The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 95 Butterfly Fall
The glaring light shone on Lan Die's delicate features. Her eyes drooped slightly, like a fairy escaping from Dunhuang. The only thing that ruined this scene was the bamboo pole piercing her chest, impaling her whole body on it. Blood flowed down the bamboo pole, turning the originally beautiful scene into a horror movie.

If it weren't for the shocked or crying expressions of everyone in the crew, people who didn't know what was going on would have thought it was just part of the scene.

However, the one who died was not "Xian Yao" in the play, but the actor who played the role, Lan Die.

Her light blue gauze skirt fluttered in the cold winter wind, and she looked like a fragile butterfly that died before the arrival of spring.

"Brother Fei, that was a fight scene just now. Lan Die's wire suddenly broke, and she fell directly onto the bamboo set. Everything happened so fast. With so many people at the scene, there was no time to react..." Wu Shanqiu, no longer in her usual lively demeanor, blamed herself, "I'm sorry, I didn't follow the suspect well..."

Qi Fei patted Wu Shanqiu's shoulder comfortingly: "In this situation, no one can save her."

Although he said this to comfort Wu Shanqiu, Lan Die's death was beyond his expectation. He glanced at everyone present, wondering who was so bold as to kill this actress in public and under the noses of the police.

However, all he saw were the almost disillusioned expressions of the director and producer - they had no alternative plans left, the show seemed to be cursed, and their heroine was destined to die.

The film set became a crime scene, and yellow police tape blocked the swarm of reporters.

As a result, the news of Hong Mei's death was also leaked.

Liu Tong was patient and got out of the police car with a cup of coffee late at night, then crossed the cordon and met up with Qi Fei and the others.

"Oh, the bureau leader said that there will be a press conference tomorrow. I don't know if there is a place to get a haircut tonight." Liu Tong said as he stroked his hair.

"Captain Liu, with such great pressure from public opinion, do you still have the mood to care about your hairstyle?" Wu Shanqiu said from the side.

"What should we do? The person is dead. All we can do is find the murderer as soon as possible, right?" He walked up to Qi Fei and said, "How is it? Have you found the reason for Lan Die's accident?"

"Someone tampered with Lan Die's wire rope. When she was flying, the rope broke and she fell." Qi Fei didn't have Liu Tong's sense of relief. "We've detained the prop master, but he insists he followed the procedure strictly and that there was no problem when he sent Lan Die up. Also, come and see."

Qi Fei took Liu Tong to the broken wire rope and held it up to show him. The wire rope used on this crew was not made of steel wire but nylon. Half of the wire rope had a very neat cut on its edge, which showed that it had been deliberately damaged with a tool.

"This rope cannot be cut by just any tool. We have conducted a preliminary investigation and found that a pair of wire cutters used for emergency treatment in the crew is missing." Wu Shanqiu said as she walked over from the other end.

Lan Die's body was finally moved off the bamboo pole. The bright red blood had turned black and coagulated. This bloody scene easily reminded people of the scene where Hong Mei died.

Wu Shanqiu looked at the scene thoughtfully. "Why does this remind me of our last case, the Guiyue Apartment? When Yue Fengsheng died, we all thought the murderer was targeting Yue Fengsheng himself, and focused on investigating his social connections and conflicts. But later we discovered that the murderer was targeting the Guiyue Apartment building. I'm wondering, if Hong Mei and Lan Die were murdered one after another, could the murderer's target be this drama itself?"

Liu Tong immediately praised him, "Xiaoqiu, you're very insightful and becoming more and more thoughtful. So, I'll assign you the task of investigating the social relations that have conflicts of interest with the drama Against the Tang Dynasty."

It was the emotional value Liu Tong provided that instantly revived Wu Shanqiu, who had been depressed by Lan Die's death, and accepted the task without hesitation. Qi Fei, who was standing by, looked around and asked, "Where's Zhong Kui?"

"Oh, now you can't be away from Zhong Kui for a moment?" Liu Tong joked to Qi Fei.

"You are the leader, be serious. I just remembered that Lan Die mentioned encountering a female ghost before the accident. I think Zhong Kui should know something." Qi Fei gave Liu Tong a speechless look.

Liu Tong immediately agreed: "Right, right, right. Professionals should give professional advice."

"I said Landie lied." Suddenly, Zhong Kui's voice appeared behind them, scaring everyone.

Qi Fei glanced at her high heels, patted his chest and asked, "How did you manage to wear these shoes without making any noise?!"

Zhong Kui raised an eyebrow: "You are a police officer, why are you so timid? Didn't I just say that the nightmare of the so-called female ghost was caused by her many years ago, and it has nothing to do with Hong Mei's murder this time."

"Why did she lie and say she saw a female ghost?" Qi Fei said as he looked at Lan Die who had become a corpse. She could no longer answer his question.

Zhong Kui followed Qi Fei's gaze and said, "Covered in blood and wearing ancient clothing, don't you think that in this hour, she has become the female ghost described?"

Zhong Kui's gloomy tone made people feel uneasy at the crime scene, especially Qi Fei who was shocked to find that Lan Die, who was lying on the ground, looked exactly like the female ghost she had described.

"There's another interesting thing. In the Yunshen Secret Realm, they told me about the female ghost they saw. Although the details were different, one thing remained unchanged: no one ever told me that the female ghost had blood on her body." As soon as Zhong Kui said this, Qi Fei raised an objection.

"When we were investigating that day, the cleaning lady who fainted in the backyard said she saw a female ghost covered in blood..."

Zhong Kui blinked at Qi Fei and asked, "Is this version similar to what Lan Die said?"

"So, there are two versions of the female ghost?"

"It's not hard to find out. We can just find everyone who saw the female ghost and see what kind of ghost they saw, right?" Wu Shanqiu said. "No wonder everyone looked so strange when we went to the Yunshen Secret Realm to investigate. It turns out they really were hiding something from us."

"They don't want us to know about the supernatural phenomena in the Yunshen Secret Realm, but we are going there to investigate Hong Mei's death. What are these people hiding?" Qi Fei became suspicious.

"As for me, I think the Yunshen Secret Realm is a pretty good place. I like places with fewer people." Zhong Kui suddenly spoke without any context and walked gracefully to Liu Tong.

(End of this chapter)