Chapter 676: A Perfect Crime

Inside the Cinema, the movie was still playing.

Li Weijie had always been well-liked in the small town, and with his family being taken away for no reason, neighbors and friends were all waiting outside the police station, discussing the matter.

Of course, the main reason was that his two daughters had also been taken away; the police had actually arrested young girls only a few years old—what kind of situation was this!?

Many police officers began to feel that Li Weijie's family might truly be innocent.

Layun, however, indicated that something was wrong.

He recalled the look in Li Weijie's eyes when they had locked gazes—that look that felt wrong!

"There is definitely a problem. I am certain that on the 2nd and 3rd, they were both in Canban Town. If it's a made-up story, then bring in everyone from the story."

"And everyone they usually come into contact with... one by one! Bring them all to me!" Layun said through gritted teeth.

"Let them go back first, make them think everything is fine." Layun began to set the trap.

As Li Weijie's family walked out of the interrogation room, Ayu couldn't help but whisper: "This hurdle is finally over."

Li Weijie, however, held his head high and whispered: "It's only just begun!"

This was his psychological confrontation with Layun!

Immediately after, the people from the police station summoned everyone else.

Xiao Wei's girlfriend began to get nervous.

Yet, everyone's testimony was favorable to Li Weijie's family.

Because along the way, Li Weijie had been deepening the impressions he made on the people he encountered, ensuring they wouldn't forget that he had been there.

For the acquaintance on the bus, Li Weijie knew he was a fan of the old boxing champion, so he deliberately chatted with him about boxing to test if he had been following the matches lately.

Hearing that he hadn't, Li Weijie said there was a match for the old boxing champion that night, and his whole family was going to watch it.

But in reality, this match was from the night before, the night Sucha was accidentally killed—the match on April 2nd.

And because he had previously installed the internet for the ticket-selling uncle for free, the uncle hadn't charged him for the tickets, so there was no physical evidence of the tickets.

In this dilapidated and backward small town, there was no surveillance on the bus either.

With so many people on the bus every day, memories were easily confused and jumbled.

And as a fan of the old boxing champion, the ticket-selling uncle's focus of memory would remain on the boxing match.

He later went to find the ticket-selling uncle again, chatting with him on purpose to scramble his memory: "You remember, right? We went to Luotong to play on the 2nd and 3rd, and my wife bought a dress casually. Guess how much it was? Seven hundred and fifty!"

In this way, even though they clearly took the bus on the 3rd, the uncle's memory would mistakenly believe it was the 2nd.

After arriving in Luotong by bus, Li Weijie immediately headed straight for the hotel where he had repaired the internet the day before.

Another detail came into play.

He had come to the hotel alone to do repairs the day before and then checked in. Because he couldn't reach his family by phone that night, he had rushed back in a hurry, and he hadn't checked out of the hotel room at all.

So, what he had to do now was take his family to the front desk to check out, making the front desk mistakenly believe that his family had also come along the day before and had all stayed at the hotel.

To make a deep impression on the front desk, he deliberately checked out late, using this to create a small conflict with the staff.

At the same time, when he was inspecting the internet equipment, he claimed the memory was full and formatted all the surveillance footage.

The hard evidence was gone, but the memories had all been modified by him!

Then, they went to buy a cake.

While getting a cake packed, he deliberately chatted with the proprietress, mentioning that her shop had been on the TV program 【Perfect Kitchen】 to deepen her impression of his family. Later, he frequently went to this shop to buy cakes, and during their chats, he mentioned the key information of April 2nd again.

Following that, he took his family to watch the boxing match.

They went to that very run-down venue without surveillance.

The family clearly watched the match on the night of the 3rd, but during the process, Li Weijie deliberately knocked over a vendor's popcorn, and to show his apology, he bought a lot of things at once.

When paying, he "accidentally" discovered he didn't have enough money in his wallet, so he told the vendor to wait a moment while he went to get cash.

Here, we must return to a key detail mentioned earlier!

He had come to watch the boxing match alone on April 2nd, and when he arrived, the match had already started. At that time, he didn't have enough money, so he had withdrawn cash and then bought a cheap ticket.

