Chapter 169

Chapter 169

With a series of gunshots, the small path instantly lost its life, and the person on it fell backward to the ground.

The scene was covered in blood, with screams and sounds of people fleeing mixing together, turning the place into a slaughterhouse.

While everyone else was fleeing, Yang Yang didn’t hesitate to step over the four bodies.

Because he needed to find Yi Tiantian!

As soon as Yang Yang passed the corpses, he saw Yi Tiantian around the corner.

"Yi, are you okay? Did that madman do anything to you?"

Seeing Yang Yang's concern, Yi Tiantian shook his head.

"He didn't do anything to me."

"That's good."

Yang Yang felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders.

They were about to leave the gruesome scene when they saw Yueyue covering her nose, trying to step over the corpses.

But no matter how much mental preparation she had done, she couldn’t bring herself to do it, her little face scrunched up tightly.

"Yueyue, just wait there, I'll come over right away."

When Yueyue saw Yang Yang with Yi Tiantian, she finally relaxed.

Seeing that Yi was safe, she felt a wave of relief.

However, the bloodstains and corpses were still distressing to look at. She had tried to steel herself but still couldn’t bring herself to step through the blood.

Director Wang had already called the police and an ambulance.

He had directed horror and thriller films before, but witnessing a real-life event on set was ten thousand times more horrifying than any movie!

"Everyone, don't move, let's gather outside and wait for the police and ambulance to arrive!"

In the chaos, Director Wang shouted for everyone to gather outside and wait.

The staff, shaken by the first real murder they'd ever seen, followed Director Wang's orders, gathering outside on the empty ground, standing close together, their faces looking quite awful.

Yi Tiantian and the two assistants were also there. He saw Chun Shan and her mother, who, despite being deeply frightened by today's killing, also harbored a bit of relief.

Because they hadn’t made the same mistake as others by siding with the wrong people.

If they had followed Liu Liu and the others in trying to frame Yi Tiantian, the consequences would have been unimaginable!

Maybe today, it would have been their bodies lying on the ground!

So Chun Shan and her mother were very thankful that things turned out this way.

Soon after, the police and ambulance arrived at the scene and began their work.

Upon learning that the killer had murdered three people before taking his own life, and that three of the victims were well-known celebrities, they exchanged a glance.

Then, with a meaningful expression, they began to investigate the scene.

"I really didn't expect the situation to end like this, but is it too late to clear up the domestic violence issue with Zu Xiaohua and the employee abuse by Xiao Yemin..."

This was the first time Yi Tiantian had encountered such a situation. The person he wanted to help had passed away, and the one who sought to expose the truth was gone as well.

The entire film crew wrapped up the day's shoot with heavy hearts. Yi Tiantian and his two assistants returned to the hotel, both physically and mentally exhausted.

However, what they didn't know was that in order to verify the truth of the murder incident at the scene, the police had started to extract surveillance footage from the hotel and various locations. In doing so, they uncovered disturbing evidence on the footage.

Following the shooting incident, the film *Co-renting Men and Women* could no longer continue filming. Therefore, after staying an extra day to pack up, Director Wang dismissed the staff and sent them home.

Before leaving, Director Wang held a meeting, advising everyone to be cautious with their words and not to disclose what had happened on set easily. Everyone was to follow the official instructions.

Although Yi Tiantian had a lot of dirt on his mind, he couldn’t expose anything without evidence.

Without evidence, everything was just hearsay, so Yi Tiantian decided to let it go.

However, during a day of rest, as Yi Tiantian lay bored on the bed scrolling through his phone, he suddenly saw a trending hashtag rapidly climbing the charts.

And that hashtag actually included his name!

#YiTiantianHeroicDeeds#

Yi Tiantian was utterly confused.

Wait, isn't this the peaceful era? He wasn't filming any war drama, so how did he become a heroic warrior?!

Curious, Yi Tiantian quickly clicked on it to see what was going on.

But what he saw shocked him!

After opening the trending page, he saw the surveillance footage of him evading the small paths at the slaughterhouse!

This footage should have been kept private by the production team. How did it end up circulating online?!

Yi Tiantian was thoroughly confused, and he immediately clicked on the comments section.

The comments were quite normal, mostly from Yi Tiantian's fans, along with some random bystanders.

*Bu Gai Ming De Di Yi:* Oh my!! Leader is amazing! But is this a behind-the-scenes clip from a film? The acting is so good!

*Ru Tong Yi Chen Feng:* Leader's first film and he's already so outstanding, truly talented!!

*Sui Ran Dan Shi:* Is this a new film's shooting scene? It feels like this movie will be quite good. I'm looking forward to it!

*Bie Guan Wo Xian Zai Duo Da:* Yi Tiantian? I didn't expect him to act as well. He doesn't seem to be just a pretty face! I'm looking forward to it too!

*Xiao Cao Piao A Piao:* I don't think this looks like acting. This footage gives me chills! If this is a film, then Yi Tiantian's acting is just too good!

