Director of a Suspense Film

Ch4.2 – Activate Director Rights

t/n: so apparently i tl-ed the title wrongly like an idiot…. anyways heres the right title^^ enjoyyyy

　　Ever since his arrest, everyone had treated him as a criminal. (t/n: as in, theres no chance he was innocent)

　　Even when he had repeatedly emphasized that he was still in a rental house the day before yesterday, that they could still find out his travel information through the taxi, even going as far as to use his own self as a guarantee, it was still useless.

　　Zong qi couldn’t even remember how many times he had said the three words, ‘I am innocent’ at this point.  

　　Everyone just persuaded him that the sea of suffering was endless, to turn back before it was too late, that confessing might even reduce his sentence.

　　Of course, with such a terrible case, it was inevitable for him to receive the death sentence. He would have to go to the Supreme Court and double-check. Even if his sentence was reduced, it would either be switching from shooting to injection for a painless death or maybe his sentence would be indefinitely put back. 

　　Zong qi was clear on this, so he racked his brains trying to communicate with the officers that came to interrogate him. But no one truly wished to talk to him. Everyone that came in would ask what his motive was with a straight face.

　　Yet now someone was willing to believe him. 

　　Zong qi couldn’t tell what he was feeling, only saying a dry thank you after a good minute. 

　　“No need, this is my job.”

　　After making her decision, Gao Mu had no intention of resting.

　　She glanced at the watch on her hand and swiftly made a decision, “We were supposed to close the case at 12 tomorrow. I’ll do my best to delay with my position as the previous leader and dispatch a new team to do another investigation. 

　　“Then… what if the results of the investigation were the same?”

　　Gao Mu stared at him. 

　　“I’ll do my best.”

　　She said softly, decisively, “I swear on the badge on my shoulder.”

　　“Peng—” (t/n: sfx for door closing)

　　The trail room door was closed once again.

　　In the quiet and empty corridor, Gao Mu stood in place like a sculpture, cold hands and feet, letting out a long breath.

　　In her eyes were struggle, pain, and a trace of imperceptible confusion.

　　The forensic doctor was a professor at Capital Medical University. He’s been working in Jiang Zhou for more than ten years and has no shortage of contacts.

　　If the murderer wasn’t the murderer, then who would have the power to forge criminal evidence?

　　Without anyone noticing, who could turn an innocent person into a scapegoat?

　　No one knew what lay beneath the shadows of this city, whether it was the shadows from Hai Zhou or something even larger.

　　They had just entered the summer season, yet cool air seemed to invade from the soles of her feet, penetrating her limbs and making her heart cold. 

　　There were discrepancies between the results of the fingerprint examination and the ones from the crime scene.

　　This wasn’t her first time experiencing such a case. 

　　This is already the second time. 

　　……

　　After Gao Mu left, Zong qi sat back down on his chair. 

　　The heavy handcuffs shook back with his movements, hanging heavily between his legs.

　　After ten some hours, no matter how much confusion there was, it would’ve subsided by now. 

　　He could now calmly sit down and analyse the pros and cons of this bizarre case. 

　　First, the Zong qi could confirm that it was the murderer who had framed him… and the mysterious organization behind him. Their symbol, or some kind of signal, was a cocktail snake, maybe.

　　The phone call the murderer had answered in the bathroom gave Zong qi a lot of information. 

　　No wonder the murder was so fearless that he didn’t even camp outside the cubicle to get rid of his witness. Turns out he had a backup, someone to help him out after. Of course, the one most likely to forge the evidence was the forensic doctor.

　　Zong qi quickly worked his brain, finally making a conclusion. 

　　It’s hard to say whether the growing pressure of public opinion was also the work of this dark organisation that could turn truth into falsity and falsity into truth.

　　But what he knew for sure was that, since the organisation could reach this far, even if Captain Gao was willing to help him get a chance to reinvestigate, there’s no way they would let this go. They would just drag down the people who were willing to help him. 

　　If he just resolved himself to his fate, Zong qi will only be sent to prison.

　　He could only save himself.

　　But how could he save himself? 

　　Zong Qi’s sight wandered around the empty room and finally rested on his own pupil.

　　If conventional approaches didn’t work, he could only try unconventional ones.

　　He had an out of the world system in his hand, he hadn’t gotten to the point of no return yet. (t/n: direct tl of the word would be unnatural, ya know like the uh man made but in this case it isnt rlly man made either i dunno man i dont have enough brain cells for this)

　　[Improvisational theatre remaining time: 14 hours 20 minutes]

　　[Scream value: 110, ‘Mental Hospital’ Plot exploration: 45%, Actors: 1]

　　The police took everything from him, including his phone, which could be used to contact the outside world.

　　But the app, ‘Horror Film Director’ on his mobile phone was just a carrier. Zong qi could open the system panel on his pupil whenever he wished, this was also his last resort.

