Two days after being arrested, the police found evidence that Chairman Fang had taken potassium cyanide from the chemistry lab, as well as records of the purchase order that had been deleted from his account.
With ironclad evidence, Fang Tao confessed.
The system's settlement followed.
[Task Name: The Strange Campus Murder Case (Completed)]
[Task Rewards: +20 Courage Points +10 Special Contribution Points (For finding crucial evidence before the police)]
[Note 1: Courage points can be used to draw normal cards, 5 points per draw; Contribution points can be used to draw special cards, 10 points per draw]
[Note 2: Reputation restored, limited pool reopened]
[System: The limited pool has reopened, it is currently the card drawing period. Begin drawing cards?]
"Yes."
[Drawing limited cards]
[Draw completed]
[Name: Status Card - The Five Senses]
[Description: Strengthen any one of sight, hearing, taste, smell or touch beyond human limits, obtaining superhuman five senses]
[Note: Choose one of five, basic strengthen +50%, 3 minutes duration per use, 24hr cooldown; Courage points can extend strengthen time, 1 point = 1 minute, can increase intensity, +50% costs 10 points; Special contribution points can unlock additional senses, 10 points = 1 sense]
The new limited card was as useful as ever, but Jian Jing calculated and began to feel distressed.
The free usage time was only 3 minutes, opening an additional sense cost 10 contribution points, and simultaneously opening multiple senses required additional courage points.
Increasing the intensity by another 50% cost another 10 points.
Spending, spending, the card drawing system finally revealed its true colours, starting to require real money.
Fortunately there was still the free usage.
Jian Jing tried strengthening her sense of taste once, to drink the chicken soup Kang Mu Cheng had sent over.
Ah, the fresh flavours of chicken, ham, bamboo shoots and mushrooms danced on her tongue like popping candy, every taste discernible.
Delicious.
She drank down a whole large bowl in one go, sweating at her brow.
Meanwhile, Kang Mu Cheng sat opposite her, looking over the final manuscript making revisions.
"Done," the devilish editor finally announced the end of her work, "You don't need to worry about anything else now. I'll arrange for you to go to print no later than a week from now."
Jian Jing was shocked, "That fast?"
Handing over the manuscript and immediately printing, wasn't that efficiency a bit too high?
"If I waited until you handed over the manuscript to arrange things, the vegetables would have gone cold," Kang Mu Cheng said disdainfully, "The cover and illustrations were done long ago, I confirmed the paper too, I reserved your serial number when you wrote the first part, this week is for getting through review."
The physical publishing industry was well-developed, so related work was naturally efficient and simple too. Jin Wu was an old establishment, familiar with the entire process.
Kang Mu Cheng said, "I'm planning to catch the new year, as Jin Wu's flagship recommendation for the year."
The so-called new year flagship recommendation was like 11.11, a holiday celebration created by businesses. Here it was an event cooked up by publishing houses—every new year on January 1st, each publishing house would grandly launch a batch of new books, that was the new year flagship recommendation.
Generally speaking, as the flagship works of publishing houses for the new year, the quality of the new year flagship recommendation was very good. Readers also had spare cash during holidays, so purchase rates were always high.
At the same time, this was also when publishing houses did battle.
Discounts, top up bonuses, free gifts were basic operations, but the most important was naturally the book signing events.
Unlike Jian Jing's previous signing, when publishing houses battled, it was a Writer A from Publishing House A facing off against Writer B from Publishing House B, seeing whose signing event had more people attend.
The more intense ones, I stand here on this side of the street, you stand opposite, directly observing how many people were lining up for each other, tallying the numbers in real time—it was exceptionally exciting, needless to say.
Therefore, to save face, the writers at the new year signing events had to have a certain amount of drawing power, like stars carrying box office sales. Readers would line up in long queues for you, propping up your sales volume just for your name.
Jian Jing had never been on a new year flagship recommendation before. One reason was bad timing, her books were never finished writing before new year. Another reason was Kang Mu Cheng didn't dare put that kind of pressure on her.
What if she lost, then blamed herself for it?
The little girl had thin skin, unlike other writers who had long since forged iron hearts, willing to tear into others and even go spy on the enemy camp.
But this year was different.
Kang Mu Cheng asked her, "Do you have any objections?"
Jian Jing, unaware of the circumstances, naturally shook her head.
