Director of a Suspense Film

Ch7.2

　　After the case, supernatural events often occurred in the inn, and business became poorer over time.

　　The inn was only renovated at the beginning of the year, the boss and his wife had completely emptied their savings, not to mention that the land price plummeted after they took over. The sunk cost had become too high, and they could only invite a cheap Celestial Master from an advertisement board on the corner of the street.

　　Qi Ningzhou was the cheap Celestial Master that was sticking advertisements everywhere. 

　　At this moment, the system gave a timely prompt. 

　　[Minor Plot ‘Harmony Inn’ has been unlocked, activation condition unknown]

　　[You have entered recording range, scream value can be replaced, plot exploration will be changed to ‘Harmony Inn’, current progress 0%] 

　　[When settling, you can still choose ‘Mental Hospital’s plot exploration as the final account]

　　“Have you finished looking?” 

　　Seeing Zong qi walk back, the boss sighed again, “Turns out it’s because you didn’t notice the warning… sigh, then I might as well return the money to you, I can’t exactly make you stay a night when you didn’t know anything.” 

　　Zong qi retorted, “Who said I wanted a refund?” 

　　Hearing this, the two of them were stunned.  

　　The boss responded first and patted his thigh, “Good, good, good! Customer, it’s good that you’re not afraid, we can’t have feudal superstition!”

　　Feudal superstition · Qi Ningzhou: …?

　　A merchant’s boast, a deceitful ghost. He felt like he’d been implicated. (t/n: it rhymed in chinese so i rlly wanted it to rhyme in english too. Merchants boast = merchants mouth) 

　　After this intermission, the boss handed the both of them the key. 

　　“Master Qi will hold a ceremony on the third floor tonight. Customer, you’ll stay on the second floor. If you’re too scared, you can also come to the first floor to watch TV with me. I’m staying here for the night.” 

　　He urged them again before sending them off to the narrow staircase of the inn. 

　　As they went up the stairs, Qi Ningzhou said coldly, “If you hear any strange sound upstairs at night, just ignore it and don’t go out.”

　　Zong qi asked anxiously, “Will it be dangerous?” 

　　It wasn’t his fault for being suspicious. The clothes Qi Ningzhou wore didn’t fit into social norms. He also asked for a raise in price the moment they met. No matter how he looked at it, he still looked like a swindler. 

　　Zong qi was still someone who had studied directing. In the past, when he was a 4th year, he had followed several production teams under the leadership of his teacher. The crew of the entertainment circle will ask a master to calculate an auspicious day and a geomantic treasure land before beginning. Those masters were more mysterious than the next. Where would you find someone who walked around in that? It looked too fake. (t/n: fake as in low class pretending to be high class kind im too lazy to read the whole post they wrote explaining the word used in raws) 

　　“No.” 

　　The Celestial Master held a blank face, “If there’s anything out of the ordinary, just shout for Leizu Shenghao.” (t/n: google doesnt wanna tell me english name for the term so…)

　　“Leizu Shenghao?” 

　　Zong qi searched for it, half believing half suspicious, “The Celestial Master of 9 Days of Thunder?” (t/n: google says it just means god of thunder) 

　　“Yeah.”

　　Qi Ningzhou cut him off, “Don’t say it randomly when you’re fine, only say it when there’s danger.” 

　　Zong qi suggested honestly, “To be honest I think if I ever meet danger, it would be better to call the police instead.” 

　　Qi Ningzhou: …… 

　　They parted ways in the corridor on the second floor. Qi Ningzhou went to the third floor alone with a peach wood sword on his back while Zong qi watched the young Celestial Master disappear around the corner.

　　He remembered that there were all kinds of talismans in the director mall, though he didn’t know the difference between those and the ones used by the Celestial Masters in reality.

　　He had originally wanted to get close to Qi Ningzhou to see whether he was a true Celestial Master or a swindler. However, the other party told him frankly that the talisman he brought this time was limited and he couldn’t spare him one.

　　If there isn’t one then there isn’t one, Zong qi wasn’t scared anyways. 