　　He opened the section with Director’s Authority with great familiarity. 

　　Zong qi had seen this section countless times already, it was just that for some reason, he could never make the decision.

　　There were three Directors’ Rights in total. Except for the third one, the other two were only allowed to be used while he was recording[1].

　　[Director Right 1: Information]

　　[Director Right 2: Absolute immunity]

　　[Director Right 3: Rerecord] (t/n: so like, i know this doesnt make much sense, but in my defense it didnt make much sense in chinese either so…)

　　Zong qi didn’t understand the first right, the explanation said that he would be able to check the actor’s information. 

　　Because there was only Zong qi himself doing this theatre, the right didn’t have any use. 

　　He had just completed his newbie quest, the improvisational theatre had yet to end, thus he naturally couldn’t touch anything else, he had no choice but to put down these thoughts. 

　　The second right was much blunter. 

　　Absolute immunity: in the process of a [Major Plot] and improvisational theatre, the director will not get hurt by ghosts.

　　Unfortunately, there was also a limit on this right. 

　　First of all, this right was limited to Major Plots and improvisational theatre. Films like the improvisational short film Zong qi had activated this time had limited used the system had restricted it to. He could only get extra uses by ranking up or receiving the screenplay evaluation reward. 

　　In other words, if he didn’t enter improvisation mode and accidentally opened a Minor Plot, this immunity would be completely useless.

　　Moreover, the restriction only applied to ghosts. There was nothing it could do with a crazy killer like this time.

　　By the way, there was a line of small characters at the bottom, which displayed Zong qi’s birth date.

　　Born on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, during the Dragon Boat Festival. The body of pure Yang is difficult to be invaded by ghosts, but because he was born around Zi shi, the attraction to ghosts had been multiplied. (t/n: Zi shi = 2300 – 0100) 

　　Zong qi: ……

　　Thank you, I really don’t want to experience this. 

　　Whether or not ghosts really existed was a different matter. In desperate times like this, the thing that Zong qi cared about the most was still the third right. 

　　[Rerecord: When the actor’s interpretation or script is not satisfactory, as the director of the film, you certainly have the right to rerecord]

　　[Note: Because your director level is too low, you can only restart the recording once for each film, including improvisation, for 10 minutes] 

　　[Note Again: Rerecording will greatly affect the direction of the plot and the final evaluation. If there is an error in the middle, it may cause sudden and accidental death. Please choose carefully]

　　Zong qi kept worrying about the ‘sudden and accidental death’. 

　　He wasn’t clear what rerecording was referring to, nor was he clear about its dangers. 

　　But… after being clear of the pros and cons, he couldn’t sit still and do nothing.

　　It was better to depend on oneself than to ask for help from others.

　　At this moment, Zong qi thanked this mysterious director system from the bottom of his heart. At least with this, Zong qi still had a chance to turn over.

　　After making his decision, he finally opened his mouth. 

　　“System, activate the right to rerecord.” 

　　The timer in his eye stopped moving. 

　　[The right to rerecord has been activated, please choose a time stamp] 

　　In the next second, Zong qi’s surroundings froze. 

　　The background turned into a large, congealed block of colour. Finally, it dripped like mercury and began to retreat in his field of vision.

　　Scenes of the past flew past him like petals of a flower. 

　　He saw Gao Mu come in from the door for inquiry, saw the police officer in charge of the interrogation stand up from the table, saw the evidence placed in front of him, saw himself handcuffed and escorted into the interrogation room, saw the police officers passing by him leaning against the wall of the water dispenser in twos and threes, and saw the police car roaring from the door of the police station to the door of the abandoned mental hospital…

　　Time was reversing as if nothing was wrong and no one had noticed him.

　　It was absurd and weird, almost like a strange dream.

　　Zong qi stood in the middle of the reversing scene, palms full of cold sweat. 

　　Finally, he had gone back to a place he couldn’t be more familiar with. 

　　The cramped and narrow cubicle, and a flashlight shining a cold light.

　　Outside the door separated by a wall, the sound of a hammer beating on the iron nail lasted for a long time, one after the next, hammering the head onto the wooden board.

　　[You have returned to the designated plot point] 

　　[Note: You only have 10 minutes of rerecording time. Once the time has ended, you shall return to the current time period. The subsequent plot will be deduced directly from the script and cannot be changed again, including the possibility of death]

　　[The timer has begun] 

　　Zong qi took a deep breath, clenching the swiss army knife in his hand. 

　　He had returned to 10 hours ago. 

　　He still had a chance to redeem and change the future, his last chance.

[1] You know the recording or filming I say, yeah its the same thing but i feel like recording sounds better so as long as i remember ill be translating it as recording instead of filming now~~

t/n: got my internet back yesterday and i got carried away playing my games lmao sorryy