Chapter 94
The filming of the TV series progressed on multiple threads. Li Chu had just finished a scene, and while the director reviewed it, she took a break.
With a cup of water in hand, Li Chu went to watch the B team, who were filming nearby, observing the state of the other actors.
They were filming a flashback scene from the first case, showing the Haijia police's progress before Rong Yun's involvement.
The camera focused on the death scene of the third victim, with the police investigating and questioning for clues.
The death of someone on the fringes of society was like a few drops of water merging into the vast ocean, causing ripples only for nearby plankton without creating any significant waves.
The body of Zhou San, resident of apartment 2906, had the shortest time between death and discovery among the three Anhe Building cases.
Unlike the first two victims who lived alone, Zhou San lived in a shared apartment.
Zhou San had two roommates, and the body was discovered by one of them, a male Beta named Wang Zhi.
“Her door wasn't locked. I just touched it, and, oh my, it swung open. Her room doesn't get any sunlight, it's quite dark, so I wanted to turn on the light. As soon as I went in, I smelled a stench. You know, things haven't been very peaceful around here these past few months, so I immediately thought of… the previous incidents. I turned on the light, and my soul almost left my body. Oh, where did such a perverted person come from? Killing someone and then dismembering them like that… It's not something a normal person would do. You guys have to solve this case quickly. I don't want to be the next one to die.”
The actor playing Wang Zhi spoke nervously, his expression filled with fear.
“According to our investigation, her door lock was forcibly broken. There are fingerprints other than Zhou San's on it. We need to collect your fingerprints for comparison now. We hope you'll cooperate.”
“Hey, hey, hey, what does this have to do with me? I'm just a witness. Besides, we're roommates. It's normal for our fingerprints to be on it.”
Wang Zhi's eyes darted around nervously, practically writing guilt all over his face.
Under the police's questioning, he stammered out the events of that day.
Because Zhou San was a streetwalker, she worked at night. Their place was small, so she never brought anyone back. She always spent the night elsewhere and would return around noon the next day to cook, do laundry, and sleep before putting on makeup and going out again in the evening.
Wang Zhi worked nearby and usually got off work in the afternoon, so he knew what time Zhou San went out. But he hadn't seen her for two days. On the first day, he thought she might have stayed with a client longer, so she didn't come back. It wasn't until the evening of the third day, when he still hadn't seen her leave, that he got the idea to pry open her door and take some things.
What he wanted to take was naturally money, but when questioned by the police, he righteously claimed he had a hairdryer at Zhou San's that he needed to get back, but the evasiveness in his expression couldn't be hidden.
After the police finished questioning him, Wang Zhi eagerly asked how Zhou San's money would be distributed. He said that Zhou San didn't have any relatives, that her parents were dead, which was why she became a prostitute. That money couldn't just be given to strangers, he argued. He was a neighbor who had helped her, so he should at least get a share, right?
Li Chu felt that Director Wang's casting was excellent. Like Ji Yun, he had his own standards for acting. Even for supporting roles that only appeared for a few minutes in an episode, they had their own personalities and souls. Even as a bystander, one could feel the societal indifference and subtle sadness.
Li Chu was so engrossed that she forgot to drink the water in her hand. It wasn't until Qian Duoduo urged her that she came back to her senses.
She took a sip of water and swallowed slowly, suppressing the coolness within her and the slight chill of early spring.
If Die at Dawn and Dusk was about the sorrow of an individual or a group, then The Exiled was about the sorrow of society, something ubiquitous yet unnoticed.
An elliptical distribution of socioeconomic status was the most stable. The two extremes of extreme poverty and extreme wealth were minorities, and most people belonged to the middle. The same applied to good and evil. Therefore, those who hadn't seen or experienced certain things, or those things hadn't happened to them, would indifferently overlook aspects of the world outside their own experience.
“Teacher Li, the director is calling you.”
The director's assistant waved from a distance. Li Chu nodded, finished her water quickly, and returned to the set to have the makeup artist touch up her lipstick.
She thought it was for the next scene, but Director Wang said that the lighting wasn't quite right in a previous scene and needed to be reshot. Li Chu nodded, recalled her lines, adjusted her state, and gave Director Wang an OK sign.
The reshoot was a conversation between Rong Yun and her former subordinate after she was released from the Correctional Facility.
Although Rong Yun hadn't been very popular, she still had a number of followers, such as Officer Xiao Lu.
Xiao Lu was a rookie when she joined the criminal investigation team and was Rong Yun's former apprentice. However, Rong Yun was also indifferent to her apprentice, pointing out mistakes without mercy. Xiao Lu didn't feel ashamed but felt that she had learned a lot from Rong Yun. Therefore, when Rong Yun was incarcerated, Xiao Lu was the one who spoke up for her the most.
