Chapter 2755 2767 [The missing author] Ask for a monthly ticket (づど)
When they arrived at the editorial office, the three of them got out of the car and found their editor, whose new name was Rentaro.
The editor sighed helplessly when he saw Shinname Kaori. But after all, she was his cash cow's daughter, and she was pretty, so he adjusted his attitude and went to meet her.
"Mr. Xinming's manuscript?" The editor glanced at the calendar and said with a smile, "You guys came by chance. Today is Saturday. Every Saturday morning, Mr. Xinming will fax the manuscript over - how about you go for a walk around the area first and come over in the evening?"
Jiang Xia nodded: "Let's talk about the early morning things in the early morning. Do you have the fax he sent me before?"
"Yes, I'll look for it." The editor began to rummage through the boxes and drawers. At the same time, he turned his head and glanced at Shinname Kaori.
Thinking of the young woman's insistence that her father was missing, he gently advised: "Although the manuscripts sent were all typed, the font on them is exactly the same as Mr. Xinming used to use. And every time, Mr. Xinming would write his own signature next to the title."
“Ah, here it is.”
He quickly took out several manuscripts that were fixed with pins and handed them to Jiang Xia.
Jiang Xia took the manuscript and looked at it. The novel being serialized was called "1/2 Peak", and there was indeed a handwritten "Rentaro" next to the title.
He handed the manuscript to Shinname Kaori: "Is this your father's handwriting?"
Shinna Kaori nodded.
The editor consoled her, "Miss Xinming, don't worry too much. Your father must be obsessed with writing and doesn't want to be disturbed by the outside world, so he refuses to contact anyone else. I've seen many authors like this. After he finishes writing this novel, he will definitely come back on his own."
Conan: "But Mr. Niname disappeared with his wife. Even if Mr. Niname wants to go into seclusion, his wife won't disappear with him."
The editor scratched his head: "This is indeed a bit strange..."
Jiang Xia: "I heard that Mr. Xinming has always been a recluse. Apart from his family, he should have the most contact with you. In your opinion, has he behaved in any unusual way recently?"
"This..." The editor racked his brains to think about it, and he actually remembered one thing:
“If I have to say, it should be the time to restart the serialization of the Detective Samonji series. As you know, in the last story 10 years ago, Detective Samonji and the real murderer died together in a sea of fire.
“But our editorial department didn’t want the story to end here, so from a very early stage, we wanted to ask Mr. Niina to revive Detective Samonji.
"But Mr. Niina is a very principled writer who regards money as dirt. No matter how many times we ask him, his answer is always the same: 'Samonji is already dead, and even I can't bring him back to life.'"
The editor sighed and said, "Since people have said so, we can't force him to continue writing. So we gave up this plan and focused on cultivating other excellent manuscripts.
“But who would have thought that two months ago, Mr. Niina would call us and say that he wanted to continue the story of Detective Samonji and asked if we still had space in our magazine.
"Of course we have it! We'll have to make some even if we don't have it. We'll immediately make room for the best pages and start serializing the stories in the Detective Samonji series again - that's the '1/2 Peak' that you see now."
Conan touched his chin: Two months ago... that was exactly when the writer disappeared. Could it be that his disappearance was due to some outlaws forcing him to continue writing the Detective Sawamonji series?
"Oh, right!" The editor remembered something else. "Speaking of new serials, Mr. Niname wrote this at the very beginning of this novel -"
[To famous detectives across the country:
If you want to prove that you are smarter than I am, then try to solve the real mystery behind this incident.]
Shinna Kaori looked down at the words on the manuscript and felt a little embarrassed: This is simply a provocation to all the famous detectives in the country... What on earth is his father thinking?
She glanced at Jiang Xia secretly, worried that the detective would be angry. Fortunately, Jiang Xia's emotions did not seem to fluctuate. Instead, the corner of the pupil's eye twitched, and he seemed to be quite dissatisfied with the provocative words.
The editor paid no attention to the emotions of the two real and fake detectives, and was obsessed with telling this interesting story: "At first we didn't understand Mr. Xinming's intention, and just published this paragraph according to his request. Who would have thought that on the first day of the new issue, we received so many calls and letters that almost overwhelmed the editorial department - the last time readers were so enthusiastic was when a well-known author wrote a popular character to death."
The editor laughed when he thought of those anxious detectives, big and small.
Halfway through his joy, his smile froze as he suddenly remembered that there was a famous detective sitting opposite him.
"...Well, although from the editorial perspective, we are quite happy about this response, it is a bit unusual for Mr. Xinming to make such an offensive statement." The editor said seriously:
"In addition, when it comes to aggressiveness, some of Mr. Shinmei's fans are also very strong - half a year ago we received a call from someone who said that if Detective Samonji didn't resume serialization, he would set fire to the editorial office."
Jiang Xia nodded and suddenly pointed to a place in the manuscript: "Mr. Xinming himself is also in this novel?"
"Hmm? You read it pretty fast." The editor nodded, "Yes, Mr. Xinming appears in the book as an old friend of the protagonist, but unlike in reality, in that story, he is a novelist living in France who is not very popular.
"There are more than 40 stories in the Detective Samonji series, and this is the first time that Mr. Niname has made a cameo appearance. I guess at the end of this series, Mr. Niname will end with his cameo appearance, saying something like 'All the stories I told you before are what I heard from Samonji.'"
Jiang Xia: "It sounds a bit similar to the Sherlock Holmes stories."
Conan also noticed this, but he had no time to complain. At this time, the detective who was hit by the big move of the new name Rentaro was busy solving the puzzle in front of him. He leaned over to look at Jiang Xia's hand and asked, "Where is the clip of the author's guest appearance?"
Jiang Xia handed it to him and pointed.
"When Detective Sawamonji encountered a problem while solving a case, he called France to seek the reasoning and opinions of this novelist..." Conan was silent for a moment, "This is completely different from Holmes and Watson."
"Hmm?" He suddenly realized something and pointed at a paragraph. "They are both on the same page, why is it written '12 o'clock' here and '1 o'clock' here? Aren't Chinese characters and numbers usually the same?"
(End of this chapter)
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