Chapter 10

Hearing Director Jiang's praise, Han Fei felt a bit embarrassed. He couldn't tell Director Jiang that he had truly experienced it firsthand.

"I feel like I've hit the jackpot. With you anchoring the show, the first few scenes are secure." Director Jiang looked at Han Fei and smiled with satisfaction: "I always said you have such good acting skills, how could you not become famous? It seems you were just going in the wrong direction. In the future, you should try more horror films."

"My dream is still to become a comedian. I like seeing everyone smile, and I enjoy that feeling."

"People have to eat, right? You can gain fame through horror films and then move on to comedies." Director Jiang was very satisfied with Han Fei: "You passed the audition. Go home and rest well today, and start officially tomorrow."

"I..." Han Fei wasn't sure if he could make it through the night. According to the game's rules, he had to log in every day.

"I'll try to get you more pay, don't worry." Director Jiang had a straightforward personality, and all his emotions were written on his face. Of course, this might also be why he hadn't become a big director yet.

The entire audition process, from start to finish, took only about ten minutes. After grabbing a box lunch from the crew, Han Fei was about to leave when his phone vibrated again. This time, it was Li Xue calling.

"Did you find anything?"

"Old City North Street, No. 21. I'm waiting for you here. I found Meng Shi."

"Great! I'll be right there!"

The "Evil Flower" crew was at No. 15 on North Street, not far from No. 21. Han Fei followed the navigation on his phone and ran over.

Passing through old buildings, Han Fei finally stopped at the entrance of a family compound that had been around for many years.

"Over here!" Li Xue's voice echoed in the compound. She was dressed as she was in the morning, but this time there was a Phantom-series motorcycle parked beside her.

"Meng Shi lives in the family compound on North Street?"

"There are twelve people named Meng Shi in the city. I screened all of them but didn't find anyone matching your description. Since I didn't think you were lying, I expanded my search and finally found Meng Shi." Li Xue stared at Han Fei's face for a long time as she spoke.

"Keep going, why are you looking at me?"

"Follow me." Li Xue led Han Fei into Unit 4, and they went up to the third floor.

At the door of the apartment on the far right of the third floor, there was a brazier with half-burned paper money inside. Looking into the room, a black-and-white photo was placed on a dark altar.

"You told me in the interrogation room that you met Meng Shi last night, but the Meng Shi who matches your description actually died ten years ago."

"Died?" Han Fei stood there, not daring to enter the room.

The shop owner had died a few days ago, and Meng Shi had died ten years ago. Han Fei realized that everyone involved in the game, except for himself, seemed to be dead.

"Wait, there's one more person." Holding onto the last bit of hope, Han Fei looked at Li Xue. Before he could speak, Li Xue seemed to know what he was going to ask.

"Chen Chen is Meng Shi's grandson, originally named Meng Chen. He also died ten years ago."

"All dead?" Han Fei felt a chill run down his back. He never imagined that the NPCs in the game were actually people who had died ten years ago in reality.

Thinking about how he had sat and eaten dumplings with them last night, even feeling a sense of warmth, made Han Fei's scalp tingle.

What kind of hellish game is this?

"If you two have nothing else, please leave. I don't want to be disturbed anymore." A middle-aged man with white hair emerged from the somewhat crowded room. He looked to be in his forties or fifties, but his hair was completely white, and his health was not good.

"Uncle, we didn't mean to disturb you. This case has many suspicious points. With today's advanced technology, many cold cases have made breakthroughs. You must want to see the culprit brought to justice, right?" Li Xue, who usually seemed fearless, was unusually gentle and patient with the victim's family, speaking softly and calmly.

"It's been ten years, and the culprit still hasn't been found. My health is getting worse, and I can't take it anymore." The middle-aged man walked into the kitchen, placed a bowl of freshly made dumplings on the altar, and then lit a stick of incense, bowing three times to the black-and-white photo.

"Did Grandma always make dumplings on New Year's Day and New Year's Eve?" Han Fei, looking at the photo of the elderly woman on the altar, walked into the room without realizing it: "I remember she said dumplings symbolize the transition of the year and bring good fortune and happiness. Eating dumplings can remove the bad luck of the past year."

Han Fei's words seemed to touch a deep memory in the man. He looked at Han Fei with a sense of disbelief, as if the elderly woman had indeed said something similar.

"Grandma was a great cook. Her fish soup was very fresh, milky white, and you could smell it from far away..."

"How do you know these things?" The middle-aged man approached Han Fei: "Have you met my mother? Ten years ago, you were probably just a teenager."

"I did meet her, and she even invited me to eat dumplings." Han Fei didn't know how to explain, and he didn't want to be seen as crazy, so he changed the topic: "Uncle, can you tell me about Grandma?"

Some memories were very painful. The middle-aged man hesitated for a long time before letting Li Xue and Han Fei into the room.

"My mother was a good person, a very good person. She never married and adopted three orphans. She used all the money she saved to raise these three children." The middle-aged man sat on the other side of the sofa: "I'm the oldest. I was always sickly, and my mother named me Meng Changshou. I'm the least successful among the three of us."

"The second one is Meng Changxi. He was an abandoned baby with a deformed face, but he was very smart and excelled in both character and studies. However, because of his face, he was very insecure and had a gloomy personality."

"The third one is Meng Chang'an. He's the best among us. He had the best grades and the most friends. The awards he won could cover an entire wall. He now works for a big company, Everlasting Pharmaceuticals, and is said to be a department executive."

Mentioning Meng Chang'an, the middle-aged man's eyes finally showed some color, but it quickly faded: "Meng Chang'an sends me money every month, but he hasn't come back since the incident with my mother."

"What exactly happened to Grandma ten years ago?" This was what Han Fei really wanted to know.

"At first, I didn't know what happened. It wasn't until the second one went missing and the police came to the door that I realized something was wrong." The middle-aged man's eyes were full of guilt and pain: "After my mother retired, she ran a cold drink shop. The police found many animal corpses and a human body in the freezer of her shop."

"Body in the freezer?"

"The forensic doctor estimated the time of death to be about a week ago. During that week, my mother must have known there was a body in the freezer, but she didn't report it." The middle-aged man's hands were clenched together.

"Could the person have been killed by Grandma?" Understanding whether the elderly woman was good or bad was crucial for Han Fei. It was an important breakthrough for his survival in the game.