S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 108

Screen Murderer 04 – Weird Behaviour

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Zhan Zhao called Zhao Jue to invite him to watch the movie, but it seemed Zhao Jue was quite busy. He just replied, "Behave, go play!"

And then the call ended.

Zhan Zhao looked at his phone screen which was beeping, indicating the call had ended, and muttered, "Summoning failed."

Bai Yutang reached out and took the disc, glancing at the image on the cover. Surprisingly, the female lead looked familiar. He then checked the cast list, and indeed...

"Cat." Bai Yutang pointed to the words "Starring: Wang Meiyun" and showed them to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao chuckled twice, somewhat surprised as well, "Seems like 'cannot get away from each other' indeed..."

Bai Yutang asked Auntie Chen if it was possible to meet the other girl who went to the movies with the girl in question that day.

Auntie Chen said it was no problem and went to call someone.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang waited in the office, taking the opportunity to examine the details of the case.

That evening, the two girls involved were both first-year students. The one who was scared was called Wang Ping, and the one who went home first was called Zhou Yuanyuan.

The two girls lived very close to each other, had consecutive student numbers, sat next to each other, had good grades, and had been friends since childhood, it was like they grew up together.

Auntie Chen was quite meticulous, she also had a certain understanding of the personalities of the two students. Wang Ping was lively and outgoing. Zhou Yuanyuan was a bit more introverted, but still easy to get along with. Both children came from similar family backgrounds and were well-off. They were only children, and their parents were white-collar workers who doted on them. Wang Ping liked playing tennis, while Zhou Yuanyuan enjoyed photography. Both of them liked outdoor activities and watching movies.

Teacher Chen also recorded a segment:

According to Zhou Yuanyuan, compared to herself, Wang Ping was the more daring one. They usually watched horror movies together, and Wang Ping would often scare her. So, after watching the movie that day, Wang Ping kept saying she saw ghostly shadows or something, and Zhou Yuanyuan thought she was just trying to prank her again, never expecting something real would happen.

However, there were two suspicious points in this incident that Teacher Chen emphasised.

Firstly, why did two high school girls go to see a midnight screening without their parents picking them up afterwards?

After inquiry, it was found that the two girls lived in a downtown area, just a fifteen-minute walk from the cinema, and the route was lined with shops, making it very safe.

It was Saturday, and it wasn't the first time the two girls had gone to a midnight screening like this because they were both well-behaved and their parents were relatively lenient.

The second point, which puzzled Auntie Chen the most, was that after Wang Ping and Zhou Yuanyuan parted ways at the entrance of Zhou Yuanyuan's neighbourhood, they only needed to walk through a busy commercial street to reach their respective neighbourhoods. However, Wang Ping didn't take this bustling route; instead, she chose a longer and quieter alleyway. As a result, she dashed out of the alley and was hit by a passing taxi.

Not only did Auntie Chen ask, even Wang Ping's parents asked her why she chose that route, but Wang Ping stubbornly refused to say, only repeating, "If I say it, there will be retaliation." So, the parents began to wonder whether she was avoiding someone, which led to the possibility of school violence.

After reviewing the documents, Auntie Chen returned, accompanied by a girl wearing a school uniform and glasses and having a somewhat scholarly demeanour.

This was Zhou Yuanyuan. After entering with Auntie Chen, she appeared somewhat nervous.

Zhan Zhao reassured her not to be nervous and roughly asked about the course of events.

Zhou Yuanyuan tried to describe the entire incident in detail, and her account matched what Auntie Chen had recorded.

Zhan Zhao then started chatting with her, asking her how she felt about the movie.

Zhou Yuanyuan shook her head and whispered, "It was terrible! If I had known it would cause so much trouble, I wouldn't have gone."

Zhan Zhao was curious, "Who suggested going to see that movie?"

Zhou Yuanyuan patted herself, feeling somewhat guilty, and said, "That movie starred Wang Meiyun and Tang Xing together. Tang Xing is my idol, but I dare not watch horror movies alone, so I dragged Wang Ping to accompany me. Wang Ping is a fan of Chen Jiayi and really dislikes Wang Meiyun, but she still went to chase stars with me. Oh, I regret it so much!"

