Chapter 246: New Hope

"Sugihara, this is a batch of newly arrived works; please find some conspicuous positions for them on the exhibition stand."

Looking at the book packages pushed over by the store manager with a handcart, Sugihara Aisa revealed a surprised expression.

In her impression, the store manager rarely asked about this aspect of work.

Generally speaking, all books need to be selected by her, the person in charge of the literature area, before they can be chosen to be placed on the display stand or inserted into the bookshelf.

Seeing her puzzled eyes, the store manager laughed instead; he tore open the paper skin on the book package, pulled one out from it, and handed it to Sugihara Aisa.

What does this mean?

Sugihara Aisa took the book puzzledly and looked at it carefully, but as she looked, she revealed a sudden realization expression.

The name of this book is *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*, and on its cover, the author's name "Akiwara Yuto" is written.

Not only that, on the book's obi, it also says: "Recommended by the Mystery Writers Association: This is a great work that can change the future of mystery!"

Upon seeing this eye-catching sentence, Sugihara Aisa immediately realized that this book would definitely sell well!

Although the copy on the obi of some books often writes exaggerated words, those copies often cannot make readers believe them.

But this promotional copy of Akiwara Yuto has the official "endorsement" of the Mystery Writers Association!

This means that this book of his has received unanimous recognition from the mystery literature circle!

The store manager smiled and said: "After reading it, you shouldn't have any doubts, right?"

After Sugihara Aisa nodded, he turned and left to get busy with other work.

Sugihara Aisa knelt on one knee, began to tear open the kraft paper on the package one by one, picked up the books inside, and chose the best few positions on the display stand to place them down.

Not only that, she also inserted flags with the words "Bookstore Recommendation" written on them.

After finishing all this, almost 2 hours had passed; she wiped the sweat on her forehead and set her sights on the *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* that had already been placed.

What exactly did this book write that it could be crowned with the words "great work"? And even be recognized by the Mystery Writers Association?

And it could actually change the future of mystery? Even if it's a recommendation, this sentence is too exaggerated!

Carrying this doubt, her interest in this book became increasingly intense, and she couldn't wait to open the book and read it carefully.

However, because she had been scolded before for "slacking off" reading books and forgetting to greet customers, she suppressed her thoughts, only frequently looking at the vertical clock standing in the corner of the shop, feeling increasingly restless in her heart.

Why is there still such a long time until getting off work!?

……

While Sugihara Aisa was restless, the book reviewer Ruoshan Meipu was suspicious and uncertain because of this book.

As an industry insider, she had a deeper understanding of the sentence "A great work that can change the future of mystery!" and knew how heavy this sentence was!

This meant that the Mystery Writers Association had already reached a unanimous recognition for this work internally!

But how could this be possible? One must know that not long ago, He Tian Xin and others of the radical Honkaku school were still criticizing Akiwara Yuto in various ways! Along with his works, they were also picked on by a group of book reviewers who supported the Honkaku school!

Ruoshan Meipu thought for a long time and didn't think of a result, so she decided to read this book properly herself.

She brewed a cup of coffee, sat on the sofa, opened the first page of *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*, and started reading.

She originally had a skeptical and puzzled heart when reading this book, but as she read on, she discovered she had forgotten her initial thoughts and had completely entered the mystery game of finding the "murderer."

The eerie and unpredictable human body alchemy murder method, the body-dumping locations spread across the entire Japanese archipelago, the vast and complex interpersonal relationships, and the murder cases that were linked one after another made her feel a different sensation from other mysteries!

Under this stimulation, she just stared at the book like this and spent a full 3 and a half hours finishing the whole book, even forgetting to eat lunch.

And after finishing the whole book and understanding the dismemberment trick, she already didn't know how to evaluate this work!

In the history of mystery, no one had ever written such tricks!

In an instant, emotions like "shock," "stunned," and "admiration" surged in her heart.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but get excited, then took out paper and pen, and began to write furiously.

As a book reviewer, she had to write a book review related to this book as soon as possible!

If she waited until her peers had all published similar articles before she followed up, it would be too late!

When writing to the end, she pondered for a long time, then wrote a line: "This work represents the future!"

……

On the internet at this moment, the first batch of netizens who finished the book also published related posts one after another.

On the largest mystery literature forum in Japan, a netizen claiming to be a senior mystery fan posted claiming that this work of Akiwara Yuto was undoubtedly standing at the peak of New Honkaku mystery works!

Besides this, he also roughly talked about the trick design method in the plot, which was using five people's corpses to disguise as six people.

Many netizens who hadn't read the book and didn't understand the situation originally wanted to mock this poster, but were surprised by the trick design in the post and began to discuss its feasibility.

These intense discussions further attracted a large number of "onlookers," making them curious about this work that boldly claimed it "wanted to change the future of mystery."

In the constant discussion, another netizen wrote a review.

"Regarding whether it changes the future of mystery, many people expressed doubts, but my opinion is the same as the Mystery Writers Association, which is that this work represents a development direction for the future of mystery."

"Previous Honkaku tricks often only targeted locked rooms or fixed venues, and the methods also lost their novelty because more and more writers were creating them, making people increasingly lose interest."

"Looking at it from the last few years, although the Honkaku school is still the mainstream in winning awards, a trace of decline can already be vaguely seen. Compared to this, the social school is constantly innovating and gaining recognition from more and more people."

"If it continues according to this trend, the Honkaku school and the social school will change in the future, and there might even be a winter for the Honkaku school."

"But the unique method of Akiwara Yuto's work has brought a glimmer of new hope for the Honkaku school, or the New Honkaku!"

"That it will change the future of mystery is not underestimating this book at all!"

When Akiwara Yuto saw this post in front of the computer, he was very surprised, because some of the things talked about in it were things that only industry insiders could know clearly.

However, he didn't think much about it; after all, it's normal for a few industry insiders to browse forums, so he just flipped through a few more posts.

After reading, he discovered that without exception, they were all words of praise.

But unlike previous works, he now had the tiger skin of the Mystery Writers Association after all, so the opposing posts were pitifully few.

Even if there were people who opposed, they were often those netizens who hadn't read the book and couldn't explain why, and they would even be "besieged" by others.

At the bottom of one post, he also found an online poll—Do you think *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* is a great work?

The number of voters was more than 400, not many, but one must know that the book had only been released for one day.

And among these people, basically 75% chose the "Yes" option, which made Akiwara Yuto feel very gratified.

This proved that his decision to bring out this work was a correct one!

Just as he intended to continue reading, Sato Maki walked over and handed a document to him, "Akiwara, this is yesterday's first-day sales; take a look."

Akiwara Yuto put down the mouse, took the document, and looked at it carefully, discovering that the first-day sales had actually reached more than 30,000 copies!

This is not a small number; he remembered that when he self-published *The Devotion of Suspect X*, the first-day sales were only 1,200 copies! The gap between the two could be said to be heaven and earth.

However, he thought about it carefully and discovered that now cannot be compared to the beginning.

When self-publishing *The Devotion of Suspect X* at the beginning, he was just a newcomer and didn't have many channels or connections, so he could only rely on the trial reading events at Anjiu Bookstore to help bring some goods.

And now the release of this *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*, his fame was far beyond the beginning, and he also had the help of the Mystery Writers Association, the Ke Jiao Guan, and Fuji TV.

So the sales were naturally far superior to the beginning!

Looking at it this way, a reprint will only take less than a week!

I am truly curious, once this week ends, what level will the sales volume actually reach!?