Director of a Suspense Film

Ch5 – The light of justice shines upon the earth

　　With the start of the system’s countdown, a dark red time prompt also appeared at the top of Zong qi’s eyes, quickly falling into the interval of 9 minutes.

　　“Dang— Dang— Dang—” 

　　On the other side, in the dark and abandoned toilet, the sound of a hammer hitting a nail was particularly clear.

　　The black-haired youth stuck to the burnt wall, his chest rising and falling as he started working his brain.

　　He had returned to ten hours ago. 

　　Very soon, the murderer who had hammered the human heads onto the door will walk out and stand outside his door. 

　　After knowing in advance that there was a murderer outside, the most appropriate way of saving your life would naturally be to open the door and run. 

　　There was still some time before the murderer came out. Zong qi was also in the first cubicle which was a long distance away from the last cubicle. If he ran out now, he wouldn’t need to be afraid of getting caught, he could even get out safely.

　　But he couldn’t.

　　Zong qi let out a sigh, holding on tightly to the swiss army knife in his hand.

　　The murderer and the organisation behind him could accurately plant evidence and frame him even without seeing his face. Zong qi guessed that since they could falsify evidence, then they must have had direct contact with the forensic doctor that had came to the crime scene. He did, after all, see the forensic doctor once, so even if he did push the door and run away, it was difficult to ensure that he wouldn’t return to the previous plot. (t/n: like his own storylines happenings??)

　　According to this logic, even if he ran away, the organization could still make him the scapegoat. In a modern society with so many officers, Zong qi couldn’t exactly hide all his life.

　　But most importantly, he never committed any crime, so why should he have to be convicted of murder? Shouldn’t it be the bad guys that get punished?

　　There was only one solution. 

　　Zong qi understood, lowering his head to stare at the knife in his hand.

　　This knife was very short. He took it with him because he was afraid that he would encounter an accident while ghost hunting. At most, it could be used to cut the rope, an auxiliary tool.

　　However, the killer not only had a hammer, but also a dagger. The officers had found Zong qi’s fingerprints on the dagger afterwards.

　　He definitely wouldn’t win in a direct confrontation, so he had to find another way. 

　　Zong qi went back to the system, opening the points shop. 

　　All the goods in the shop could only be drawn. Surprise surprise, it took 100 points for the first draw, which was all the points Zong qi had.

　　Not only did the shop have skills that sounded super cool like [Corpse Talisman], [Acupuncture] and [Activate Third Eye], there was also props that were completely useless like [Boring and Normal Dagger], [Unimpressive Exorcism Talisman], [Vaccuum that will break after one use] and [Useless Broom]. 

　　Of course, if he drew some weird prop, he’d probably end up dead here today.

　　Zong qi could only hope that he could make it through. 

　　‘Bless me Jesus Christ and the great brother of the Buddha, if I prove my innocence today, this believer will be vegetarian for half a year and never touch meat!’

　　He worshipped all the gods he’s heard of in his heart, then tremblingly pressed the pull button.

　　[Pulling… Please wait… Pulling completed]

　　[Recieved B-rank skill, intermediate Hypnosis] 

　　[Due to the rarity of the prop, points for the next pull has been increased to 500] 

　　Hypnosis? Good stuff!

　　Zong qi whistled in his heart, quickly going to check the details of this B-rank prop. (t/n: dunno why the raws call hypnosis a prop but oh well)

　　[Intermediate Hypnosis: Can only be activated upon physical touch, cannot exert suggestive effect, Maintenance time is 3 seconds yet cooldown time is 3 hours] 

　　Zong qi’s eyes shone.

　　Although this skill didn’t have any offensive power, it was really good as an assist skill, it could even be considered an ultimate. (t/n: ultimate as in the skill some games have that they call ultimate… no? Just my game?)

　　Of course, this was under the impression that it was used well.

　　What’s more troublesome was the restriction on physical touch. He not only had to calculate the time well, but also create enough opportunities for himself.

　　Zong qi considered it carefully as he learnt this new skill. 

　　This seemingly unscientific skill quickly turned into a stream of light and disappeared into his eyebrows. A mysterious feeling shrouded Zong qi, making him quickly understand how to use hypnosis in his heart.

