Chapter 109: Serialization and Conspiracy

After lunch, Akiwara Yuto refused Satake Maki's proposal to leave the bowl and chopsticks directly, but took the initiative to wash them before handing them to the other party.

Then he said "Goodbye" to Satake Maki and left Anjiu Bookstore.

After a journey of more than 40 minutes, Akiwara Yuto came to the internet cafe he went to before again.

He sat in front of the computer in the cubicle, opened the post *Death of a Detective Novelist* he had published before.

While waiting for the webpage to load, he lowered his head and pondered...

The weekly sales of *Suspect X* last week were about 4,000 copies. The number didn't look big, but in fact, it was 500 copies more than the 3,500 copies estimated by Anjiu Jin Gangyi.

So, is online traffic driving effective?

But it's hard to say, maybe it's just that President Anjiu estimated it wrong.

At this time, the slow webpage also loaded. Akiwara Yuto dragged the mouse and started browsing from top to bottom.

Eh, seems a bit unexpected.

From top to bottom, there were already hundreds of replies, most of which were urging "OP update," and others were replies of "dissatisfaction," and only a very small part were guessing who the murderer was.

Akiwara Yuto wasn't surprised. He only updated the first part of the original work, and it's normal to be urged by so many people.

After all, no matter which world it is, whetting people's appetite will cause dissatisfaction from others.

But if he doesn't do this, he might not be able to drive traffic for *Suspect X*.

Akiwara Yuto said sorry in his heart, and planned to continue to persist in his plan—to update step by step to ensure the heat of the post.

After Akiwara Yuto made this decision, he looked at the post guessing who the murderer was again, and found that the replies inside were messy, but no one thought that this detective novelist was a real suicide.

Akiwara Yuto scanned it and continued to tap the keyboard, entering the content of the second part of the story of *Detective Novelist*.

After the detective confirmed that the last person the deceased saw before his death was the caregiver, he immediately called her and simply understood the background of the female caregiver.

He found that the female caregiver's ethnic group was the Ainu people from the Kuril Islands. This ethnic group has always been discriminated against by the mainstream society of Japan, and their enrollment rate and employment rate are also far below the social average.

But after a conversation, the detective found that this female caregiver's personality was very gentle and had a good private relationship with the deceased, and she was even told about various family conflicts by the deceased.

Besides that, the female caregiver also had a very well-known weakness: once she lied, she would vomit uncontrollably.

Thinking about it, the detective began to question.

At this time, a series of pictures appeared in the female caregiver's mind.

On the night of the incident, she and the detective novelist were playing shogi, when suddenly, the detective novelist overturned the chessboard, making everything on the desktop fall to the ground, including the two small medicine bottles originally prepared by the female caregiver.

The female caregiver picked up the medicine bottle and injected it for the detective novelist

If nothing unexpected happens, the novelist will be poisoned to death within 10 minutes.

The female caregiver immediately opened the first-aid kit to look for emergency medication to provide relief, but she could not find it anywhere, and she burst into tears in her anxiety.

But just as she was about to call for an ambulance, the novelist snatched the phone line and cut it, saying, "Stop worrying about me. If I die, I don't want you to go to jail. We must think of a plan right now to help you clear your name."

In just a few minutes, he proposed a plan.

That was to have the female caregiver leave through the main entrance first, then return to the third-floor bedroom where they currently were via the outdoor ladder, change into her own clothes, go downstairs without exposing her face, and ensure others noticed her. After doing all this, she would change back into the female caregiver's clothes and leave.

In this way, the female caregiver would have a solid alibi.

Upon hearing this suggestion, the female caregiver was still wavering, but when the detective novelist saw her hesitation, he took a 30-centimeter-long Japanese short sword from the drawer, slit his own throat, and sprayed blood all over the floor.

Seeing everything that had happened, the female caregiver covered her mouth tightly to keep herself from screaming out.

In order not to let the novelist's plan go to waste, and also not wanting to go to prison, the female caregiver had no choice but to start acting immediately.

After inputting this part, Akiwara Yuto checked it carefully twice.

After confirming there were no problems, he shut down the computer, left the internet cafe, and started on the road back home.

Chiyoda Ward, Mantanshe Society Headquarters, Editorial Department Office.

Kihara Daigo sat on the sofa, picked up his teacup and took a sip, then asked Takei Kohei, who was sitting diagonally across from him, "Takei, regarding the previous proposal, what is your opinion?"

Takei Kohei continued to wear a "politician-style" smile and replied, "Department Chief, regarding the position of editor-in-chief, I still hope you can recommend me."

Before this, he had gone to great lengths to obtain the position of editor-in-chief.

To ensure his competitors had no grounds to attack him, he tried every method to poach Akiwara Yuto: first using Kikuchi Tai to change the results of the literary award, then finding a way to transfer Asano Aiko away, thereby causing a rift between Akiwara Yuto and "New Novel."

After that, he took the initiative to visit him personally, raising the corresponding conditions in an attempt to get Akiwara Yuto to come to "Tokyo Literature."

But unexpectedly, Akiwara Yuto, disregarding the interests of his own "ZOO" series of volumes that had not yet been released, directly cooperated with another small publisher without a word.

At the same time, rumors quite unfavorable to Mantanshe Society even began to spread.

If things continued like this, his desire to become the editor-in-chief of "Tokyo Literature" would undoubtedly be harder than ever.

The only way was to hold onto the department head's thigh even tighter, just like Matsushima Kazuhiro did!

Kihara Daigo put down his teacup, tapped the tabletop lightly with his knuckles, and replied, "Takei, don't push your luck. You should know that I spent quite a lot of effort to suppress those rumors last time."

Takei lowered his head and responded with a "Yes," but in his heart, he was very disdainful.

If those rumors hadn't been suppressed, wouldn't they have eventually been traced back to you anyway...

Kihara Daigo was silent for a while, then continued, "Your situation is different from Matsushima Kazuhiro's. At that time, Kikuchi Tai had already left, and 'New Novel' needed someone who could take over immediately, and his qualifications were suitable. But in your case, you aren't the only deputy editor-in-chief; promoting you rashly won't convince the others."

He paused, then said, "However, I can give you a chance."

Kihara Daigo had thought it through; if he wanted Takei Kohei to continue putting in effort, then giving him some benefits was only right. Moreover, if the other party moved up, it would also have some benefits for himself.

"A chance?" Takei Kohei was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, "Please tell me about it."

"Although I cannot directly promote you to editor-in-chief, I can suggest to the vice president that, due to the current unsuitable circumstances, the decision for the editor-in-chief of 'Tokyo Literature' should be postponed. You should understand the rest yourself, right?"

Takei Kohei pondered for a while and immediately understood Kihara Daigo's proposal, which was to retreat in order to advance.

The aftermath caused by the Mantanshe Society literary award incident had not yet dissipated, so even if he became the editor-in-chief, there might be considerable criticism.

Rather than that, it would be better to maintain the status quo and wait a year or a year and a half; presumably, everyone would have forgotten about this matter by then.

By that time, if he fought for it again, the difficulty of moving up would undoubtedly be much lower.

Thinking of this, he stood up and bowed deeply, "I understand your meaning, thank you very much!"

Kihara Daigo waved his hand, "Alright, let's not talk about this for now. Regarding my previous question, tell me about your plan."

Takei Kohei straightened his body, nodded, and bent down to take a stack of paper from his briefcase, laying it flat on the dark gray coffee table in front of the sofa.

"Regarding the influence caused by Akiwara Yuto, I believe we should do this..."