The ATM's surveillance had captured an image!

This image could be viewed by the Police! The timing matched!

Later, he went to watch boxing again and chatted with the vendor, saying, "Do you remember me? The day of the old boxing champion's match, I even knocked over your popcorn."

The vendor saw so many customers every day; how could he remember?

His focus of memory would certainly be on the match as well.

Li Weijie didn't mention the match on the 3rd; he specifically mentioned the old boxing champion's match on the 2nd, once again misleading the memory!

At the same time, he also picked up four boxing tickets from the night of the 2nd from a trash can.

In this way, he essentially took his family and reenacted everything he had done alone in Luotong on April 2nd, leaving behind no physical evidence, but leaving behind—eyewitnesses!

This was to prove that his family was not in Canban Town on the 2nd, but in Luotong!

As for going to the movies on the night of the 3rd, that was to deliberately appear in front of surveillance to prove they were also in Luotong on the 3rd.

It is worth mentioning that in the 【Earth】 version of "Sheep Without a Shepherd," the story's setting year was relatively close to the real world.

Luo Mo made modifications to this.

He moved the year back by many years, which could make the issue of 【surveillance】 more reasonable.

Siam is indeed incomparable to Huaxia in terms of surveillance.

But he still felt that moving the year back, setting the story ten years ago in a more backward era, would be better.

After all, Huaxia audiences would complain about this point: why is there no surveillance in so many places?

It's as if there is surveillance when needed, and none when not needed.

Because they are accustomed to life in Huaxia, accustomed to surveillance being everywhere, they would subconsciously place more importance on the detail of surveillance.

The movie is for Huaxia audiences to watch, and Luo Mo felt that making the change was necessary.

This small town is indeed backward, but everyone's perception of backwardness is different.

And in the ATM, there is inevitably surveillance.

The audience in the Cinema, watching one person after another provide testimony for Li Weijie's family, felt it was simply exhilarating.

Upon seeing the Police, after listening to the vendor, go to retrieve the ATM surveillance, and seeing Li Weijie's face appear inside, they also felt this plot point was incredibly satisfying!

The entire film, in its control of pacing and the sense of satisfaction, can be said to be first-class.

Xiao Wei even thought: "This should be no problem now, right? It's a Perfect Crime, isn't it?"

In reality, this was him underestimating Layun.

The preceding plot had built Layun up as a very formidable Chief.

The film also happens to use Layun's mouth to let the audience, who hadn't understood yet, reach a Realization of how Li Weijie managed to do these things.

Layun said: "What people believe in most is what they have seen with their own eyes. Li Weijie did not lie; he indeed took his whole family to Luotong."

"They also ate cream cake, watched a movie, and watched a boxing match."

"Everyone they met can testify for him."

"That is also why even that little girl could answer fluently!"

"Because they were not lying!"

"However, he—swapped the time!!!"

When this line appeared, Xiao Wei felt his arm ache again; his girlfriend was excited again, her nails digging into his arm.

Layun said: "Just like a movie, the story presented to the witnesses and to our minds all actually happened, it's just... it went through his editing!"

On the big screen, fragmented scenes began to piece together.

Xiao Wei began to grow numb to the pain in his arm; he also felt this scene was too satisfying to watch, and he was screaming "holy shit" in his heart.

Too cool, damn it, all of this is too cool!

These witnesses had all righteously told the "truth" to the Police.

But in reality, they had all, unintentionally, provided false testimony for Li Weijie's family!

It's just that, after the thrill, Xiao Wei began to gradually calm down.

"Layun guessed it, so what do we do now?"

But fortunately, she had no evidence.

Just at this moment, another piece of foreshadowing planted earlier appeared.

Sucha's good friend Pony, who was previously taking exams in Meiguo, has now returned.

He was brought to the police station, and Layun immediately questioned him about what happened at the summer camp.

This boy realized the severity of the situation; he opened his phone, and in the police station, showed Layun and all the officers the video Sucha had recorded!

He actually had a video here too!

Layun watched a young girl being drugged by her own son and immediately said: "This video cannot be leaked."

She walked into the office alone, looking soul-lost, like a numb walking corpse.

