After a simple business exchange, Qin Zhibo handed over the manuscript of "At the Mountains of Crazy" to the editor-in-chief Masao Iwata.
Masao Iwata took the manuscript with both hands. When he saw the title of the book on the manuscript, he frowned without concealing it.
In his impression, the works created by famous detectives should be detectives, but this "At the Mountains of Madness"...
Could it be a murder that happened in the mountains?
It should be based on the Blizzard Mountain model created by the famous mystery writer Ellery Quinn to create the story.
The subject matter is a bit cliché...
The detective case model of Blizzard Mountain Villa is no longer novel at the end of the twentieth century, and such cases even often occur in reality.
But if the content is good, it’s not impossible to shine...
Masao Iwata is worthy of being the editor-in-chief. He recognized so much information the first time he saw the title of the book.
Turning to the first page, Iwata Masao began to read the text...
...
While Iwata Masao was reading, Qin Zhibo drank tea comfortably while looking towards the main entrance of the publishing house.
Nothing happened for three days, and Qin Zhibo thought it was time for an "accidental encounter."
The person he meets by chance is, of course, the god of death elementary school student Conan.
But after waiting for a while, Qin Zhibo felt that Conan should have no reason to come to this publishing house again, so he gave up the idea of waiting and concentrated on observing the expression of Editor Iwata.
A lot of information can be read from the microexpressions on a person's face.
In the previous case, Qin Zhibo mastered the skill of [Psychology], which can now be used to interpret the current psychological state of Editor Iwata.
First, Qin Zhibo saw a slight frown with negative emotions on Editor Iwata's face.
This kind of negation existed from the beginning of the text, so Qin Zhibo guessed that it was his own that made Editor Iwata feel inappropriate from the beginning.
As the reading continued, Editor Iwata’s frown deepened.
The two slender eyebrows were as close as possible to the middle, indicating that his confusion was gradually deepening.
However, Editor-in-Chief Iwata still did not give up the idea of reading. Instead, he wanted to find out what kind of book it was.
Even when he felt his throat was a little itchy and wanted to drink a cup of tea to soothe his throat, Editor-in-Chief Iwata’s eyes never left the words on the manuscript.
It wasn't until a certain part of the reading that Editor Iwata's brows gradually relaxed, and his closed lips opened slightly, as if he suddenly realized something...
Finally, Editor-in-Chief Iwata finished reading the last page of the manuscript of "At the Mountains of Madness". Before putting the text back on the table, he said in a deep voice: "I have a question to ask..."
"Please speak." Qin Zhibo replied.
"What is a shoggoth?"
Editor-in-Chief Iwata’s question caught Qin Zhibo off guard, because Qin Zhibo thought he should ask some questions about creative techniques, but it turned out to be about the content of the story.
But Qin Zhibo didn't know what this "Shoggoth" was.
After all, in Mr. Mamiya’s research manuscript, it was his assistant Danvers who followed Professor Dale to find the missing persons of the expedition.
In other words, Professor Dale and Danvers should be the only ones in the world who know what Shoggoth is.
Professor Dale died decades ago, and Danvers was admitted to Arkham Asylum after the expedition, and he did not know whether he was dead or alive.
Therefore, Qin Zhibo did not write about the adventure of Professor Dale and Danvers in the Black Mountains of Antarctica, but only announced the final results as stated in the research manuscript.
"Shoggoth..." Qin Zhibo looked troubled and hesitated: "This is it..."
Before Qin Zhibo could think of how to answer, Editor Iwata was excited and suddenly said: "I understand! You want to leave a foreshadowing for the writing of the 'Secret Chapter', right?"
Qin Zhibo, who has writing skills, knows that this is a creative mode that is often seen in detectives.
That is to say, the part where the detective's case happened is set as the "problem part", and the part where the case is solved is set as the "revealing part".
Although it is an ordinary first and second chapter in form, it has a more ritualistic feel when placed in a detective story, which can easily arouse readers' curiosity and actively raise various conjectures, and finally verify the answers in their minds.
It's just that Editor-in-Chief Iwata completely misunderstood Qin Zhibo's intention. The reason why Professor Dell and "Shoggoth" were not mentioned in the article was simply because Qin Zhibo didn't know.
Qin Zhibo, possessed by Brother Dao: I can’t come!
At this moment, Editor-in-Chief Iwata enthusiastically filled a cup of tea with Qin Zhibo and said excitedly: "I really didn't expect that your creation would be so bold..."
"Oh, of course, the 'bold' I mean is avant-garde and novel, which is a compliment."
"When I first saw you writing in the first person, I thought it was a detective. You must know that it is very taboo to write about detectives from the perspective of detectives..."
When I first read the book, Editor Iwata, who already had a subjective judgment of the book's genre through its title, thought Professor Dell was the protagonist of this detective book.
It is perfect for a professor, a profession known for its wisdom, to appear as a detective character in a detective story.
But if the professor's psychological activities are described in the first person, there will be no sense of suspense at all.
Therefore, Editor-in-Chief Iwata initially felt that this was a cross-industry work by a layman.
Even Editor-in-Chief Iwata was already thinking about how to politely reject this celebrity introduced by an acquaintance.
But as the reading progressed, Editor Iwata discovered that "At the Mountains of Madness" is not that simple.
Starting from a foreign background that is not common in Japan, it uses a more rational and documentary writing technique to tell the story of an expedition team entering Antarctica for adventure.
The first half of the story is relatively trivial, as if it were taken from a boring real expedition log, all of which are detailed records with almost no artistic processing techniques.
The only fascinating thing is that the adventure location is set in Antarctica. Even today with the rapid development of science, Antarctica is still a mysterious area for most ordinary people.
But when the narrative unfolds from the perspective of another professor named Lake, the style of the story suddenly changes.
Black mountains as high as the Himalayas, a large number of paleontological fossils hundreds of millions of years ago, mysterious five-pointed star biological samples...
The acquisition of these mysterious things brings life to the story, as if a door to a new world is opening for readers.
Coupled with Qin Zhibo's wonderful writing, Editor-in-Chief Iwata can feel the joy of the expedition team's fruitful harvest through the words.
But then the story took a turn for the worse. After a blizzard that lost contact, all members of the expedition sub-unit were killed, and the incredible and inhumane scene at the expedition camp was revealed.
As the protagonist, Professor Dell's responsibility is actually to decipher what happened on this snowstorm night.
This is the standard detective "question chapter".
In the end, Professor Dell only brought back the crazy assistant and asked the readers the question "What is the Shoggoth?", also to set up suspense for the "revelation chapter".
"Great! Great!"
Editor-in-Chief Iwata became more and more excited as he talked. He stood up and clapped his hands and said, "This is a brand new understanding of the Blizzard Villa model!"
