A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

Chapter 129 War

May 26th, Sunday.

"The Astrological Murder Mystery" has been available for two days.

At 9:00 AM, the number of online users on the Deduction Gate forum was nearly double the usual number, and the title of the pinned post was highlighted in red by the moderator: "A Discussion Thread on The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (Spoilers Only)"

The main post was very brief: "The book is now available. Those who have read it, come and chat. Note: Do not spoil anything in the title or the first post. Violators will be banned."

The first reply appeared at 9:03, with the ID "King of Locked Rooms" grabbing the first comment: "I got the book yesterday and finished reading it at 2 a.m. today. I've been reading mystery novels for 15 years, and this is the first trick that made me think about it over and over again all night without being able to sleep."

It wasn't because it was complicated; quite the opposite, the trick was so simple it made me feel stupid. Five people piecing together six corpses—wouldn't you be furious? Furious enough to want to throw the book, but would you be convinced? Yes.

"King of Escape Rooms" is a well-known veteran on the forum. He reportedly has over 500 books in his collection, has read all kinds of books, and is very picky, rarely giving positive reviews.

The last time he said "I'm impressed" in a pinned post was three years ago with a Japanese translation. Everyone in the forum knows that for the "King of Locked Rooms" to say "I'm impressed" means that the tricks in this book are at least "once-in-a-decade" level.

On the second floor, "Nameless Detective" commented: "My first reaction after reading it wasn't 'amazing,' but 'how did he come up with that?'"

The third floor replied to the second floor: "You're right. But the scariest thing is that the reader is led by him from beginning to end, completely unaware that he has fallen into a trap. He makes you think you are solving a case, but in fact you are just following his lead."

On the fourth floor, "Logic Control" appeared. This ID was known in the forum for being demanding, and his standards for reviewing books were almost "nitpicking"—if there was even one logical flaw, he could write an 800-word article to argue why the book was not worth reading.

He only wrote two words: "Great."

Under those two words, more than a dozen replies instantly appeared. Some said, "Even logic enthusiasts are impressed, I'm placing an order right away," some said, "This is a historic moment," and others joked, "Did logic enthusiasts get their accounts hacked today?"

11:00 AM, Weibo.

The conflict started with a single comment.

The popular mystery blogger "Dark Night Detective" posted a Weibo post: "The Astrological Murder Mystery is the best original mystery of the year, bar none. The plot design is a textbook example of classic mystery. I bet ten packs of spicy strips that it's the best."

In the comments section of this Weibo post, a user with the ID "Starry Sea Voyage" replied: "You haven't read his 'Feed It Out,' have you? That science fiction collection is much better than the mystery; the scope is completely different."

"Dark Night Detective" immediately retorted: "Science fiction and mystery are not in the same category. This is a book review of a mystery novel. If you want to praise science fiction, go somewhere else."

"They're both written by Lin Shubai, so why can't they be compared? 'Feed Out' has a 9.1 rating on Douban, while 'Astrology' only has an 8.9. The data speaks for itself."

"Can Douban ratings represent everything? The audience for mystery novels is smaller than that for science fiction, so it's normal for them to have lower ratings."

"So you're admitting that science fiction is better?"

"I didn't say that. I said they're different types, so we can't compare them directly."

This debate was screenshotted and quickly spread between science fiction and mystery communities.

Fans from both sides engaged in a fierce battle in the comments section.

Science fiction enthusiasts say, "What's so difficult about detective novels? Isn't it just about designing a trick to fool people? Science fiction requires building a complete worldview, and the difficulty is on a completely different level."

The mystery-solving faction immediately retorted: "You think mystery is just a trick? You try writing a plot yourself!"

Science fiction writers say, "The insight into human nature in Lin Shubai's science fiction is so profound that detective novels simply can't contain it. Asking him to write detective fiction is like trying to put his talent into a small box."

The mystery writers say, "The precision of his logic is completely unnecessary for science fiction. Letting him write science fiction would be a waste of his mathematical talent."

Some say "reasoning requires more logical ability," some say "science fiction requires more imagination," and some say "stop fighting, his next book might be a fairy tale."

At 1 p.m., the conflict escalated.

A user with the ID "Hardcore Mystery Fan" posted a long Weibo post, directly targeting science fiction readers: "Can you science fiction readers please stop trying to get attention everywhere? Lin Shubai has achieved such great success writing mystery novels, and you all insist on saying his science fiction is better." Isn't this a typical case of "crashing into someone else's house"? If you visit someone's home and say their home is inferior, is that polite?

A science fiction enthusiast immediately retorted, with an ID called "Galaxy Wanderer": "What do you mean by 'crashing the place'? Lin Shubai is the same author; his works should be compared side-by-side. We say science fiction is better based on the quality of the work, not on genre preference. You mystery readers can't accept different opinions, so you accuse us of being impolite?"

A "hardcore mystery fan" replied: "Quality of the work? You're going to bring up the Douban rating again? The number of ratings for 'Astrology' on Douban is less than that for 'Feeding' because mystery readers don't like to rate, not because the quality is bad. Who knows if it's been manipulated?"

"Galaxy Wanderer" retorted: "Score manipulation? Do you have any evidence? If you don't have evidence, it's just spreading rumors. The greatest skill of you mystery readers is refusing to admit defeat."

This reply completely enraged the mystery fiction community.

"Dark Night Detective" posted a new Weibo post, with an even more aggressive tone than before: "Fine, since science fiction readers think we've lost," then let's compare the data.

The sales of "The Astrological Murder Mystery" have surpassed those of "Feed Me Out" in the same period after only two days on the market. Moreover, "The Astrological Murder Mystery" is a long-form mystery, which naturally has a smaller audience than short story collections. Under such circumstances, the fact that it can still outsell "Feed Me Out" shows what?

This shows that mystery readers are more willing to spend money on Lin's books, so what's the point of you science fiction readers just talking without buying them?

The comment section of this Weibo post exploded.

A science fiction reader named "Starry Sea Voyage" replied: "Does high sales equal good quality? Aren't there plenty of rubbish books with high sales? Besides, 'Feed Out' is a collection of short stories, and it's priced lower than 'Astrology,' why don't you mention that?"

The two exchanged messages back and forth, and each of their Weibo posts was retweeted hundreds of times.

The war ended when Lin Shubai posted a Weibo post that evening. He had registered his Weibo account a long time ago but had hardly ever used it. He rarely spoke, occasionally forwarding publisher promotions or posting a book cover. Readers were used to his silence, and some even joked that "Lin Shubai's Weibo is a zombie account."

The content was short, consisting of only one line: "Stop arguing, stop arguing, I already have ideas for the next book, and it's different from all my previous works."