Chapter 185: Intellectual Battle On Par With
“I told you it was good, I’m not fooling you.”
Seeing her cousin’s glowing post-reading impressions of Malice, Sakuraya Rio was as happy as an eighty-plus jin child.
When she first started reading it, she recommended the book to her cousin, but her cousin had work and thus read slower than her…
“It’s really interesting. This book has a deep understanding of sakura campus bullying and class anxiety. Are you sure it’s really written by a Chinese person?”
Although Rio had made it very clear that the author of this book was a Chinese star, Awayuki Iroha still couldn’t believe it.
This wasn’t any stereotype, but a conclusion she drew based on her understanding of domestic entertainment. She had lived in China for a while, and it was her suggestion for Rio to study abroad there.
Other aspects of China could be said to be thriving, but the entertainment industry felt like it was on a constant downhill path.
At the end of the last century, domestic entertainment once gained fame in Asia and even internationally, but over the past twenty years, it gradually fizzled out.
Not only did the industry environment turn into a human relations society, but monopoly and clustering issues were also severe. Veterans outdid each other in awfulness, newcomers couldn’t rise, and it looked like a stagnant pool.
The new generation was even worse. To put it this way, many domestic entertainment stars might know fewer Chinese characters than she, a sakura person…
She had only been away a few years, and suddenly a star who could write this kind of novel popped up out of nowhere. Was that reasonable?
She wouldn’t dare say it there, but in sakura, this Malice had a certain realistic critical significance. The internet was a breeding ground for systemic malice.
Such a profound book—shouldn’t it be written by a sakura local author with rich social experience? How could it be a young Chinese star? Impossible, absolutely impossible.
“Did Rio see the entire creation process of his?”
“No, I didn’t.”
When Sakuraya Rio started reading the book, Malice was already complete. She had witnessed Yu Wei writing other things, but she didn’t understand that book much.
“You didn’t see it?”
Awayuki Iroha’s hand subconsciously landed on the desktop, starting to tap lightly in rhythm. Without seeing it with her own eyes, other possibilities still existed.
Just as she was about to give a couple more reminders, Sakuraya Rio’s slightly excited new message popped up on her LINE interface.
“Yay, Senior updated.”
Updated? Didn’t the story already conclude?
Awayuki Iroha hurriedly switched to the novel software still running in the background. The novel that wrote Malice had surprisingly updated.
She clicked it open and saw it was a new story, completely opposite to the jealousy and hatred in Malice.
Almost subconsciously, she devoured it hungrily.
The story begins in March. The protagonist Ishigami Tetsuya is a high school math teacher who detours daily to the vagrant gathering area under the New Bridge to observe vagrants and deliberately goes to the “Bententen” bento shop just to see the clerk Yasuko.
Yasuko was once a hostess and now lives with her daughter Misato. She is completely unaware of Ishigami’s secret crush and even harbors resistance due to his plain appearance and reclusive personality.
Yasuko’s ex-husband Tomohiro Shinji suddenly appears at the bento shop, threatening to harass Misato to force Yasuko to remarry and demanding money.
Tomohiro had previously caused Yasuko two divorces due to embezzlement and domestic violence; the mother and daughter moved multiple times but were still tracked and harassed by him.
That night, Tomohiro tails Yasuko home, forces his way into the apartment, verbally insults Misato by saying “she could be a hostess in three years,” completely enraging the mother and daughter.
To protect her daughter, Yasuko yanks the kotatsu cord in desperation and strangles Tomohiro to death together with Misato.
As the mother and daughter panic, neighbor Ishigami knocks to ask about the noise. Yasuko lies about “killing a cockroach” to brush it off, but Ishigami’s sharp observation reveals a flaw.
Ishigami calls proactively to offer help and arrives wearing a sports suit and gloves. Noting resistance wounds on the corpse’s wrist, he points out Yasuko couldn’t have done it alone and Misato must have been involved.
To sever the mother and daughter’s link to the murder, Ishigami moves the corpse to his own bathroom, instructs Misato to thoroughly clean the scene, and begins planning the core trick of forging an alibi.
The plot of the first two chapters of The Devotion of Suspect X ends abruptly amid the out-of-control murder and the male lead’s intervention.
Similar to Malice’s style, this book also reveals the killer at the beginning. It seems like the work of the same author…
Seeing this, Awayuki Iroha couldn’t sit still. One book was one thing, but he actually wrote another?
Malice’s story development guesses the murder motive; this kind of plot somewhat suspects deceiving readers with writing skill and doesn’t count as pure mystery.
But this The Devotion of Suspect X starts with a reclusive high-IQ protagonist; the follow-up is clearly planned as an intellectual battle between the protagonist and the police.
Compared to narrative tricks, this intellectual battle plot would undoubtedly be more thrilling. If the level is up to par, this book’s commercial value definitely won’t be bad.
Looks like she needed to find time for a trip abroad…
Just right to meet this big star novelist.
……
“Math teacher as crime consultant, kinda interesting.”
“Ishigami’s secret crush on Yasuko stems from salvation before suicide. He buys bento every day just to glimpse her. Didn’t expect Yu Wei to write this vibe; he must’ve simp-crushed plenty in real life.”
