Chapter 973: Chapter 971: Nighttime Operation
The disc Yi Chen received from the director was already a few years old, titled "Midnight Subway," and the film length was a standard 90 minutes.
The story is about a burly office worker who takes a nearly abandoned, surveillance-degraded last train home every night after working overtime,
and as long as there are no more than three passengers left on the train, he takes out a mask of hatred from his briefcase and begins a slaughter when the subway reaches a signal-free area.
After the screening ended,
perhaps he had watched worse movies last night, or perhaps he had vented his emotions on the film set today,
this time Yi Chen didn’t have too much of an emotional fluctuation. His thoughts were more focused on the film set, thinking about the uniqueness of the "White Skin Mask" and the root issues of the Tenth Disaster.
However, he hadn’t been pondering long before the hotel’s comfort added a layer of drowsiness to his consciousness, even causing Yi Chen to yawn, his body wanting to curl up in the bedding to seek sleep and rest.
Conscious of the hotel danger, Yi Chen instinctively rejected this comfort as dangerous.
However, staying in the hotel makes this comfort unavoidable, yet if he left the hotel and walked on the streets, he might be targeted by other [Disasters] like last night, or even die prematurely.
While hesitating, the disc ejected from the player automatically after the screening ended, and a spark of inspiration flashed in Yi Chen’s mind.
"Lorrian, how about doing me a favor?"
Floating in mid-air, with half his consciousness asleep, Lorrian opened his left eye, like a waning moon, "What is it?"
After Yi Chen explained his thought, Lorrian frowned, "This place is the domain of evil; I can’t feel any moonlight and can’t guarantee 100% realism.
Although your request isn’t high, if there are any unexpected events, the Illusion Dream Realm could be disrupted."
"If we don’t take the initiative to gain an advantage and just passively comply with the film set’s performances, we might end up completely trapped in it... Tonight, we might be able to secure some initiative beyond the crew’s control."
"Alright~ I was planning to go for a walk anyway, as the hotel’s inertia is constantly eroding my spirit."
If the two were to leave, Lene would be the only one left at the hotel.
Surprisingly, Lene didn’t ask to join them but instead seriously focused on the script. Perhaps considering that tomorrow has heavy scenes and up to ten chances for cuts, or knowing it’s dangerous outside and Yi Chen didn’t call her, following them would only increase the risk.
"Lene, we shouldn’t be back too late tonight, you can sleep on the bed."
"Okay."
Ding dong~
The elevator arrived at the hotel’s ground floor, and the black manager was still standing behind the counter.
As they were about to leave the lobby, the manager suddenly said, "As hotel guests, as long as you’re within the hotel’s area, you’ll have a guarantee of safety."
"Thank you."
Yi Chen understood the implication of the words, but it was somewhat unsettling to him, as if the manager had seen through their plans for tonight.
Tonight’s outing wasn’t to go to any special place but to head to the [film set].
They deliberately avoided the video store to prevent another potential encounter with that disaster-like entity. Because they were carrying the film set’s aura and were wearing conspicuous badges, the journey was quiet and undisturbed.
They quickly arrived at the filming base, which was closed because it was after working hours.
Yi Chen stood at the entrance and waved the disc in his hand, unsure if there were any surveillance cameras, "I’m here to return something and discuss some matters with the director."
The gate of the base slowly opened with a click.
A thick, ominous aura different from the day spilled out like a tide; the sense of danger even made Lorrian open his full moon pupil, and Yi Chen frowned slightly.
"No wonder the director went out of his way to let us stay at the hotel and not let us stay with the crew at night.
The crew’s working hours are not dictated by human rules but because when night falls, the murderers can’t suppress their nature, making it impossible to conduct any filming work.
What kind of reason can gather so many murderers who have reached the [phenomenon] level and are hard to control together?"
Walking inside the base, Yi Chen could feel more than one pair of eyes secretly observing him and Lorrian,
Perhaps due to his performance killing the pig-masked landlord in the restroom during the day, the crew was somewhat afraid of him and dared not trouble the two, but lingering too long might change that.
He swiftly reached the director’s office door, following the route from his memory.
Due to the dark passage, an evident red light seeped through the door gap, and even the sound of whipping and screams could be heard.
Knock knock knock~
As he knocked on the door, the noise inside temporarily stopped.
Before long, a half-naked director, pulling up his pants, opened the door, looking at the two outside with a dark expression, devoid of the amicable demeanor from the day.
"Why are you here instead of sleeping at the hotel so late?!"
"I came to return the disc after watching it, thank you, director."
"Don’t you know to return it tomorrow when work resumes? You disturb me for such a trivial matter!" The director’s blood-stained hand twitched, almost grabbing Yi Chen’s neck.
"I was really bored in the hotel and wanted to ask for some more discs from you."
"Don’t you know to borrow from the video store?! Why come to me!"
"I encountered something strange at the video store last night, attracted by a cabinet full of videotapes and saw an entity holding an old-fashioned camcorder; it felt very dangerous, so I’m scared to go there."
At this remark, a clarity came over the director’s eyes, "Why didn’t you say so earlier! Did that thing do anything other than film you? Did you encounter it again when you came to the film set tonight?"
"No, I only encountered it once when I went to the video store last night."
"That’s good~ Make sure not to go back to the video store, and avoid it in the future... If we get into trouble with that thing, our filming will be severely affected. Wait a moment; I’ll find some more old discs.
Please don’t bother me at night. I need my personal time too."
"Understood, director."
The director valued his privacy, shutting the door behind him while getting the discs. He returned shortly, handing Yi Chen a large bag full of discs, including some director’s cuts not available on the market.
"Hurry up and leave..." After impatiently sending the two away, the director closed and locked the door.
Of course, Yi Chen’s true purpose for tonight’s outing wasn’t just to get discs, it was a pretense to visit the crew. The real aim was...
"Hi! Mr. Bator, what a coincidence!"
While leaving the crew, they ’just happened’ to bump into the lead actor Bator, who wore his old office attire from his subway film days, sitting upright on a bench, as if reminiscing the feeling of the subway ride.
"What are you doing here?" Bator’s amiable expression remained friendly, yet his hand instinctively moved to his briefcase, as if to pull out a weapon to slaughter them.
"We came to rent some old films shot by the crew to better integrate into this large group... And by chance, we saw your old movie. Does Mr. Bator have a fondness for subways?"
"Who doesn’t like their first time." Bator extended his thick, juicy tongue.
"The City of Evil probably has subway designs too? I’m quite interested in your previous films. How about we recreate some of those old scenes tonight?"