The Vase Man People Say Will Collapse

CHAPTER 22—Killer Misai

After smoothly meeting and interacting with his sister, and ascertaining that there was no work on the Capital Star that needed to be done recently, Xie Yu took Xie Chan aboard a spaceship heading to the Terran Star the next day.

Halfway through the journey, Xie Yu received an email from Li Wuqiang.

When he clicked on it, he found that it was the revised script of <Blood Wanted>, as well as many reference materials.

Xie Yu, who had long been looking forward to the storyline of <Blood Wanted>, glanced at Xie Chan who was asleep beside him, then clicked on the script to start reading.

*****

He originally liked the supporting role of the killer, Misai, in the storyline, but now that he got the latest version of the script, and opened it, he discovered that Misai, who was originally only a supporting role, now had far more scenes than the heroine, second only to the male protagonist, who’s a policeman.

The script that used to have only the usual male and female protagonists had now become a dual-male protagonist plot.

The love line between the protagonist, the policeman, and his fiancée was cut, while the clash between the policeman and the killer was highlighted.

Even under the premise of maintaining the plot of the script, the change in a role’s volume directly affects the overall effect of the story.

The background of the new version of the script remained unchanged—the story still takes place in the new era of the Earth where human cloning has been legalized.

He Fei, a police officer working in the Central Police Station, is suffering from the recent frequent murders.

Just when he was at a loss regarding these murders, he accidentally receives a message from his colleague who is working undercover on the dark web.

Several cases were connected in series, and led them to the experiments that Fengcheng terminated a year ago due to lack of funds.

The victims had different occupations on the surface, and they seem to have no intersection, but their real identities were all staff members who participated in these experiments.

They all applied for resignation after the experiments closed down, left Fengcheng, and entered anonymity.

With the deepening of the cases handled by the police, the truth of these illegal and inhuman experiments were unearthed.

In the context of a society where human cloning has been endowed with fair rights, these experiments were done under the name of optimizing human cloning genes, but they were actually engaging in illegal activities by using cloning to conduct mutation experiments.

On the eve of the shutdown of the project, several clone volunteers died because they couldn’t bear the intensity of the experiments.

The inside story was suppressed by the laboratory, evidence was processed in secret, and these deaths were declared to be due to personal physical problems of the volunteers.

The explanation of “shortage of funds” was also just an excuse used to cover up this huge accident.

Just as the police reclassified several homicides, the company that funded the experiments denied any knowledge of it, and the initiator of the experiments also disappeared.

The police were at a loss and could only proceed with the cases that were already at hand in order to identify the murderer.

In these cases, although the way the murder was committed in each case was different, they all had one thing in common, which was that the crime scene was always restored.

Apart from the dead bodies, the scene would be so clean and tidy that it wouldn’t look like a murder scene at all.

The police officers all felt that the murderer was very cautious, as he would clean up the scene extremely cleanly to avoid exposing any flaws.

The male protagonist believed that the murder had a conceited personality, and that he did not feel emotions such as anxiety or fear which committing a crime would usually bring, and he was also not in a hurry to leave the scene even after he succeeded in his kills.

He speculated that the murderer’s methods were quite sophisticated, suspecting him to be a professional killer, with clear targets.

He only targeted the staff members of the experiments, and so his identity might have something to do with them as well.

He Fei stopped focusing on past cases and began to pay more attention to the experiments, and unexpectedly discovered that Professor Wang, the tutor of his girlfriend Catherine, had also participated in these experiments.

This Professor Wang hid himself very deeply.

After the illegal experiments were uncovered, he was protected by the forces behind him and went to another city to go into hiding.

So, He Fei immediately contacted Catherine, hoping she could help.

While leaving Professor Wang to be monitored by others, he investigated the interpersonal relationships of the experiments’ volunteers, hoping to use the relatives and friends of these dead volunteers to locate the murderer.

Relying on his keen intuition while investigating the information of these volunteers, he noticed one of the volunteers’ neighbors, Misai, who was a young gardener by profession.

