The title of "king" was, of course, just a playful term.
This was mainly because the tribe literature was too secretive.
Thirty short stories competed on the same stage, and the authors of these stories were not revealed until the last day. What readers knew was that these writers were already well-known in the industry.
The tribe literary competition employed this method to the fullest, stirring everyone's curiosity to the maximum!
As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat.
Of course, readers and those in the short story domain were not cats, but their curiosity at this moment was no less than that of a cat.
This move could be considered quite psychological.
It's like someone speaking and suddenly stopping halfway.
Regardless of whether that sentence is important or not, the listener will be very concerned. Why did you only reveal half of the information?
So, in the tribe's discussion forum, many readers posted, predicting the authors, analyzing various aspects of the articles, and displaying a high level of technical expertise.
And what everyone was most curious about was, of course, the author who would take the first place this time!
After a month of competition, the outcome of this short story contest was already very clear.
The short story titled "The Death of a Civil Servant" was the champion of this competition!
Therefore, discussions about the author of "The Death of a Civil Servant" were the most lively.
In the guessing posts, almost all the well-known authors in the field of short stories were mentioned by the readers.
Unfortunately, so far, no one has admitted.
Lin Yuan, of course, saw his own ranking.
To be honest, he was very surprised that "The Death of a Civil Servant" could win the championship because he had prepared for this novel to only rank third.
The story was excellent, but the satirical effect in the novel was a bit lacking.
And this kind of deviation in effect was bound to happen.
In other words.
If Lin Yuan lived in a dark and feudal era, perhaps this novel would be endowed with a deeper meaning.
But now.
In this era of the Blue Star Peace, this novel seemed more like a creation using a "borrowing from the past to satirize the present" technique.
However, Lin Yuan didn't dwell too much on this.
Since "The Death of a Civil Servant" was the first, Lin Yuan just had to wait for the prize money to arrive.
This kind of waiting didn't last too long.
On the last day of April, the tribe's literature finally announced the list of authors.
Under everyone's eager gaze, the authors of these novels were finally exposed! "Oh my god!"
"So, the author of 'Missed' is Teacher Ping! I knew the writing style seemed familiar; Teacher Ping didn't admit it before!"
"The second-place detective story was actually written by Old Wang! Old Wang definitely intentionally changed his style; readers couldn't imagine it."
"The fifth-place 'Echo' is Qitong's work? Qitong rarely attempts short stories; I didn't expect him to try it this time."
"The eighth work was actually written by Yeyue!"
"Hahaha, among these three short stories, I guessed the authors!"
"I guessed two."
"There was a prediction post before; it's simply a prophecy. The OP guessed eight, and should be the most accurate big shot at the moment!"
"..."
The guessing results were out, and the atmosphere among readers was quite cheerful.
However, more readers and those in the short story domain immediately went to see who the author of "The Death of a Civil Servant" was.
As a result, authors in the short story domain, as well as many readers, were stunned.
Because this was a name that ninety-nine percent of people had not guessed beforehand.
"Chu Kuang?"
"Is it really Chu Kuang?"
"The author of 'Artificial Beauty'?"
"The one who wrote 'The Gift of the Magi' last month?"
"I remember him from 'Tennis Prince.' I didn't know he also wrote short stories."
"It seems the guy upstairs hasn't been paying much attention to the world of short stories. 'The Gift of the Magi' was the hottest short story last month, and the author is indeed Chu Kuang!"
"He also released 'Artificial Beauty' during the Chinese New Year, which was quite good. Personally, I found it very intriguing."
"This is the rising star in the world of short stories!"
"I thought the author of this novel was someone well-established, but it turns out he's our new talent in the short story scene!"
"..."
No wonder readers were so astonished.
They couldn't guess that Chu Kuang, the author of "The Death of a Civil Servant," was a newcomer in the world of short stories.
Moreover, the style of this novel differed significantly from Chu Kuang's previous two works!
In writing novels, even if you hide the author's name, it's not entirely untraceable. Different writers have different creative habits.
Take O. Henry, for example.
He loved to write unexpectedly twisted endings.
The unexpected and the logical were his writing characteristics, and the literary world referred to his ending style as "O. Henry-style endings."
At the same time, it was also a point of criticism against him.
Because some would say that after reading many of O. Henry's works, they all felt like the same pattern.
However, Chu Kuang broke this definition.
The difference between his first two novels wasn't that noticeable.
But in "The Death of a Civil Servant," Chu Kuang played with the art of irony!
For this, he even abandoned the storytelling and twist endings seen in "The Gift of the Magi."
Is the art of irony more advanced?
Not necessarily, but in the minds of many, irony indeed carries a certain level of sophistication. "The Death of a Civil Servant" became the champion this time because many people, while reading the novel, felt a strong sense of déjà vu—
Many phenomena in life were satirized to the fullest in this novel!
So, everyone thought the author was impressive.
At this moment!
Wang Guojian, the second-ranked short story writer, suddenly posted on his blog: "Chu Kuang takes the championship, just like 'The Gift of the Magi,' the ending is full of dramatic twists. I'm beginning to look forward to Chu Kuang bringing more surprises to the world of short stories in the future."
Following closely.
Ping An, the third-ranked teacher, said: "Chu Kuang is the rising star in the world of short stories!"
Not just them.
Rumble!
Out of the thirty participating writers, more than a dozen expressed their opinions through blog posts:
"The difference in style between his previous and current works is too significant. Who could have guessed this was written by the newcomer Chu Kuang? But I have to admit 'The Death of a Civil Servant' is a very outstanding novel."
"I'm glad to see such a genius new writer in the world of short stories!"
"I've read all three short stories by Chu Kuang. To enter this field and produce such excellent work, he is indeed a genius."
"My son really likes Chu Kuang's 'Tennis Prince,' so I knew about this author a long time ago. But I never thought I'd lose to him in the competition of short stories. I wonder if my son is sad or happy right now."
"..."
Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of the Silver Blue Library Magazine, You Rong, was indignant. He slammed the table loudly:
"Tribe literature is stealing people!"