The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 108 Festival
Looking at the silent Wang Qi, Zhong Kui continued his story: "You used to be an excellent lighting technician. I found you in the cast and crew lists of several of Hong Mei's works. However, Hong Mei, relying on Huang Daqiu's support, acted arrogantly on the crew and fired you. I don't know how you and Lan Die met, but in short, you became friends because of a common enemy.

After learning that Hong Mei was coming, you planned an almost perfect murder plan. The key to this plan was your lighting and shadow skills.

You need to use virtual images to create an alibi for Lan Die.

Just like normal filming, the light and shadow need to be adjusted, so you find time to sneak into the suite late at night to test it secretly. However, sometimes when adjusting the angle, the projection will pass by the window, which becomes the so-called ghost shadow seen by everyone in the villa.

After putting on makeup on the crew, Landie drove to the villa.

It would take more than five hours to get from Lianhu to the villa by plane or public transportation. However, don't forget that there are mountains here. Landie drove along the winding mountain road and arrived in three hours.

She used your administrative room card to sneak into the room while Hong Mei was escorting Huang Daqiu away. After killing her, she hurried away. The backyard path was originally deserted, but you didn't anticipate that Aunt Liu would suddenly decide to go sweep the floor.

As luck would have it, there were recent rumors of a haunting at the villa, and Aunt Liu's first thought was that she had encountered a ghost, not a murderer. Lan Die had come with makeup because applying it would take hours, and she had to complete it before leaving to create the illusion of being in the hotel waiting for filming. She also knew that the scene that night would feature her dying in the snow, covered in blood. However, no one would have guessed that this time, her body would be stained not with artificial plasma, but with real human blood.

And you completed the most crucial part after Landie left.

First, you found a perfect eyewitness—paparazzi Wang Defa. You informed him in advance that Hong Mei would be visiting the Yunshen Secret Realm for a tryst with Huang Daqiu. Then, using images of Hong Mei from film and television works, you projected a life-size image under special lighting conditions, and had Wang Defa provide us with 12 points of proof that Hong Mei was still alive.

Another even more brilliant plan is to give away red wine.

Since you work at the villa, you are very familiar with the layout of the suite. You know that when you look from the door towards the bedroom, you can only see less than one meter of space outside the bathroom.

Zhong Kui clapped her hands again, and Hong Mei's image appeared on the white wall again. This time, she had just finished taking a shower and said to them in a charming manner, "Honey, I want some red wine."

The receptionist who heard this said in surprise: "Yes, that's the sound."

Zhong Kui sneered: "The convenience of pretending that an actress is still alive is that she has too much voice material to use."

"You're saying Miss Hong was already dead when I went in, right?" Xiao Sun listened, growing increasingly frightened. "But I clearly saw her coming out of the bathroom, just like you just now..." She seemed incoherent, as if she couldn't believe what she saw. "I just demonstrated it to you. Don't you have a water screen movie here? I think that's also the job of handyman Wang Qi. He knows the principle best. Before you went in, he specially released a lot of water vapor into the bathroom. The hotel room was already dimly lit, and projecting the image of Hong Mei after her shower from the urban drama at a specific angle made it look very similar at first glance."

"Your villa's service has always been known for its professionalism. He knows that if you saw Hong Mei wearing revealing clothes, you wouldn't stare at her for a long time, and it would be almost impossible to be exposed." Zhong Kui said, and then asked Wang Qi for confirmation, "Don't you agree?"

Wang Qi turned his head away, but Zhong Kui walked into his sight relentlessly. "I just really want to know how you felt when you replaced Lan Die and walked into the suite and saw Hong Mei's death. You hated her for making you lose your job, but is this the result you wanted?"

Hearing this, Wang Qi finally broke down, repeating, "I didn't know Lan Die hated her so much. She shaved off Hong Mei's entire face. Everything... I'm sorry to President Qi. He's a good leader. My selfish revenge has brought so much trouble to his villa..."

Hearing this, Qi Fei immediately twisted his hand hard: "Don't talk nonsense, just tell me the process of the crime."

"That's right, I'm the other murderer you're looking for. You..." Wang Qi looked at Zhong Kui and said, "I've been working as a lighting technician since I graduated from college. This is the only thing I can do, and I do it very well. But unfortunately, the years I worked there were when Hong Mei was at her peak. Everyone in the circle knows that Hong Mei is a workaholic. She spends most of the year on the crew, so we've encountered her scenes many times. Everyone in the circle knows that this person is demanding, difficult to serve, and snobbish... Originally, for me, I was just a lighting technician. Whether an actor is good or bad has nothing to do with me.

Sadly, I was wrong. I never imagined that someone as obedient as me would be targeted. It wasn't complicated; it was simply because I disagreed with using harsh lighting to mask the irreversible plastic surgery marks on her face. Because that kind of lighting would only make her shots extremely inconsistent with the rest of the show, creating a strange and utterly awkward contrast. Oh my god, now I think I was such a fool. What kind of art was I pursuing when I was acting in those cheesy dramas she was acting in?

When I put forward my own ideas, she scolded me. She said I had no right to offer opinions, but this was my profession. She was an actor who relied on connections to get to the top, didn't she understand? I got angry and said a few words to her, and she threatened to replace me.

Those spineless people were afraid of her and really fired me."

"Just like that, you want to kill Hong Mei?" Qi Fei couldn't help but say.

"Humph, you don't understand our industry. I'm a nobody, but Hong Mei is a big star. Anything about her, no matter how big or small, will spread quickly in the industry. The fact that she and I have a feud is also known to everyone. Now everyone is broke, and actors like Hong Mei who can bring money in have to be flattered and coaxed by everyone. Even if I apply for a role in a film crew that is not starring Hong Mei, they will reject me for fear of offending Hong Mei. After countless setbacks, I know that I no longer have a place in this industry.

After quitting my lighting job, I worked as a taxi driver and a food delivery driver, enduring a lot of hardships. After a lot of twists and turns, I finally found myself at Yunshen Secret Realm, where they were looking for someone capable of producing water screen films. I decided to give it a try, and only Mr. Qi wasn't afraid of someone like Hong Mei, so he took me in. If Hong Mei hadn't suddenly arrived, I might have continued to work diligently at the villa. It's fate that plays tricks on me..."

"What about you and Landie? How did you meet?" Zhong Kui watched coldly and was not moved at all by Wang Qi's story.

(End of this chapter)