Chapter 9
When I returned to the set again, I was suddenly stopped by someone.
“You must be Miss Jiang Juexia, right?”
The person was dressed in a black leather jacket, leaning with a roguish air against a “Breaker” motorcycle. He had a buzz cut, a scar between his brows, and a bold, cocky smile.
At first glance, I could tell he definitely wasn’t from the industry.
“Do you have time to talk?”
He walked up to me, slightly pulling open his jacket to reveal his credentials.
What’s going on?
I nodded, inexplicably lowering my voice as well. “There’s a café nearby that’s quite safe.”
What I didn’t expect at the time was that less than half an hour after I left, rumors swept through the entire crew that I’d been arrested for murder.
My Fan Club online was in tears.
My die-hard fan moderator was crying as she left messages, telling me to work the sewing machine until it smoked in prison and to reform myself well.
And the culprit behind all this was gulping down ice-cold cola.
“My name is Gu Weifeng, Criminal Investigation Unit. I’m a friend of Bai Dao. Don’t be nervous, I just want to talk to you about the situation.”
I replied with an “Mm.”
Officer Gu looked quite young, but seemed to hold a high rank.
After all, judging by the scars on his exposed arms and face, it felt like he’d made some major contributions.
If the men and women in the entertainment industry are like delicate flowers raised in a greenhouse, he felt more like a kind of wild grass-if you touched him carelessly, you might end up with a fine cut on your finger.
“I heard you seem to know quite a bit about the 717 case. Is there a reason for that?”
It was hard to lie in front of him.
“Officer Gu, it’s like this: Bai Dao wanted to adapt it, so I started looking into it.”
Gu Weifeng looked at me thoughtfully, then grinned and pulled out a photo. “I see. Actually, I’m a fan of yours, Miss Jiang. I’ve only seen you on TV before. Could you sign this for me?”
It was a promotional photo from one of my early idol dramas.
I signed it.
“By the way, I heard you guessed that the murderer back then was a neat-freak? What else did you deduce?”
In the midst of my initial unease, I regained my professional composure as an actress.
“Most of what I know, I read in the newspapers back then. I’m quite curious-this case has been unsolved for so many years. I thought… you all had given up.”
“My master told me, as long as a case isn’t solved, it never ends.”
At this point, the conversation fell into an awkward silence.
He looked out the window through the glass. The street was bustling-just another ordinary day.
“Do you think the murderer is still in the city?”
“That’s hard to say. After all, we don’t know why he suddenly stopped. Generally, for serial killers like this, their threshold for committing crimes keeps rising.”
I’d noticed this in the newspapers too.
Five cases, each happening more frequently than the last.
“Miss Jiang, sorry to bother you. Go ahead and get back to work. We’ll meet again.”
He paid the bill, and I couldn’t help but call out to him.
“I’ve been studying the script these days, and I’ve read most of the reports about this case. May I ask-can I meet the people who were in charge of the case back then?”
Gu Weifeng tossed me a lemon candy. “You’re really dedicated-not at all like what they say online.”
“I don’t know. I’m just trying to feel things from an actress’s perspective.” Now, even without the System, the voice in my head popped up on its own. “If I were the murderer-a strange man-why would these victims, knowing there was a serial murderer on the loose in the city, let down their guard and go with him every time?”