　　His improvisational theatre still had 24 more hours, it would end tomorrow afternoon and automatically start settling everything. Sleeping a night would have absolutely no problem.  

　　If there was a problem, it could still increase scream value. Unfortunately, the plot exploration could only be calculated based on one plot, which has been frozen at 85% ever since he left the police station. The new plot exploration hasn’t been activated yet but Zong qi obviously wouldn’t run over and look for death. 

　　“Gazhi—” 

　　After opening the door, the smell of mothballs and months of vacancy came from the room.

　　The black-haired youth pressed the light switch on the wall and looked at the narrow room with satisfaction

　　Although it was really small, everything there needed to be was there. There was even hot water and a fan. 

　　“10 for a night. Although there are ghosts and the boss might have profited, but I definitely didn’t lose anything.” 

　　He stretched, putting his bag on the bed, taking off his shoes and lying on it. 

　　After being tied to the director system for less than a day, Zong qi found that his constitution had upgraded quickly. Wherever he walked, there was trouble.

　　Though it’s good that the two minor plots he encountered had only been activated, he had yet to fulfil the unlocking conditions. 

　　“Looking from another perspective, this can also be considered a good thing. The next time he hunts ghosts, he won’t have to waste all his time looking for places, he could just walk around in his town, it was pretty convenient.” (t/n: as in trouble finds him so content finds him too???)

　　“Besides, I’m not scared of ghosts either. As long as I’m not afraid, the ones afraid will be them.” 

　　As Zong qi comforted himself, there was a sudden banging sound coming from upstairs.

　　It’s only been a while, he’s already started? 

　　Zong qi rubbed his eyes, turning his head and picking up his phone. 

　　It was clearly displaying 9 on the dot. 

　　He quickly sat up, pulled out a loaf of bread from his bag and began to enjoy his dinner.

　　Although there were noises from upstairs as he enjoyed his dinner, Zong qi chose to ignore them. 

　　He was currently too invested in another thing. 

　　Just now when Zong qi was bored with nothing to do, he opened his streaming channel. 

　　There was usually nothing going on in this channel. Zong qi was too unpopular so there was basically no information whatsoever, but when he just went into it, a red 99+ suddenly exploded into his face. 

　　之前一直在忙正事，没有登上去看，现在看到颇有些惊讶。

　　Zong qi’s profile was very depressing, he only had a pitiful 150 fans. Whenever he sent a message there would be no one liking it, he didn’t expect that the post with him telling his fans that he was safe and sound in the police station would have up to a thousand likes. 

　　He was busy doing proper business and didn’t have time to log on and check. Now that he did, he was shocked. 

　　“What’s happening?” 

　　The moment he went in, the most liked comment jumped into his eyes. 

　　[Village Professor Wang: Bastard, after looking for a bit, how come all of you are genuinely worried for the streamer? Sigh, you’re still too innocent, you don’t know a single bit of the tricks behind a supernatural streamer. They all have plots written beforehand, I watched the stream from this afternoon, it was so fake I wanted to die. I could tell it was a plot written by the streamer at first glance. One fucking moment of fame. See, didn’t he make it? Ha ha] (t/n: this doesnt make sense)

　　Zong qi: …… 

　　This highly liked comment had quite a few comments that agreed too. 

　　[As perfect as water: Exactly. How small the streamer was before, even someone who frequents the supernatural category so much doesn’t know him. Now that he did this, isn’t he getting more recognition? Only naive people will believe it]

　　[You are my eye: Understood, thanks for debunking this Professor Wang. Turns out it was another liar]

　　[I am Ultraman: Holy shit, no way? I used to like this streamer quite a bit. When he wasn’t famous I felt he was a treasure I found, I didn’t expect him to be so cunning, turning the road dark]

　　……

　　In addition to this shady comment, there are also people arguing against it.

