Chapter 13 Chapter 13 The competition between three dying people in the world of the living...
In the Zhiyin Wall footage, the living Song Yuting watched the current video with a frown on his face, and then clicked on other videos on the hard drive.
The remaining videos are not like the first one - although there are a lot of disgusting obscenities, at least it is not that difficult to accept just by looking at the images - the remaining ones are more straightforward evidence of guilt.
Song Yuting opened the remaining videos just to confirm the evidence was correct. He did not watch them as carefully as he did the first video, but the progress bar that quickly passed by was shocking enough.
After checking the hard drive's contents, Song Yuting disconnected it from the computer. He stood up, found a roll of plastic wrap, and wrapped the hard drive tightly. He then placed the hard drive and a roll of tape in his sports waist bag, put on a mask and a hat, and left.
When he came to the corridor and passed the stairwell door, Song Yuting looked downstairs and sighed.
Then the screen on the Zhiyin Wall jumped and directly showed the scene where Song Yuting hid something in an abandoned telephone booth opposite the Starlight Entertainment Building at three o'clock in the morning. The picture was so clear that it seemed as if you were there in person. It would be easier for people in the world who saw the live broadcast to find the hard drive if they wanted to.
Then, the Zhiyin Wall moved again and the scene changed.
"This is the scene before your death." You Yunyi said.
He knew that Song Yuting was probably not interested in watching it now, but since it was a live broadcast, he had to consider the viewing experience of other viewers.
Moreover, he arranged to live broadcast two ghosts every day, one ghost for one hour. Male ghost No. 002, Song Yuting, still had a lot of time left, and You Yunyi didn't plan to continue live broadcasting No. 003 later, so he simply put more footage of No. 002 to fill up the time.
Before Song Yuting's death, he confronted his agent Chen Zhao at his home.
Chen Zhao looked at Song Yuting in disbelief. "Are you crazy? What good will it do you if this becomes a big deal? Do you really think you can become a hero and stay out of this? I'm telling you, it's impossible!"
"By then, the public, eager to watch the fun, will simply think that you, Song Yuting, were also a visitor to the villa, and that you might have filmed a Category III film, just like those shareholders claimed. Do you believe that by then, more people will be asking for your video resources than praising you as a hero who punishes evildoers and eradicates evil?"
"Putting aside those opinions... do you know who you're actually offending? Do you really think you can stop offending people if you retire and stop being in the entertainment industry? All the hard work you've put in over the years and the good reputation you've built will be ruined by then!"
"And... Yuting, I, Brother Chen, have been with you through thick and thin for so many years. I've taken extra care of you since you were a newbie, helping you rise to the top. You just said it yourself, you know, those shareholders wanted you to go to the villa, but I fought hard to stop you and saved you..."
"We've been together for so many years, don't you want to think about Brother Chen? You're going to make this a big deal and expose it to the public. Are you going to send me to jail yourself? If you don't think about Brother Chen, think about my wife, your sister-in-law, my son, and the people who call you uncle. Aren't they treating you well? They treat you like family. Do you have the heart to leave them orphans and widows and have them gossiped about?"
Chen Zhao spoke in a earnest tone, but Song Yuting remained silent, which made Chen Zhao more and more anxious.
"Okay, Yuting, how about this? First, delete the Weibo post where you announced you were organizing a treasure hunt and asked netizens to find the 'treasure'? Even if you report the evidence directly to the police, it'll be less of a commotion than bringing it to light like this! And if you then involve unsuspecting netizens and your fans, aren't you afraid that those behind-the-scenes culprits you're trying to expose will indiscriminately retaliate?"
"Yuting, you are being reckless in this matter!"
"Have you ever considered that you won't just be exposing those people...including my evidence of guilt, but also the artists who were originally victims? What about those artists under Starlight Entertainment who weren't taken to the villa? Do they want to be exposed like this? Do they want their wounds to be self-righteously opened by you, or do they want those without wounds to be implicated and unable to explain themselves?"
Hearing this, the silent Song Yuting finally spoke up. He said, "Brother Chen, I've thought about it, but I still feel... there shouldn't be any new victims. This matter must be made as big as possible so that it will have enough deterrent effect and won't be suppressed so easily."
"I'm mentally prepared for how many people I'll offend and how others will speculate about me. Even if the artists at Star Entertainment want to blame me, I'll accept it completely."
"You accept?" Chen Zhao sneered. "What will you offer? Are you going to trade the future of another artist for your chance to become a hero?"
The hat was too big, so Song Yuting didn't say anything, but he still had no intention of changing his mind.