She sat on the sofa, tears streaming down, her facial muscles twitching constantly.

An officer walked in, wanting to show concern for her situation.

Layun suddenly raised her head.

Sunlight shone into the office through the blinds, making her face appear in stripes of black and white.

"Bring them back," Layun said softly.

Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, she suddenly shrieked: "Their whole family!!!"

This sudden outburst scene gave Xiao Wei and his girlfriend a fright.

"Is this fucking devil?"

Next, the police station, without any evidence, dragged Li Weijie's family away again.

"What do we do, what do we do!" Xiao Wei's girlfriend was anxious.

"Don't panic, don't panic, it's not a big problem." A smile of "this wave is stable" appeared on Xiao Wei's face.

He didn't know what to do either.

But Luo Mo is so Ox, he knows how to film it.

It turned out Li Weijie had already laid out the plan.

"If our family is caught again, you make this call."

"Layun's husband is named Dupeng, he is a mayoral candidate, and this is the phone number for his biggest rival's office."

—Interlocking!

Li Weijie could always stay one step ahead of the Police, determine the plan, and lay the groundwork in advance!

Inside the police station, Layun was already like a madwoman.

She even started showing Pingping her own humiliation video.

She wanted to use this to break Pingping's mental defenses.

"How can this old hag be so evil!" Xiao Wei's girlfriend was already grinding her teeth in anger.

As a woman, she simply could not accept that Layun would actually use such methods.

You are also a woman, and you are a mother!

Ayu immediately blocked Pingping, like a mother lion protecting her cub.

In Layun's heart, Sucha's life or death was unknown.

Ayu, on the other hand, had to protect her daughter.

Two women, both mothers, were at loggerheads at this moment.

Because the acting of both Actresses was excellent, it made this scene incredibly satisfying to watch, like two mother lions biting each other!

When Ayu first arrived at the police station, her hands were clearly trembling.

Yet at this moment, her eyes were bloodshot, her lips and facial muscles were twitching, and she stood firmly in front of her daughter, gritting her teeth as she said: "Some children are children, but some children are beasts!"

Upon hearing this, Layun's body began to tremble, and the veins on her neck bulged in an instant.

She turned her back and said to Sang Kun: "I want the truth, no matter what method you use."

Sang Kun, who already held an old grudge against Li Weijie, immediately kicked Li Weijie.

Ayu was also slapped.

Only the youngest daughter stood there, watching her parents being beaten, unable to hold back her painful cries.

"Officer, wouldn't this be going too far?" a subordinate stepped forward and said.

Responding to him was the wide-eyed Anger in Layun's gaze.

The little girl ran over, crying as she pulled on Layun's hand, saying: "Please, please stop hitting them, don't hit my mommy, don't hit my daddy, please!"

The little girl's tears flowed wildly, her voice choked with sobs; the explosive performance of the child star moved the entire audience.

"Then tell me, what did you see that night?" Layun began to use her as a breakthrough point.

The little girl looked back at Li Weijie and her mother.

Although her father had already prepared her, saying that he might get beaten later and she shouldn't feel bad for him, just like when he hit her in daily life, it only looked fierce but didn't actually hurt.

But her father was bleeding.

He forced himself not to cry out, but his eyes were losing focus.

She was a child, and there were indeed many things she didn't understand.

But she...

——felt heartbroken for her father.

Seeing that the little girl's mental defenses had broken, that old hag Layun dragged the crying little girl all the way toward the office.

The little girl cried as she followed her, her wrists likely hurting from being dragged.

After closing the office door, she said: "If this continues, they will be beaten to death, and then you will become an orphan and never see them again."

"Only you can save your mom and dad now."

"Tell me, what exactly did you see that night!"

She stopped crouching to talk to the little girl and slowly stood up.

The camera gave a close-up of the little girl's body and face.

One could see the light on her face being covered, bit by bit, by Layun's massive shadow.

The sense of oppression in the filming of this scene was truly too strong.

Let alone the little girl, even the audience in the Cinema felt they couldn't bear it.

Layun's expression had become completely distorted.

"Speak!!!"

In an instant, Xiao Wei felt that something was terribly wrong.

Because the little girl had seen her mother and sister burying the body.

