noveldepot Chapter 40 Foundation Echoes
Chapter 40 Foundation Echoes
Chen Yan's fingertips sank.
When the lever touches the base, the metal contacts engage.
The signal traveled along the wire wrapped in black tape, through the muddy puddles, and into the eight load-bearing supports of the clock tower's base.
The first muffled thud was drowned out by the thunder.
Grayish-white smoke rose from the bottom of the wooden structure, and rain fell, suppressing the sparks.
The clock tower has sunk three centimeters.
"All units, start up the machines."
Chen Yan uttered two words.
The film reel gears turned, producing a fine, ticking sound.
Zhang Yuan lay prone under the rain cover, his eyes pressed against the viewfinder, turning the joystick with his right hand.
"Insufficient light, turn on light group number two."
Chen Yan stared at the monitor.
Thirty meters away, Wu Gang waved his arm.
Three arrays of high color temperature lights cut in from the side and rear, their intense white light piercing through the rain and gilding the edges of the tilting clock tower with silver.
Lu Haiming pushed aside the bodyguard holding the umbrella and stepped into the mud that was up to his ankles.
"Chen Yan! Stop!"
Lu Haiming's voice was distorted in the rain.
He stared at the building that was slowly tilting, shifting his legs as he tried to reach the director's position.
Wu Gang turned sideways and stood in front of Lu Haiming.
"Mr. Lu, we're filming a movie."
Wu Gang's tone was flat.
The elderly workers behind him spread out and lined up to block the men in suits that Lu Haiming had brought.
"This is an illegal structure; bulldozers are on their way!"
Lu Haiming pointed to the foundation, his fingertips trembling.
Chen Yan did not turn around.
He gripped the focus controller in his right hand, his eyes fixed on the monitor screen.
"Point number two, explode."
Chen Yan pressed the red button again.
The wooden beams on the second floor of the clock tower broke, and the neat cuts were visible in the firelight.
This three-story wooden and stone structure did not tilt outwards, but instead collapsed towards the center, following the angle designed by Chen Yan.
The wood was squeezed, producing a harsh, grinding sound.
Tiles slid off the eaves, crashed into the mud and water, and splashed water half a meter high.
"Shift your focus to the foundation and push it up."
Chen Yan issued the order.
Zhang Yuan quickly rotated the lens.
In the viewfinder, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the originally smooth cement foundation.
The mud seeped in along the cracks.
A hollow echo came from the bottom.
Lu Haiming pushed aside the old worker blocking his way with great force.
"I told you to stop!"
Lu Haiming's fingers reached for the camera's power cord.
Su Wan reached out and stopped his wrist.
Su Wan was soaked to the bone, her eyes fixed on Lu Haiming's pupils.
"This is WildBunch's property."
"Mr. Lu, this one second is worth fifty thousand US dollars. You can't afford to pay for it."
Su Wan tightened her fingers, her nails digging into Lu Haiming's suit cuffs.
Lu Haiming shook off Su Wan.
He looked at the foundation, his chest heaving.
At this moment, the third explosion occurred.
The wooden bell at the top of the clock tower fell along the central axis due to uneven gravity.
It smashed through the floor of three floors.
It crashed into a pillar on the second floor.
It was eventually precisely embedded in the center of the underlying foundation.
Dust and smoke were trapped within the ruins by the rain.
Chen Yan stood up from his seat.
He picked up a flashlight and turned it on.
The beam of light shone onto the pile of rubble.
"Old Liang, pick them up."
Chen Yan spoke into the walkie-talkie.
Liang Qinian, who was standing in the rain, swayed slightly upon hearing this.
He took off his police hat and placed it on a dry wooden board next to him.
He walked toward the deep pit that had been smashed open.
At the foundation location, gray cement blocks are rolled up.
Due to the violent tremors, the large bell smashed a one-meter-wide hole in the originally sealed underground space.
Groundwater began to gush out through the breach.
It was dark red water, mixed with rust and aged mud.
Under the illumination of a 3,000-watt light, the water column appeared murky.
At the top of the water column, some small white particles appeared.
Lu Haiming stood at the edge of the puddle, his face turning from pale to white.
"Chen Yan, you're asking for it."
Lu Haiming gritted his teeth and uttered five words.
Chen Yan walked up to him.
Chen Yan was half a head taller than Lu Haiming, and rainwater flowed down Chen Yan's brow bone to the tip of his nose.
"Mr. Lu, look at that water."
Chen Yan pointed to the gushing mud.
"They've been trapped underneath for twenty years."
"When you built this building, a brick was missing from the foundation, right?"
Chen Yan took out a photocopy of the structural diagram from his pocket.
That was the manuscript he found in the darkroom of the Beijing Film Academy.
"That's Liang Qinian's sister's birthstone, and you buried it there too."
