Chapter 78: Watching a Movie

“Don’t you think that the process from when Wang Yuluo first showed discomfort to her death is a bit inconsistent with the description given by the forensic examiner?” After carefully watching the footage, Ning Shuyi asked Huo Yan.

Huo Yan had also been watching closely. When questioned, he nodded. “Her discomfort appeared rather abruptly.”

Ning Shuyi nodded repeatedly. “Exactly! That’s the feeling I got as well! Throughout the whole movie, she seemed perfectly fine, showing no signs of discomfort whatsoever, and then suddenly she began convulsing, lost consciousness, and died—all very suddenly and rapidly.”

In the surveillance footage, whether before or after Cai Xin left, Wang Yuluo showed no sign of unease, nor did she display much of a frightened reaction to the film’s plot. Her discomfort only began after her bag, which had been resting on her lap, fell to the floor. She bent down to pick up the scattered items, and only then did the symptoms appear.

Huo Yan stood up and retrieved the case file, locating the photographs of the items scattered at the scene. “There were quite a few miscellaneous things in Wang Yuluo’s bag, but it’s certain there was no emergency medication.”

Ning Shuyi remembered this detail from the crime scene, and seeing the photos now made her memory clearer. She examined the disarray of powder compacts, tissues, a makeup mirror, a small bottle of perfume, keys, and other such items.

“What’s this?” she asked, staring at the photo and pointing to a small, semi-transparent, white capsule-like object on the floor.

Huo Yan shook his head. “I noticed it at the scene, but I couldn’t tell what it was. But as you said, there was definitely no emergency heart medication.”

“So, what exactly happened after she bent down? Or did the movie’s plot trigger her discomfort beforehand, and she just didn’t show it?” Ning Shuyi muttered in confusion. “She bent down to pick up her things, didn’t succeed, and then suddenly was wracked with pain and convulsions and died almost instantly. That doesn’t seem like the kind of effect a hallucinogenic toad combined with a scary movie could produce…

“Moreover, judging from the reactions of the other people in the theater, the most frightening scenes in the movie had already passed when Wang Yuluo collapsed.

“The scariest moment didn’t cause the incident; instead, it happened after the plot had calmed down?”

Huo Yan took out his phone, searched for a moment, and said to Ning Shuyi, “That private theater is still showing the same horror film.

“Hearing about it isn’t enough; seeing is believing. If we want to know whether Wang Yuluo collapsed during the calmer part of the plot, relying on the audience’s reactions isn’t reliable. We’d better go see for ourselves. Are you brave enough for this kind of film?”

“People don’t scare me; why would I be afraid of ghosts?” Ning Shuyi instantly caught his meaning and stood up. “Let’s go! We’ll get to the bottom of this right now!”

The two of them went downstairs, got in the car, and halfway there, Ning Shuyi suddenly realized, “How did you know that theater is still showing that film?”

“When we visited the scene, I signed up for their membership. I wanted to see how information about screenings of banned horror films gets out.”

Ning Shuyi glanced at him, feeling that despite his rugged and straightforward appearance, he was actually quite meticulous and thorough in his thinking.

They soon arrived at the mall where the private theater was located. This time, only the two of them went. The manager wasn’t present, and the box office staff didn’t recognize them, so there was no suspicion. They were sold tickets as usual, and were even offered a snack combo.

When Huo Yan declined the offer firmly, the box office girl couldn’t help but give him a look of disdain.

There were less than ten minutes before the screening started. The two took their tickets and went straight to their seats, focusing as they waited for the film.

This screening room was a bit smaller than the one where Wang Yuluo had died. Perhaps the original room hadn’t yet been put back into use. Unlike the previous hall, this one was filled with double sofas—the so-called “couple’s seats.” Most of the audience were young couples; the girls clutched popcorn and milk tea, whispering with their boyfriends about rumors online regarding the film’s scariness.

Only Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan sat upright in the middle, neither eating nor drinking, and exchanging little conversation after sitting down.

A couple seated diagonally behind them seemed curious. Ning Shuyi overheard the girl whispering to her boyfriend, “I bet they had a fight after buying the tickets, but they couldn’t skip the movie, so they’re here with awkward feelings! Otherwise, who watches a movie while keeping such polite distance?”

Her boyfriend had a different theory. “You don’t get it. This guy is clever! They must have had a fight and gone cold on each other, so he deliberately invited his girlfriend to the theater, and picked a horror movie.

“Just imagine—once the film starts and the ghost appears, she’ll get scared and jump into his arms! Then he’ll comfort her, offer some reassurance, and by the end of the movie, the cold war will be over!”

His girlfriend seemed to agree with this theory, and teased him quietly, “You guys really are full of tricks!”

Oh, you people really do have too much time on your hands.

Ning Shuyi rolled her eyes in the row ahead, a little exasperated by the gossipy couple behind them.

Then again, no one would ever guess that she and Huo Yan had come here to “see for themselves” because of a case. People were bound to speculate.

Soon, the movie began. As the lights dimmed, the atmosphere in the screening room grew tense with each twist in the plot.

Huo Yan sat upright, unmoved. He had never been interested in ghost stories or supernatural films, but objectively, the special effects in this movie were well done. The first time the ghost’s face flashed across the screen, the entire audience gasped and shrieked.

He turned to look at Ning Shuyi, only to find her watching intently, jotting down the time of each scare in her notebook.

Ning Shuyi wasn’t particularly fearless by nature, but she wasn’t scared either. Her attention wasn’t on the movie’s storyline at all; from the very beginning, she’d been focused on tracking each frightening moment for the investigation.

Given her state of readiness, only a real ghost could have startled her.