Institute of Comparative Education of Yanjing Normal University, Fang Ya was walking in the corridor to his office with a book under his arm.
On the way here, I went to the bookstore and bought Zhang Zhong's new work "Lord of the Flies", which is now tucked under his arm.
Because Zhang Zhong is the subject of his research, he knows everything about Zhang Zhong's dynamics.
After arriving at the office, Fang Ya resisted the urge to open a new book and read immediately, and instead turned on the computer first.
As he expected, because a new book was released today, the WeChat group was buzzing with messages.
These groups are all Zhang Zhong’s book club groups.
[Yan Normal University Zhang Zhong Book Friends Exchange Group]
【Yanda No. 381 Reading Club】
[Zhang Zhong Science Fiction Exchange Group 256]
[Zhang Zhong Science Fiction Exchange Group 381]
[Detective Zhang Zhong Suspense Exchange Group 223]
【Harry Potter Exchange Group】
【Ordinary World Communication Group 111】
…
It is estimated that Zhang Zhong himself did not know that there were so many groups created specifically for him or his works, but Fang Ya added hundreds of them, some of which were small groups with relatively small numbers, and some were large groups with hundreds of people.
Fang Ya spends two or three hours in these groups every day. Some of them are more active and high-quality groups. Fang Ya has established deep relationships with those group friends.
Although Zhang Zhong's fans have a relatively wide age range, the people communicating in these groups are generally young people. After all, older people rarely play these things.
In order to get along with these young people, he created an identity for himself. In the group, he claimed to be a 30-year-old primary school Chinese teacher.
It is not difficult for him to play such an identity. After all, he is also a university teacher and taught in the countryside in his early years.
As for age, many young people in their thirties may not be as free and cheerful as he is.
Fang Ya clicked on a group he usually joined. The people in this group were relatively high-level, and he could often hear some insights from the group members.
Xu Sile: Dear friends, a new book is on sale today. Have you all bought it?
There is no doubt that Xu Sile is Fang Ya’s WeChat nickname. Because it is Zhang Zhong’s book club, many people in this group have nicknames related to Zhang Zhong’s books.
Xu Wule: Good morning, brother, I just got up.
Look, isn't there another Lao Wu? Because one of them is named Xu Sile and the other is Xu Wule, so they usually call each other brothers.
Xu Sile: Fifth brother, what time is it and you haven’t gotten up yet?
Poropolo: Brother Wang, don’t you know him yet? I am a night owl. I usually sleep until the afternoon. I woke up early today.
This time Wan Ge called Fang Ya, and he told the people in the group that his name was Wan Wa.
When he used this pseudonym, Fang Ya had a bit of a bad taste in mind, but he got used to it after using it for a while. Some young people in the group were called Wange Wange - except Xu Wule.
Xu Sile: Yes, I bought the book. I won’t watch the group for now and go read the book.
Fang Ya chatted casually for a few words and then opened "Lord of the Flies".
At the moment, he still dares to click on the group chat, but after a while, he will not dare to do so, because when more people have read the book, there will definitely be spoilers. Even if some people do not mean to spoil, they will still be able to chat with each other.
It will reveal a lot.
"Oh? And a preface?"
This surprised Fang Ya, because the first edition of Zhang Zhong's works usually does not have a preface, let alone his own preface.
This preface made Fang Ya more interested in the book.
"I remembered my heart-to-heart talks with Mr. Llorente, Affleck, and Linde on the edge of Jiao Lake. On such a pleasant evening, I suddenly chatted with them about some not-so-easy topics..."
Zhang Zhong's preface is not long. The whole text talks about one thing. He had been chatting with Linde, Llorente, and Affleck by the Jiao Lake, and they came up with an idea. What if all of them were trapped in the lake?
On the island of the heart, which direction should things develop?
In the preface, Zhang Zhong did not elaborate on the specific thoughts of Linde and Llorente, but only mentioned that they had different opinions.
After reading the preface, Fang Ya turned to the main text.
At the beginning of the text, it is written that two little boys met on an island. From their few words, it can be inferred that they should have been left on the island due to a plane crash, and there should be other people besides them.
Fang Ya held his forehead and made a preliminary judgment in his mind. This was probably a science fiction novel because the preface mentioned conjectures about nuclear war. He connected the two things together without recognizing it.
A science fiction novel with an apocalyptic tone.
As previously disclosed, there are other children on the island. The first twelve-year-old boy who appeared, Zhou Haoyong (the protagonist of the original work, named Ralph, was changed to Zhou Haoyong by Zhang Zhong in the Chinese version) got it.
A conch, which he originally thought was a stone, was recognized by another little boy named Piggy as a conch.
Zhou Haoyong relied on the sound made by this conch to summon all the little boys around him.
Most of these children are younger than Zhou Haoyong and others, many are only five or six years old.
When he saw this, Fang Ya frowned because he discovered something strange, because he didn't see any little girls. The children left behind in the crash were all boys.
why is that?
Fang Ya was a little confused. He didn't think this was a coincidence, and it couldn't be a coincidence. This must have been Zhang Zhong's intention. What Fang Ya was confused about was, what was the reason for Zhang Zhong's setting up like this?
Shaking his head, Fang Ya put this question aside for the time being and continued reading.
Everyone seems to be very optimistic. Although the adults who brought them here are no longer here, they quickly found their backbone. Zhou Haoyong was successfully elected as the leader with the help of a conch that can make a sound similar to the adults' trumpets.
In this short election, another big boy Fang Likun (Jack) became the loser. He originally thought that he had an innate advantage as the leader of the choir, but unexpectedly he was ultimately defeated by Conch.
The conch is a symbol.
As a scholar, Fang Ya knew when he saw the conch that it was a great symbol and would be the main object of this story.
As for what it symbolizes specifically, Fang Ya is not in a hurry to make a conclusion, because the story has just begun and the role played by the conch has just emerged.
Because they had a backbone, the children began to live in an orderly manner. The leader Zhou Haoyong's strategy was very simple. While ensuring the food supply, try to keep the fire going, so that people at sea can know their existence, and finally they can
be saved.
However, Fang Ya's keen observation allowed him to discover something different. There was a theory about beasts that seemed to be spreading quietly.
Although this statement was not particularly strong at first and was just a casual discussion among the children, Fang Ya knew that the legend of this beast was definitely not that simple.