Disclaimer: I don’t own True Star. This is a copy from the MTL. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Short Film Series: Lu Tian Chen x Tang Feng – Hundred Years of Solitude (part 1)
Tang Feng always wanted to show heavy acting as much as possible. It would also be fun with special scenes. In a sense, Tang Feng had starred in a suspense thriller film called “Slaughtered Demons”.
In order to film, he gained weight. He also experienced a kidnapping incident during the filming. Although Slaughtered Demons was not one of the highest grossing films that Tang Feng had acted in, it still had a good reputation as a film.
The movie did not show a shred of Tang Feng or any similarity. But it was some kind of hell on earth as a charming and enchanting magical flower emerged and took root. He was full of evil and had a dark, tragic past.
Others knew that he was dangerous and must be punished. But there was a conflicting inner voice that told him to do right. It continued to confuse those that were close to him because he was seemingly gentle and harmless. But in reality, there hid the danger and sharpness of a cold demon.
Tang Feng was completely different and let Lu Tian Chen indulge him during that period.
This was what he wanted to act with Tang Feng in the movie “Hundred Years of Solitude”.
+++
[Hundred Years of Solitude Act I]
The first time he saw him was in France, inside the Palais Garnier Paris Opera House.
Ego Dominus tuus (I am thy Lord).
Vide cor tuum (Behold thy heart).
(PAchan: Sorry, the machine engrish jumbled up the Latin for the next few parts of the lyrics so I can’t put them here.)
The lyrics were selected from Dante’s opera La Vita Nuova.
Men and women sang the sacred chant like angels, noble and holy.
He closed his eyes as if he came to the time of the promised paradise. White swan feather-like snowflakes spun down. It fell on his hair, on his shoulders, and on his palm.
He tried to gently hold them but they crumbled and dissipated in the palm of his hand. It was as if they were bursting out from being crushed.
A more full-bodied red light flooded the sacred land. He smelled the sweet scent of blood in the air. The smell was sweet and beautiful. The orchestral tenor sang in tragic contrast.
(lyrics…)
There were large bloodstains in the holy heaven. The devil was smiling with his long, elegant fingers tearing off the sacred mask. He was buried under the ground of blood and bones. He smelled the thick scent of blood. He would make them nauseate and vomit.
He saw a pair of dark eyes that belonged to the devil.
It was a pair of demonic evil black eyes that smiled at him to wordlessly lure him into the bloody abyss of hell.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes. Lu Tian Chen clutched his chest in panic. The singers on stage were still chanting affectionately.
There was no heaven or hell. There was only a pair of dark eyes from his nightmare that looked at him. And the owner of those eyes was sitting at the top-right of the opera’s VIP hall.
He lightly glanced at him with interest. There seemed to be a hint of a smile that flashed from the unknown shadow. It was too late for Lu Tian Chen to know what it meant. The man leaned back and was hidden in the shadows.
“That man is surnamed Tang. He is the most popular local scholar who is respected by the people. He will be your partner, mister police officer,” his superior told him.
+++
The second time that he saw him was in his superior’s home.
The man looked about thirty years old and was meticulously dressed. He wore a fitting blue-gray suit. His suit was pressed without any traces of wrinkles. He was like a member of the aristocratic society from the last century. Under his suit was a close-fitting satin vest and white shirt. He also wore tailor-fitted suit trousers of the same color. The clothes were almost like his second skin.
He was so glamorous that it would make it hard for people to turn away their eyes.
The man quietly sat in front of a black piano. His slender fingers were extremely beautiful and elegant as they played some notes on the keyboard. His black hair was combed back, exposing his smooth and beautiful forehead.
His black eyes were quiet and calm like the night sky or the deepest of lakes. He had an aquiline nose and lips that formed a blood red line.
He just sat there, immersed in his own world as he played the piano. Everyone in the house had their attention on him. He paid no heed and remained elegant and calm as if he had everything in the world in his hands.
“Nice to meet you.” After the man finished playing, he went straight in front of Lu Tian Chen, showing a polite smile. With a smooth and attractive voice, he whispered, “Police officer Lu.”
Lu Tian Chen instinctively resisted Dr. Tang’s charm and elegance. He should smile and shake hands but he looked at him with alertness as Dr. Tang actively extended his hand between them.
Dr. Tang maintained his polite smile, quietly watching Lu Tian Chen. He did not seem to want to take back his outstretched hand. He did not feel embarrassed, as if assured that Lu Tian Chen would certainly react. He had a calm and strong heart.
