Card Room (Rebirth)

He walked to the French windows to take a look outside. The city was very strange. It was obvious that all of the group members had been transported to a city with a modern background. The northern metropolis seemed to have snowed a few days ago. There were still some traces of snow on the streets. Pedestrians on the streets came and went in a hurry. Most of them were wearing down jackets and were wrapped up tightly. The temperature outside should be very cold.

There were computers, mobile phones and other equipment on the table. He turned on a computer and found some documents inside. The various schedules and project planning books were messy and he couldn’t find any clues for the time being. The company had too many contracted artists.

He unlocked his phone and found the address book full of the numbers of agents and celebrities. He glanced through quickly and found a familiar name. Ye Qi? Shao Qingge’s eyes narrowed with interest and he tried making a call.

Ye Qi, who was having his hair tortured by the stylist, suddenly heard a ringtone. His phone was in the hands of his agent Yun Lan. She picked it up and spoke respectfully. “Chief Shao.”

Shao Qingge asked in a low voice, “Is Ye Qi there?”

“Yes, I’m taking him to determine the makeup and hair style for the concert.”

“Give him the phone.”

Ye Qi’s eyes lit up after hearing ‘Chief Shao.’ His ears pricked and a man’s low voice was heard from his phone. It was the Shao Qingge he was familiar with. Yun Lan handed him the phone. Ye Qi concealed his excitement and spoke respectfully. “Hello Chief Shao.’

Shao Qingge couldn’t help chuckling when he heard the respectful voice. “What’s the situation on your side? Is it okay?”

Ye Qi replied, “I am doing styling with Sister Yun to prepare for the concert in three days.”

Shao Qingge heard the key clue in his words. “Concert?”

Ye Qi spoke seriously, “I will be a special guest in three days and participate in the concert of the Five-505 female group.”

“Oh, how are you preparing?”

Ye Qi spoke cooperatively, “Sister Yun has already arranged everything.”

Shao Qingge spoke to Ye Qi while searching for the information of the Five-505 female group on his computer. As the computer of the boss, the information here was very complete. This combination needed to be focused on so Shao Qingge transferred the information to his desktop for reference.

The five young girls were all pretty. There was detailed information such as their debut experience, family background, etc. Shao Qingge took out a USB flash drive and copied over all the materials. He planned to hand it over to Yu Hanjiang later.

As he copied the information, he asked Ye Qi in a low voice, “Did you see any other teammates?”

“No.”

Shao Qingge told him, “I have your number in my address book so feel free to contact me at any time. I’m hanging up first.”

“Okay, Chief Shao. You are busy.”

The call ended and Teacher Tony asked with a smile, “Chief Shao seems to be paying special attention to Xiao Ye? He rarely calls celebrities yet he actually went to find you. It seems that you will be very popular soon!”

Ye Qi touched his nose. “It is just a routine check. I’m not very familiar with him.”

Yun Lan spoke seriously, “At this concert, all newcomers in the company want to become a familiar face. I helped you get this opportunity so you must grasp it. Go back and practice singing. Make sure to leave a good impression on the audience.”

Ye Qi replied, “I know Sister Yun.”

Meanwhile, he wondered about the location of his other teammates. At present, he could only contact Shao Qingge. What identity would Liu Qiao have?

At the same time, the movie and television studio.

Old Mo looked at the design drawings in front of him with a dazed expression until someone urged him, “This indoor scene must be set up as soon as possible. It will be used after three days. The first few scenes are all shot here. It will be hard on you, Old Mo.”

Mo Xuemin’s senses returned. “Okay, I will do my best!”

He looked around and found that he was in a movie and television shooting base. He was surrounded by many people with costumes and props, photographers checking the shooting location and lighting engineers busy with the lighting.

In the chaos, Mo Xuemin noticed a fair-skinned and handsome boy instantly. He was holding a script in his hand and sitting in a corner reciting lines alone. The script had the words ‘Twin Flowers’ written on it.

Mo Xuemin understood. This should be the set of a movie or television series and they were making the final preparations before starting it.

The crew was mixed. In addition to the actors and agents, there were the directors, screenwriters, lighting engineers, photographers, sound effects engineers, all types of assistants and the service people. The entire crew had hundreds of people and not all their names could be remembered.

Mo Xuemin went around and soon met a familiar gaze. He quickly walked over. “Teacher Qu?”

Qu Wanyue smiled. “Old Mo, what a coincidence!”

There were many people coming and going and no one paid attention to them. Old Mo winked and called Qu Wanyue to a corner where no one could hear. Then he asked in a low voice, “What is the situation on your side?”

Qu Wanyue explained, “I am a dance stand-in. The heroine of this drama has many dance scenes. I just talked to her agent. The agent said the actress is injured and might require a stand-in for the more difficult moves.”