Lu Haiming's breathing became heavy.
He turned to look at his bodyguard, his right hand instinctively reaching for his lower back.
Liang Qinian has already jumped into the mud pit.
He used his hands to pry aside the rotten wood blocking his way.
Rainwater got into his eyes, but he didn't wipe it away.
His fingers groped in the dark red water.
He pulled a rusty metal box out of the mud and sand.
It was one of those biscuit tins that were popular twenty years ago; the edges were worn through, revealing a corner of yellowed fabric.
Liang Qinian sat in the mud, holding the iron box.
His body began to tremble, and a short, sharp sound came from his throat.
Chen Yan looked at the monitor.
Zhang Yuan captured this scene with pinpoint accuracy.
In the film's interplay of light and shadow, Liang Qinian's silhouette and the gradually calming water column form a stable triangle.
"Save on disk number one, seal the tape."
Chen Yan nodded to Zhang Yuan.
Lu Haiming stared intently at the metal box.
He took two steps back and stepped on the bodyguard's foot.
"Those were props from the film crew."
Lu Haiming regained his voice.
"Chen Yan, you're using props to frame me. The court won't accept that."
Chen Yan wiped the water off his face.
He looked toward the entrance to the old factory street.
Two Great Wall SUVs with sirens blaring cut through the night.
The car headlights illuminated the mess on the construction site.
The lead car parked next to Lu Haiming's Audi.
Liang Qinian stood up from the mud pit.
His face was covered in mud, and he was clutching the rusted iron box tightly in his arms.
He didn't cry out loud.
He simply placed the box at Chen Yan's feet.
"Director Chen, thank you."
Liang Qinian removed a pair of handcuffs from his lower back.
He walked toward Lu Haiming.
"Lu Haiming, come with me to the case of Lu Haiming's disappearance twenty years ago."
Lu Haiming's bodyguard stepped forward, attempting to stop him.
Four young men in uniforms jumped out of the car.
They moved swiftly, quickly pressing down on the bodyguard's shoulder.
Lu Haiming looked at Liang Qinian, then at Chen Yan.
The composure of someone in a position of authority on his face began to crumble.
"Chen Yan, this is just the beginning."
Lu Haiming stared at Chen Yan.
"You can't get the official seal, so you can't edit this film."
Chen Yan bent down and picked up the iron box.
He handed the box to Su Wan, who was standing next to him.
"Mr. Lu, your logic is flawed."
Chen Yan returned to the camera position.
He pressed the replay button.
On the monitor, the collapsing clock tower has a sense of grand, fatalistic grandeur.
"This isn't a movie shoot."
"This is an execution."
Chen Yan said to Zhang Yuan.
"Cut out that fountain scene and send it to AFP and Cahiers du Cinéma."
Title: Evil Beneath the Foundation of Tianjin
Liang Qinian handcuffed Lu Haiming's wrist.
The sound of the gears meshing is very crisp.
Lu Haiming was shoved into the back seat of the jeep.
The wheels crushed the mud, leaving two deep gullies in the old factory street.
The rain stopped.
A crack appeared in the clouds, and the cool moonlight fell on the ruins.
Wu Gang led the workers to begin cleaning the site.
Su Wan stood behind Chen Yan, holding the metal box.
"The debt is 2.3 million, and that woman didn't take the original documents."
Su Wan said softly.
Chen Yan took a soaking wet red plum blossom from his bag, didn't light it, and put it in his mouth.
"She will send it back."
"With Lu Haiming in jail, Haiming Film Studio is nothing but rotten flesh."
"He's not the only one with capital in Tianjin."
Chen Yan looked towards the still dark horizon.
He reached out and touched the camera lens.
The cool, glassy feel travels to your fingertips.
"Old Zhang, notify Lin Shufen."
"Starting tomorrow, we'll be editing around the clock."
"We need to finish making 'Thunder' before the Berlin Film Festival."
Zhang Yuan nodded and began disassembling the gimbal.
Su Wan looked down at the iron box in her hand, her fingers tracing the rotten fabric.
"Chen'er, is this the movie you wanted?"
Chen Yan looked at the collapsed base of the clock tower.
That stack of secret accounts is buried deep within the cement.
With Lu Haiming's arrest, this land will be sealed off as evidence.
No one can touch a single hair here anymore.
His secret became Lu Haiming's death sentence.
"This is not a movie."
Chen Yan turned around.
"It's fate."
at this time.
At the entrance of Laochang Street, a red Audi A8 turned off its lights.
Zhou Man leaned back in the driver's seat, clutching the original document for the 2.3 million yuan debt in her hand.
She looked in the direction the police car had gone.
She opened the storage box and took out a lighter.
Blue flames devoured the withered yellow pages.
The ashes from the paper drifted through the gaps in the car windows into the muddy street.
Freeze.