Chapter 334
Chapter 334
I had not yet visited the location or learned the specifics.
Nor did I know whether the film set was truly haunted.
Sometimes, incidents that appeared supernatural were not caused by Ghosts at all. They could be accidents or even deliberate human acts.
So I asked Brother Liu what the police investigation had found.
“The findings are strange too.”
Brother Liu said, “When the second female lead filmed the hanging scene, she naturally had to be secured by stunt wires. The prop master and stagehands would adjust the rig to the correct height in advance, then test it themselves. Actors are treated like treasures these days. Everyone is terrified they’ll get hurt.”
“There was no problem during the test. The height was exactly right. But when the second female lead filmed the scene, something went wrong.”
“At the time, everyone was praising how realistic her performance was. Even the director was stunned. But she wasn’t acting. The noose had really caught around her neck. She was hanged alive right there in front of every crew member.”
Just listening made Anning and me frown.
To be hanged alive in front of so many people was truly horrifying.
How desperate must the actress have felt in her final moments?
She must have done everything she could to call for help. But everyone on set probably assumed her performance was extraordinarily realistic, since that was what the scene required.
“The police have detained the prop master over this, and he’s definitely in serious trouble. My cousin bore plenty of responsibility too, but luckily he has me. I pulled some strings and kept him out of it.”
Brother Liu continued, “But my cousin would never lie to me. He said there was nothing wrong with the props or the height of the wire rig. The prop master even tested it himself. My cousin swore to me that there was no possible way the actress could have been hanged. Her death simply makes no sense.”
Seen that way, something did seem strange.
“When she was hanged, was there a problem with the wire height or not?” I asked.
Brother Liu smiled bitterly. “Who knows? Logically, there must have been. How could she have been hanged if there wasn’t?”
“But as soon as she died, the crew lowered her body. So naturally, no one knows whether the height was wrong at the time. That’s why the prop master was detained. He has no way to prove there was nothing wrong with the rig.”
Before long, we arrived at the film studio complex.
There were more than two hundred film studio complexes of varying sizes across the country. Lanjiang City had one too, but ours was not very large, only about the size of two ordinary parks. Visitors even had to buy a fifty-yuan ticket to enter.
We did not need tickets because Brother Liu’s younger cousin was already waiting for us at the entrance.
His cousin’s name was Sun Xiaoyuan, and he was the same age as me. Since the name did not sound imposing enough, he simply went by Sun Yuan.
Sun Yuan worked as a stagehand for the crew. His responsibilities generally included preparing props, selecting filming locations, maintaining order on set, and handling logistical support.
Compared with some other positions on a film crew, stagehands held a certain amount of authority.
The crew had already suffered two accidents, and this time someone had died. Sun Yuan had inevitably been cursed out by the director. The director, in turn, was cursed out by the investor, then came back and vented his anger on Sun Yuan. His life had not been easy.
The worst part was that neither accident should have happened. He felt deeply wronged.
He was even more anxious than the director now.
“Sun Yuan, don’t underestimate Chen Mo because he’s young. He absolutely has genuine ability!”
“Last time my mother went to the hospital for tests, Chen Mo knew she didn’t have intestinal cancer before the examination even began. Make sure my brother isn’t mistreated by anyone here.”
After Brother Liu’s lavish praise, Sun Yuan naturally treated me with great respect. He hurriedly shook hands with Anning and me.
“Brother Chen, Sister An, we’re truly counting on the two of you this time!”
Seeing someone treat her so respectfully and even call her Sister An, Anning immediately straightened her back and shook Sun Yuan’s hand.
“This whole incident is honestly bizarre. I almost ended up facing charges.”
“I may look young, but I’m more conscientious than anyone. This accident truly wasn’t caused by any mistake on our part.”
I nodded and asked, “You’re filming a horror movie?”
He nodded. “Our director is Hong Gang. He’s made a lot of online movies in recent years, all of them horror movies. His specialty is traditional-style horror.”
I asked, “Did you perform a worship ritual before filming began?”
A worship ceremony before the cameras started rolling was something every film production was supposed to hold, for two reasons.
First, films in the old days were shot on physical stock. If a camera suffered a film-scratching fault, meaning one of its components damaged the film, everything already shot would be ruined. That could inflict enormous losses on a production.
So early film crews held worship ceremonies. They burned incense and prayed to the gods for a safe and successful shoot.
The second reason was to inform the deities in the area that what happened during filming was not real and ask their forgiveness for any disturbance. Simply put, the crew had entered someone else’s territory, so they gave advance notice and asked not to be troubled.
This ceremony was performed regardless of the genre. Of course, some people did not believe in such things and skipped it.
Some productions that skipped the ritual suffered incidents, while others did not. But whenever something did happen, someone either died or was permanently disabled.
The most unusual and sensitive genre was the horror movie.
In the earliest days, film crews preparing to shoot horror movies always held a worship ceremony. They did not only worship gods, but Ghosts as well.
Why? Because horror movies could attract Ghosts to watch.
The ritual informed those Ghosts that the crew was merely making a movie and everything they filmed was fake. It asked the Ghosts not to cause trouble and to leave once the show was over.
That was the experience handed down by older generations of film crews. But some modern productions no longer followed the custom, and accidents occurred.
I knew all this because Seventh Master had told me. He had personally encountered supernatural incidents on film sets.
Some film crews refused to believe in the supernatural and skipped the worship ritual before shooting a Ghost movie. Afterward, certain actors suffered mental breakdowns, while others met with accidents on set.
That was why I asked Sun Yuan whether they had performed the ritual.
“We did. We perform one for every movie, and nothing ever went wrong before.”
Sun Yuan continued, “Our director is Hong Gang. He’s made many online movies in recent years, all of them horror movies, with a focus on traditional-style horror.”
“He believes in these things, so we hold a worship ceremony before every production.”
“Nothing strange ever happened in the past. But on this particular movie, accidents have occurred one after another. No one knows why, and the entire crew is terrified.”