She had seen Sucha's body buried inside En Shu's grave!

Sure enough, a torrential downpour began outside, and Li Weijie's family was brought out by the police, loaded into a police car, and headed toward the burial site.

In the heavy rain, the youngest daughter's hair was soaked, and her clothes were wet too.

She had told her; she had told Layun everything.

She cried loudly while saying to Li Weijie: "Daddy, I'm sorry! Daddy, I'm sorry!"

"It is Daddy who is sorry to you." Li Weijie looked at his terrified daughter with a heart full of self-reproach.

In this scene of only ten seconds, Wang Rong and the child star relied on their superb acting skills to make the short emotional sequence explosively effective!

During this scene, when Luo Mo was directing, his eyes couldn't help but turn red, and on the set, the people around them were all crying.

The rain kept falling.

The sky was gloomy.

The Back Shadow music was somber, as if everything had reached its end.

This buildup and accumulation of emotion kept piling up in the hearts of the audience.

A vent! We need a vent!!!

Li Weijie's family was brought to the burial site.

Sang Kun looked at him and revealed a triumphant smile.

The surrounding public began to gather there.

Someone shouted: "You can't touch this, this is our ancestral grave!"

It was precisely for this reason that more and more people gathered here.

These were all Huaxia people in Siam, so the significance of an ancestral grave can be imagined.

Someone tried to come in to stop them, but Sang Kun kicked him down and then drew his gun.

"Li Weijie killed someone and buried the body here; whoever dares to obstruct justice is an accomplice!" Sang Kun roared.

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do..." Xiao Wei's girlfriend was already so nervous she didn't dare to breathe deeply.

Layun's husband, Du Peng, arrived at this moment.

Many media outlets around were reporting on it.

They said the Sucha being searched for was Du Peng's son.

The grave digging began.

Someone on the side cried out: "That is my father's grave!"

The police remained unmoved and continued digging.

The surrounding crowd was buzzing with discussion.

"Oh my! The police chief's son has gone missing, and the police are just grabbing people without any evidence. Look, he was definitely beaten; they didn't even spare a child."

"In my opinion, it's just that Sang Kun is settling a personal vendetta. Li Weijie has always been an honest man; this whole thing was stirred up by Sang Kun!"

"Hey! You media people must report this!"

In the heavy rain, the coffin was dug out.

"Open it!" Layun ordered.

The scene in the rain was definitely one of the climaxes of the film.

Slow motion was used here, focusing on the facial expressions of every important character in the heavy rain.

Some were grave, some were smug, some were panicked, some were at a loss...

Only Li Weijie kept his head lowered in the rain, his wet hair dragging downward.

All sound was muted; there was no sound of rain, no shouting from the crowd.

In this slow-motion shot, there was only the sound of Layun's breathing.

The coffin was opened; inside was an old man's corpse and a burlap sack.

In the silent scene, the rain was still falling just as heavily.

The contents of the sack were pulled out.

Xiao Wei's girlfriend was already so nervous she wanted to close her eyes; she didn't dare to look.

But inside, it was not Sucha.

It was a sheep.

A sheep that had died after being shot.

The very sheep that had been shot dead by Sang Kun!

The heavy rain, symbolizing sin and punishment, fell without ceasing.

There was no Sucha here at all.

What was here was merely a...

—Scapegoat!!!

In movies, many things have their own symbolism.

Just like the Orange in "Dying to Survive".

This sheep in "Sheep Without a Shepherd" is the same.

The appearance of the Scapegoat made many in the audience feel like their brains were about to explode.

At this moment, they were stunned.

Besides being stunned, there was endless confusion and infinite satisfaction!

The slow motion appeared once again.

A sound emerged, like that of tinnitus.

Stirring background music rose accordingly.

The rain fell crazily, and one close-up of a face after another hit the main characters.

Even Ayu looked at the man beside her in disbelief.

Only Li Weijie stood in the rain, the rainwater washing over his entire body frantically.

It washed over his hair, washed over his skin, and washed over the bloodstains on his body!

This scene was filmed with such incredible impact.

The surrounding crowd could no longer hold back.

"That is not Sucha's corpse!"

