Chapter 1

Regret. That was the only thought currently occupying Guo Yuan's mind—pure, unadulterated regret!

He shouldn't have gone out for mushroom hot pot right before his book signing.

Guo Yuan, male, heterosexual, born in 1998, 24 years old, and a mystery novelist by trade.

This afternoon was the signing event for his mystery novel, White Night Walk.

In truth, this novel wasn't an original creation of his own, but rather something pulled from a different set of memories in his mind.

These memories had surfaced after Guo Yuan was struck on the head by a falling object from a high-rise, leaving him unconscious for two days.

The protagonist of those memories was also named Guo Yuan, and he looked exactly like him, though he was a decade older. Guo Yuan suspected this was a version of himself from a parallel world.

In that world, the other Guo Yuan worked as a programmer, moonlighting as the operator of a mediocre social media account.

The account focused primarily on explaining various suspense and mystery novels.

Consequently, the most vivid impressions left in those memories were a mess of code, the general plots of countless mystery novels, and various narrative tricks.

It just so happened that Guo Yuan was studying abroad in Japan at the time. On a whim, he decided to test the waters by attempting to replicate a mystery novel from his memories, The Locked Room Collector.

To his surprise, the book became an instant hit and even won the highest honor for new mystery writers in Japan: the Edogawa Ranpo Award.

Just like that, Guo Yuan found himself thrust into the spotlight as the hottest new mystery novelist of his generation.

Even more absurdly, after he won the award, his identity as a Chinese national was exposed.

A Chinese person winning the Edogawa Ranpo Award was huge news. Guo Yuan became an overnight sensation back home, turning into a minor internet celebrity.

With no heart left for his studies, he coasted until he got his diploma and chose to return to China.

Guo Yuan had assumed he was returning home in triumph, but the moment he arrived, his dad chased him for three blocks with a broom.

Guo Yuan's high school grades hadn't been ideal; he scored 450 on the Gaokao. That year, the cutoff for a second-tier university in their province was 432. He could only get into an average school, which clearly didn't meet the expectations of his dad, Guo Hai.

As a Chief Physician at a top-tier hospital, Guo Yuan's dad had hoped his son would follow in his footsteps. But how could a 450-point student do that? Graduating from an average medical school meant that even with a master's degree, he would only be able to enter their hospital as a trainee.

So, his dad had come up with a plan: send Guo Yuan abroad to study and get some prestige.

His dad's first choice was Germany, where an old classmate could look after him.

But Guo Yuan had zero interest in studying medicine or following in his father's footsteps.

He had never wanted to be a doctor, nor had he ever wanted to study abroad.

When Guo Hai learned of his son's stance, the two had a massive argument. In the end, his mom stepped in to mediate, allowing Guo Yuan to choose a country he was actually willing to go to.

Guo Yuan didn't know much about other countries, save for some Japanese teachers and anime he was familiar with, so he chose Japan.

And so, Guo Yuan was sent abroad.

His dad's plan had been for him to complete his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate in Japan, then return to work at his hospital and intern under his wing.

Instead, Guo Yuan just scraped by with a bachelor's degree and came home, which infuriated Guo Hai.

The two had another explosive fight, and Guo Yuan walked out without looking back.

The mystery novel he wrote had brought him some income, primarily the 10 million Japanese Yen prize money from the Edogawa Ranpo Award, which came out to 6 million after taxes.

As for book sales, they hadn't been great before the award, but after the win, the prestige of the Edogawa Ranpo Award helped move about 100,000 copies.

The royalties for a new author were low, and his total earnings—advance plus royalties—came to just under 5 million Japanese Yen.

All told, that was a little over 500,000 Chinese Yuan.

Guo Yuan simply took that money, put a down payment on a place just over 100 square meters in the city, and parted ways with his old man.

This time, Guo Yuan decided he wouldn't go back until he had made something of himself.

As for what constituted "making something of himself," it meant having money first, followed by a certain level of social status.

To pay off his mortgage, keep himself from starving, and achieve his goals, Guo Yuan hurried to transcribe another book: White Night Walk.

In early April 2022, the book was released in Japan and was equally well-received. It even sparked another wave of popularity for him back in China, where his unearthed social media accounts saw his Bilibili following surpass 100,000, and his Douyin following climb to over 300,000.

Guo Yuan certainly wasn't going to waste his status as an influencer. To promote his new book and build momentum, he held two signing events last month in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

This was his third signing event in the country, and the location was Spring City.

