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Chapter 42: 42

Han Fei spoke so softly that Director Jiang barely heard him but then again, the director’s attention wasn’t on him to begin in. The victims’ families barged into the set to interrupt the movie production, if this was not handled well, it could be a PR nightmare.

“We’ve been spending the past decade trying to forget these painful incidents. The fact you’ve decided to shoot this movie has already torn our wounds open for the world to see.” A 40 plus middle-aged woman pointed her finger angrily at the crew. “But because you said the movie could help attract more people’s attention and it might help persuade people to come forward with new clues that we agreed to let you turn our most despairing memory into a capitalist venture! But what have you done with it?!”

She raised the iPod that she carried and raised the volume to the max. The screen then proceeded to play a short video. In the video, the young police officer played by Ah Cheng did a bad mimicry of Sherlock Holmes. Instead of analysing the clues, he spent most of the movie chasing after the female main character. At the end of the trailer, his love interest sacrificed herself so that the young police officer could have the chance to turn the table on the murderer. The trailer ended with the officer wailing awkwardly with the girl dying in his arms. The trailer focused on the blundering romance between the two fictional main characters instead of the actual victims and the crime solving.

“This is what you’ve turned our pain into? You are insulting the torment that we’ve borne for the past 10 years!” The woman shouted loudly before she broke down into tears.

“I’m so sorry for letting all of you down, as the director, I owe everyone an apology. I will try my best to edit the scenes, but I hope you can understand the difficulty on our part. Even though the movie is based on real events, we can’t just copy the events and move it onto the big screen. I beg that you grant us some creative license. The two main characters are necessary to string the story together to give it a good flow, I wish you all can understand that.” Jiang Yi explained but the real reason was because the sponsors of the movie demanded that the two main actors be given more screen time than the victims. The sponsors were Han Guang Cinema which represented Ah Cheng and You Long Culture which represented the female main character. To be blunt, they couldn’t care less about the victims or their families, they just wanted to promote their stars.

“Fine but don’t you think you’ve gone too far with the creative license by manufacturing a fake ending? How could you say the case has been solved when the actual murderer hasn’t even been captured yet?!”

“You people should be thankful that we are willing to tell your stories. If you continue to cause trouble, we’re going to call the cops!”

“Fine, call them then! We’ll see who will sue whom!”

“Please calm down. There’s no need to involve the police.”

The shouting went back and forth. Neither side refused to back down and the verbal argument soon turned physical. The victims’ families raised their placard and refused to budge from the set. Ah Cheng who stood at the front was riled up due to the families’ complaint of his scenes, he took that as a personal insult. It was hard to tell who made the first move but during the process, Wei Youfu’s elderly father was shoved to the ground. The old man knocked into the production equipment that lined the cramped set. As the equipment clattered noisily to the ground, it was like the horn for a full-on fight. The victims’ families exploded and they surged forward to knock Ah Cheng back.

Ah Cheng was an idol. This was the first time he was so humiliated. The make-up on his face blurred and someone left a footprint on his branded shirt. “Motherfucker, nothing is going right today. You people will pay for this! How dare you come after me?!”

“No, young man, how dare you instead! Yours is supposed to be a serious role but you treat it with such frivolity and levity. Your performance is a disgrace to the law enforcement!”

“From what we saw, all you ever did was go on dates, pose for cameras and nothing else. It is clear that you do not understand the gravity of the case you are given! You are too green for this role! You shouldn’t be casted for it!”

The families’ words jabbed at Ah Cheng’s heart and it lit the man up even further. The assumed insult became an actual affront. “Bunch of ruffians! You know what, this is karma. Your families deserved to be…” Ah Cheng uttered in fury. Halfway through it, he realized he had crossed the line but it was already too late. One could not take back words spoken.

As her grief got trampled on, the middle-aged woman closest to Ah Cheng reached for the idol’s hair. Her eyes were red with tears and anger. She was so vexed that she could barely speak.

“Let go!” Ah Cheng was tall and muscular. He easily knocked the woman away. He just about to crawl up from the ground when someone kicked at him. Unable to control his fury anymore, he grabbed the pail of fake blood that sat beside him and threw it forward.

“BANG!” The iron pail crashed into a man’s back. The sound alone caused a few of the crew members to wince in pain. The empty pail rolled down the corridor. Both sides now quieted down and turned to the centre of the crowd. Han Fei, who was now drenched in blood, had moved to shield the middle-aged woman. Viscous blood slid down his face. His eyes shot chills into people’s hearts.

“Is that enough?” His deep voice echoed down the corridor. Han Fei stepped on the trail of fake blood and walked towards Ah Cheng. “They are not wrong. You do not have the skill to play a police officer. For me, your acting is like trash.” It was direct and the tone brooked no argument. Han Fei’s bloodied face stared right at Wu Cheng. At that moment, Ah Cheng found himself too frightened to speak. He could not even formulate a sentence. “To solve this case, many people have sacrificed their life and time, your performance is a disgrace to their effort.”

Han Fei danced on the edge of the knife every night, one false move and he’d die. He was very familiar with the case’s cruelty and gore. The horror was more than the term ‘human jigsaw case’ could describe. Leaving Ah Cheng stunned, Han Fei turned to the victims’ families. He knew every single one of their names, he had seen them in pictures before.

“Son, are, are you alright?” The middle-aged woman asked in concern. If not for Han Fei, she would be injured by the heavy iron pail.

“You are Gu Hwa’s elder sister, Gu Yu, right?” Han Fei’s expression softened.

“Yes, but how, how did you know?”

“I know all of you and I share in your pain.” Han Fei said slowly, “I hope you can hear me speak a few words. When Director Jiang said that the police have reopened the human jigsaw case, he wasn’t saying that to placate you. That is the truth.”

“The truth? For the past 10 years, we’ve heard the same thing from the police.”

“But I guarantee that the killer will be captured this time!” Han Fei wiped away the blood from his face. “Before that, if this movie continues to manufacture falsehood, then I will join in your protest myself!”

He looked at the families and he thought of the ghosts inside Room 1044. Lastly, he said without any trace of performance, “Please trust me, I will give you all a satisfactory ending.”