Even with the police cordoning off the area, they could not stop an impact of this scale.

Among them, there were perhaps spontaneous masses, and perhaps, arrangements made by the opponent of Dupont running for mayor.

Amidst the stirring background music, everything descended into chaos.

A group of people began beating the police officers who had previously assaulted Li Weijie.

Sang Kun, in particular, was surrounded and beaten by a large number of people.

The great battle continued to escalate.

Someone left by car at this moment, saying: "Tell Mr. Dali that he can celebrate his successful election in advance."

The subsequent plot had been modified.

In the "Sheep Without a Shepherd" on Earth, there were bloodstains from Sucha on the coffin lid, a point criticized by many, but it actually echoed the ending.

The Blue Star version did not have this.

Li Weijie was seen in the heavy rain, amidst the chaos, quietly watching that dead sheep.

Then, he slowly raised his head, and at the peak of the stirring music, endless raindrops continued to wash over his upturned face.

He slowly closed his eyes.

—The outcome is decided!

Chaos spread throughout the entire small town.

The entire case received nationwide attention.

Layun lost his position.

Du Peng also had no chance of winning the election and withdrew from the mayoral race.

The other candidate, Dali, was likely employing many of his own tactics as well.

Li Weijie and his family were all acquitted, and he was smoking on the balcony of his home.

Ayu asked him, "Why didn't you tell me?"

It was clear that she also did not know that Sucha's body had gone missing.

Li Weijie had originally stubbed out his cigarette, intending to go buy a Harmonica for his younger daughter, but he stopped in his tracks after hearing this.

"I am a man without any real ability."

"I wasn't able to give you a better life either." He stood with his back to Ayu, head bowed, ashamed to look at her.

"All I could do was... stand in front of you all."

After saying this, he went downstairs to buy the Harmonica.

Ayu stood on the balcony, unable to hold back her tears.

As her tears fell, she looked up at the sky.

The heavy rain had passed, and the sun had emerged once more.

—Not a cloud in the sky.

However, there was still one question.

"Where exactly is Sucha's body?" the audience wondered.

In the movie, the media was also reporting on it.

Sucha had gone missing; there was no sign of him alive, and no corpse to be found.

Time passed, and several months later, the new police station had been built.

After Layun, Sang Kun, and the others had left, a new batch of police officers had naturally taken their place here; it seemed everything was developing for the better.

As mentioned before, Li Weijie had relied on Song Shu's introduction from the very beginning to take the contract for the new police station, responsible for setting up the network lines and equipment there.

He came over to inspect things today as usual.

Inside the police station, the newly arrived chief had a good relationship with him.

He said to Li Weijie, "Weijie, although the matter has passed, I want to tell you that the police station is still investigating Sucha's disappearance."

"If he is still alive, we will certainly bring him to justice."

This new chief was well aware of what had happened to Li Weijie's daughter, Pingping.

The incident had passed, and the injuries on Pingping's face had healed, but some wounds would stay with Pingping for a lifetime.

Li Weijie looked at him, a smile appearing on his face.

He said with a smile, "I believe that you and your police station will protect us well."

The screen went dark at this very moment.

Just as all the viewers thought the movie had ended there and did not intend to explain how Sucha's body had been disposed of, the screen suddenly lit up again.

This was a scene everyone had seen before, only no one had paid much attention to it at the time.

The new police station had not yet been built back then.

Li Weijie had arrived at the construction site of the new police station; his workload was significant, so he had even been given the keys for access.

At this moment, he was standing in front of a deep pit that had not yet been filled with concrete, looking thoughtful.

This was practically spelling it out for the audience!

—Sucha had been secretly buried by him beneath the new police station!

This meant that while he was talking to the chief, Sucha was right beneath his feet!

Yes, Sucha had gone missing, and they were still searching for him.

But there was a hidden meaning in those words; it was so gripping!

The words Li Weijie had just said to the chief exploded in the minds of countless viewers.

"I believe that you and your police station will protect us well."

"Sheep Without a Shepherd", the end!

(PS: 6400 words, same old rules, the movie content has been heavily adapted.

Requesting monthly votes.)

(End of chapter)