Misai was also a clone, and was childhood friends with the volunteer, so the two had a lot of contact.

He was also the owner of a flower shop. And with an outstanding image and gentle personality, his neighbors had a good impression of him.

Nonetheless, He Fei suspected this person, but couldn’t find any evidence even after routine questioning.

So, he could only observe him secretly and in private.

Meanwhile, the police were still analyzing the cases to seek a breakthrough, but yet another murder scene was discovered.

The victim was the initiator of the experiments who had been missing for several months.

The corpse was found tied up in a kneeling position, with eyes wide open, arms forced forward, and hands clasped together.

A dagger was inserted straight down the middle of both hands, penetrating into the victim’s chest.

When the autopsy results came out, it was found that the victim died of hemorrhaging from damaged organs.

In this case, after the crime scene was sorted out, it became clear that the victim was forced to kneel in an insulting manner, which clearly expressed the perpetrator’s anger and cruelty.

The unknown assailant silently entered the wanted list of the police all over the country, and He Fei became more and more suspicious that the murderer was the seemingly harmless young flower shop owner.

After taking revenge on the initiator of the experiments, Misai did not stop.

The next target was Professor Wang, who the initiator confessed was his partner before his death, and those of Professor Wang’s team.

Step by step, the protagonist locked onto the real culprit, met the vengeful killer who wanted to kill the grass and roots, and a battle of wits and courage began. (TL: ‘kill the grass and roots’ has a meaning similar to ‘everything down to the root’ and is used here to describe the desire to get rid of everyone involved with the cloning/mutation experiments)

Xie Yu grew up educated about the rules and laws of society.

So although he couldn’t agree with Misai’s methods, he could understand his mentality of avenging his friend.

Misai’s character left an impression on him, and Xie Yu was determined to take the role.

*****

The journey from the Capital Star to Terran didn’t take long, and Xie Yu was notified of their arrival before he had finished reading the script.

He quickly came back to his senses, put <Blood Wanted>, which was obviously a restricted-rated plot, to the back of his mind and took Xie Chan through the special passageway of the spaceport in a low-key manner.

After arranging for an aircraft, they flew towards their home on Terran.

Xie Yu’s parents, who were told by him that they didn’t need to come to the spaceport to pick them up, waited at home for the whole day.

It wasn’t until nightfall that they finally received a message from Xie Yu that he and Xie Chan had disembarked from the spaceship safely.

“They’re about to arrive, I’ll go prepare some food in case they’re hungry…” Mother Xie was a little anxious, as she continued looking out the window.

“Don’t worry, they’re almost here.” Father Xie smiled and patted his wife on the back.

“I’m a little worried, Ayu…how will I ask him later…” Mother Xie was comforted for a bit, but then remembered the media’s reports on her son, “Why don’t we tell him that an actor’s career isn’t good for his happiness. If, maybe, he can consider other…”

Father Xie placed his hands on the shoulders of his wife, drew her into his arms, and patted her silently with a thoughtful expression on his face, and didn’t speak any more.

*****

Xie Yu quickly arrived home with his younger sister, and was greeted as soon as he entered the door.

Father Xie was old, tall, and had a chubby body that looked very blessed.

With a smile gracing his average facial features, he narrowed his eyes happily when he saw Xie Yu and Xie Chan.

Mother Xie was not as tall and had a well-proportioned body.

She had a very gentle appearance, and after hugging her children, her eyes were reddened with emotion.

She had to be comforted by Xie Chan and Xie Yu before she put away her tears.

As someone who had been rumored to have tried to commit suicide, Xie Yu had to put in a lot of effort to make his parents feel at ease.

Taking advantage of the gap of time he had while heading to the bathroom, he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

He became very emotional and was moved by the concern given to him by the Xie family’s parents.

He thought that his first steps in this world began when he opened is eyes at the emergency center.

However, seeing and interacting with these family members who were so sincere and genuine to each other made him feel as if this was the true beginning of his integration into this world.

Thinking this way, the sense of estrangement that had always existed in his heart was washed away.

