All-rounder Artist

Chapter 349: Chapter 328 I Forgot to Eat Today_1

He’s already won!

Face the windstorm!

Here comes the soaring dragon!

For the first time in his career, Cao Dezhi was laughing with such confidence, feeling as if he had finally flaunted the masculinity and the authority of being the chief editor of the mystery department—

This was the true sense of “assured victory”.

Meanwhile.

The outside world was still unaware of what Chu Kuang’s new book looked like.

The result of the literary duel between Chu Kuang and Leng Guang was fueling debates across the mystery community.

Then, in an unexpected moment, all disputes vanished.

If you gathered the online crowd into one classroom, it might resemble the lively chatter during self-study period.

People eating, people talking about love.

Suddenly, the teacher arrived.

And then, the classroom fell silent.

The difference was that people were momentarily stunned by the promotion for “Murder on the Oriental Express”, not by the fear of the teacher.

They doubted if they had misread something.

[Carter: This is a work that rank amongst the top ten in the Blue Star mystery literary field.]

[Received a score of 92.4 from the Detective Association, becoming the seventh highest-ranked work in mystery history.]

[Chu Kuang’s new work, “Murder on the Oriental Express”, could be a flawless detective novel.]

These three lines were pretty much the promotion from Silver Blue Books.

But for the mystery community, it was no less than a depth bomb!

Boom!

The mystery community was exploding in all directions!

From mystery authors to mystery fans, everyone was swept up by the blast of the torpedo!

A work in the top ten of the mystery world?!

Almost a perfect detective novel?!

After the initial shock, the entire internet exploded!

“My goodness!”

“Isn’t this too exaggerated?”

“It feels like Chu Kuang has unleashed the Bomb this time?”

“At first, I thought, did Carter take a bribe, but the promotion later told me that what Carter said seems to be the truth. I’m feeling a little confused right now, is Chu Kuang’s new work so formidable?”

“The Detective Association scored it 92.4 points!? I’m dumbfounded!”

“This score can be ranked the seventh in the history of mystery writings. Today, all mystery enthusiasts witnessed history because it’s not every year that we see a work that can rank in the top ten of the mystery score chart.”

“The last time the Detective Association scored a novel over ninety was five years ago…”

“If I remember correctly, the score for ‘Apartment’ didn’t break eighty.”

“A literary duel? What a joke.”

“Leng Guang: This disrespectful youngster used a novel that scored over ninety by the Detective Association to attack me!”

“This is a one-sided massacre, isn’t it…”

“What the hell did Chu Kuang write to make both Teacher Carter and the Detective Association fall for it?”

“This is outrageous! The long-awaited literary duel, Chu Kuang hasn’t even officially made his move yet and it seems like Teacher Leng Guang has already lost his standing!”

“The one who goes first loses, the ancient people did not lie to me!”

“Did Chu Kuang launch a direct attack from the stratosphere?”

“…”

Although the wave caused by the explosion will eventually fall back to the water surface, the shocking ripples take a long time to dissipate, expanding like the concentric circles of a ripple, ultimately touching everyone in the mystery community. It was the collective anticipation raised by the mystery community—

The anticipation for Chu Kuang’s new work!

Everyone knew that the Detective Association was very fair. So far, there were hardly any cases where their scores were far from impartial.

More importantly, there was a mutual validation by Carter and the Detective Association!

If “Murder on the Oriental Express” were a work that could be written into the history of mystery novels, then Carter would be a figure that could ranked amongst the top ten in the history of mystery literature!

For the sake of his own reputation, he wouldn’t possibly give Chu Kuang such false publicity.

So, inevitably, Chu Kuang’s new mystery work might truly be a classic!

…

If the promotional event by Silver Blue Books was likened to exploding fish, then everyone in the mystery genre is a fish at this moment, including Leng Guang, the victim of the literary duel.

Yes, “victim” is the title everyone just gave to Leng Guang.