　　[Everchanging bell: What a killjoy. There are even fake fans that helped out, what the hell man. Anyone who watched this streamer’s stream before knows that every time he ghost hunts there’s an accident. If you want to say something retarded like “the officers were also actors the streamer hired”, then I really don’t have anything else to say] (t/n: fake fans = fans who were fans but now turned anti-fans)

　　[Mario: +1, I finally found someone who was truly the streamer’s fan. The cases he solved the last few streams all went on the Legal News, people who use this point in their argument really don’t have brains] 

　　Unfortunately, the fans protecting Zong qi were too little, it was drowned in the war of comments not long after. 

　　When normal people click in and see Village Professor Wing’s comment, they would immediately get the wrong ideas and join in on the insults. Sweet on the outside, but rotten on the inside. 

　　Zong qi scrolled through the whole comment section emotionlessly. 

　　He recalled when he fought to death with the serial killer, feeling particularly wronged. 

　　Although Zong qi didn’t intend to publicise the fact that he sent the murderer to the police station, it doesn’t mean he liked being maliciously speculated against and misinterpreted.

　　Because Chen Hongyi was involved in many old cases, he didn’t know how long it would take before he was completely convicted.

　　Zong qi usually chose to fight the netizens directly, simple and straightforward.

　　When he clicked into the backstage, preparing to send out a graceful paragraph of words full of emotions, but a prompt suddenly appeared. (t/n: ngl i have no idea what backstage is but its what it is)

　　[The recording of ‘Mental Hospital’ has ended, do you wish to turn it into a video? Yes/No]

　　Zong qi clicked into the Represented Works section. 

　　This was originally going to be used as evidence after he chose to rerecord against the organisation. But now that things were successfully solved, he didn’t need this anymore. 

　　But now that he thought about it, Zong qi found out about the magical function of this ability. 

　　If its so-called recording could really film everything down, then he won’t need any media company’s sponsor in the future. He could just film the movie all by himself! 

　　Although it is difficult to get a job as a director, the reason Zong qi chose to study it was mostly because he liked it. Now that there were circumstances that allowed him to go on the road of directing once again, he’s so busy he can’t even be happy about it.

　　Zong watched the whole recording from start to end, whistling. 

　　This video was shot from God’s perspective. It not only recorded his handsome appearance as he beat people up from a perfect angle, but also gave a close-up of his violent beating of the murderer. Besides, the Zong qi in the recording was really handsome. (t/n: i hope its gods perspective in english too?? It might be 3rd person perspective my brain no work)

　　The best thing is that the system could also process the video, automatically edit and add music. It even has black technology like adjusting the angle and editing faces.

　　Zong qi looked over it several times, an idea appearing in his head. 

　　“Since the mysterious organisation behind the murderer already has their eyes on me, threatening me numerous times. I might as well borrow the system, and try deterring them a bit. After showing that I have evidence in my hands, the opponent should hesitate. Otherwise, they’ll really think they can bully me like that.” 

　　He thought of the attitude of the organisation before and after rerecording, believing that his inference was pretty reasonable. 

　　With this in mind, Zong qi opened the post-production column in the system, changed the shooting perspective, and replaced the murderer’s face using AI synthesis.

　　The director department had to learn a lot of things, including acting, screenwriting, photography and even production. Editing a video wasn’t hard for Zong qi.

　　The finished product was a half minute long video.

　　Zong qi exported the video to the system and uploaded it to Weibo. He explained why the stream was cut off this afternoon and attached this processed video.

　　[@Zong Qiqi: This was pretty much the entire situation this afternoon. It’s mostly to see the opinions, thank you for worrying] (t/n: zong qiqi is cute isnt it hehe also opinions = the peeps who keep talking bad about him i assume)

　　After all this, Zong qi turned off his phone, ignoring the noises that never stopped from upstairs and fell asleep.

　　What he didn’t notice was that not long after he fell asleep, the temperature in the room dropped. 

　　The phone screen lit up softly in the dark, a prompt slowly appearing. 

　　[Minor Plot ‘Harmony Inn’, activation conditioner reached] 

The author has something to say: 

77: As long as I’m not afraid of ghosts, the ones afraid will be them. (definitely

t/n: so like… im so sorry but apparently i translated Qi Ningzhou’s name wrong and the dan was supposed to be zhou ive changed everything now sorryyyyy