He looked at his youthful face in the mirror, and his gaze stayed on his pocket, which held the small paper package he had opened on the road in order to verify what it was.

The original body took on a huge psychological burden in addition to taking a personal risk by working in an industry that he was not interested in, just for the few pieces of information in this paper bag.

There was a piece of paper in the small bag with the words Tengfei Entertainment written on it, followed by a string of year numbers.

Names and the year were written in the same brown-gray handwriting.

However, the words Tengfei Entertainment was circled, and was also written in blue and black ink.

Xie Yu leaned against the sink, carefully reviewing the original’s memory of rewriting this note twice.

*****

When the original was a child, he searched for clues about Xie Chan and found a retired, old police officer who had some clues to the case.

The old police officer suspected that the trafficking group was related to the entertainment industry.

""

After getting the clue, the original wrote it down in the form of a small note, and used various information sources to search for relevant news.

After checking things, he ended up seeing a very popular talent show at that time, which was being funded by Tengfei Entertainment.

At that time, Tengfei Entertainment was expanding its business, and in those past few years, they were considering financing to ease financial constraints.

As a result, their next step was to provide a project with funding that would attract the attention of the entire industry.

Since the company’s takeoff, they had never been involved in any business other than the ones on the Capital Star, but they spent a lot of money on a talent show on Terran.

The amount of funds was rumored to be very large, which made many local companies that undertook the business on Terran, rich.

Combined with the old policeman’s guess, the original body felt that no matter how big the company was, it was a little strange to spend such a large amount of funds all at once.

Externally, everyone speculated that Tengfei had obtained financing from somewhere, but he felt that there was a problem with the source of the funds.

Holding onto this suspicion, he joined the entertainment industry upon meeting a scout, tried his best to inquire about Tengfei related news, and finally joined the company, becoming a signed artist under them.

He didn’t find any abnormality for several years, until he participated in a TV series that Tengfei was preparing to shoot.

He found that the so-called production budget of tens of billions of star coins did not match the actual situation on the scene.

So, he again put the investigation of Tengfei back on his agenda.

*****

Xie Yu rubbed his hair, and slowly sorted out the messy memories in his mind.

He thought that since things had come to this point, no matter how many forces were involved, and no matter how life would change in the future, he had to inherit the courage that originated from wanting to protect his family and was fueled by the desire for justice.

It was meal time, but he stayed in the bathroom for a long time—so long that his family members started urging him outside the door.

After he responded, he pushed the door open and went out.

Different from the meals he had eaten before, the meals made by Xie Yu’s father were homely and delicious.

After a full meal, Xie Yu sat on the sofa with his family, facing the large light screen on the wall in the living room, and watched a program.

Male and female voices came to their ears, and from time to time, sounds belonging to other scenes were interspersed.

Xie Yu was surfing the Internet with his light brain.

When he looked up, he saw the words “Terran Star Evening News” in the lower right corner of the big light screen.

He wanted to laugh and felt that this moment with his family was very warm.

He had never seen the news broadcasts of the Interstellar Era, so he watched a few snippets and found it quite interesting.

He was just about to put down his light brain and concentrate on watching, when he accidentally saw a new message notification from Zhou Cheng.

[Zhou Cheng: Ayu, you’ve arrived on Terran, right? The role ratio in <Blood Wanted>’s plot has been changed a lot. Has Mr. Li passed on the script to you?]

Xie Yu knew that there was no room for delay, so he quickly replied.

[Beiming Youyu: He gave it in the morning. I read it on the spaceship all day. Didn’t I say that I liked the supporting role of the killer? His amount has been increased, and he has many more scenes.]

His manager replied quickly.

[Zhou Cheng: Huh?]

[Zhou Cheng: It’s a good thing that the role becomes more important, but didn’t Mr. Li say that Director Shen would open up auditions?]

[Zhou Cheng: How about I go and get involved. You haven’t played a villain before, so I’m a little worried.]

Xie Yu smiled lightly while holding his light brain, leisurely looking at the message.

[Beiming Youyu: Don’t worry, I’ll talk to President Li first.]