It seemed that most of the commenters still didn't know that this was a real incident and not a film set.

As long as the actual murder incident wasn't exposed, it was fine.

Yi Tiantian prepared to sit up and contact Director Wang to find out what this trending hashtag was all about.

Before he could call Director Wang, the director video-called him.

Yi Tiantian immediately pressed the green accept button on his phone.

"Director Wang, I was just about to reach out to you..."

As soon as Director Wang heard this, he immediately realized that Yi Tiantian had also seen the trending hashtag about the incident.

"I’ve already received messages from a lot of people. I have no clue what that trending hashtag is all about, but I can assure you we didn’t buy it."

Although it had only been a few days since the murder incident, Director Wang's temples had already turned gray, and his whole appearance had become haggard, as if he had aged years in just a few days.

Seeing Director Wang like this, Yi Tiantian was now certain that he wasn’t the one who bought the trending hashtag.

After all, Director Wang had no reason to escalate the situation—it wouldn’t be good for anyone.

"So, who could have leaked this video?"

Yi Tiantian frowned and asked with some confusion.

"At this point, the most likely possibility is that a staff member from the crew leaked the video, but things got too urgent and the scene was too chaotic afterward, so I don’t know whose hands the video is in now..."

Director Wang's train of thought had hit a dead end. He had no suspects in mind.

"The one who leaked the video wasn’t from the crew—it was a Dusk Society member who had infiltrated us!"

"Ah? But why would they release the video without revealing the full truth?"

"If the murder had been exposed, it would have caused even more panic. Isn’t that the effect the Dusk Society has always wanted to achieve?"

Yi Tiantian could only find this much information in the rumor system. There wasn’t any more, because for some reason, the system always stayed tight-lipped whenever it came to the Dusk Society.

Yi Tiantian started to wonder whose side the system was really on. Could it be working for the Dusk Society?

His thoughts were clear enough to come through the phone to Director Wang, who was deeply shocked after hearing them.

A few years ago, the Dusk Society might not have been so well-known, but these days, an organization named Dusk Society had spread its reputation throughout the entertainment industry.

Almost all top stars could come into contact with that mysterious organization.

And it seemed Yi Tiantian was quite familiar with the Dusk Society as well.

"In any case, after this incident, I might go abroad to clear my head for a while, and the movie will have to be postponed..."

Director Wang sighed at the end, revealing his next plan.

"That’s probably for the best. After all, things have settled down, and we’ll just wait for the official investigation results."

Yi Tiantian said encouragingly while looking at Director Wang.

"Alright, I’ll have this trending hashtag taken down, and I hope you won’t be affected."

There was an obvious hint of guilt in Director Wang's voice, as he knew this was Yi Tiantian's first acting role, and encountering such a dangerous situation so early on was far from ideal. The agency not causing trouble was already a blessing.

"Although the shooting of the movie 'Roommate Boys and Girls' didn’t go smoothly and was once considered a cursed movie IP, after returning from his vacation, Director Wang single-handedly revamped the film and reshot it."

"This time, the shooting went very smoothly and even earned multiple nominations in various prestigious film awards."

"Director Wang also won the Best Director award for the reshot movie!"

Yi Tiantian took a look at Director Wang's future in the system and found that he had nothing to worry about.

Hearing this bit of good news, Director Wang felt a sudden sting in his nose, and a warm current welled up in his heart.

This was the first bit of good news he’d heard in what felt like forever.

After all, these lead actors were personally chosen by Director Wang, and as the one ultimately responsible, he should take accountability for what happened.

In the days following the murder case, he had already come under intense public scrutiny, and even some of his fellow directors were saying he was getting too old and had lost his touch.

Director Wang considered himself very dedicated and responsible at work, but hearing everyone's doubts still hit him hard, and he began to doubt himself.

Even he felt that he might be getting old, and perhaps this failed project would be the last film of his career!

Every time he thought about it, the beloved film industry felt like a bleak future to Director Wang.

But now, things felt different. After hearing Yi Tiantian's words, hope reignited in Director Wang's heart.

"Thank you, Tiantian. I don't know what I would've done without you!"

As a tough guy, Director Wang had never cried, no matter how tough things got, but after hearing Yi Tiantian's words, he could no longer hold back, and his voice choked with emotion.

Yet Yi Tiantian had no idea why his words had moved Director Wang so much.

"It's okay, no one could have expected something like this to happen..."

Hearing Director Wang sob, Yi Tiantian offered a few more comforting words.

"Tiantian, if you want to develop in this industry, just let me know. After all these years, I still have some connections, and getting you some good roles won't be a problem."

Caught off guard by the offer, Yi Tiantian exchanged a few more pleasantries with Director Wang before hanging up.

Sure enough, when Yi Tiantian checked his phone later that afternoon, the bizarre trending hashtag had vanished, replaced by several viral topics that seemed even more explosive.