“Ishigami recalls a physics genius friend from university. A duel of geniuses is set; the follow-up will definitely be cat-and-mouse, since only another genius can crack a genius’s scheme!”
This reader has some insight. Yukawa hasn’t appeared yet, but he guessed it.
Yu Wei casually liked the reader called Ling Yuan QAQ, then thought about it and unliked it. Author likes are too obvious; can’t spoil.
The follow-up of The Devotion of Suspect X is true intellectual battle: Ishigami designs the crime method, Yukawa solves the case, full of game theory tension.
Another discussion point revolves around Ishigami’s secret crush. Actually, before deciding on this book, Yu Wei was a bit worried.
In recent years, contradictions have been too sharp. Any proactive move easily gets labeled simp, even childhood animations are like that—novels go without saying.
Ishigami in The Devotion of Suspect X could easily be categorized that way if nitpicked, which would undoubtedly severely weaken the book’s core.
Luckily, his readers are all rational; no one is thinking that way for now.
Normal people wouldn’t be that extreme; it’s just that under sharp contradictions, fewer and fewer people are worth the effort.
With this book officially starting updates, even Qi Luo An’s novel subscriptions rose a bit. After reading the work, plagiarist posts feel more immersive.
Many readers have formed the habit of going there to chat about suspense novels, so now Qi Luo An has new book reviews to plagiarize.
After staying up late to update, Yu Wei fell into a deep sleep until noon the next day, woken by Sister Liu’s call.
Sister Liu’s voice on the other end carried barely suppressed excitement: “The production team of a drama just called, saying they have intent to cooperate with you.”
“Production team?”
Yu Wei was a bit slow to react. He hadn’t gotten involved in TV dramas yet, so why seek him out.
To cast him in a costume idol drama? Or hire him as screenwriter?
Or perhaps they wanted the film and television adaptation rights to Malice?
Film and television adaptation was unlikely; a 100k+ word novel could at most become a movie—overdoing it as a dozens-of-episodes TV drama.
Hard to say. The Lychees of Chang’an novel was only 70k words, adapted into 35 episodes. Domestic entertainment adaptations are like that: add filler and water it out. No matter how long the original, they can stretch a TV drama.
If it was that kind of cooperation, better pass. Readers would curse.
“It’s the Three Lives, One Fate film crew’s call. They’ve decided to use Peach Blossom Promise as the theme song. What do you think?”
Oh, theme song. That was fine then.
Actually, film and television dramas had approached him for songs before, but with too many messy demands, Yu Wei had no interest. This time, there was a ready-made one.
Peach Blossom Promise was originally a TV drama song, with strong reincarnation theme and sense of destiny—perfectly fitting most current immortal romance dramas.
Plus his built-in influence, it was normal for the drama to pick this song. After all, it only had an AI version now, with lots of room for manipulation.
Sister Liu calling specifically meant this was a big production. Just the title was cheesy: Three Lives, One Fate—why not Three Dreams, One Fate?
The title had “One Fate,” and sure enough, Qi Yuan was in this drama. It was a pending costume idol drama from his idol days, but just male second lead.
With Qi Yuan’s popularity only as male second lead, it showed plenty of big names in this drama—big production in that sense.
But from another angle, even idol-era Qi Yuan was only male second lead; this drama probably wasn’t great—fast-forward to young fresh meat chaos…
Hearing the investment over 100 million, Yu Wei was even more sure: this was trash costume idol drama. All those failure lightning dramas had this setup.
How did this song keep getting eyed by flops everywhere? Did it have to become the typical case of a flop’s breakout song?
“Tell them this song is already in my competition prize pool. It’s not appropriate to take it out early. If a contestant gets this song then, they can talk directly with the parties involved.”
Yu Wei wouldn’t agree, but he didn’t close the door. As a reward, others could pick the song; could talk later.
This response was comprehensive: first, respecting his own competition. If it’s a reward, it must be one—can’t commercialize the work early.
If he added the song to the AI song library as reward, then commercialized it without letting others pick, sure he owned it, but it wouldn’t look good.
Second, not offending anyone. Though it was a flop drama, specifically picking his song was recognition; outright refusal would be improper.
Worst case, if a contestant picked this song and negotiated cooperation, Yu Wei could still get a cut without getting his hands dirty…
The Three Lives, One Fate production team wouldn’t be dissatisfied after hearing this, since the song was already in the competition reward pool—everyone knew.
Yu Wei’s move was reasonable emotionally and logically, even earning industry praise: fake competition or not, he still valued principles.
Sister Liu immediately handled the specifics. The Three Lives, One Fate film crew not only wasn’t upset but even thrilled.
What a coincidence—their crew’s Qi Yuan was competing. If he won the AI and picked this song, cooperation would be super convenient.
While contacting Qi Yuan, they also released the news: whoever wins the competition and picks Peach Blossom Promise will be their TV drama theme song singer.
To be safe, they prepared two ways. The song fit the drama perfectly; they were determined to get it.
For many singers, this was a golden opportunity: money, fame, even free promotion.
The news spread like a bounty quest. Peach Blossom Promise became a must-win song!
Just see who could first win the AI.
