Fantasy Writers 1860

Chapter 91. An Unexpected Cold Reception

The editorial office of the Lontinion Weekly, 114 Lambeth Riverside Square, Tannhäuser District.

Even though it was a rare sunny day, the river outside the window still shimmered with a cold, leaden gray light.

Editor-in-Chief Clancy frowned as he stared at the newly compiled sales data table on the table.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the highly anticipated "Stupid Wilson" only achieved decent sales on its first day, but subsequent subscriptions were lower and lower.

This shows that initially, people came because of the title of Mr. Hakimi's new work, but after reading the beginning, many people did not continue reading.

Clancy originally thought it would be a huge bombshell, and even prepared two sets of statements in advance to deal with the potential problems that might arise. He was just waiting to see whether the conservatives or the demi-human reformers would launch an attack.

I never expected it to be met with such a strange cold reception.

It was a surprise, but a major upset.

Now that both hats are ready, they are embarrassed to find that no one is coming.

He looked at a relatively conservative newspaper on the table, which contained an article by a commentator:

[—Mr. Hakimi seems to have fallen into the quagmire of low-level moralizing. This new work is filled with formulaic sympathy for demi-humans; we've seen far too many cheap works like this in recent years, peddling and exploiting the suffering of demi-humans. We have reason to suspect that he's trying to pander to radical demi-human organizations and extract propaganda fees from them.]

If only they had actually received some money from the demi-human organizations, at least they would have shown some support. But the current situation is that even most newspapers with reformist backgrounds aren't interested.

[In recent years, there have been numerous works claiming to expose the plight of Ajin, ranging from good to bad. Many people have used this as an excuse to overemphasize the so-called suffering of Ajin with a sensationalist and critical perspective, or to portray Ajin as perfect beings.]

[The erroneous stereotypes that lead people to believe that all demi-humans are either noble saints, despicable beasts, or living in a hellish and bizarre state of suffering are actually detrimental to the achievement of our long-term goals.]

Now, being single-minded has become a double-edged sword.

Thus, in Britannia, the work fell into an eerie silence.

However, when the West is dark, the East shines.

In the Republic of Iris across the strait, this work is exceptionally popular.

"Look at those hypocritical gentlemen of Britannia!"

The World Review, which had already taken the lead in promoting "The Million Pound Note," reprinted "Foolish Wilson" in a full-page article and published another heavyweight commentary:

[We uphold liberty, equality, and fraternity as our tenets. Demi-humans achieved legal equality decades ago; in today's Iris, there are no second-class citizens! Meanwhile, the gentlemen on the other side, while claiming civilization, are still practicing slavery through the system of bloodlines! Mr. Hakimi's work is like a mirror, reflecting the decadent foundations of that gold-pound empire.]

When these remarks reached Lentinion, another war of words between them was inevitable.

In a quiet café in the Tannhäuser district, Clancy still sought out Dorian, and the two sat facing each other, looking at the eerie sales report on the table.

Clancy picked up his coffee. "Was this something you expected?"

Of course not.

To be honest, he didn't know what was going on either.

However, in a sense, it is a good thing.

If the buzz isn't high, the impact won't be too significant, and the likelihood of someone contacting you because of this will also decrease dramatically.

Besides, although there was a shocking upset in Lentinion, wasn't it quite a hot topic in Iris?

Dorian gently stroked the rim of the porcelain cup and said in a deliberately profound tone, like a philosopher, "Humans are always more willing to look at the scars of others than to face their own festering wounds."

"But anyway, isn't this work quite popular in Iris? It must have made a lot of money there, right? If you put a stack of banknotes in front of you, can you tell which one is from Iris and which one is from Britannia?" Dorian picked up his coffee cup and took an elegant sip.

Did you win? Or did you lose?

I made a profit!

"Sure, Britannia uses gold pounds, and Iris uses francs—" Clancy said with a hint of doubt, as if there was no...

The meaning of "t" to Dorian: Dorian: "Understand the spirit, cough cough, understand the spirit————"

At night, Lily gently pushed open the door, lit the magic crystal lamp, and locked it behind her.

She finally removed the tall silk hat that seemed welded to her head, her wolf ears standing up, her trousers falling off, and her fluffy silver-white tail swaying twice in the air.

Only in situations where she is the only one who is safe can she temporarily shed her disguise.

She walked to her desk, placed the copy of "Lentinion Weekly" she had bought on it, and turned on the magic crystal lamp on the desk.

She turned to the section of the newspaper where the serialized novel "Fool Wilson" was published.

Lily truly walks the line between humans and demi-humans, and her feelings about this work are deeper than anyone else's.

"Is she bad? Is she worse than others of her race? No. On the battlefield of life, they are inherently at a disadvantage—"

Therefore, they believed that gaining a small advantage over the enemy in battle or in minor matters was not a sin.

She read the sentences in the book softly; these were Mr. Hakimi's comments on the petty theft of the demi-human servants. She thought of the many demi-humans she had ever met.

Are they inherently depraved, and do they steal because they enjoy it?

Of course not. As Mr. Hakimi said, they are already in an unfair position on the battlefield of life.

When she saw Roxie, the maid who was afraid of being sold, she was reminded of her own childhood nightmares of being repeatedly sold, of Earl Lockhart's teachings to "be human enough," and of the lawyer who shouted for equality but fled in terror upon seeing her true face—

"One-sixteenth, ha, one-sixteenth—" Lily quickly finished reading this issue, but she obviously didn't get out of the story right away.

She repeated this absurd number over and over again, and some memories, both beautiful and embarrassing, surfaced in her mind.

In that hazy moment, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind:

Langdon Harris.

The magic technology expert who killed his assistant.

Although the assistant looked no different from a normal person, Harris accused him of having "one-sixty-fourth of a demi-human blood" and murdered him.

Just like the demi-human maid in this story, she was harmed by that negligible bloodline.

"Harris's new bloodline screening method" — Lily suddenly stood up, her ears twitching sharply.

Previously, she was more inclined to believe that this person was an obsessive and extreme human supremacist, after all, he and his wife had joined the Immaculate Dawn Order, so they must have an extreme hatred for demi-humans, such "filth".

It's quite normal to fabricate some kind of "bloodline screening method" as a pretext to eliminate demi-humans.

Previously, Lily was also more inclined to believe that the so-called new bloodline screening method was pure fabrication, and that he was just being influenced by the cult, using biology as a pretext to kill demi-humans.

But what if his "new bloodline screening method" is real?

She remembered the mysteriously murdered iris collector, his lost phantom books, and the phantom book smuggling case whose leads had previously stalled—

"Among the lists of lost and suspected smuggled phantom books to Lentinion, there seems to be one—"

"—The Book of Bloodlines of All Things"

To obtain outstanding offspring, what bloodlines need to be mated? Or conversely, what bloodlines constitute an outstanding offspring? This is the Phantom Book that encompasses all the necessary characteristics, and can be used in either the forward or reverse direction.

She finally remembered.

If Langdon Harris used the power of this phantom book, then the so-called "sifting method" was not actually his invention, but rather a power derived from the phantom book.

"The bibliophile was murdered, the phantom books were lost—then the phantom books were smuggled to Britannia, and finally one of them ended up in Harris's hands—" Lily murmured to herself in the dim light of the magic crystal lamp, her silvery-white tail sweeping around the chair.

Something seemed to be starting to string together in Lily's mind.

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