While Feng Hua and Feihong were full of doubts, the Tribe and the blog released the remaining works in the event.
Unfortunately, none of the subsequentially released works by either side managed to impress the audience as much.
The blog and the Tribe both opened up voting channels!
The work suspected to be by Feihong, "The Bell Ringer," ranked first.
The work suspected to be by Feng Hua, "The King," ranked second.
The works that followed lagged far behind in terms of votes.
There was no suspense.
In contrast, the blog side was bustling with activity!
The seven works previously released all had high vote counts, and the gaps between them were minor!
One moment this one was in the lead, the next moment another took over.
The top seven rankings were stuck in a deadlock!
The works beyond the top seven had very few votes.
Regarding these seven works, the blog's netizens were extremely enthusiastic about voting!
On the Tribe's side, even the number of voting participants couldn't compare with the blog's, let alone the netizens' enthusiasm for voting!
There was no helping it.
The seven pieces on the blog were just too classic!
All the netizens' attention was drawn to the blog's side!
It wasn't just about voting!
Netizens from all over started to interrogate Blue Star's top short story writers, believing that some of them had covertly collaborated with the blog!
"Ol' Huang, is it you?"
"Ol' Zhou, out of the seven pieces on the blog, which one is your work?"
"Ol' Li, the style of 'Inner Circle' resembles yours a bit, doesn't it?"
"Teacher Zhu, stop pretending; I know 'The Last Leaf' is yours. You've said before that Chu Kuang's kind of ending is worth learning from, this must be your study result!"
"Mr. He, admit it, you've definitely secretly contributed!"
Screens full of questioning!
The top short story writers were getting anxious!
Why are they suspecting us!
We really haven't had any inspiration lately!
This kind of questioning is embarrassing us!
It's not very offensive, but a bit insulting.
So many top short story writers competing on the same stage and we can't produce any work; it's pretty awkward for us too, alright!
Not to mention, their works are so well written, each one better than the last…
The top writers all vehemently denied it!
Pushed to the brink by netizens, a certain top short story writer simply swore curses as their pledge!
The netizens were scratching their heads.
If not you guys, then who wrote them?
What could be confirmed was that Chu Kuang definitely took part; one of these seven had to be his work!
Chu Kuang's blog comment section was besieged!
"Old rascal, which one did you write?"
"I suspect you wrote more than one!"
"Tell us, out of these seven, how many are yours?"
"Judging by the style, 'The Last Leaf' resembles your work the most; you wrote it, didn't you?"
"I feel like 'Hey! Come Out' is written by the old rascal."
"This piece's style is a bit like the old rascal's early work 'Artificial Beauty,' also with a sci-fi element and leaving things open at the end."
"Maybe 'Mutton Fat Jade' is actually written by the old rascal."
"Quick, the old rascal left a like!"
Lin Yuan noticed the comments from the netizens and suddenly revealed a mischievous smile.
Should I give a hint?
Upon this thought, Lin Yuan silently maneuvered the mouse…
It was still Chu Kuang's comment section.
Amidst countless comments.
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed netizen noticed that Chu Kuang had actually liked a comment from someone who guessed "The Last Leaf"!
"Is the old rascal indirectly admitting he's the author of 'The Last Leaf'?"
"This work, just by looking at it, you can tell it's the handiwork of the old rascal. The ending is unexpected yet makes perfect sense; this is a classic Chu Kuang-style ending!"
"This is only the first case, who knows who wrote the remaining six pieces."
"Let's not start with that. I feel something is not right. How can the old rascal use likes as a way to indirectly admit it? Isn't he using his popularity to campaign for his own work?"
"Perhaps the other six works have put pressure on the old rascal as well."
Some netizens frowned, feeling Chu Kuang's actions were inappropriate.
The anonymous author voting was designed to prevent authors from using their popularity to campaign for their own works.
Then it's no longer a pure competition of work quality.
Just when netizens were puzzled by this behavior, everyone discovered that Chu Kuang had started liking comments again!
"What does he mean by this?"
"Someone guessed 'Mutton Fat Jade' was written by him, and he liked it too?"
"The one who guessed 'Hey! Come out' received a like from him as well!"
"And the one guessing 'My Uncle Yule', the old rascal liked that too!"
"He liked all of them, all the guesses that Chu Kuang wrote the seven works got likes from Chu Kuang!"
"Is he just playing around with the likes?"
"Old rascal, stop stirring the waters!"
"It seems 'The Last Leaf' might not be the work of the old rascal after all."
The netizens were speechless.
The usually aloof old rascal had liked all seven works guessed by netizens, as active as a copycat account!
Are you trying to muddy the waters even more so we can't guess which work is really yours?
What good does this do you?
Some people have thick skin!
Some people are naughty!
You are both naughty and thick-skinned!
It's just like you, to have a knack for playing with readers!
And it's not like we don't know that you might be up to no good this time, possibly having written more than one work. But you can't just go liking everyone's post!
Surely, all these seven high-quality works can't possibly be written by you!
The atmosphere in Chu Kuang's comment section suddenly turned eerie.
Chu Kuang, going against his usual demeanor, began frequently liking netizen's guesses, finally hitting a nerve with some.
An incredible guess abruptly surfaced in everyone's minds!
Perhaps this possibility was too incredible, a kind of horror quietly spread.
And in the midst of this eerie atmosphere,
The blog's official Weibo suddenly updated with a post!
[According to the rules of the King of Short Stories competition, we should wait until the event is over to reveal the author's name. However, the bloggers participating in this event unanimously requested to reveal the author names early. After soliciting everyone's opinions, we decided to respect their decision and are now announcing the authors and their respective works participating in the blog's King of Short Stories event:
Mutton Fat Jade —— Chu Kuang
Inner Circle —— Chu Kuang
Monopoly —— Chu Kuang
Hey, Come Out —— Chu Kuang
My Uncle Yule —— Chu Kuang
The Cop and the Anthem —— Chu Kuang
The Last Leaf —— Chu Kuang
In the eerie silence.
Thunder is heard without a sound!
Across the five continents, as far as the eye can see:
Chu Kuang Chu Kuang Chu Kuang Chu Kuang Chu Kuang Chu Kuang Chu Kuang!!!!!