To ensure the event went smoothly, Guo Yuan flew into Spring City two days early to meet with the organizers.

It was August, and while Bingzhou was in the middle of a sweltering summer—the kind that could kill you—Spring City was a comfortable 20-plus degrees.

As soon as Guo Yuan stepped off the plane, he was greeted by a refreshing breeze. The pleasant temperature made him sigh, "As expected of Spring City, it really is like spring all year round!"

The organizers for this event were locals from Spring City and were incredibly hospitable. After finishing the business at hand, they specifically invited Guo Yuan to try the local specialty: mushroom hot pot.

Guo Yuan had, of course, heard that the mushrooms in Spring City were legendary.

However, he had also heard a certain nursery rhyme:

Red umbrella, white stem, eat it and you'll lie on the board. Lie on the board, buried in the mountain, friends and family all come to eat.

So, at first, Guo Yuan was a bit timid. But the locals among the organizers told him, "Don't worry, Teacher Guo! Those who get poisoned by mushrooms are just too impatient and don't cook them long enough. As long as they're cooked through, there's absolutely no problem."

Holding a skeptical attitude, Guo Yuan joined the four organizers and headed to a long-standing mushroom hot pot restaurant.

The shop was packed, and judging by the accents, most of the patrons were locals. Guo Yuan's guard finally dropped completely; if the locals were eating with such gusto, it had to be safe, right?

There were no issues while he was eating. The mushrooms were incredibly savory—Guo Yuan had never tasted anything so delicious in his life.

The aftereffects didn't kick in until he returned to his hotel.

Guo Yuan had arrived back at the hotel at 8:00 PM, started suffering from diarrhea at 9:00 PM, and it was now 11:00 PM.

Half an hour ago, Guo Yuan couldn't take it anymore and called the hospital.

He still remembered the dispatcher's mutterings: "That's the 69th case of mushroom poisoning tonight. It's 22 fewer than yesterday; I wonder if we'll hit triple digits today."

Now, Guo Yuan finally understood the meaning behind those two online jokes: in the eyes of the locals, poisonous mushrooms are just undercooked ones; and every local knows that when eating wild fungi, you must be familiar with three things: the species, the cooking process, and the route to the hospital.

Guo Yuan sat on the toilet, his face pale and his legs trembling, his hands gripping a wad of toilet paper for dear life.

Pfft! With a thunderous sound, another torrent gushed out.

However, this torrent didn't bring much relief to Guo Yuan, who had been sitting on the toilet for two hours.

The pain in his gut hadn't subsided in the slightest. If this continued, Guo Yuan felt he might just lose contact with the world while stuck in the hotel bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Guo Yuan shakily walked out of the bathroom.

"Why isn't the ambulance here yet? Are they stuck in traffic?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a knock sounded at the door. Clutching his stomach, he shuffled over and opened it. Seeing the figures in white coats filled him with a sense of security, but a wave of dizziness followed, and then Guo Yuan knew nothing more.

The next day, Guo Yuan opened his eyes, and the first thing that greeted him was the unfamiliar ceiling of a hospital room.

"Oh? You're awake!"

The nurse's sweet voice pulled him from his daze. A day's plan starts in the morning; it was time to get up.

"Who's talking?" Guo Yuan asked instinctively.

"I am!" After saying this, the nurse reached out and touched Guo Yuan's forehead.

The nurse's cool hand made Guo Yuan instantly much more alert.

Seeing his blank expression, the nurse felt something was wrong. Frightened, she hurriedly flipped through his medical records, desperate to confirm that the mushrooms he'd eaten yesterday didn't contain any neurotoxic components.

Hearing the voice in his head, Guo Yuan was even more bewildered. What was wrong with him? Why did he keep having auditory hallucinations?

Could a single mushroom have given him schizophrenia?

"Sir, what number is this?" The nurse asked, holding up one finger.

It's 1.

The voice in Guo Yuan's head provided the answer.

Guo Yuan's mouth twitched as he said, "That's 1."

"What is the world's highest peak?"

It's Mount Everest.

"It's Mount Everest."

"It seems there's no problem. Sir, you're just a bit dehydrated from the diarrhea. Once this bottle of glucose finishes, go find Director Zhao in the emergency duty room, and you can be discharged." With that, the nurse turned and left.

My new book is out! The main plot of this one focuses on black technology, and I hope everyone likes it.