Zhan Zhao was a bit interested, "Why does Wang Ping dislike Wang Meiyun?"

"Just because of some trivial matter about idols. Wang Meiyun once said in an interview that Chen Jiayi is just a vase. In fact, Wang Meiyun's acting skills are mediocre, so Wang Ping really dislikes her." Zhou Yuanyuan spoke about this matter without any nervousness, "Wang Ping said, Chen Jiayi is so popular, when the reporters asked her if she had a boyfriend, she directly said yes, a police officer, someone outside the industry, and she won't marry anyone else. Wang Meiyun keeps claiming to be single, pretending as if she's someone special, but ended up being involved with a cheating scumbag."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang found it quite interesting. Jiayi, Qi Le and the others always hung around them, and they hadn't realized they were stars, with every move they made being closely watched by many people...

Seeing that Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao seemed approachable, Zhou Yuanyuan boldly asked, "I heard Chen Jiayi's boyfriend is from your SCI. What does he look like? Is he handsome?"

Zhan Zhao took out his phone, searched for it, and pulled out a photo of Ma Han to show Zhou Yuanyuan.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao's phone with confusion, seeing an album called "Tools"...

Even Auntie Chen was curious and leaned over to take a look. After they both had a look, they agreed that he was handsome and they liked his style.

Suddenly, Zhan Zhao felt like conducting a popularity survey and showed Zhao Hu's photo to both of them.

Zhou Yuanyuan and Auntie Chen laughed – Seems a bit humorous.

Then came Qin Ou's photo, and both nodded in agreement – He was adorable!

Zhan Zhao then pointed at Bai Yutang.

Both Auntie Chen and Zhou Yuanyuan nodded vigorously – Mhmm-hmm!

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhan Zhao – Cat, let's focus on serious matters!

Zhan Zhao put away his phone, and the atmosphere lightened considerably. He then asked Zhou Yuanyuan, "Can you recall the plot of that horror movie? Were you scared?"

Zhou Yuanyuan shook her head, "It's really strange! I'm not as brave as Wang Ping. Normally, Wang Ping is really brave; she wasn't even scared watching movies like Ju-On: The Grudge. But that movie, it's just a romantic film disguised as a horror movie. Most of the time, they're just talking about love. I really don't understand why it scared her so much."

"Can you roughly describe the plot of the movie?" Zhan Zhao, seeing that she wasn't afraid at all, began to delve into the conversation.

"Oh, it's about the male protagonist who used to be a movie actor and got killed. When he died, his blood flowed onto a film reel, essentially possessing the film. Later, the male lead's old house was sold several times, and each time someone died. The female lead, played by Wang Meiyun, is a journalist investigating the case. At first, because all the deaths occurred in this house, the journalist suspected it was a haunted house. But later, the female lead discovered that the male lead's soul was attached to the film. Every night at midnight, if you watched that film reel, whenever you saw the male lead's figure, he would appear. The midnight screening of the movie started at twelve, which coincided with the female lead watching the film and seeing the male lead for the first time. So, it's like the people watching the movie were watching the female lead watching the movie, and reality and the movie were synchronized. Honestly, I thought the whole movie was too cliché, maybe except for this gimmick, which was somewhat creative. Later, it's about the female lead, with the help of the ghost of the male lead, discovering the killer who murdered the male lead and others. The ending is a typical tearjerker where humans and ghosts part ways, but it didn't really move me..."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang listened and agreed that the plot wasn't particularly scary.

"In which scene did Wang Ping see the ghost?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"It was in the ten seconds before midnight." Zhou Yuanyuan continued, "At that time, many people were there just for this gimmick. So, when it was ten seconds away from midnight, everyone in the whole cinema started counting down together. Then, when they opened their eyes, everyone was still laughing. Some couples even went together and teased each other, creating a lively atmosphere that wasn't scary at all. But Wang Ping suddenly seemed off at that moment. She was holding onto my arm and insisted that she really saw it! There was a ghostly figure on the movie screen. I asked her if it was the same as what the female lead saw in the movie, but she said no! It was outside, a man appeared on the movie screen, and he even glanced at her with a particularly eerie gaze... It gave me the chills hearing her say that. But then, I carefully looked at the screen for a while and didn't see anything. I asked her if it was just a trick of the lights, but she was convinced it was real. She kept saying that the ghost was staring at her, repeating several times, 'He saw me! He saw me!'"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Did anyone else in the cinema claim to have seen it?"