He went to Chu Kuang for a literary duel on mystery novels, but Chu Kuang’s works were recognized and promoted by top-tier figures in the industry even before they were published. Moreover, the initial evaluation was that they would “make history in mystery literature”. How would that make Leng Guang feel?

That he lost?

I haven’t even seen his book yet, you mean to tell me, I have already lost?

Chu Kuang is yet to officially make a move, and I’m already down for the count?

Leng Guang wanted to say:

I’m not convinced!

But after looking at the rating given by the Detective Association to “The Murder on the Orient Express” and the evaluation by Carter, Leng Guang sadly realized he truly had lost.

This was no longer about the lack of etiquette among young people.

The “literary duel” had basically become nothing but empty words.

Could an ant and an elephant have a duel?

The answer is no.

The rating from the Detective Association and Carter’s evaluation had already declared the outcome in advance. Chu Kuang appeared to be the elephant, making Leng Guang unexpectedly the ant, which made him feel rather stifled.

Of course, he felt stifled.

But at the same time, Leng Guang was genuinely curious.

The curiosity of a person of the mystery genre, at least this curiosity didn’t include any impurities.

He wanted to know, what kind of work was it?

Or rather, how did he lose exactly?

If he didn’t even know this, it would be too much of an injustice.

Fortunately, this wasn’t an imaginary battle between Leng Guang and Chu Kuang. Even though this literary duel seemed to have already been decided, it ultimately needed to be put into the actual writing.

Carrying everyone’s expectations, “The Murder on the Orient Express”, was… published!

Later on.

Some people referred to this day as the start of the “Chu Kuang Era” in the mystery circle.

On this day.

Leng Guang got up a bit late, and even after visiting three nearby bookstores in a row, he failed to buy the “The Murder on the Orient Express”.

Many bookstores were out of stock, indicating just how many reader’s expectations were fulfilled by this novel’s booming sales.

Upon returning home, Leng Guang found a package from Silver Blue Books had been delivered to him.

Inside was a copy of “The Murder on the Orient Express”.

Without guessing at Silver Blue Books’ intentions, Leng Guang immediately retreated to his study and opened “The Murder on the Orient Express”.

The preface was written by Carter:

“I don’t remember the first time I read a mystery novel, but I remember how thrilled and shocked I was. Years later, I became a well-known mystery writer, only to find that I was struggling to find mystery novels that moved me. I thought perhaps my heart was growing numb, but when I opened ‘The Murder on the Orient Express’, I knew it wasn’t that my heart had grown numb, but rather that it had been too long since any groundbreaking masterpiece had been introduced in the mystery genre, depriving our senses of new stimuli for too long. I don’t want to let everyone spend too much time on a preface, because excitement can’t wait. I hope you enjoy this ride on the Orient Express.”

It’s a short preface.

Full of praise.

Common in other novels, but since Carter wrote it gives it a different significance. Anyway, from what Leng Guang knew about Carter, this was the first time he saw Carter praising a colleague like this.

“Let’s begin.”

On a quiet afternoon, Leng Guang opened “The Murder on the Orient Express”.

Upon reading the last word, he carefully closed the book and placed it on the easily accessible shelf.

“When I was a kid, I wasn’t good at studying, didn’t like doing homework, and would make up excuses the next day, saying I forgot to finish it. The teacher would always scold me by asking, ‘How come you didn’t forget to eat?’ ”

“Now, I want to tell the teacher that I really forgot to eat that day.”

This was what Leng Guang said later in an interview.

The interview took place in this study, and in the background on the bookshelf was the eye-catching “The Murder on the Orient Express”.

Later on, the interview inexplicably went viral and sparked a famous and decent admission of defeat in the literary duels of Blue Star:

“I forgot to eat today.”

Those who lose the literary duel tend to say it in a roundabout way, expressing their admiration and respect for their opponent, while also preserving their dignity.

The online translation, “I lost.”

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ps: Why did I suddenly picture Leng Guang as Luo?