The Signing Event (Part One)

It was noon.

Since it was the weekend, the commercial pedestrian district downtown was quickly packed with people out shopping during their time off, becoming lively and crowded.

For the local residents who had lived in Old Sigel City for years, congestion in such a bustling area was nothing new. The ones suffering were the visitors from smaller towns.

"How are there so many people?"

"You'd think Ascetic Day had started early."

A young man in a baseball cap couldn't stop grumbling as the sea of people squeezed him from all sides.

Ascetic Day was a global religious holiday commemorating the birth of the gods. After going to Eldridge Cathedral to pray at midnight or in the early morning, people would come out to celebrate and enjoy themselves. The month-long holiday got every city fired up, and this period was often the liveliest time of the year in this world.

But even during Ascetic Day, the young man had never been squeezed this badly. Everywhere he looked, he saw only heads and backs, and even finding his way was difficult. To put it exaggeratedly, he felt that even if he stood still, the crowd would push him forward.

Not everyone liked liveliness.

"If it weren't for that damn author's signing event, I wouldn't have bothered coming." The young man muttered under his breath.

He noticed that police officers were stationed every few meters along the street, but he didn't pay it much mind.

With so many people in the pedestrian district, it was only natural to assign more police to maintain order.

Following the signs and promotional posters, he struggled through the crowd, weaving back and forth until he finally reached the mall hosting the signing event. Only then did he realize that something seemed a little off...

There were a lot of police officers.

And they were carrying guns.

It looked as though robbers had taken hostages inside the mall.

Maintaining order was important, but wasn't this deployment of police a bit excessive?

Many passersby who had stopped nearby were discussing it as well.

"What happened here?"

"Some kind of case?"

"Probably not. If there were a case, would they let us gather this close to watch?"

"I heard a writer is holding a signing event here today... Look, there's the poster."

It was in an especially conspicuous location—the mall entrance.

A promotional spot that everyone passing by could see with a single glance wasn't something just anyone qualified to use. In the past, it had basically always featured celebrity endorsements for major brands. This was the first time such a personally oriented advertisement had appeared there.

The poster used the classic design of a book cover alongside the author himself. What book it was, who the author was, and what he looked like were all immediately clear.

"The Moon and the Knight? I feel like I've heard of it somewhere..."

"This book is really good," a girl said.

The person beside her asked, "You've read it? What's it about?"

"No, but he's so handsome! How could a story written by such a good-looking big brother be bad?"

Everyone: "?"

The girl ignored the disdainful looks from the others. Her eyes shone as she stared at Sean's poster. "From now on, I'm his fan. I wonder if he likes rice noodles..."

The others continued their serious discussion. "I still don't think it's necessary. It's just a signing event. No matter how famous he is, there's no need for this many police officers, right? This is about the same scale as the mayor's election speech two months ago."

"Besides, he's so young. I've been reading for ten years, and even I've never heard of him. Where did he get that kind of fame?"

"Maybe he has powerful connections?"

The young man caught two keywords—"young" and "handsome." A bad feeling immediately arose in his heart. He pushed harder through the crowd, finally catching sight of the poster at the mall entrance.

"Damn, isn't that Sean?!"

The young man was Charles.

His eyes widened. Sure enough, there isn't a single truthful word that comes out of that damn author's mouth. He even deceived a true fan like me. Who else could this be but the Sean from the Void Arts Space?

"This is bad, this is bad." Charles complained about Sean's dishonesty while hurriedly pulling out his phone. He opened Sean's profile in the group chat and sent him a private message. When Sean didn't respond, he mentioned Sean in the group.

"@Pure College Boy, don't come to the signing event!"

Charles knew very well that these police officers... no, all the police officers in West Larkel State, along with the Witch Hunters, were on the same side. He had once personally witnessed a townswoman being accused of being an evil witch. Her appeal failed, and instead, the city police station itself sent people to take her into the wilderness, tie her to a cross, and burn her alive.

These sanctimonious bastards were far more brutal and sinister than ordinary people could imagine.

Charles sent Sean three messages in a row to warn him, but the other readers' messages quickly pushed them off the screen.

"@everyone, bros, our damn author has made it big!"

"Look at this!"

Someone posted a photo of the scene in the group, immediately triggering a flood of messages.

"OMG, why are there so many police officers?"

"Could they all be here to protect our damn author?"

"Did he commit a crime, or did someone commit a crime in the mall?"

"Did he write something he shouldn't have and get arrested?"

"No, no, no, absolutely not," another reader said. "I'm at the scene too, and I can responsibly tell you that there's no police case. These officers are here solely to maintain order."

"What do you call this kind of presence?"

"This is what you call presence!"

"Even the municipal government doesn't have as much face as our damn author!"

Clearly, Charles wasn't the only fan attending Sean's signing event.

Many readers who were either too far away or unable to come because they had something else to do regretted it when they saw the scale of the scene. They all mentioned the people present and said, "Get me a copy!"

"I want one too!"

"I want three copies. Have the damn author sign a few extra!"

Sean still didn't reply. Charles had no choice. He couldn't enter the Void Arts Space right there to look for Sean, and Sean might not even be there. Watching the uninformed book lovers in the group frantically gossip and flood the chat, he could only pray for Sean in his heart, hoping that Sean would be hit and sent flying by a truck on the way and wouldn't come to the signing event.

But the Lord apparently hadn't heard his prayers.

Sean still came.

Not only did he come, but he also dressed incredibly well.

He wore a suit and leather shoes, had an outstanding bearing, and his hair was combed perfectly. He was in no way inferior to the movie stars who appeared on screen.

The moment he appeared, many women began cheering, including some who hadn't even figured out what was going on.

"So handsome! No wonder the movies he made are so good!"

"? The hell, he writes books."

"What? He writes books too? And he's so talented? Isn't this much better than those illiterate entertainers? I'm a fan now!"

"..."

The signing event hadn't officially begun, but judging from the enthusiasm of the spectators, it could already be called a great success.

Humans were visual creatures. Most of the time, they only became interested in learning more about something if it appealed to their tastes at first glance. Capital also knew how to build momentum. Among the people shouting and cheering, who knew how many had been hired by the publishing house as plants?

It was foreseeable that after today, both Sean's works and Sean himself would become far more famous.

The new fans were full of enthusiasm, but some old fans were already thinking about running away.

Charles, for example.

He watched Sean greet everyone with a smile, elegance, and composure, and roared inwardly, Your life is about to be over, and you still have time to interact with everyone?

For god's sake, look at your phone!

Charles was frantic.

"Damn it, you con artist!"

Not only had Sean tricked him into spending money on his books, he had also deceived his feelings.

If he had known that this Sean was that Sean, he would definitely have stopped Sean from attending the signing event.

But it was too late for anything now.

Seeing the huge stream of people follow Sean into the mall, Charles really wanted to turn around and leave, pretending that he didn't know Sean and had never read Sean's books. He hesitated repeatedly for a long while, but in the end, he gritted his teeth, cursed under his breath, and followed them inside.