In fact, before Lu Tian Chen could react quickly, he did not even have the time to hold Dr. Tang’s hand. Their palms just lightly touched quickly before separating. The touch left the feeling of a solitary, cold night against in fingertips.
+++
A corpse was discovered at the stage of Palais Garnier.
A man and a woman. Lu Tian Chen remembered them.
Last week, he heard them sing at the opera. Their songs were moving and holy.
And now, they had become cold corpses.
The man’s neck was tied with a rope. One end of the rope was tied to the top of the opera house. Although it was not a direct factor that the man died because of the rope around his neck, perhaps the killer just wanted to keep the man’s body from falling.
The chest was cut open by a sharp blade. The blood coagulated at their feet that turned into a river. It was an amazing feat that the assailant created such a smooth wound. Perhaps the murderer was an excellent surgeon at a hospital during the day who spent time with colleagues and patients, but who was struggling in gloomy hell at night.
The heart of the deceased man was dug out. It was placed in the hands of the deceased woman. A sharp silver sword pierced through the woman’s throat who was on the ground. Her lips were bright red. She was holding the dead man’s heart while eating a corner of it. The scene was simply a perfect reproduction of the opera.
Lu Tian Chen firmly closed his eyes to suppress the nausea he felt. Maybe the murderer was depressed or paranoid after seeing the opera lovers. Or maybe the murderer loved art and even enjoyed life. The deaths were only a part of the process for the assailant.
This was the third local murder in three months. Before all these cases, the victims were not just being rudely killed as they were at the mercy of a terrible art of death. The murderer was dirty, evil, and was full of bad taste.
This was the reason why Lu Tian Chen came here. He wanted to find the perfect, cool, and elegant criminal who was still at large!
Lu Tian Chen always wore a three-piece suit like a member of nobility.
Dr. Tang looked blankly around the art of death. To look at it seriously, it was not a frightening death scene. It was just a different type of art in the world.
They exchanged information with each other in addition to determining the murderer of the opera lovers. Aside from the sharp knife and the heart, they could not find other useful clues of the madman.
“Maybe he was a vampire that disguised the lovers. The neck of the diseased has two teeth marks. They looked like those in a vampire movie.” Dr. Tang’s calm and pleasant voice had a hint of teasing. It was as if he was laughing at the childish behavior of the perpetrators between his words.
“The murderer for this and the first two incidents are not the same person.” Lu Tian Chen spoke in a muffled voice.
He still frowned while looking at the dead. It was as if he wanted to see through them as he looked too intently that he was not aware of the words that he was saying. Dr. Tang’s eyes flashed with a faint light.
Dr. Tang’s voice was calm and chilly, like a river from the rain forest. “Why do you think so? Doesn’t the attack methods and the perfectly smooth cutting technique look almost identical to the previous two cases?”
“Teeth marks. The teeth marks on the neck of the deceased from before are not the same. Though the fanatical copycat had tried but… It’s not the same.” Lu Tian Chen frowned.
They had not been able to crack the first two cases. There was now an avid vampire copycat. This was really terrible. This meant that they will be confused. Trying to find the original murderer will become increasingly difficult.
Now that they had the first fanatical imitator, who knew if there won’t be a second?
Lu Tian Chen continued to be immersed in his own world. He was not aware of Dr. Tang who was getting closer to him until he could smell a faint, sweet scent like red berries in the rain forest from the other man’s breath.
He tilted his head. From Dr. Tang’s distance, he could not step forward. And he clearly saw the other man’s eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings. They left a shadow on the man’s calm, elegant eyes that always revealed a hint of cold perfection.
“He will appear again.”
“What?” Lu Tian Chen was shocked to find that he was staring at the man as if in a trance.
“The fanatical imitator was symbolizing his opera debut. He borrowed the method to express his love and worship, as well as a little bit of a challenge to the first murderer. And soon, he will commit the second crime. The objective must be exactly the same as the second murder.” Dr. Tang described with his calm voice as Lu Tian Chen did not find anything in his too straightforward gaze.
The victims had a commonality in the first two cases. They were elite, artistic, elegant, and sophisticated men.
Lu Tian Chen suddenly stared at Dr. Tang who was the ultimate and perfect embodiment.
Note: The first part of Lu Tian Chen and Tang Feng’s movie is up. It’s a detective/crime movie. Do you think their roles (Police Lu and Doctor Tang) suit them?
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