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Chapter 524 "No Survival"

"Like the title of the book, they are all dead."

Jiang Yuan looked at He Jing who was hesitant to speak, pointed to the title of the book and said with a smile.

"Are they all really dead?" He Jing paused, but it was still difficult to completely stop his curiosity.

"They're all dead. I've already written the nursery rhyme at the beginning." Jiang Yuan nodded.

When He Jing heard this, he immediately recalled the opening chapter that he had just read, which was a somewhat evil nursery rhyme.

Just as he was thinking about it, He Jing couldn't help but open the book in his hand and take a look.

[Ten little soldiers went out to beat their teeth to offer sacrifices; unfortunately they choked, and only nine out of ten were left.

Nine little soldiers, holding candles until midnight.]

In a nursery rhyme, ten little soldiers turned from ten to zero, and even the way of death was clearly arranged.

While He Jing was reading, Jiang Yuan had already found a seat and sat down with the iced coffee he had just bought from downstairs. There was still some time before the audition started, and not even the assistant director and producer were fully present. .

"So it's really like what's written here?" He Jing held the book and came to Jiang Yuan's side.

Since he started preparing for "The Invisible Guest", He Jing's interest in this type of mystery and suspense works has greatly increased.

"Yes." Jiang Yuan nodded.

At the same time, I couldn't help but admire the exquisite layout of "No One Survived". Ten people died one after another according to the predictions of the nursery rhyme, and the whole story line of the colleagues who were under heavy clouds was peeled off like a cocoon, and it was clear. Chu, is able to surprise readers when the mystery is revealed.

This is a work that even my grandma couldn’t help but call it very difficult to write.

"It's really written like this!" He Jing couldn't help but sigh with emotion, obviously knowing the difficulty of this kind of writing.

Then his eyes became a little hot again, and he couldn't help but start reading the subsequent storyline.

"Also, in the story." Seeing He Jing's appearance, Jiang Yuan immediately acted as if he was going to spoil the story.

"Stop!!" He Jing shouted quickly, obviously not wanting his reading experience to be ruined.

He raised his wrist and looked at the time and found that there was still more than half an hour before the official audition, so he said, "Let me read this first."

In fact, after taking over the filming of "The Invisible Guest", while He Jing was studying, he also had some ambitions for future planning.

After all, Jiang Yuan has so many big IPs right in front of He Jing's eyes, and it seems that a broad avenue for suspense movies has been paved.

He Jingye did have some ideas about adapting and filming these works.

For example, the opening of "No Survival" seems very cinematic to He Jing.

With just such a nursery rhyme, He Jing couldn't help but conjure up a very explosive movie trailer in his mind.

"So who are the actors who came to audition today?" Jiang Yuan asked curiously.

Because He Jing was fully responsible before, Jiang Yuan didn't ask He Jing and didn't say anything.

A blue folder was handed to Jiang Yuan, "Here, the information is here. You can take a look first."

"Okay." Jiang Yuan put down the coffee and opened the folder with interest.

He Jing, who was on the side, put away the special signed book with blood-red edges that Jiang Yuan had just brought, picked up the previous regular version and started reading.

Both of them were focused on their own reading worlds. Jiang Yuan was learning about the actors he was going to meet later, while He Jing was immersed in the world of the book.

[Mr. Judge Wargrave has just retired.At the moment he is sitting in the corner of the smoking room of the first-class carriage]

At the same time, on the other side of the ocean, in an elegantly decorated study room.

An elderly man wearing a smart suit and glasses also held a sample book and read this paragraph with interest.

His name is Barry. He is 79 years old. He was a professional editor of mystery novels and has handled many outstanding works.

After retiring, Barry also began to try his own writing and published several mystery novels.

At the moment, Barry, as a judge for the Golden Dagger Award, got the sample book of "No One Survived" in advance and started reading it.

Although Yang Chao previously thought that "No Survival" was published in time for the Golden Dagger Award Ceremony, it was a blessing in disguise.

What Yang Chao did not understand further is that although the Golden Dagger Award is only awarded once every three years, the award is based on the individual author. The review will generally consider all the author's works in the past three years up to the time of the award, as well as his past career. Excellent works are taken into account.

Therefore, "No Survival" is now stuck in publication at this point in time, and it has become a book that the jury needs to read for reference.

Barry couldn't help but go back and read the nursery rhyme at the beginning, which greatly aroused his passion for reading.

At the age of 79, it is actually difficult for Barry to mobilize his passion for reading. After all, during his long editing career and his years after retirement, Barry has indeed read countless works.

In a simple word, it is pure reading.

However, in the past year, a new face named Omega has aroused Barry's interest.

As of now, it can be said that there is no shortage of books on the bookshelf, from "Suspect X" to the latest "Orient Express".

Each book brought Barry a good reading experience, and at the same time he felt a little regretful that he had not encountered these books during his career.

From the perspective of his peers, after reading "Orient Express", Barry even burned half of the manuscript of his new book that he had prepared.

Therefore, this book "No Survival", even if it is not a judge of the Golden Dagger Award, will still be on Barry's must-read list because of the name Omega.

When it comes to the Golden Dagger Award, as one of the judges, Barry still feels that this Omega, who has never appeared before, is definitely an amazing mystery writer in the past three years.

They are even ready to support the other party.

However, in terms of the possibility of winning, it is not as direct as a sure win. There is still some [-]-[-] element.

After all, among the undisclosed shortlist, there are also writers who have published outstanding works in the past three years.

What makes these people more likely to win is that they are older.

In particular, some well-known writers accompany each session, which will also affect the judges’ considerations to a certain extent.

Therefore, there is a certain possibility that Omega will lose the gold dagger and get the silver dagger.

