Huayu: This director is pretty strong.

Chapter 82 The Patch of Time

"Click".

The iron bolts outside Hall 3 snapped shut, the clicking sound echoing through the empty corridor.

Chen Yan stood on the steps, the hem of his trench coat stained with black film ash, and the cold touch of the metal knob still lingered on his right palm.

Su Wan followed closely behind him, the wet newspaper in her hand crumpled into a ball of pulp, the moisture dripping from her fingers onto the red carpet.

"Luca brought a satellite phone."

Su Wan reported in a low voice.

She handed a tiny black wireless receiver to Chen Yan.

On the screen, a series of undulating waves is vibrating at a high frequency.

"Wu Gang intercepted the frequency in the stairwell. Luca is contacting the Associated Press's Venice office; he's preparing to send out that 'nineteen-year-old' evidence."

Chen Yan did not answer the receiver and stopped at the corner of the corridor.

Where is Wu Gang?

Chen Yan asked.

"Behind the door of the power distribution room on the third floor."

Wu Gang's hoarse voice came through the receiver, accompanied by the hissing of electricity in the background.

"Luca wanted to send a report via the main control room's fax line. I cut off the secondary line on this floor. He's heading to backup room number two now."

"Don't let him dial the number."

Chen Yan strode towards the elevator.

"Keep him under your sight. If he tries to leave, cut his communication lines. Don't draw blood."

The elevator doors opened in front of me.

Su Wan pressed the button on the first basement level.

"Chen Yan. If that film reel is genuine, our current copyright complaint won't pass at all. Marco is already suspicious."

Su Wan's back was very straight.

She speaks very quickly.

"If the Associated Press reports on 'plagiarism,' the Venice Organizing Committee will immediately freeze all of Thunder's entry data."

Chen Yan watched the elevator numbers steadily decrease.

"That film is fake."

Chen Yan replied.

"The images can be faked. That thirteen-year-old me may be real, but the film negatives don't lie."

He turned to look at Su Wan, his pupils reflecting the cold light inside the elevator car.

"Contact the Shanghai Animation Film Studio immediately."

"It's 3 a.m. Beijing time now."

Su Wan raised her wrist to check her watch.

"Find the old factory director, Qian Delin. He was in charge of the export batches in 1991."

Chen Yan reached out and tapped Su Wan's handheld computer screen with his fingertips.

"Tell him I need to check the production numbers of that batch of 'Kodak 5247' series film, especially the boxes sold to the Tianjin film studio. Each box of negatives has a unique laser anti-counterfeiting code on the edge. The technology of 1991 couldn't produce the graininess of 2000, but if it's an old negative that's been re-exposed, the production number is the only clue."

Su Wan quickly took notes on the screen.

"clear."

The elevator has arrived.

Chen Yan strode out and pushed open the heavy soundproof door of the editing room.

The light was dim.

Only the Olympus industrial microscope on the workbench emitted a faint green light.

Chen Yan took out a tattered piece of film from the inside pocket of his trench coat.

This is the broken tape bearing the 1991 stamp that he just brought out from Hall 3, which is called "evidence".

He pressed the film under the glass slide and turned the focusing knob with his fingers.

The soft sound of gears meshing became clear in the quiet room.

The emulsion layer of the film is magnified in the field of view behind the eyepiece.

The originally smooth image began to show graininess.

Chen Yan's fingers remained motionless, controlling the fine-tuning screw.

He was looking for something.

Physical residues after digital-to-magnetic conversion.

Although the other party used the most advanced methods to rewrite the digital image back onto the film, once it has been converted by the scanner, the photoelectric sensor will leave extremely fine intersecting grids at the edge of the pixels.

This pattern is professionally called "Moiré pattern".

It is not a chemical reaction, but a digital overflow.

Chen Yan's gaze slowly searched through the magnified noise.

Due to the optical axis shift, those extremely regular, honeycomb-like dark spots became visible in the shadows.

"Found it."

Chen Yan looked up from in front of the microscope.

He picked up a red marker and drew a circle on one side of the film.

"These are traces of digital printing."

"Smack."

The side door to the editing room was pushed open.

Lin Qingqiu stood at the door.

She changed out of her heavy purple cheongsam and put on a simple black turtleneck sweater.

Her face appeared unnaturally pale under the cold light.

His right hand was gripping the door frame tightly, his fingertips turning bluish-purple from the force.

Her back was bent very low, a posture that her spine could not bear the weight of.

"Chen Yan".

Lin Qingqiu spoke.

Her voice trembled noticeably with pain.

"Vincent said that as long as I admit that it was my 'past,' as long as I say that Lu Haiming made those experimental short films to promote me back then, all the plagiarism accusations will be shifted onto me."

She took a step forward.

The right leg made a slight scraping sound as it dragged on the floor.