　　After seeing a big move like turning back time, the ability to learn a skill at the flick of a hand wasn’t impressive anymore, Zong qi didn’t even blink. 

　　There was still 7 minutes left. 

　　Although he had restarted, the scream value and plot exploration didn’t changes. 

　　Soon, the sound of the hammer stopped and door opened, just like in his memory.

　　The footsteps got closer and closer. 

　　Zong qi could clearly hear the pounding of his own heart, gradually overlapping with the footsteps outside.

　　“Dong, dong, dong…” (t/n: sfx for footsteps)

　　After he dialed 110, he put his phone back in his pocket. He held the flashlight in his left hand, his finger pressed tightly onto the switch. His other hand, which held the knife, was placed on the lock of his cubicle. 

　　Grandma, please protect me. 

　　Zong qi prayed in his heart, his fingers unconsciously trembled.

　　“Open the door, I need paper.” 

　　A sinister and unpleasant voice rang out in the quiet bathroom.

　　This voice was exactly the same as the one engraved in his heart. 

　　The black haired youth turned his back, raising his voice as he unlocked the door secretly. “What did you say? I didn’t hear you clearly.”

　　The person outside froze at the unexpected response, “I said—” 

　　In the span of a time that couldn’t be narrated, Zong qi suddenly pushed the door open. (t/n:The first part of the sentence is basically the meaning of the phrase they used in raws)

　　He used nearly ten times of his strength to make the thin board creak unbearably. It was no less than an explosion in the deathly quiet abandoned hospital.

　　Chen Hongyi hadn’t had the chance to react before he was pushed back by the door, staggering backwards. 

　　Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end. 

　　Following closely after, the black haired youth swept his feet, pushing the unsteady him into the wall. 

　　After a series of unforeseen events, no matter how obtuse Chen Hongyi was, he still realized that the culprit was unfriendly.

　　Just who was it that leaked the information? 

　　“Which organisation are you from? How dare you go against us?” 

　　After a moment of shock, he quickly adjusted his body, borrowing the wall to steady himself, his face gloomy as water.

　　“National Security Bureau? Secret Mobile Unit?” 

　　Zong qi sneered, “Ask your dad my organisation. Ever heard of the Communist Youth League? Have you felt the light of justice shining onto your sorry ass yet?” 

　　“…”

　　Chen Hongyi flew into a rage, “Are you pranking laozi?” (t/n: loazi = cooler way of calling yourself) 

　　The next second, the man raised the blood stained dagger in his hand, which still had pieces of meat stuck on the tip after cutting off the white wax and human tissues, and rushed at him.

　　With a grave look on his face, the selfie stick in his hand was easily hacked over. He had no choice but to step back.

　　“I had thought you were some powerful being, but it turns out that you were all bark and no bite.” 

　　After a few moves, Chen Hongyi sensed that the opponent not only had no weapons, but also a poor fighting experience, immediately relaxing.

　　He revealed a bloody sneer, “You can’t blame me if you came looking for death yourself.”

　　“So. Much. Nonsense.” 

　　Although Zong qi was pretended to be strong, he had quickly made the decision in his heart not to fight head on. 

　　Not only in terms of power, but also weapons, kills, and physical quality. The crazy murderer was superior in all of these. 

　　Although the murderer was caught off guard by the sudden push of the door just now, he also had to hurry to get out the cubicle, and the wooden door became an obstacle. To not put touching the murderer as his priority was his mistake. In addition, the Swiss Army knife in his hand was too short. Compared to the dagger in his opponent’s hand, it was like a child playing with a knife in front of an adult. It was incomparable.

　　Captian Gao had really hit the mark. 

　　He should go and learn some self defense techniques, karate or taekwondo could all be arranged. 

　　As long as he lived through his, Zong qi will definitely report to the station everyday. 

　　“Ring, ring…” 

　　As they were fighting, the phone in the murderer’s pocket started ringing. 

　　It exactly the same as what Zong qi had experienced before. 

　　The man pressed on the speaker button, continuing to close in on him with a sinister smile. 