Thinking of this, Barry turned his attention to the book in his hand.

In this case, the publication of "No Survival" actually plays a key strategic significance.

The nursery rhyme-like opening made Barry secretly look forward to it, hoping that this would be a work as good as "Orient Express".

As long as "No One Survived" can achieve such an effect of stunning readers.

And at this most critical moment of award evaluation, it can basically be announced that the golden dagger is in the bag in advance.

This can be compared to a marathon runner breaking a record in a major competition and directly locking in an Olympic spot.

With such expectations, Barry shook his head to put aside distracting thoughts and focused on the book again.

The result will be clear after reading it. Chapter 1 at the beginning of "None Survived" takes the lead from Judge Wargrave's perspective, explaining that he was invited by the Owens to visit Soldier Island.

Likewise, female teacher Vera, General MacArthur, Doctor Armstrong, etc. were also invited. Including the judge, there were a total of eight people with different professions and strangers.

Everyone has read the relevant news about Soldier Island from the newspapers, and each has accepted the invitation and came to this island with different purposes.

As an ordinary reader, you can smell some unusual atmosphere from the descriptions and behaviors of different characters.

Barry was no exception, as if the exquisite dessert before the big meal had stimulated his appetite just right.

The speed of turning pages in my hand couldn't help but speed up.

A long career has created an extraordinary reading speed, and Barry finished another chapter in the blink of an eye.

Like all stories, the collision of characters drives the plot.

Vera, Varegev and others met one after another and came to Soldier Island.

But I didn't see Mr. and Mrs. Owen who invited everyone. Only Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, the housekeepers, received a few people.

In the villa, eight people were assigned rooms.

In Vera's room, the nursery rhyme also appeared again, framed in the mirror.

Vera looked at the poem she had read before and didn't feel anything was wrong. After all, this was Soldier Island.

But as an outsider, Barry felt a sense of destiny.

At the same time, the eight people who came to different rooms had their own hidden agendas, which made Barry seem to see the curtain of a big drama being slowly raised.

As the story continued to turn pages, Barry felt that the drama had already climaxed at the beginning.

After dinner, everyone became more comfortable.

At this time, someone discovered that there were also ten small porcelain soldier dolls placed on the disc on the dining table.

Naturally, everyone started talking about the poem again, and it turned out that everyone except Vera's room had a framed list in their room.

So far, everyone still has a nonchalant attitude towards this poem.

She began to realize that something was wrong. It was Vera who was talking about the Owens when she was chatting with 65-year-old Miss Brent.

But Miss Brent had never heard of the name.

Although both of them received invitations to Soldier Island, they were not from the same person.

However, before further discussion, they were interrupted by the coffee brought by Rogers.

After enjoying the fragrant coffee, everyone feels satisfied and relaxes.

The "trial" begins, which is also the beginning of the drama in Barry's eyes.

[You are charged with the following crimes:
Edward George Armstrong, on March [-], [-], you caused the death of Louise Marie Cleese.

Emily Caroline Brent.]

A cold voice suddenly sounded in the quiet living room, reciting the crimes of everyone present.

Almost everyone committed murder, including Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, who were housekeepers.

The show started by directly revealing everyone's crimes in the form of a "trial".

A very dramatic scene.

He Jing, who also read this paragraph, couldn't help but start to imagine in his mind what it would be like if it were made into a movie.

This accusation was recorded on a record player, and it was like a bomb was dropped. Everyone fell into silence for the first time.

Then they started to panic or become angry, and their reactions were different. Among them, Mrs. Rogers fell directly into a coma.

After everyone discovered the record player, they gathered together again, led by Vargrave, and formed a temporary small court.

Everyone reviewed the invitations they received, and finally concluded that although the names of the invitees were different, they all had the letters UN, which means anonymous.

[We were all invited here by a madman, maybe this is an extremely dangerous murderer. 】

The judge finally pronounced the verdict.

After reading three chapters in one go, the dramatic tension was immediately heightened, making Barry look forward to the subsequent plot.

With almost no pause, I turned the page again and became engrossed in the story.

After the judge reached his conclusion, the scene was once again dragged into the realm of silence.

Until the judge broke the silence again and stated the invitation he had received, only after mentioning the word accusation.

The scene began to break through the defenses fiercely, and denials began to varying degrees.

Then, Wagrave took the lead in explaining the murder case he was involved in, saying that he only executed prisoners.

But Dr. Armstrong, who was present, knew that the truth seemed not to be the case.

After the beginning of Wargrave, the female teacher Vera and General MacArthur also successively defended their crimes.

However, there are exceptions to everything. For example, Colonel Philip Lombard and wealthy second-generation Anthony Marston did not shy away from their crimes, and did not even show the slightest remorse.

In the follow-up, everyone else also gave some explanations.

After preliminary sorting, Vargrave believed that it would be dangerous for everyone to continue to stay on Soldier Island, so he proposed to leave the island together the next day.

Almost everyone has no objection to this plan.

However, Anthony Marston did not take it seriously and even objected to it. Instead, he treated it as a detective story and tried to solve the mystery.

He even arrogantly proposed a toast to the crime.

However, in the next second, Anthony choked on his wine, and then fell from the chair.

[Unfortunately, I choked, and only nine out of ten were left. 】

The first sentence of the nursery rhyme came true, death came suddenly and unexpectedly.

It also made He Jing stop reaching for the drink and couldn't help but look up at Jiang Yuan. When he was about to bow his head and continue turning the pages, he was interrupted by the assistant director and producer who had just arrived.

I looked at the time and saw that the official audition was getting closer.

So I could only reluctantly close the page and prepare to catch up later.

At this time, Jiang Yuan had just finished reading all the actors' information, closed the folder and put it aside.

(End of this chapter)