Chen Zhao's tone softened again. He practically coaxed Song Yuting, who was in her thirties, saying, "Yuting, how about this? You keep the evidence in your hands and use it as leverage. I'll go talk to the shareholders and tell them to close the villa. There won't be any new victims in the future. Isn't that what you want to see most? Those who were victimized in the past finally let it go, gritted their teeth and swallowed it in exchange for resources. Why are you exposing their scars now?"
Song Yuting was silent for a while, then said, "Brother Chen, Fang Chen committed suicide."
Chen Zhao: "He..."
"I knew him before. He got into trouble and didn't know what to do, so he came to me for help... But the next day he said he didn't need it. He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so he accepted the bribes offered by his superiors. I thought he really swallowed it, but he committed suicide last week. Didn't you know that?"
Song Yuting said: "I know him, so I will pay special attention to him, but what about those people who are not even paid attention to and can't swallow this hatred and resentment..."
"There were boys and girls, even confused children. Some suffered so much that they chose suicide. Even some who didn't reach the point of suicide suffered psychological trauma and had to quit the entertainment industry. Even adults suffer from this, so what about children who haven't even finished their nine-year compulsory education? How can you expect them to 'let go'?"
Having said that, Chen Zhao nodded: "So, you really don't want to give in. You really want me, Brother Chen, to die..."
"Then Yuting, don't blame me."
As an agent who has been working with Song Yuting since he entered the industry, Chen Zhao is very familiar with Song Yuting's physical condition and knows how to easily cause Song Yuting to have an asthma attack without raising any suspicion afterwards.
When the picture on Zhiyin's wall showed Song Yuting having an asthma attack and being on the verge of death, You Yunyi cut it off.
He glanced at the time and felt that if Song Yuting left the extradition office now and the information about the mortal world was released on the extradition wall, the remaining live broadcast time for today would be completed.
So You Yunyi said to Song Yuting, "If you have nothing else to say, go drink the soup."
Song Yuting came back to his senses, turned his gaze from the Zhiyin Wall to the camera, and said, "Then let me say one last thing... According to what the ghost messenger said before, those in the mortal world who can access this live broadcast are all dying people with similar situations to mine. So even if it's to change my own fate, since I'm going to die anyway, there's nothing to be afraid of in taking a desperate measure, right?"
"I still hope that the living world can expose the affairs of the senior executives of Starlight Entertainment. But if not, then forget it. Anyway, I have done everything I can, and there is nothing else I can do."
Song Yuting left the extradition center. The ghosts watching the live broadcast on the underworld screen were very anxious.
"Oh my, what's going on in the mortal world? Is there anyone reliable enough to get evidence and report it to the police?"
"Wow, I really wasn't a fan of the wrong person before. Our Song Yuting is really awesome!"
"Those senior executives really don't treat me as human beings. I'm so angry!"
"Here it comes, here comes the scene from the living world on Zhiyin's wall!"
"Wow, let's get straight to the point. This is the abandoned phone booth we saw earlier!"
"Oh my god, this breathless person must be Chen Zhao! Ahhhh why is he here too!"
In the extradition office, a live broadcast of the current situation of a dying person in the mortal world who had just seen the live broadcast room appeared randomly on the wall.
You Yunyi glanced at the peephole and found that the person who came randomly was Song Yuting's agent Chen Zhao.
This means that Chen Zhao will soon die like Song Yuting because of the activities of the senior executives of Starlight Entertainment in the villa.
It was past seven in the evening in the mortal world, but because the Starlight Entertainment Building was located in the suburbs, there was not even any "attraction" worth seeing across the street except for the abandoned public telephone booth. So there were no passers-by around the telephone booth at this moment. There were only Chen Zhao who saw the live broadcast, and a man and a woman who also saw the live broadcast.
The three people were in a standoff, with the woman holding a hard drive that she had just taken out from under the phone booth.
"You all saw it, didn't you..." Chen Zhao's face darkened. "I've been trying to find where Song Yuting hid the evidence. I never thought he would tell me in person in this way. It's a pity that I was still a step too late, and you got here first."
The woman holding the hard drive refused to admit it. "What did you say? What did you see? What does this have to do with Teacher Song? Teacher Song has been dead for a year, what else can he tell you?"
The empty-handed man also said, "That's right. I heard someone at the company a few days ago saying that Mr. Song's agent, Brother Chen, was going to hold a memorial service for him on his first anniversary. But now he's acting all confused again, saying that Mr. Song told you personally... That's weird."
