Chapter 232: Stalking and Killing Intent

Bidding farewell to Hehe Xintai, Akiwara Yuto returned to his high-end apartment and huddled in his study to think about the next work he should write.

He took out paper, pondered for a while, and wrote down the names Shimada Soji and Ayatsuji Yukito.

Shimada Soji, known as the creator of "New Honkaku Mystery," is even called the "God of Japanese Mystery" by some fanatical fans.

His representative work is undoubtedly "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders."

In this book, the murderer killed five people to piece together six corpses, and then used the rumors of Azoth to deceive the world, thereby making people think they were six corpses.

Because the trick method was very different from all the honkaku works at the time, it shocked many people who read it.

But this work is not without its shortcomings, namely that the explanation for human nature or the motive for murder is too "far-fetched." However, compared with the trick of the work itself, it can only be said that the flaws do not obscure the virtues.

Besides Shimada Soji, there is Ayatsuji Yukito, who is called the "Master of New Honkaku."

His "House" series of works is well-known, and the book "The Clockwork Mansion" is highly praised by many book reviewers, calling it a masterpiece that should be listed in the highest tier in any mystery evaluation system.

This book adopts the story development of a storm-bound villa: a deceased architect, a mysterious mansion, uneasy outsiders, and the unknown past of the mansion owner.

Accompanied by the frantic ringing of clocks, people in the mansion die one by one, but people outside the mansion are completely unaware.

And in the development of the story, the speculation about the murderer, the past of the mansion owner's parents, the ghosts in the mansion, and the mysterious poems make people full of curiosity.

Why not just choose one from "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" and "The Clockwork Mansion."

Akiwara Yuto thought for half a day, and suddenly realized another problem.

Both of these representative works are long-form. If he uses this kind of long-form again, will he repeat the mistakes of "The Invisible Guest," making some book reviewers and readers lose patience with him?

He touched his chin and found it highly possible. If it is a newspaper serialization, it is better not to use long-form.

But if so, what excellent honkaku short story series can be suitable for publication?

He stood up, stared at Tokyo Bay outside the floor-to-ceiling window, thought for a full 5 minutes, and then remembered a writer's name—Edogawa Rampo.

Edogawa Rampo, known as the "Father of Detective Mystery," is listed together with Seicho Matsumoto and Seishi Yokomizo as the "Three Peaks of Japanese Mystery Literature."

He created the Japanese "Honkaku" detective genre, allowing Japanese local detective stories to officially take a different path from European and American detective stories, and was the national writer of Japan at that time.

His works contain a large number of short mystery stories.

However, from the perspective of the creation era, would it be slightly too early?

But some of his methods don't seem to be outdated either.

After all, in the past life, it was because after he became famous, a large number of writers borrowed and imitated his methods, which led to his tricks being complained about as outdated.

But in this world, no one can imitate his works.

The currently popular honkaku school is still relatively close to the locked-room crime-solving style of European and American detective stories.

Akiwara Yuto frowned and thought for a while, deciding to use two-handed preparation.

First, serialize some short story collections of Edogawa Rampo in the newspaper to see the market and book reviewer reaction, and then directly publish the stand-alone books of "The Clockwork Mansion" or "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders."

Having made the decision, he sat at the desk again, took a pen, and wrote a title on the paper—"D-Slope Murder Case."

Immediately after, he began to write furiously.

At the same time, the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tokyo.

Toyama Miho had just finished her afternoon class and was going home with her friends.

But just as she was leaving, a male teaching assistant stopped her and handed her an envelope, "Student Toyama, this is your mail."

After finishing this sentence, he left.

Toyama Miho said "Thank you" to the teaching assistant and opened the envelope on the spot.

But just as she opened the envelope and saw the content, she showed a joyful expression.

A short story she had submitted earlier was accepted by a monthly magazine of a medium-sized publisher.

In the letter, the other party said they would settle the manuscript fee for her at the end of this month.

Just as she was thinking, a crisp voice rang out abruptly on her right.

"Toyama-chan, not going home?"

Toyama Miho turned her head and found it was her newly met classmate and friend Nagaoka Eriko, so she smiled and said: "Let's go."

