The Friendship Boat Capsized Without Warning
The next day.
morning.
The Boston signing for Lord of the Mysteries IV: The Undead, organized by Random House, has officially begun.
Having built up popularity with the first three installments, Lord of the Mysteries has amassed a large following across the United States, with an even greater number of fans in a cultural hub like Boston.
When Adam arrived, he saw a long line waiting there, each person holding a new book. Upon seeing him, the line stirred.
Especially those girls who lined up early so they wouldn't miss out, their eyes were shining, and they were thinking, "This ticket was worth it."
"It's about to start."
"You're here so early."
"What do you mean early? There are way more people than us. Look at those girls in front of us, they're all crazy. I heard that people started lining up here last night."
While the people in the middle were talking, a red-haired girl in the front row stared intently at the long-haired girl with glasses standing in front of her.
The long-haired girl with glasses swayed strangely, occasionally catching a glimpse of the red-haired girl's angry gaze out of the corner of her eye, she would sway back expressionlessly, never meeting the red-haired girl's gaze.
It was last night.
The red-haired girl got really excited when she heard at the book club that Adam would be having a book signing in Boston the next morning; she was a die-hard fan of horror.
Stephen King's horror series and the Cthulhu Mythos are among her favorites.
Two years ago, I became a fan of Lord of the Mysteries and was immediately captivated by the story and characters, becoming a Lord of the Mysteries fan.
She should have known about Adam signing event immediately.
But she's been quite busy lately, and Adam was forced to hold the book signing by Ross, so there wasn't much time for pre-event promotion, so she really didn't know.
It's easy to imagine how shocked she was when she heard the news. She was both annoyed that as a die-hard fan she didn't know her idol was holding a signing event in her city, and surprised and delighted to find out about it.
Those who can get into Harvard University are unlikely to have low IQs.
Although she had never been to other autograph sessions, she could imagine that the earlier you were in line, the better, because you might even be able to chat with your idol for a bit.
Later on, the idols got tired of signing autographs, and while they weren't exactly perfunctory, they definitely weren't in the mood to talk to fans much.
So, after the book club ended, she went back to her dorm to pack up and headed straight to the event, ready to stay up all night to queue up and make sure Adam was the first to sign her autograph.
But don't think you're the first to set off; there are always those who set off earlier.
When she arrived, there were already several people in line ahead of her, including a few guys dressed like nerds who were fully equipped and looked like pros.
Although she was a little unhappy that she had no hope of being number one, she was still in the top ten, so she cheered herself up and stood in line behind a long-haired girl with glasses.
After thinking it through, she discovered another advantage: those who came now were all die-hard fans of Lord of the Mysteries, and they had much more to talk about with her than those flashy types in the book club who got excited about the author's looks.
That's true. Those flashy girls may talk a good game, but do they really have the willpower to stay up all night queuing? They're probably out fooling around with men somewhere.
The night is too long, and chatting with like-minded people about the plot is definitely a good way to pass the time.
So she nudged the long-haired girl with glasses in front of her and took the initiative to greet her.
"Hi."
"Hi."
The long-haired girl with glasses in front of her turned around, her eyes showing surprise and her face stiffening. She clearly hadn't expected the red-haired girl to greet her.
"Hello, my name is Emily."
"Hello, my name is Amy."
"Huh?"
The red-haired girl Emily, brightened up and smiled, "We're quite destined to meet, our names are so similar."
"Hehe."
Amy, the long-haired girl with glasses, chuckled.
Emily's smile froze.
But I was startled by Amy's smile. It was so strange and unnatural. A normal person's smile was nothing like that.
Is this Amy not an ordinary person?
It's nighttime now, the time when dark and terrifying creatures are active.
Red-haired Emily was immediately engrossed in a series of terrifying stories, her body trembling slightly, not from fear, but from excitement.
Being a hardcore horror enthusiast is no joke.
"So, Amy, which character from Lord of the Mysteries do you like the most?"
Red-haired Emily stared intently at Amy, seemingly trying to uncover more evidence that the other was a supernatural being.
"Klein?"
Amy's eyes showed a hint of panic.
"Um?"
Red-haired Emily got even more excited. Her tone was hesitant, which was not the attitude of a true fan. If she wasn't a true fan, why did she stay up all night to queue up?
There's a problem!
The possibility that the other party is a supernatural being has increased by another 10%.
Subsequently, the red-haired Emily actively chatted with Amy, trying to understand her, only to discover that the other party was indeed not a die-hard fan of the Lord of the Mysteries.
Amy has only just started watching Lord of the Mysteries.
This disappointed Emily, who realized that Amy was probably not a supernatural being, but just someone who wasn't good at communicating with people.
The reason people lined up was probably because they were attracted to the author's good looks.
However, after learning that Amy was also a Harvard University alumna and a member of the book club next door, the two gradually started chatting.
Then, to their surprise, they discovered that they both loved the United Kingdom poet Chaucer and were both madly in love with sewing quilts.
The two discussed Chaucer's ideas of advocating gender equality and praising free and faithful love.
Of course, Chaucer also exposes the deceit, greed, and Ying Dang nature of church monks and high society, offering a profound critique of the story's explicit content...
For example, the Miller's Tale.
According to Amy, it was the most Liu Bei she had ever read. If she hadn't skipped two grades, gone to university at 16, and left her mother, she would never have seen such a book.
Emily had obviously seen it too, and she chuckled.
In particular, Amy seriously reminded her that kissing the other eye was very unhygienic from a hygiene point of view. In this respect, the Miller's Tale is really dirty.
Emily almost burst out laughing.
With the help of sewing skills, the night passed quickly.
Everything was going well until the red-haired Emily discovered Amy's true purpose for coming...
"Hi, Amy, it's great to see you here. Thank you for helping me stand in line."
"You are welcome."
"Here, here, Amy is helping us stand in line."
A large group of book club members swarmed over and cut in front of Amy.
At first, Emily tolerated it, but it was clear that they wouldn't stop. One would cut in line, and another would come along, quickly pushing her from the top ten to below the twentieth place. Moreover, this trend was still expanding, so she couldn't hold back any longer and lost her temper.
"We are Amy's friends, we were together, it doesn't count as cutting in line."
Those people shut them down with a single sentence.
"Amy?"
Red-haired Emily looked at Amy.
Amy immediately looked away, not daring to look at Emily.
"I'm sorry, they are my friends."
"See that?"
Those people looked at Emily smugly, which almost made Emily furious.
As time went by, new friends cut in line, forcibly pushing Emily to the middle. Emily's initial slight liking for Amy, based on shared interests, completely vanished.
PS: Thank you to "My Wife is Kaguya" for the donation! I've been a bit busy these past few days, so updates have been less frequent. I apologize, but I'll try my best to resume four updates a day as soon as possible, and there will be more tonight.