After typing this, Xie Yu felt that it would be better to say it sooner rather than later, so he simply switched to Li Wuqiang’s chat interface and sent a message on his own initiative.

[Beiming Youyu: Good evening, Mr. Li. I received the script from you just today. After reading it for a day, I really feel very good about it. To tell you the truth, I wanted to try the role of Misai before the script was revised. I thought there was a lot of space for the role of Misai to develop. After getting the new script, I found Misai even more attractive. I wonder if the crew can give me a chance to audition for Misai’s role?]

Xie Yu was still guessing what Li Wuqiang would say in his reply, when he looked down and saw a new message.

[Li Wuqiang: Ah? Isn’t it He Fei’s role?]

[Li Wuqiang: The difficulty of Misai’s role is relatively high. We and Director Shen have been arguing about it. We were still in a meeting just now, talking about how we can’t find a suitable actor to play this role. Everyone felt that we should just change it back to the original script.]

[Li Wuqiang: If you want the role of Misai, you’ll have to audition. But I told Director Shen that you’re auditioning for He Fei. Why don’t you tell him yourself, since you seem to know each other?]

Xie Yu was taken aback for a moment, couldn’t help but smile wryly, and could only agree.

He guessed that Li Wuqiang would think so, probably because they both wore the same look and sat together at the film festival awards ceremony.

He and Shen Qi had indeed met a few times, but unfortunately they were not familiar enough to add each other’s WeChat.

So at this moment, he really didn’t know how to explain himself.

Xie Yu took a screenshot and sent it to Zhou Cheng.

Zhou Cheng first sent a series of question marks and then the word “wait”.

Xie Yu thought that Zhou Cheng was looking for people to inquire about Shen Qi’s WeChat ID, so after taking a sip of water and then looking back, he saw that Zhou Cheng sent him a WeChat ID with an obvious female avatar.

[Zhou Cheng: It’s Mrs. Shen’s. I’ve always wanted you to add it. Your film festival look was very attention-grabbing, and Mrs. Shen has been asking if you’re interested in cooperating with her after she establishes a studio.]

Xie Yu couldn’t disagree with an olive branch thrown by Shen Hong.

He quickly sent out a friend request, but he didn’t expect Mrs. Shen to be online, and that the friend request would be approved within a few minutes.

Xie Yu was still thinking about how to greet Mrs. Shen, when a chat bubble popped up.

[Shen Hong: Is that you, Xie Yu? (Smiling)]

Xie Yu quickly replied, and started chatting with Mrs. Shen.

Shen Hong was obviously very satisfied with the effect caused by Xie Yu wearing her suit, and she praised his figure again and again.

Xie Yu felt a little embarrassed from being praised, but it was difficult to reject the affirmation from an elder, so he could only cooperate with Shen Hong and accept her praise in a measured manner.

Near the end of their conversation, he brought up that he recently heard that Mrs. Shen’s son had taken on a new project.

Shen Hong was also quite savvy, and after saying a few more words, she took the initiative to mention Shen Qi, and directly pushed Shen Qi’s WeChat ID to him.

[Shen Hong: This is Shen Qi’s WeChat, and I sent him yours too. But just now, he took a few of the younger ones out for a walk, so he may not read your message until later.]

Xie Yu looked at Mrs. Shen’s message, and after he replied to her message, he couldn’t help but want to laugh a little bit.

…the younger ones in the family—should this refer to his younger siblings?

""

If he’s taking them for a walk, is it a big cat walking around with a group of half-sized kittens?

Although he didn’t know the real situation, Xie Yu sketched out a very amusing picture in his head.

He suppressed his smile.

Having watched Shen Qi’s work all night last night, reading the adjusted script during the day, and even chatting with his mother–once he talks to the real person later, they should be able to chat happily.

Preoccupied thinking about this, Xie Yu waited all night until he finally washed up and almost fell asleep, only to see the notification of a new friend appearing on his WeChat.

*****

TL: A big cat walking little kittens! Sooo cute~~ (੭˃ᴗ˂)੭