He couldn't help revealing a slight smile, "That's right."
"Then you can relax now, leave everything else to me," Kang Mu Cheng said, "I got word that it will likely be a fierce battle this year, we need to prepare well."
It was no empty boast.
Before December was even half over, the publishing houses began displaying their magic, one after another.
Xia Xing was imprisoned, Morning Star lost a top general, and immediately promoted a new author. Calling her "new", she was actually a familiar face. She wrote her autobiography online, about her overseas love story with a European nobleman, attracting many readers. Morning Star signed her and immediately arranged for her autobiography to be published.
"Cinderella in Real Life, Common Girl and European Nobleman's Epic Fairytale Romance"
"Loving You Disregarding All Outward Appearances, Days of Eloping with the Prince"
"Rose Blooming in the Castle, My History-Defying Love Across Social Classes"
Interest arose at once.
Everyone was very curious what kind of life nobles led, what nobles' conduct and bearing were like, what brands they used, what places they went.
It had to be said, Morning Star was especially adept at these things, seizing the initiative and immediately grabbing people's attention.
Next exerting effort was Glacier Publishing House. They were known for publishing manga, game art collections, photo albums, photography collections, art books, and had many famous comic artists under them, as well as investments in many games.
This time, they bought the copyrights to a childhood comic series, redesigned and reprinted it, under the theme of "return to childhood, never forget your original intention", putting it back on sale.
"Books You Couldn't Afford as a Kid, Finally Can Collect Now"
"Making Up For Childhood Regrets, XX New Side Stories Added, Want to Know Their Ending?"
"Twenty Years in the Blink of an Eye, Only the Original Intention Remains Unchanged, I've Come, How Are You?"
Who didn't watch cartoons on TV as a kid? Who didn't secretly read comics under their desk? This hand of sentimentality was played extremely well, many nostalgic people said they wanted to buy a set to bring home, not for themselves to read, but for the children in their family it would also be good.
This could be considered passing it down between two generations.
And Jin Wu?
They were promoting the posthumous work of a famous Republican-era author, a manuscript lost for fifty years before being recovered. This manuscript had been lost overseas for many years before Kang CEO painstakingly sought it out and bought it from someone else, then found the descendants and signed an exclusive publishing agreement, keeping it secret until now before making a move.
And this author had many debts of love, it was said the posthumous work contained letters he wrote to various lovers, one of whom was the love of his life.
"Winding Paths and Chance Meetings, Fate Brings Us Together, Unveiling the Mysterious Veil of the Most Beloved"
"Sealed Old Work, Unspoken Affections, Farewell Words for a Lover"
"Love Without Words, Awakened With Regret, Soulmate Sought For a Lifetime"
It had to be known, this author's several lovers were all outstanding in their own right, one was the precious daughter of a prestigious family, one was a celebrity beauty of great talent, and another was an ascetic legendary figure.
Each had their own supporters, and everyone felt the historical figure they stanned was the real love.
Now, with this hype, a fight broke out.
For over half a month, the publishing houses took turns making moves, one after another thunderclaps, naturally slandering each other was essential too, fighting spiritedly.
Onlookers meanwhile took advantage of the situation, watching the excitement, how delightful.
It was at this time that promotions began for "Demon Doctor II". Unlike the pure black poster of the first film, the second used black and white, black representing a doctor in a white coat, holding a stethoscope in one hand and a heart in the other, symbolizing the man-eating yet life-saving demon doctor, while the white was a mysterious black silhouette, one hand held like a blade, the other hidden, appearing cryptic and unpredictable.
With just this poster, everyone knew there was a new character.
Naturally it couldn't compare with the others' hype. But Kang Mu Cheng's timing was good, end of December, Director Huang's side had just wrapped filming of "Demon Doctor".
The book and the TV show cross promoted each other, drawing in the fans of the actors. Golden Crow also rolled out promotions - buy the Demon Doctor Book Set 1 & 2 and get a signed poster; buy just Book 2 and get peripherals like pillows and mugs.
This stirred up quite a buzz around Demon Doctor, and Jian Jing had a particularly busy year, popping up in the news every other day to gain publicity.
But Jian Jing felt this shouldn't be the extent of Kang Mu Cheng's plans. Demon Doctor 1 was badly reviewed, driving "her" to suicide directly - how could he not avenge this blood debt?
And so Christmas and New Year's came and went.
