Chapter 267 163: Secret Organizations of the World

Therefore, in any case, the first and most crucial matter is...

To define the nature of the case!

In other words, Love Nose could completely define the nature of the case!

Xu Huo clicked his tongue in amazement. This ability was on a whole other level, far surpassing the basic Wang Die's Scent.

"Tsk, with a skill like this..."

"It wouldn't just be one province. Even the Capital City police would be tripping over themselves to recruit someone like that!"

"Even if you had zero deductive skills, the police would pay a fortune to keep you on retainer. All you'd have to do is show up at a crime scene for a few minutes," Xu Huo said in astonishment.

After a moment's thought, he closed his eyes again and pushed the effects of Anger Ears to their limit.

The sound of Chu Xi's warm, moist breath...

Wang Chao's nonsensical sleep-talking.

Li Jianye muttering in his sleep, begging to return to his old post, even if it meant double the work...

Besides all that...

There were also some less-than-family-friendly sounds.

'Tsk, what do you expect in a hotel? People either sleep or they... do *that*.'

Xu Huo hurriedly deactivated the Skill and opened his eyes, grimacing as if he had a toothache.

He realized he'd overlooked one of his passive Skills.

[Fountain of Thoughts!]

[Effect: When you have gathered a certain amount of information, your brain will automatically filter and reorganize it to produce new clues...]

'Right. Those people's moans were a bit too... much.'

'His brain had presented him with crystal-clear audio, then used those sounds and smells to construct a vivid mental image.'

"Forget it. Time for bed."

Xu Huo shook his head and tiptoed into the room.

He was ready for bed.

He had to wake up early tomorrow to catch his flight home.

Wang Chao had ambitions for the Capital City, but he clearly didn't have the resources to make it there right now. That's why he'd turned down Zhang Niu's offer to help him settle down in the city.

Instead of returning to Linlan City for now, he was heading to Jiangsan City.

Jiangsan City was nationally renowned for its logistics industry, making it the perfect place to open a new branch and expand their influence.

As for the dangers in Jiangsan City...

This trip to the Capital City had also taken care of the problem that had plagued Jiangsan City for months, so there was no real danger in going back.

As he was thinking this, just as Xu Huo was about to turn off his computer, wash up, and go to bed, a notification sound pinged from his computer.

[Editor: Rainbow Light]

[Gummy Candy, you there?]

Xu Huo froze. He had just started to get up, but he sat right back down.

Rainbow Light was the editor for his book.

He'd just published his book in early September when they signed him. Rainbow Light had been handling his promotions and everything else ever since.

They had been in touch before, of course.

But his editor had never messaged him this late at night.

As for who Gummy Candy was...

He was an author on Terminus Chinese Net who loved to write "sweet" romance. His stories were incredibly sweet, almost sickeningly so. A quick look at his fan circle showed it was full of readers overwhelmed by the saccharine content. He was widely recognized as an author of "sweet" and "satisfying" fiction.

[Gummy Candy: I'm here.]

[Gummy Candy: What's up?]

Xu Huo calmly typed his reply and hit send.

A reply came back almost instantly.

[Rainbow Light: Nothing's wrong! It's just that your stats have been improving rapidly lately. The quality of your writing is on point, and your reader engagement is especially high.]

[Rainbow Light: Your readers are very active, but it feels like all that engagement is going to waste. What do you think, would you have time to...]

[Rainbow Light: Hold a fan meet-and-greet?]

'A fan meet-and-greet?'

Xu Huo froze, a series of question marks flashing through his mind.

'Are we talking about a meet-and-greet or a rumble in Causeway Bay?'

As if reading his mind, the editor quickly replied.

[Rainbow Light: It doesn't have to be a big production! And you don't need to spend any money.]

[Rainbow Light: The website has an ongoing program for this. Periodically, we invite an author to do an online or in-person event to share their writing experiences or just chat with fans.]

[Rainbow Light: Would you be interested? Your local fans are saying they'd really love to meet you.]

"Huh?"

"Fans?"

"Me???"

Xu Huo paused, tilting his head. A rare flicker of confusion crossed his face.

'I have readers who want to meet me?'

'A meet-and-greet?'

'Huh?'

'Or... have I not checked on my book for so long that something weird happened to it?'

At that thought, Xu Huo couldn't resist. He minimized the chat window and clicked into his author dashboard.

The next second, he was hit with an overwhelming flood of comments.

[Daydreaming Every Day: Hell yeah! The damn author went on hiatus for a few days but dropped so many words for the New Year. Now I can binge-read to my heart's content! Hee hee!]

[(Posted forty minutes ago)]

...

[Daydreaming Every Day: (Smile) I'm emotionally broken. Dude, stop. Can I get a rez? Is there a healer in the house? Give me a hand! How could you do this on New Year's!? No more 'hee hee-ing'.]

[(Posted five minutes ago...)]

[Chewing Gum Isn't Fragrant: Seriously, bro? You're gonna write something like this? You're gonna write something like this on New Year's!?]

[Sanitary Pad Isn't Paper: Where's the author? I see you must have a hard time typing, so give me your address. I'll send you a new computer for free. Remember to PM me your address~]

[Call Me Medicated Oil: Where's the healer!? We need a healer to drop a sweet novel so we can recover some HP!]

[Crazy Author: Shut up, even the healers need to heal themselves first!]

[...]

Staring at the "enthusiastic" reader comments, Xu Huo's head filled with question marks. He dazedly closed the book's page.

'This doesn't seem any different than usual.'

'The only difference is that more people seem to want to know my address.'

'Could it be the fan circle?'

He thought for a moment, then clicked into it.

[Rabbit in a Hat: Any scouts here?]

[Beta in Sunglasses: @Upstairs, just look at the author's name: 'Gummy Candy'. With a name like that, what kind of story do you think it is?]

[Rabbit in a Hat: A sweet romance? I'm gonna go check it out!]

...

[Rabbit in a Hat: Just finished. My heart feels so warm~]

[Rabbit in a Hat: I'm lying in my bed, twisted up into a pretzel from all the sweetness, curled up into a ball~]