Guo Yuan

Regret. Guo Yuan had only one thought in his mind right now: regret!

He never should have eaten mushroom hotpot before the signing event.

Guo Yuan was male, liked women, was born in 1998, was twenty-four this year, and worked as a mystery novelist.

And this afternoon was the signing event for his mystery novel, "White Night Walk."

This novel had not actually been Guo Yuan's original work. It had come from another set of memories in his mind.

Those memories had appeared after Guo Yuan was struck on the head by something thrown from a high building and fell unconscious for two days.

The protagonist of those memories was also named Guo Yuan and looked exactly like him, though he was more than ten years older. Guo Yuan guessed that he was himself from some parallel world.

In that world, Guo Yuan's main job had been coding, while he also ran a modestly popular self-media account on the side.

The account mainly explained all kinds of suspense and mystery novels.

Therefore, the deepest impressions left by those memories were a huge pile of messy code, broad outlines of mystery novel plots, and all kinds of tricks and methods.

As it happened, Guo Yuan had been studying abroad in the Island Nation at the time. With a give-it-a-try attitude, he directly used the memories in his head to recreate a mystery novel, "The Locked Room Collector," as a test.

But to Guo Yuan's surprise, the novel became an instant hit and even won the Edogawa Ranpo Award, the highest honor for rookie mystery novelists in the Island Nation.

Just like that, Guo Yuan somehow became one of the hottest new-generation mystery novelists.

Even more absurdly, after winning the award, Guo Yuan's identity as a Chinese national was exposed as well.

A Chinese national had won the Edogawa Ranpo Award. That was huge news. Guo Yuan suddenly became famous back home and turned into a minor internet celebrity.

At that point, Guo Yuan had no interest in continuing his studies. He muddled through long enough to get his university diploma, then chose to return home.

Guo Yuan had originally thought he would be returning in glory, but the moment he got home, his father chased him down three streets with a broom.

Guo Yuan's high school grades had not been ideal. He only scored 450 on the Gaokao, while the second-tier cutoff in their province that year was 432. He could only get into an ordinary second-tier university, which clearly fell short of his father Guo Hai's expectations.

As a Chief Physician at a top-tier hospital, Guo Yuan's father had hoped that Guo Yuan would follow in his footsteps. But how could he do that with a score of 450? Even if he earned a postgraduate degree after graduating from an ordinary second-tier medical school, he could only come to their hospital as a resident trainee.

So Guo Yuan's father began considering sending him abroad to study and polish his credentials.

Guo Yuan's father's first choice was Germany, because he had an old classmate there who could look after him.

But Guo Yuan had no interest whatsoever in studying medicine, becoming a doctor, or following in his father's footsteps.

He had never wanted to become a doctor, much less study abroad.

After Guo Hai learned what Guo Yuan wanted, father and son had a huge argument. In the end, Guo Yuan's mother mediated between them and let Guo Yuan choose a country he was willing to study in.

Guo Yuan did not know much about other countries. He only knew a little about some teachers and anime from the Island Nation, so he chose the Island Nation.

And then Guo Yuan was sent abroad.

According to Guo Yuan's father's plan, Guo Yuan was supposed to complete his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in the Island Nation, then return after graduation to intern at his hospital under his guidance.

Instead, Guo Yuan got a diploma after finishing his undergraduate degree and came straight back, which angered Guo Hai badly.

Father and son had another huge fight, and Guo Yuan left without looking back.

The mystery novel Guo Yuan wrote brought him some income. The main source was the Edogawa Ranpo Award's ten million Japanese Yen prize, of which he received six million after taxes.

As for the book itself, it had not sold much before winning the award. Afterward, boosted by the Edogawa Ranpo Award, it sold one hundred thousand copies.

Rookie authors received only a small share, and his royalties plus revenue share totaled less than five million Japanese Yen.

Altogether, that income was roughly a little over five hundred thousand Chinese Yuan.

Guo Yuan simply used the money to make the down payment on an apartment slightly larger than one hundred square meters in the city, cutting ties with his old man.

This time, Guo Yuan decided he would not go back until he had made something of himself.

As for what counted as making something of himself, first he needed money, and then he needed a certain level of social status.

To pay off his mortgage, keep himself from starving, and achieve his goal, Guo Yuan hurriedly copied another book, "White Night Walk."

In early April 2022, the book was published in the Island Nation and was just as popular. It even made him famous in China again. Several of his unearthed social media accounts gained traction: Bilibili successfully surpassed one hundred thousand followers, while Douyin had more than three hundred thousand.

