Chapter 210: Butterfly and Spider

“I’ve already told you everything I know. Get too close to the Spider and you’d be caught in his web.” The old man coughed. He stood in such a way that stopped Han Fei from venturing deeper into his home. “Making a movie out of his story is no different from seeking death. If your crew does not stop this now, eventually someone will die.” The muddled pupils moved slowly as if already seeing that scene in his mind’s eye. “I know you don’t believe me but soon you’ll see the truth. This building is a lot more different in the night than when it is in the morning.”

Seeing the determination on Han Fei’s face, the old man stopped his persuasion but the way he looked at Han Fei had changed, like he was already looking at a dead man.

“Sir, other than yourself, who else is still living at this building?” Han Fei wished to visit the other tenants.

“Those who are able have already left, the remaining ones are the old and the sick. We’re already dying so it doesn’t matter what happens to us. Frankly, we mind our own business. Even if one of us keels over and dies, the rest of us will only find out when the smell starts to get to you.” Compared to the Xin Lu cities, the countryside was dilapidated and forgotten. The elderlies that stayed here had been completely disconnected from the outside world.

“It is quite scary to die alone with no one around you.” Han Fei sought out a newspaper and wrote down his phone number on it. “Sir, this is my phone number. If you run into any danger, or if you need any help, don’t hesitate to call me.” Knowing that he was not going to get anymore info, Han Fei turned to leave. But just as he reached the door, the old man who held the piece of newspaper suddenly called after him and said, “A few days before the author died, he received some letters. No one knew who they were from, perhaps he wrote them to himself.”

“Letters?” Han Fei was not familiar with letters. It was already a thing of the past.

“My son had once accidentally opened one of the envelopes. The envelope had a letter filled with strange and incomprehensible writing. Other than that, there were also several cut pieces of butterfly wings.” The old man said as if to himself. “I’ve told others about this before and they’ve all died in freak accidents, I hope you’ll be the exception.”

The old man shuffled back to the living room. He peeled back the black cloth from one of the altars and mumbled something about sins and repentance. Han Fei could not hear him clearly. The old man’s body blocked Han Fei’s view of the altar, he could only see that there were some traces of blood and bird feathers on the black cloth. The old man appeared to have sacrificed the bird to the God inside the altar.

After leaving the room, Han Fei came back to the 4th floor with the script. In the few minutes he had been away, someone had already unlocked the door to Spider’s room. ‘Wasn’t it locked earlier? Was someone hiding on the 4th floor while I was here?’ This strange incident attracted Han Fei’s attention. He slowly pushed the door open and took in all the details. ‘From known information, it is clear that there is some kind of relationship between Spider and Butterfly. Perhaps Spider knows Butterfly’s real identity and because of that, whoever that got too close to the Spider would be killed by the Butterfly.’ Han Fei couldn’t be sure if ghosts existed in the real world or not, but the description of the deaths provided by the old man was similar to Butterfly’s MO. All the deaths had been disguised as accidents or suicides. ‘Since the human jigsaw case, I’ve gotten so much closer to the Butterfly.’

Han Fei stepped into Room 401. From the decoration alone, this did not look at all like an author’s writing studio. On the floor and dining table, as well as inside the drawers and cabinets, there were scattered medicine bottles and pill boxes.

When Director Zhang first entered Spider’s house, he was shocked as well. According to the director, other than simple dust removal, the room had been kept the same way he found it. Fu Gui Meat Factory Living Compound was Spider’s last but not his first address. He moved here specifically to seek writing inspiration. In other words, he had chosen this place as the graveyard for his other 8 personas. He recorded the death of his other 8 personas with this place as the background. In the eyes of a normal person or even a professional doctor, Spider was mad, he was categorically crazy but the man himself did not think he was crazy. He saw reason behind the existence of his other 8 personas, he did not see them as a manifestation of his mental illness, they were as real as he was.

Walking into the Spider’s study, the table was also covered in medicine bottles. Three giant locks hung from the study table drawer. It was clear that Spider did not want to share the secret inside it with anyone. However, the locks had long since been pried open after the owner’s death. Pulling open the drawer, a mountain of envelopes poured out. The envelopes did not have any returning or forwarding address. They weren’t addressed to anyone either. Looks like the old man was right that the Spider was writing to himself.

Han Fei opened some of the envelopes. They were apparently fan letters, they were written to Spider to discuss with him the plot of his books and questions about life. Han Fei, who knew that Spider did not have many readers, believed that Spider was conversing with himself. However, to be sure, he continued to open more envelopes to read. When he reached the 34th letter, he realized this one was slightly different.

The yellowed envelope came with a pair of broken butterfly wings. They seemed to shatter in perfect pieces. Han Fei eased out the letter carefully. The handwriting on the letter was similar to the ones from the others but the content was wildly different. It contained only a single question—Who are you?

When he saw the question, Han Fei couldn’t help but turn around to look. He felt like he was being observed and the question was directed at him. Putting away the letter, Han Fei continued to skim through the other envelopes. Soon he found another strange one. This time, the letter also only consisted of a single question—Do you believe in ghosts?

‘It feels like he is having a conversation with me.’ Standing alone inside the room of the dead author, Han Fei felt no fear. Then he discovered a third envelope with the butterfly wings inside it. Similarly, the letter posed another question—Guess where I am hiding.

3 strange letters, 3 strange questions. From these, Han Fei was unable to discern the relationship between the Spider and Butterfly. However, he did use his powerful memory to remember all the letter content.

‘It feels like the Butterfly and Spider has gotten into a fight and the Spider appeared victorious. Perhaps the reward was knowledge of the Butterfly’s real identity but for that victory, the Spider had paid heavily.’ Director Zhang and the rest believed that the Spider’s enemies were his other 8 personas but Han Fei did not hold the same view. He felt like everything that happened to Spider could be traced back to the Butterfly. After he put all the letters and envelopes back into place, Han Fei turned to look at the bookshelf inside the study. There was a book that seemed to have just been moved. He took down the book and flipped through it. A page was bookmarked and a sentence was highlighted—I know your name, I know your looks, I have been watching you, this place will be your grave.

The quote felt like it was picked out just for Han Fei. He slowly turned around and the various scenes flashed in his mind. ‘When I first arrived at the 4th floor, the room was locked. Probably someone was inside the room then, this particular quote was left for me to find.’

The crew had booked the whole building. To be able to move around unnoticed, the culprit had to be one of the actors or crew members. ‘The Thriller Novelist is shot at a secluded location. It is far away from the city and the closest police station is about 2 km away. This is indeed a perfect opportunity for the Butterfly to do away with me.’