Chapter 102: Refreshing and Thorough

After paying at the front desk, Shangshan Yuanzi left this Yamazaki Bookstore with the book in her hand.

On the way, she said goodbye to her partner and walked quickly back to her home.

She opened the door with her key, changed her shoes, and quickly walked to the living room. She sat on the sofa without even changing her clothes and took out the book from the packaging bag.

How should she put it? Although it's a bit exaggerated, her mood now is full of excitement.

As a member of the Faculty of Letters at Yokohama National University, her academic requirements include the interpretation of literary works.

But in fact, she has already read most of the literary works on the market now.

And these works are often written by that small group of people in the literary world, and she can't say she knows their styles and writing styles like the back of her hand, but she is quite familiar with them.

So she has always hoped to be able to see some different works.

Just then, Mantanshe's magazine *New Novel* serialized Akiwara Yuto's *ZOO* series, which made her discover that novels can be written like this!

The other party's work combines elements of human nature, thriller, and detective work, walking a path different from others!

In the nearly 2 months since Akiwara Yuto stopped serializing, she has been thinking about his new work, and even every time she went to the bookstore, she would specifically flip through the table of contents of the new issue of *New Novel* to check, but the result was very disappointing.

However, now finally...

Thinking of this, Shangshan Yuanzi showed a bright smile on her face. She tore open the protective film wrapping the book, then held up the book and looked at it carefully.

On the obi of the book wrapped in a black cover, a line of words was written: "Sometimes, as long as a person is alive, it is enough to save someone."

Alive? Save?

Shangshan Yuanzi lowered her head, pondered for two sentences, and her interest in her heart became more and more intense.

She put down the book, opened it to the first page, and started reading—she wanted to savor every sentence.

It started. The beginning of the work told about a math teacher preparing to commit suicide. Is he the protagonist? But why does he want to commit suicide?

A pair of mother and daughter named Hua Gang came to deliver gifts, and then this protagonist named Shi Shen gave up suicide and used them as spiritual sustenance?

Writing like this, wouldn't it be a bit too hasty?

The first conflict soon occurred. Because of a conflict, the Hua Gang mother and daughter killed the ex-husband, and Shi Shen took the initiative to help them. Immediately after, the police found the corpse and confirmed through the hotel records that the corpse was the ex-husband.

This plot immediately grabbed Shangshan Yuanzi's heart, making her put aside her original doubts and become nervous involuntarily.

Then, the police investigation determined the time the victim was killed, but when questioning the mother and daughter, they found they had an alibi.

What method did Shi Shen use? How did he do it?

Eh? Ishigami threatened Hanaoka Yasuko when he saw her dating another man. What the hell, how could he do such a thing? Isn't that the same as her ex-husband!

Teacher Akiwara, what kind of protagonist do you want to write?

With trust in teacher Akiwara, Shangshan Yuanzi still suppressed her impatience and continued reading. But as she read, she found that she was moved by the rhythm of the plot step by step.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon 5 hours passed, and Shangshan Yuanzi also flipped the book to the last page.

With Hanaoka Yasuko's confession, the scene froze on the scene where Ishigami knelt on the ground, wanting to vomit out his soul.

By this time, Shangshan Yuanzi finally came back to her senses and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

She had originally worried whether this new work would reach the level of *ZOO*, but looking at it now, the structure and human nature of the entire plot have reached a deeper level.

The maturity of the writing style, the cleverness of the plot, and the interpretation of human nature all express the extraordinariness of this work. To be honest, this book *The Devotion of Suspect X* is enough to occupy a place in today's detective novel world.

Even if it wins the Naoki Prize, it wouldn't be surprising, right?!

Shangshan Yuanzi secretly admired in her heart. She closed her eyes and pondered other aspects again.

But it's still a bit strange. Looking at the previous book, teacher Akiwara's writing style was still a bit immature, but looking at this book, it suddenly became much more mature.

Besides that, looking at the style, there are still subtle differences between the two works.

However, the theme of the book is still based on human nature, which is consistent throughout.

Shangshan Yuanzi thought for a while, and her mood felt more and more excited. Although the story ended in tragedy, she had to admit that the ups and downs of the story gave her a refreshing and thorough feeling!

Sure enough, it's a surprise!

No, I have to go online to post, promote this book well, and let more like-minded people see it!

7:00 PM, Mantanshe Headquarters, *New Novel* Editorial Department.

As the new editor-in-chief, Songdao Kazuhiro sat at his desk, dazed while looking at the book in his hand. On this book with a black cover, the line "The Devotion of Suspect X" was clearly written.

This afternoon, when people from the Statistics Division were conducting a bookstore survey, they accidentally discovered this book written by Akiwara Yuto. Immediately after, the other party contacted him and informed him of this situation.

Holding a suspicious attitude, Songdao Kazuhiro immediately arranged for someone to go to a nearby bookstore to buy this book.

Actually, regarding Akiwara Yuto always saying recently that he had no inspiration and couldn't write a book, Songdao Kazuhiro had guesses, suspecting whether the other party was going to the other three major publishers. What he didn't expect was that the other party actually found a small publisher.

Looking at the four characters "President Anjiu Bookstore" on the back of the book, Songdao Kazuhiro laughed disdainfully, feeling that Akiwara Yuto was really too young.

Just suffer a little grievance, wouldn't it be fine to endure it? And even if you want to change your affiliation, you should choose some large-scale platform. As for President Anjiu Bookstore, what is that?

Songdao Kazuhiro shook his head. He opened the book, intending to look carefully at what this book was written about...

In his view, this work might not necessarily be very excellent. After all, genius writers who have exhausted their talents are not uncommon in the RB literary world every year...

As for this teacher Akiwara, it wouldn't be surprising if he was one of them.

With contempt, Songdao Kazuhiro started reading.

From Ishigami's suicide to him being moved by the mother and daughter, from the ex-husband being killed to Ishigami taking the initiative to help, from the police investigation hitting a wall to Yukawa coming to verify, from Ishigami deciding to surrender to Hanaoka Yasuko also taking the initiative to confess...

Time passed bit by bit, the sky became darker, and even the traffic on the road outside the window became sparse.

When Songdao Kazuhiro put down the book, the clock in the office already pointed to 1:00 AM.

Songdao Kazuhiro put down the book, and his eyes narrowed involuntarily. He was surprised to find that in the process of reading, he was deeply moved by the plot, and the more he thought about it, the more interesting it became.

Since even a professional like him would feel this way, then those ordinary readers might also think so, right?

No, if that's the case, the sales of this book might exceed his expectations.

If that's the case, it might bring him quite a bit of trouble!

Songdao Kazuhiro stood up, and at the same time, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He couldn't help but clench his fists.

Damn it, Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei, blame you for the good things you've done! If it weren't for you manipulating the award selection, how could the other party not cooperate with *New Novel*?

No, Akiwara Yuto is still a contracted writer for *New Novel*, so all responsibility still lies with him.

Looking at it this way, the better this book sells, the greater the blame and pressure he will receive.

It seems he still has to go and talk to Akiwara Yuto properly! ===== CHAPTER 103 =====