay?” Lin Bai had noticed that something was wrong.

“It’s his first time seeing something like that, so it’ll definitely be uncomfortable for him,” Zheng Fei said emphatically.

“You’re wrong, our little Guan Jin was the first to run straight towards where the shot came from. Unfortunately, the assassin ran faster.” Chen QiaoYu spread her hands.

A few people were very surprised. “He’s possessed!”

Ha, that wasn’t that off the mark… The corner of Guan Jin’s mouth twitched.

Although it was said that people in the same industry were technically one’s competition, if this assassin was caught by the police, Guan Jin would still feel bad about betraying one of his own kind. Thus, when he ran into the building, he had purposely slowed down a little. 

However, there was a problem. Guan Jin’s instinct as an assassin had allowed him to detect the danger very early, and Wen JingHan and his keenness had definitely picked up on his movement. Yet he hadn’t brought it up at all, so Guan Jin wasn’t sure what Wen JingHan was thinking. Guan Jin began to second-guess his initial idea; the risk of being exposed while he was near these foxes was too high, and it seemed that leaving would be his best bet.

“The most important thing right now is to make Tan Qu talk.” Wen JingHan suddenly stood up. “Everyone, continue following up with your investigations, I’m going to go find Le Fan.”

 

“This case is too frustrating. Follow up? We have nothing to follow up on!” Zheng Fei leaned back and sighed.