Naturally, Guo Yuan would not let his internet celebrity status go to waste. To promote his new book and build momentum for himself, he held two signing events each in Shanghai and Shenzhen last month.

And this was his third signing event in China, held in Spring City.

To make the signing event a success, Guo Yuan flew to Spring City two days early to meet with the organizers.

It was August, and Bingzhou was in the height of summer, the kind that could roast someone alive, while Spring City was only a little over twenty degrees Celsius.

The moment Guo Yuan got off the plane, the breeze blowing toward him enveloped him. Feeling that pleasant temperature, he could not help but sigh. "As expected of Spring City. It really is like spring all year round!"

The organizers of this signing event were locals from Spring City and were incredibly hospitable. After discussing business, they specifically invited Guo Yuan to try Spring City's signature mushroom hotpot.

Spring City's mushrooms were legendary, and Guo Yuan had naturally heard of them.

But he had also heard a nursery rhyme:

Red umbrellas, white stalks, eat them and lie on planks together.

Lie on planks, get buried in the hills, friends and family all come to eat together.

So Guo Yuan had been a little intimidated at first, but one of the local organizers told him, "Teacher Guo, don't worry! Those people who get poisoned by mushrooms were just too impatient and didn't cook them thoroughly. As long as they're fully cooked, there'll definitely be no problem."

Half believing and half doubting, Guo Yuan went with four organizers to an old-established mushroom hotpot restaurant.

The restaurant was packed, and judging from their accents, most of the customers were locals. That completely lowered Guo Yuan's guard. If locals were eating so happily, there should not be a problem, right?

There really was no problem while they were eating. The mushrooms tasted unbelievably fresh and delicious. Guo Yuan had never eaten mushrooms that good before.

After he returned to the hotel, though, the aftereffects hit.

Guo Yuan returned to the hotel at eight, started having diarrhea at nine, and it was already eleven.

Half an hour ago, Guo Yuan could no longer endure it and called the hospital.

He still remembered the dispatcher muttering, "This is already the sixty-ninth mushroom poisoning case tonight. That's twenty-two fewer than yesterday. I wonder if we can break one hundred today."

Now Guo Yuan finally understood the meaning of those two online jokes: In Yunnan people's eyes, poisonous mushrooms were simply mushrooms that had not been cooked through; everyone in Yunnan knew wild mushrooms required three kinds of familiarity—you had to know the variety, know how to cook them, and know the road to the hospital.

At that moment, Guo Yuan sat on the toilet with a pale face and trembling legs, clutching a wad of toilet paper tightly in both hands.

"Pffft—" With a loud burst, another torrent surged out.

But that torrent did not make Guo Yuan, who had been sitting on the toilet for two hours, feel much better.

The pain in his stomach had not faded in the slightest. If this continued, Guo Yuan felt he was going to diarrhea himself into oblivion in the hotel bathroom.

More than ten minutes later, Guo Yuan shakily walked out of the bathroom.

"Why hasn't the ambulance arrived yet? Don't tell me it's stuck in traffic!"

The moment Guo Yuan finished speaking, someone knocked on the door. He covered his stomach and shuffled over to open it. When he saw several people in white coats, he was overwhelmed with a sense of security. Then dizziness struck, and Guo Yuan knew nothing more.

The next day, Guo Yuan opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar hospital ceiling.

"Oh? You're awake!"

The nurse's sweet voice woke him from his daze. The day's plan began in the morning—it was time to get up.

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

"I'm talking!" As she spoke, the nurse reached out and touched Guo Yuan's forehead.

The nurse's cold little hand instantly woke Guo Yuan up considerably.

Seeing his blank expression, the nurse felt something was wrong. Frightened, she quickly flipped through his medical record to make sure the mushrooms he had eaten yesterday did not contain anything that could damage the nervous system.

Hearing the voice in his head made Guo Yuan even more confused. What was wrong with him? Why was he constantly hearing things?

Could one mushroom really have given him schizophrenia?

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

This is one.

The voice in Guo Yuan's head gave him the answer.

The corner of Guo Yuan's mouth twitched. "That's one."

"What's the highest peak in the world?"

It's Mount Everest.

"It's Mount Everest."

"Looks like there's no problem. Sir, you're just a little weakened from the diarrhea. Once this bottle of glucose is finished, go to the emergency duty room and see Director Zhao, then you can leave." With that, the nurse turned and left.

The new book is out! This book's entrepreneurial main plot leans toward black technology. I hope everyone likes it.