The two left the classroom with the flow of people and walked toward the train station.

While walking, they talked about a case that happened recently.

A woman was stabbed 3 times by her boyfriend who was angry and ashamed because she proposed to break up, and she died of serious injuries, but the latter produced a mental illness certificate issued by a hospital after being arrested by the police.

Nagaoka Eriko turned her body and asked Toyama Miho, "Regarding that matter, what do you think?"

Toyama Miho pondered for a while and answered: "It is estimated that it will be difficult to be sentenced to a heavy sentence."

Nagaoka Eriko sighed and said with dissatisfaction: "This is really a terrible law."

Because of the deep influence of European and American justice, the Japanese judicial circle has been increasing the protection of human rights for criminals. Not only that, it has even reached a point of intensifying.

For murderers who can be determined to be mentally ill, it is estimated that it is even more difficult to sentence them to heavy sentences.

This matter originally had nothing to do with the two, but it just happened to develop around the campus where they were, so it attracted the attention of the two.

After walking for 20 minutes, the two arrived at the train station. Nagaoka Eriko waved her hand and said "Be careful on the road," and said goodbye to Toyama Miho.

Toyama Miho also smiled and nodded goodbye, then swiped her card and walked into the gate in the opposite direction.

But what she didn't know was that a man wearing a duck-tongue cap and a mask had been following behind her.

Seeing Toyama Miho get on the train and leave, the man took out a notebook from his pocket, recorded the time and place, and then turned and left.

If Akiwara Yuto were there, he would find that this man was exactly Da Guan Zhenghe.

Da Guan Zhenghe left the train station, then took a bus and returned to his current residence—a "cardboard house" built with rags and wooden sticks in the depths of the park.

He lifted the cloth, walked in, and opened the cardboard box to look at the "murder weapon" inside.

After finding that nothing was missing, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He pulled the cloth open a little, borrowed the light of the street lamp, and began to sort out his plan in his notebook.

Whether this plan succeeds relates to whether he can retaliate against his enemy, namely "Akiwara Yuto."

After that press conference of Akiwara Yuto, many book reviewers and commentators also interpreted the works one after another and recognized the "killing intent" in his works.

He did not deny that out of hatred for his parents, he indeed had this idea.

But he only wrote it in the work and did not intend to implement it for real.

After all, once he killed someone, his life would be destroyed.

But the current situation is about the same—"Tokyo Youth" quickly distanced itself, his parents moved to the countryside out of fear, and no publisher dared to hire his manuscript.

It can be said that his literary career has died young.

Although he can still do odd jobs to maintain his life. But is such a person still "alive"?!

Under this psychology, Da Guan Zhenghe decided to let Akiwara Yuto taste his feelings, so he sent a death threat letter to him, with the purpose of making the other party live in fear of not knowing when it will end!

But what surprised him was that Akiwara Yuto seemed to have no reaction other than hiring two bodyguards.

Not only did he continue to attend public activities, but he also purchased a luxurious high-end apartment.

Da Guan Zhenghe looked at Akiwara Yuto focused by the flash, and his inner jealousy swelled, and his "killing intent" also became stronger.

He could not tolerate that the other party didn't feel afraid at all, and even lived so comfortably!

Driven by this mentality, he decided to plan a real action.

As a mystery writer, Da Guan Zhenghe has various murder tricks in his mind, but the implementation methods of these tricks, without exception, require the victim and the murderer to have a certain interpersonal relationship, so as to be able to approach the other party.

But he himself can only be counted as a "homeless person" living by odd jobs, and it is impossible to have any connection with the other party.

Unless he can start from the people around him and get the opportunity to approach the other party.

Driven by this idea, he began to investigate Akiwara Yuto by various means and found that he would come to the University of Tokyo every once in a while.

Borrowing this information, he found a person who had a connection with Akiwara Yuto, namely Toyama Miho.

This made the hatred in Da Guan Zhenghe's heart even heavier. After all, that time at the Modern Mystery Literature Award was when Akiwara Yuto awarded the prize to the other party, which led to a series of consequences later.

He had to think of a good way to retaliate.

But before that, he still had to think of a way to get a mental illness appraisal certificate! ===== CHAPTER 233 =====