Two years had passed, and Xiao Lu had transformed from a rookie into a professional officer. She was happy about her mentor's return, but she still felt it was unfair.
“How could they do this? They release you when they need you and lock you up when they don't. You're a person, not a tool. And that incident from back then still has no conclusion… Master, it's my fault. I couldn't help back then, and after two years of inquiries, I still haven't found anything.”
Rong Yun herself remained calm in the face of Xiao Lu's indignation.
In the story of The Exiled , there was its own legal system, the most unique of which was the Correctional Facility. The Correctional Facility wasn't entirely equivalent to a prison. It took many forms, depending on the subject being held. Some were courtyard houses, others were seaside villas. The commonality was their enclosed and supervised nature.
The subjects held in the Correctional Facility were all highly intelligent, covert criminals, meaning individuals deemed highly dangerous with related cases but without conclusive evidence of actual criminal activity. Their release or conviction depended on the severity and investigative progress of the original case.
For instance, in Rong Yun's case, if Cen Lan's case remained unsolved, with no evidence proving Rong Yun was the murderer, she would be released after three years of confinement and placed under a two-year observation period. If, after five years, there were no accusatory evidence or socially harmful behavior, she would be removed from the monitoring list.
Rong Yun's expression grew colder as she recalled the events of two years prior, which Xiao Lu had mentioned.
“We'll find out eventually.”
Rong Yun's casual words interrupted Xiao Lu's rambling, prompting her to ask curiously,
“Are you so sure, Master?”
Rong Yun nodded, not answering Xiao Lu's further questions.
Rong Yun had always been certain that she would find out what had happened. Cen Lan's case was a deliberate setup, either targeting Cen Lan or herself. Rong Yun leaned towards it being aimed at her because Cen Lan's social connections hadn't shown any significant anomalies, and no fabricated evidence had surfaced at the time. Someone capable of murdering Cen Lan, staging the scene, and framing her wouldn't be incapable of fabricating evidence.
One lost in thought, the other chattering, they walked through the dimly lit corridor.
“Okay, cut! Let's do the last part again, walking through the corridor.”
Director Wang reviewed the footage and, still dissatisfied with the lighting, called for another take.
The filming was generally smooth, but occasionally, after a scene, Li Chu would remain immersed in Rong Yun's world, as if the world had been painted with a layer of white paint, making it feel somewhat bland.
This wouldn't do. So Li Chu often video called or chatted with Ning Manqing whenever she was free, pulling herself out of that state and regaining her ordinary person's anticipation and love for life.
Ning Manqing would occasionally send her gifts from overseas, mostly seasonal accessories and some delicious candies.
Li Chu didn't know much about those accessories, only that they were beautiful and looked expensive, but she didn't think too much about it. She wore some of the everyday pieces and occasionally wore them to events outside the set.
It wasn't until the magazine photos were published, and netizens identified the necklace she was wearing as a limited edition, expensive and hard to get, that Li Chu realized how valuable it was.
Tang Congnan was startled. Li Chu truthfully said it was a gift from Ning Manqing. Tang Congnan thought about it and decided not to address it publicly. There was no need for that.
Li Chu's anti-fans used this incident to claim she was being kept, and so on, but without any capital backing or paid articles, and with Li Chu's fans not engaging in online battles, the matter didn't gain much traction.
Li Chu and Ning Manqing, the two people involved, cared even less. With the demanding tasks of filming and running a business, they had no time to deal with irrelevant people.
In the drama, by the fourth month, the Haijia police were on high alert, monitoring the Anhe Building to prevent a fourth death. However, nothing happened that month.
This further proved the perpetrator's cautious nature and that the crimes weren't committed on a fixed schedule.
With the perpetrator inactive, Rong Yun didn't want to waste time.
To solve the case, they needed to understand the perpetrator's motives. The detectives had been studying the body symbols left by the killer for quite some time.
Because symbolic expressions could have a broad range of meanings, and they didn't know if the perpetrator belonged to a cult, it was difficult to determine the meaning behind the symbols with certainty.
But Rong Yun felt they were overestimating the killer. Based on the locations of the incidents and the commonalities among the victims, the meaning of the symbols wasn't complex.
Moreover, Rong Yun was certain that the killer was still in the building or nearby, watching and waiting for the situation to die down before striking again. To force the killer's hand, she deliberately released some information to provoke them.
In the rumors circulating among the residents of Anhe Building and spreading outwards, Rong Yun denied the significance of the killer's existence.
It wasn't a malicious statement saying the killer shouldn't live, but rather that their acts of murder, dismemberment, and posing with symbols were merely attention-seeking behavior, pointing out that the killer must be someone who had never been acknowledged, and a person without acknowledgment had no meaning of existence.
These extreme words were half-true, but Rong Yun did believe that humans were social creatures who needed acknowledgment and spent their lives seeking it.
Post a Comment