Mo Xuemin told her, “I am a scene designer and helping to build the indoor shooting scene. By the way, have you seen anyone else?”

“Long Sen is also in the crew. I just saw him work with the props team. I haven’t seen anyone else.”

Old Mo touched his chin. “Since Group Leader Yu and Professor Xiao haven’t shown up, let’s collect clues first. Normally, someone will die when they show up.”

Qu Wanyue didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. “You are treating them as Detective Conan. Wherever they go, someone will be murdered.”

Old Mo, “……”

Come to think of it, this was indeed the case?

Liu Qiao organized the script and put it on the table.

A handsome young man was lying lazily on the sofa, feet crossed together and yawning sleepily.

Next to him, the agent was lecturing. “This time, we will go there two days in advance to get to know the crew. Director Zhang is very strict. No matter how popular you are, if you don’t perform well in the filming then he will curse you directly. You should put away your own bad temper and avoid offending Director Zhang.”

The man frowned impatiently. “I know. Can you stop and let me sleep well first?”

The agent was silent for a moment before waving to Liu Qiao. “Let’s go Xiao Liu. You will go pack the bags with me. We will join the crew tomorrow.”

Liu Qiao followed the agent. As she walked to the door, she looked back at the male star on the sofa.

She was currently the assistant to Cheng Yu, a well-known popular young star in the entertainment industry. Cheng Yu had accepted an idol drama called Twin Flowers which would be started in three days. She would go to the crew to report with the agent and male star tomorrow.

Liu Qiao had glanced at the script just now. This drama was about the love and hatred between a pair of twin sisters. The heroine was set as a ballerina. The protagonist played by Cheng Yu was a rich second generation. The plot was very good and dog-blooded.

It was a common urban idol drama about the rich. As she read the script, Liu Qiao asked the agent the name of the lead actress.

The heroine and twin sister were played by one person and there was a high probability that there would be a look-alike stand-in to help. The actor was the popular actress Qiao Xuening from Starlight Entertainment. Liu Qiao deliberately noted down the names of the male and female lead. She would get to know the other unimportant roles after arriving at the crew.

She intuitively felt that something would happen to the crew. Liu Qiao couldn’t contact her teammates so she could only follow the agent.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang sat in the police car and soon drove to the Yuehu Villa area.

On the way, Xiao Lou took out his mobile phone and sent a message to Yu Hanjiang. “Perhaps it is due to the modern urban background but all my ancient character summoning cards are disabled. Qin Guan can’t be summoned and Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings isn’t available.”

Yu Hanjiang replied, “Fortunately, everyone in this world has a mobile phone.”

Xiao Lou smiled and continued to send messages to chat with Group Leader Yu. “The deceased found at the villa is likely just a character. I don’t know where the others are scattered. What are their identities? There should be a follow-up story.”

“No hurry. There is no time limit in the secret room so let’s follow the plot first.”

Xiao Lou replied, “Okay.”

The security guards at the entrance of the villa area stopped their car. Yu Hanjiang showed them his police officer card. “Police here to investigate a case.” The faces of the security guards changed and they let Yu Hanjiang and his party go to the door of the old lady who reported the crime.

The car stopped and Yu Hanjiang quickly got off, Xiao Lou following closely behind.

The other police officers cordoned off the scene.

Yu Hanjiang went to the person who made the report and asked a few simple questions. It was an old lady who reported the crime. She said, “I found my cat missing this morning. I went to look for him and saw him crawling out of the window of the villa next door with blood on his body. The door of this villa is locked and no one has been here for many days. I couldn’t get in. The cat jumped in from the window on the roof!”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. He neatly climbed up, entered the villa and opened the door from the inside.

The police officers, forensics doctor and assistants entered.

This was a three-storey single family villa. The decorations were very luxurious. As soon as a person entered the door, they felt a blast of air-conditioning. Xiao Lou sneezed from the cold. It felt like walking into an ice cellar. There was no obvious smell of rotting corpses in the house. Yu Hanjiang led Xiao Lou to the master bedroom on the third floor. The bedroom door was open and the quilts were neatly stacked. He pushed open the bathroom door.

A woman was seen lying in the bathtub wearing a bathrobe. There were bloodstains from knife cuts all over her body. A lot of ice cubes covered her body which was why there wasn’t the obvious smell of a rotting corpse.

It was winter and all the heating in the house had been turned off, so the ice didn’t melt. The bathroom door was open and the cat had entered through the window.

Xiao Lou couldn’t help staring at the corpse with knife marks all over her body. How much hatred had this woman incurred to be killed so cruelly?

Proofreader: Fictional Reality