Chen Zhao sneered, "Stop pretending. If you didn't see it, you wouldn't have heard my question. Haven't you tried? There's no way to tell someone who can't see the existence of that horrible livestream, not even a hint."
The man and woman, each occupying their own side and confronting each other, gritted their teeth.
Chen Zhao looked at the woman and the things in her hand: "Okay, Lin Lin, give me the things. I still say what I said to Song Yuting before. If this matter gets out of hand, it will not benefit anyone. If I remember correctly, you have also been to the villa, right?"
"Although your video isn't on this hard drive—after all, you only signed with the company this year. You weren't there when Song Yuting died, so of course you weren't among the evidence he collected—but believe it or not, if you just take the hard drive and leave right now, I can make a phone call and have your video from that night at the villa spread all over the place."
Lin Lin was so threatened by him that she recalled some unbearable images. She clutched the hard drive tightly with trembling hands: "...No, I won't give it to you."
"My videos...if you want to post them, just post them. It's just more evidence. Anyway, our country is cracking down on pornography, and there's no way my videos can be spread openly. As for secretly...they should have been spread secretly by you guys a long time ago, right? What do I have to be afraid of..."
As she spoke, the trembling in her voice lessened and her confidence grew stronger.
Seeing that she was stubborn, Chen Zhao looked at the remaining man and said, "Your name is..."
There were too many people in the company, and Chen Zhao didn't have an impression of everyone who had been to the villa, so he was not sure of the other party's identity and position for a while.
Lin Lin had the advantage in this regard: "Zhao Yilu, do you want to snatch the hard drive from me too?"
"We joined the company at the same time. I remember you haven't been to the villa, but you saw Teacher Song's live broadcast just now... When 'Mr. You' was playing the contents of the hard drive, I saw a girl named Zhao Yitu appear. That girl was a very popular child star ten years ago, but then she suddenly withdrew from the entertainment industry. After all these years, if I hadn't loved her smile as a child, I probably wouldn't have recognized her. Who is she to you?"
Chen Zhao looked at Zhao Yilu in surprise.
Zhao Yilu pursed her lips. "It's my twin sister... When she was little, she was picked by a talent scout and became a bit famous. Our family was very happy until something happened to her... My parents were afraid that she would be criticized, so they didn't call the police. I couldn't do anything at the time."
"I'll find an opportunity to join Starlight Entertainment. I want to investigate what happened and avenge my sister... She used to be such a lively and lovely girl, but she hasn't smiled since."
"But after my sister found out I joined Starlight Entertainment, she begged me not to bring up what happened back then... I hadn't told her I joined the company, and that had already upset her. She said she didn't want to talk about it, so I decided to find a way to leave the company and not continue."
"But because of a contract, I can't leave for the time being. And just last month, I found out about the new batch of child actors in the company... I really don't want those children to go through what my sister went through, so I couldn't help but continue investigating."
"Didn't Teacher Song just say that only the dying can see the living world? Maybe I'm almost at the villa, and it's an eyesore. I came here to find this hard drive... I hadn't figured out what to do with it, I just wanted to delete the videos of my sister in it. After all, she doesn't need video evidence of being a victim, and she doesn't want to talk about her childhood anymore."
Lin Lin clutched the hard drive tightly and quietly moved toward the side of the road where her car had just been. "Yes, according to the original trajectory, we were all going to die because of this... Including you, Chen Zhao. So why do you still want to destroy the evidence? Is jail more terrifying to you than death?"
Chen Zhao gritted his teeth and said stubbornly, "It's just Song Yuting's words. Who knows if they're true or not? What if someone closely related to what he said sees the live broadcast? He said I'm going to die, so I'm going to die? If I really don't do anything, then after the incident, I, a small fry, will be the one who really will die..."
"Zhao Yilu, you just wanted to delete your sister's video. Lin Lin, you're only 23 years old. There's no need to make a big fuss and ruin your future and the rest of your life. Even if you don't care, what about your parents? What about other relatives and friends? Don't you care what they think of you?"
"Well, you don't have to give me the hard drive. The three of us will take it and go to the company's directors. It's like a token of our loyalty. So, you can have whatever resources you want in the future. Don't do anything stupid... Lin Lin!"
Lin Lin had already moved to the side of her car, quickly opened the driver's seat and got in, locking the car door before Chen Zhao ran over.
Zhao Yilu was in a dilemma. He stood there without moving, neither stopping Lin Lin nor stopping Chen Zhao from knocking on Lin Lin's car window.
"Lin Lin, are you crazy? Why can't you be more rational! More mature! More realistic..."
Lin Lin didn't dare to listen anymore, fearing that if she continued listening she would really be shaken, so she simply started the car and left.