"I can hold a press conference. I'll say that I stole your script and had those old movies faked in order to become famous."

Chen Yan did not look at her.

He continued fiddling with the microscope.

"sit down."

Chen Yan said.

"If I don't go, you'll be ruined."

Lin Qingqiu's fingers gripped the hem of her sweater tightly.

"Those journalists just want a scandal. I can give them the perfect scandal."

"I'm asking you to sit down."

Chen Yan raised his head, his gaze fixed on Lin Qingqiu's face like a needle.

"Your mission is to win Best Actress, not to become a sacrifice in Lu Haiming's script."

Lin Qingqiu stood still.

Listen.

Chen Yan put down his marker and walked up to her.

The two were very close.

He could smell the strong scent of painkiller spray on her.

"From this moment on, no matter who asks you about that movie, no matter what kind of photos they show you, you only need to do one thing."

Chen Yan reached out and tucked her messy hair behind her ear.

"Don't say a word."

"Keep your arrogance."

"Make all the media think that you disdain to answer such cheap accusations."

"Is it possible?"

Lin Qingqiu stared into Chen Yan's eyes.

The bloodshot veins in her eyes were clearly visible.

She took a deep breath and then slowly nodded.

"Go to the lounge next door."

Chen Yan walked past her and opened the window.

The rain in Venice has lessened a bit.

The lights of the distant clock tower cast a broken, blurry shadow on the water.

"Wu Gang".

Chen Yan spoke into the walkie-talkie.

"Any movement from Luca's side?"

"He's writing a manuscript. The title is 'The Thief's Life of the Golden Lion Director'."

Wu Gang's voice remained calm.

"He's changed three computers. I cut off his internet access for all of them. Now he's preparing to use that old Morse transmitter."

"Let him write it."

Chen Yan looked at the red ink stains remaining on his fingertips.

"Su Wan, have you received a reply from Shanghai?"

Su Wan pushed open the door and entered.

Her breathing was a little rapid.

He was holding a piece of paper that he had just torn off the fax machine.

The edges of the paper smelled faintly of warm carbon powder.

"Found it."

Su Wan slammed the fax onto the table.

"Director Qian personally reviewed the files."

"In November 1991, a batch of expired Kodak film was indeed disposed of in Tianjin. However, there were no sales invoices for this batch of film. It was privately approved by the then factory director to be given to a construction company called 'Minghai Industry' on the grounds of 'for geological records at construction sites'."

Chen Yan glanced at the fax.

His gaze lingered on that familiar official seal.

"Minghai Industrial. Legal person, Lu Haiming."

Chen Yan flicked the paper with his finger.

"Lu Haiming had prepared these patches ten years ago. He not only wanted money, but he also wanted to leave behind a contract in this circle that allowed him to kill someone at any time."

"But there's a batch number on it that doesn't match."

Su Wan pointed to the numbers at the bottom of the fax.

"Director Qian said that the emulsion formula of the 1991 batch contained excessive silver content, so the film base of this batch of film was 0.02 millimeters thicker than the ordinary one."

Chen Yan immediately looked down at the microscope.

He used calipers to clamp the broken piece on the worktable.

The reading shows: 0.15mm.

"This is a new film base."

Chen Yan threw the film back onto the table.

"Luca can't publish his work. The evidence he has was swapped from the spare case I brought."

"Since Lu Haiming wants to play with 'time travel,' then I'll teach him what true 'historical nihilism' really is."

Chen Yan turned to look at Su Wan.

"Go contact Vincent. Tell him the premiere party tonight is canceled. But we'll rent a bigger screening room at the Danielly Hotel."

"They're not playing 'Thunder' anymore?"

Su Wan asked.

"I won't let go."

Chen Yan walked to the worktable and pressed the start button on the editing table.

"Put all the behind-the-scenes footage from 'The Night Watch' together, along with the destroyed master tape of 'The Sound of Rain in the Old Town'."

"I want to make an 'extended version' specially for Lu Haiming."

outside the window.

A bolt of lightning cleaved the dark clouds over the sea.

The bluish-white light illuminated the editing room.

In that instant, Chen Yan's shadow was cast on the white wall.

It was like a huge shadow, about to be cut off.

The fax machine in the corner started blaring again.

A blank sheet of paper was slowly extruded.

There is only one sentence above.

"Director Chen. See you at nine. Remember to bring your broken, irreparable past."

Chen Yan walked over and tore the paper in half.

He threw half of it into the shredder.

"Click."

The sound of the shredder spinning lingered in the room for three seconds.

"Click."

Chen Yan turned off the main power.

Darkness instantly enveloped everyone's faces.

Only that small section of film under the microscope.

In the lingering glow, an eerie green shimmered.

Those were the souls of the dead from 1991, now on a rainy night in 2000.

The final one is issued.

scream.