"Yes!" Zhou Yuanyuan nodded, "Several people left midway. I remember a couple, the guy saw it but the girl didn't. He was terrified and dragged his girlfriend out, and she teased him about it."

Bai Yutang, who had been observing the conversation between Zhan Zhao and Zhou Yuanyuan, had a thought at this point – If Wang Meiyun wasn't the only one who saw it, could there really be something hidden in the movie? Like a frame of altered footage, visible to some but unnoticed by others?

After the questions were asked, Zhou Yuanyuan left.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, along with Auntie Chen, went to see Wang Ping.

As they left the school, they found themselves surrounded by onlookers.

Perhaps it was break time and news of the arrival of the "SCI top 2" had already spread throughout the school. A group of students gathered by the windows to watch.

As Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked out with Auntie Chen, cheers erupted from the building.

When they looked up, there were screams from above.

Auntie Chen chuckled, "You guys in SCI are quite popular."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a glance silently – Seems like the rumours about them being internet celebrities were indeed true...

The three got into the car. Zhan Zhao felt that watching the movie on a DVD was different from watching it in the cinema. It was best to have the original experience, so he called the twins to ask.

The Bai Group owned many cinemas, so the two of them wanted to arrange a midnight screening with the twins.

Upon hearing this, the twins complained.

"That movie has already finished its run, and it didn't do well at the box office to begin with. They almost caused a disaster with their stupid marketing gimmick, not to mention the incident involving Wang Meiyun... But that movie was produced by Dong Yuan's company. With the boss gone now, things might be chaotic for a while. If you can get the master copy and find a cinema to screen it at midnight, it's a small matter."

Zhan Zhao immediately called Lu Fang to arrange it, and it went smoothly. As their car reached the entrance of Wang Ping's neighbourhood, Qin Ou called to say that they had obtained the master copy.

Zhan Zhao hung up the phone, nodded to Bai Yutang, and prepared to watch the midnight screening tonight.

After getting out of the car, they stood at the entrance, observing the surroundings.

As they had learned earlier, this neighbourhood faced a commercial street, which was a pedestrian street. In front of them was Zhou Yuanyuan's neighbourhood. Further ahead was a shopping centre, and the cinema was on the fifth floor of that shopping centre.

The whole journey was indeed only about fifteen minutes. It was a straight road, and the street was bustling and brightly lit with shops on both sides.

The two of them also went to the alley where Wang Ping had walked home that day.

Walking through this alley meant leaving Zhou Yuanyuan's neighbourhood, avoiding the commercial street, turning to pass through a park, then entering an alleyway, and finally emerging onto the road in front of the neighbourhood.

Indeed, it was very strange. Why would Wang Ping take such a roundabout route instead of walking straight through?

Moreover, not just that alleyway, but the park at night was quite secluded. Wasn't Wang Ping afraid? If she was scared, she should have chosen a well-lit and crowded route instead of opting for a quiet and dark detour. Wasn't this purely seeking thrills?

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, accompanied by Auntie Chen, retraced their steps. They first walked from Zhou Yuanyuan's neighbourhood through the commercial street to Wang Ping's residential area, then took a detour through the park and alleyway to reach the road where Wang Ping was hit by the car.

Along the way, they didn't notice anything particularly unusual. If anything, the overall atmosphere in that area was quite "hip-hop”. During the day, people were skateboarding in the park, and there was a U-shaped track. The walls of the alleyway were also covered in graffiti.

Fortunately, there were surveillance cameras in both the park and the alleyway. Bai Yutang contacted Jiang Ping to check the surveillance footage from that night.

After exploring the route and finding nothing significant, the three of them entered Wang Ping's neighbourhood and proceeded with the home visit.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: April 5, 2024 by Angel

Edited: April 9, 2024 by Angel