*
The first day of 2021 welcomed clear skies after snowfall.
Jian Jing put on a woolen skirt, fur-lined boots, and a beret. Exhausted, she headed to the event venue.
The new year signing event was held in a hotel, as it was the only venue large enough. Conveniently, two 5-star hotels stood kitty-corner from each other in the city center, perfect for a signing showdown.
Banners, posters and balloons already plastered the hotel entrances, and building-sized posters hung on the facades, proclaiming the publishing house's name and the signing authors and titles.
Any passersby would be unable to miss this promotional minefield.
Jian Jing, the exotic foreigner, was rather shocked by the extravagance.
It was still early, but the interiors were already transformed - many rooms served as warehouses, and the signing area itself was decorated lavishly like a wedding venue, with floral arrangements everywhere.
The ballroom was partitioned and each author had their own spot, with customized chairs.
Jian Jing's seat was a black chair shaped like a demon's horns. Her desk was covered in Demon Doctor peripherals. Next to it sat gift bags for signed book buyers.
"This won't lose you money?" she asked Kang Mu Cheng.
"It won't," he replied.
Jian Jing had her doubts. She looked left and right - everyone was busy working. She found her seat and sat down. "Go attend to things. I'll be fine here alone."
Kang Mu Cheng was indeed swamped. Today's signing wasn't just an individual author affair, but a major event for the publishing house. Seeing Jian Jing was settled, he turned to leave.
But just as he reached the doorway, he suddenly turned back and strode up to her again.
Jian Jing: "?"
Kang Mu Cheng raised his hand and firmly pressed down on her head. "Don't worry. I've got this covered."
Jian Jing: "......"
He asked, "Understand?"
She nodded.
Satisfied, he finally left.
Jian Jing sighed, took out a makeup mirror and fixed her beret and pins that he'd messed up - no wonder he was single, they were all like this, how exasperating.
Around nine, readers gradually trickled in.
Golden Crow had invited a total of five authors, all big names in their circles writing in different genres - history, romance, fantasy, realism and mystery.
Among them, history, romance and fantasy had the biggest readership, while realism and mystery skewed more niche.
But the line at Jian Jing's table was far from short.
Demon Doctor 1 already had a loyal reader base as the first installment. Combined with fans of the actors in the TV adaptation wanting to know the story, they readily forked out money to buy the book. So while the hordes weren't massive, there was a constant steady stream of customers at all times.
Jian Jing focused on signing and taking photos, kept busy until lunch break finally allowed her to catch her breath.
At lunch, gossip was inevitable among the gathered authors.
History author: "So many people at Morning Star's side, the lines stretch way out."
Realism author: "Half are paid plants."
Romance author: "I heard she even dragged her own husband here."
Fantasy author: "That European nobleman?"
Romance author: "Bought and paid for."
History author: "So those girls in matching outfits are his fans?"
Fantasy author: "Professor, that's a girl group, the singing and dancing kind. My wife watches them on TV."
Realism author: "The reality show, right? Mine does too."
Romance author: "That's them. Morning Star spent a bloody fortune."
Fantasy author: "After Xia Xing's scandal, they don't have new stars to hold up sales. That nobleman's looks are nothing special either."
Romance author: "Have you seen him?"
Fantasy author: "There are pics in the group chat."
Jian Jing didn't join the conversation, but she was already checking her phone.
Sure enough, Golden Crow's insider had already infiltrated the other hotel and snapped pictures of the so-called European nobleman. Objectively speaking, he looked ordinary - just a white man.
"Not handsome," Jian Jing remarked.
"Pores too large, ages him," the romance author sniped. "Clearly here to make easy money. What European nobleman, just scamming girls."
The fantasy author said, "You have to admit, Morning Star draws more female readers, and women spend more on books."
Everyone fell silent.
He wasn't wrong - women significantly outspent men on books. And among consumers of history, fantasy and realism, young female readers were a minority.
Although there were plenty of male readers today too, if those men had girlfriends, there was no question whether they'd pick Morning Star or Golden Crow.
The single ones? They were next door at Ice Mirror...for the limited edition games and comics.
Jian Jing nibbled her chopsticks and wondered - to attract male readers this year, Morning Star specifically invited a girl group. Was Golden Crow really not going to do anything to draw female readers? That wasn't Kang Mu Cheng's style at all.