　　A skilled hunter certainly wouldn’t take a prey without any weapons seriously. 

　　As long as he took a few more steps, he would be out of the toilet. 

　　He had steadily increased the murderer’s hatred levels, with the police unable to reach the scene quickly enough, he could only rely on himself. 

　　Zong qi made a split-second decision, deciding to do something risky— 

　　He turned on the flashlight and shook it in front of the murderer’s eyes wildly, throwing out the short army knife in his hand.

　　Due to the flashlight’s glare, Chen Honyi lost his sight in an instant and was stabbed in the thigh by the knife thrown out by the black haired youth.

　　“Ah—” 

　　Hearing the scream of the murderer, Zong qi didn’t take a step forward to chase after him. Instead, he turned around and ran out of the door.

　　Because of this little incident, the distance between him and the murderer widened once again. 

　　This distance was enough for him to run out of the door and do something under the cover of darkness.

　　“Fuck.” 

　　Chen Hongyi pulled the knife out of his thigh fiercely. 

　　He was clear in his heart that the enemy now had no weapon and was like a lamb to be slaughtered, thus he grabbed the hammer and limped out of the door.

　　The man on the other end of the phone heard the whole thing.

　　The voice processed by the voice changer came out of the speaker, mechanical and cold: “Have you completed the task?” 

　　“…Yes.” 

　　“What? Something happened?” 

　　The person on the other side of the phone ignored Chen Hongyi’s painful voice and asked condescendingly.

　　“It’s just an annoying little bug, just give me some time…!” 

　　A sneer came from the speaker, “The bug you talk about has already called the police. They’ll be here in 10 minutes.”

　　Obviously, what he said touched Chen Hongyi’s nerves.

　　Blue veins stood out on the hand holding the hammer. He wanted to cut the black-haired little bastard into pieces and kill him on the spot.

　　The person on the other end of the phone sneered, “Leave the aftermath to the logistics department and get the fuck out of there. The organisation wouldn’t help someone from the lowest level clean up.”

　　Then a voice sounded from the speaker, saying that the other end had hung up. 

　　“Fucking piece of shit abusing his power.” 

　　Chen Hongyi swore, taking a deep breath, leaving reluctantly. 

　　He wasn’t stupid, even if he was mad in his heart, his feet were still preparing to retreat. 

　　No matter how powerful the organization was, it would be difficult to deal with it if they were really brought into the police station. At the very least, the organization would never spend much effort getting him out of the jail.

　　Besides, with such an interruption, he didn’t know where the little bug had run to.

　　Chen Hongyi got madder as he continued thinking, frustrated at his own incompetence. 

　　Well, since the organization would deal with the aftermath, that black hair would most likely end up as a scapegoat.

　　Because of him, he ended up failing his task. If he didn’t personally gut him and turn that head into wax, it would really make it hard to vent his anger.

　　“Count yourself lucky I’m letting you off today. Fucking unlucky.” 

　　He spat and walked out with the hammer

　　It was so dark outside he couldn’t see his fingers.

　　The sealed iron window had blocked the light from reaching the abandoned hospital long ago, only the light that leaked in at noon at the end of the corridor was faintly visible.

　　As he cursed, Chen Hongyi lowered his head and was about to turn on the flashlight.

　　However, just as he lowered his head, a strong wind suddenly brushed past him.

　　Chen Hongyi wasn’t given any time to react before he was pushed onto the ground. 

　　“You motherfucking…” 

　　He was stunned for a moment before flying into a rage.

　　This black hair still hasn’t left!

　　To be honest, it wasn’t Chen Hongyi’s fault for not expecting this. When a normal person encounters a killing scene in the bathroom, without a weapon in his hand, his first reaction would definitely be to run away. Not to mention that before Zong qi ran, he even threw out his only weapon. This made it seem like he wanted to buy time for his escape.

　　However, not only did Zong qi not run away, he also took advantage of the sound of the ringing to hide next to the entrance of the toilet, waiting for the other party to relax their vigilance before making his ultimate move. 

　　Because Zong qi knew very well that if he didn’t subdue the murderer and hand him over to the police today, he will never prove his innocence.

　　“That’s right, I’ve been staying here, waiting to take your useless life. Scum.” 