Seeing this, Chen Zhao also hurried to his car.
Although Zhao Yilu arrived earlier than Chen Zhao, he had the advantage of being closer. He didn't have a car, so he rode a shared electric bike.
It was impossible to continue riding the shared electric bike to race against the two four-wheeled vehicles. Zhao Yilu was confused, but he made up his mind and ran to Chen Zhao's car, opened the passenger seat and got in.
Chen Zhao was even more confused than him: "What do you mean?"
Zhao Yilu: "I don't know, I...I can't just stand there and watch you all leave..."
Chen Zhao didn't have time to talk nonsense with him. He started the car and chased after Lin Lin's car which had already driven away.
The ghosts watching the live broadcast in the underworld could only see the scene centered on Chen Zhao, so they were unsure of Lin Lin's situation.
"Oh, chase slowly, don't catch up..."
"This little girl named Lin Lin should have gone straight to the police. But don't be stupid and run off somewhere else and delay things!"
"I mean, can't Chen Zhao's car just have a flat tire?"
"I'm convinced. People who do so much evil really won't turn back until they hit the wall. They even saw the damn live broadcast and still think they can hide their crimes!"
"I say, Zhao Yilu in the passenger seat, are you really going to do nothing? Why don't you stop Chen Zhao from driving?"
"Damn, Chen Zhao's car is better than Lin Lin's. I couldn't see the rear end of the car just now, but now I can see it..."
"Oh my, is this considered speeding? I was hit and killed by a speed racer. It's so dangerous..."
In the world of the living, Chen Zhao still drove after Lin Lin with a gloomy face.
Two cars drove into the busy area one after the other. It was almost eight o'clock, which was the bustling time of the night. There were many cars on the road, and there were more people crossing the road when the zebra crossing light was green than at other times.
Chen Zhao sneered and looked ahead: "There's a traffic jam, that's great, it's rare that I think a traffic jam is a good thing, let's see where you drive."
Hearing this, Zhao Yilu, who was in the passenger seat, said, "But you can't possibly get out of the car on the street and steal things from Lin Lin's car..."
"I'm driving, so it's not convenient for me to go down, but you can. Lin Lin might not be wary of you yet." Chen Zhao said.
Zhao Yilu was stunned for a moment: "No...I...I can't help you here."
"You're not helping me." Chen Zhao said sincerely, "Zhao Yilu, think about it. Once you get the hard drive, you can delete your sister's video. It will be a token of your loyalty. Even if you did something to make the boss jealous before, they can forgive you after this incident. The same goes for me. Even if our lives were originally in danger, we will be safe after retrieving the evidence and handing it over. On the contrary, we can get benefits. Why do you have to be as stupid as Lin Lin, right? Think about it carefully..."
Zhao Yilu was completely lost, not knowing what to do. He wanted to delete his sister's video, but he also felt that Lin Lin was right to call the police and expose those evildoers. But if she did, what would happen to his sister's video?
Being in a dilemma, Chen Zhao unexpectedly used benefits as an inducement, which made Zhao Yilu sober up.
He reached out and grabbed the steering wheel.
Chen Zhao was horrified: "What are you doing! Are you crazy?"
"Do you think I'm a beast like you! You actually want me to join you in surrendering to the man who harmed my sister, and use this to get benefits? I would rather die than take this benefit!" Zhao Yilu roared.
The front of the car was swaying wildly. Chen Zhao was worried that a car accident would cause more trouble, so he had to stop the car regardless of traffic rules, then shook off Zhao Yilu's hand and got out of the car.
Zhao Yilu didn't know what was going on, so he got out of the car as well. Then he saw Chen Zhao, while he was still trying to react, get back into the driver's seat, not even bothering to fasten his seatbelt, and drive away.
Zhao Yilu: "Oh! Oh my god!"
However, before he could finish his curse, he saw Chen Zhao's car stopped again - there was a traffic jam at the traffic light ahead, and Chen Zhao's car was blocked by the car in front. He wanted to run the red light regardless of the points deducted, but it was not possible.
Lin Lin's car, which was a little ahead, just passed the last round of traffic lights.
In a busy area, if you fall behind by one traffic light, you basically have no chance of catching up. Zhao breathed a sigh of relief.
The ghosts watching the live broadcast of the underworld also breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, by the time Chen Zhao passed the most congested traffic light, he had lost sight of Lin Lin's car. He followed the nearest police station, only catching sight of Lin Lin running into the station gate after turning the last corner.
Chen Zhao slammed the steering wheel and muttered, "It's over, it's all over..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