　　The black-haired youth threw himself at him. Enduring the pain of his palm hitting the handle of the hammer, he gave the murderer a cold punch on the bridge of his nose, making Chen Hongyi’s nose bleed like a fountain.

　　Being regarded as a scapegoat for no reason, Zong qi’s anger had long since exploded.

　　If he hadn’t met the director system, if it was someone else in his place, wouldn’t they have died unjustly?

　　[Hypnosis has been activated] 

　　In the next second, Chen Hongyi’s eyelids drooped, the hammer he had just raised fell to the ground.

　　“Bring it!” 

　　He quickly picked up the hammer and knocked away the dagger in his hand, chopping the back of his neck fiercely.

　　He actually learnt this trick from a TV series. Apparently if someone chopped hard on the main artery of someone’s neck, they would fall into a temporary coma.

　　Three seconds passed quickly. Although it was short, there were too many things he could do.

　　Three seconds ago, the murderer was fully armed, yet three seconds later, both hands were empty.

　　Chen Hongyi forcefully endured the ringing in his head and the stars in his eyes, “You…” 

　　Before he could finish his words, a sharp pain came from the back of his head. His eyes went black and he fell to the ground like mud.

　　“You what you? Trash thing.” (t/n: fun fact im singaporean so im really hoping you what you isnt a singlish thing and yall understand it :D) 

　　In the darkness, Zong qi stepped on his chest, patting the heavy hammer in his hand. “As expected, TV series are all liars. It’s safer to use smashing.”

　　In case Chen Hongyi didn’t pass out completely, Zong qi squatted down and hit him a few more times.

　　There was blood on the back of his head. It wasn’t to the extent of death, but there should be no problem keeping him passed out for quite a while. 

　　After doing everything, there was only 30 seconds left of the 10 minutes. 

　　On the other hand, after going through such a thrilling life and death battle and recieving new clues, the scream value had increased all the way to 300, and the plot exploration of ‘Mental Hospital’ had increased to 75%, which was a great harvest.

　　Zong qi panted as he dragged the man to a corner. After everything was done, a gust of wind blew past. Only then did he finally realize that he was covered in cold sweat, and that his hands had been shaking involuntarily

　　“I should return as soon as the timer goes to 0… This is my last chance, please please please don’t let anything go wrong. 

　　According to his memory, the police should arrive soon.

　　Although he had successfully caught the murderer, the mysterious organization behind him was still shrouded in the shadows, revealing nothing.

　　He had no doubt that if the organization really wanted to deal with him, even if he showed the evidence to the police, the other party could still cheat and distort the truth.

　　The things he had risked his life to do were like mayfly shaking trees, useless. 

　　This knowledge made Zong qi feel powerless and angry, his nails leaving deep marks in his palm. 

　　Thank god there was still the director system. 

　　Just now, when he clicked on the backstage, he found that it showed that it was in the middle of filming. He had recorded the whole process of time reversing, it was even written that he receive the real video at the end.

　　Of course, there would be a lot of movies to shoot, and the director system was responsible for shooting, there was no problem.

　　Every time he thought that his understanding of the system was at the fifth level, he would look back and find that he was still on the first level.

　　If he came to a dead end, this video shot with irrefutable evidence from the God’s perspective would be his last trump card.

　　“No matter what, I’ve already did my very best. For whatever comes next… I’ll leave it to fate.” 

　　He kept comforting himself, quietly waiting for that last moment. 

　　[Rerecording time has ended] 

　　The dark red numbers quickly returned to the starting point.

　　Then, everything around him was frozen again.

　　After pausing for a second, the blocked started moving, like a thousand pieces surrounding him in the middle. 

　　What was different from the last time was that, this time, the surrounding color was inlaid with a black and white film, and the specific development of the situation couldn’t be seen. It made him feel like he was sitting in a dark room waiting for the film to be developed and pressing the fast forward button of the movie.

　　In the 10 minutes of rerecording, it was like a butterfly flapping its wings, changing the already established future multiple times. 

　　The cold light in the interrogation room shone once again in front of Zong qi. 

　　[You have returned to the right timeline]