Seeking immortality, slipping into madness.
William's left ear heard heavenly palace music from the clouds, while his right was blasted by death metal straight out of hell.
A musical staff floated above his head, splitting the world in two like fire and water.
This was… all the world's beauties… dying here would be worth it!
Dignity? Gone.
Seeing that William was torn between two extremes, the system sent a wave of coolness through his body to help him calm down.
"Whew."
William forcefully closed the All-Knowing Guide. This thing was no less tempting than Pandora's Box. One wrong move and he'd be done for.
Better to come back once he had a clear head. For now, he shouldn't touch it again.
"What are you doing?"
Just as William stepped out of the room, planning to take a cold shower, he saw Cynthia coming down the stairs.
Cynthia jumped a little. "I-I... oh, it's nothing. I just came up to check on things."
William didn't really get it, but didn't think much of it either. "Oh, I'm going to take a shower."
"Okay, then... go ahead. I'm going back downstairs!"
Before William could say anything, Cynthia dashed down the stairs.
The musical staff above her head looked like it was dancing nervously.
It seemed like the staff lines were connected to her emotions.
After a cold shower, William felt much more awake. From an academic angle, All-Knowing Encyclopedia was shaping up to be an incredible reference book.
While checking Marcus's file earlier, he caught a glimpse of the text—it was just like the background story of an NPC in a game. It listed everything about Marcus from childhood to now. The details weren't super deep, but it was enough.
With this function, he could learn about anyone. Once he truly understood someone, creating them in a game would feel completely different. The character would feel alive—like a real person, full of depth and emotion.
He wondered whether ancient figures or even mythical ones could be looked up too.
Might as well try.
William thought of a mythological character—Yang Jian—and opened All-Knowing Encyclopedia.
In novels featuring Yang Jian, he was always described as otherworldly and incredibly handsome. His third eye didn't make him look strange at all—instead, it added a kind of natural, godlike charm.
What shocked William most was that as he looked at a photo of Yang Jian, the third eye seemed to be staring back at him. It felt like it could lock onto him through time and space. The feeling was intense.
Time to check his background.
Since this version of Yang Jian came from novels, the backstory followed fictional settings. It basically matched what William had seen online.
But Yang Jian was technically a spin-off of Erlang Shen. The real mythological figure was Erlang Shen. William had looked up Yang Jian just to compare the two.
"Erlang Shen."
This time, the person that appeared was very different from Yang Jian. He also had a third eye, but his looks were way more average. Still, the aura around him was something else—it had a powerful, unexplainable presence.
A single thought popped into William's head: this is a god.
Erlang Shen's backstory read like a novel. He was born as a god, descended to Earth to help weak humans, and returned to his origin after his powers were spent.
Whether it was real or not didn't matter. William could just copy that backstory word for word and no one would be able to tell if it was true or made up.
He wasn't here to prove gods existed. What he wanted to test was whether All-Knowing Encyclopedia really lived up to its name.
Next, he looked up an in-game character.
When compared with All-Knowing Encyclopedia, the character's photo, backstory, and wiki info all matched perfectly. The difference was, All-Knowing Encyclopedia had an extra section—designer's intent. It explained why the character was designed that way.
He closed the book.
There was no doubt this book was insanely useful. It meant that whenever William made a new game, he wouldn't have to worry about not fully understanding a character or missing key details. Great games need unforgettable characters. Those characters take deep thought and hard work to create. From the outside, it's almost impossible to guess what the creator was thinking.
Now, he didn't have to worry about that anymore.
Relaxing his mind, William let his thoughts drift. His fingers moved randomly through the air, and he heard a sound not from any instrument—sometimes slow, sometimes long—slowly pulling him into sleep.
Sunday.
William woke up early. He didn't wake Cynthia. He had breakfast alone, made by Aunt Oliver, then called a taxi to go to Aunt Lisa's house.
He didn't tell Aunt Lisa ahead of time and didn't bring any gifts. It felt just like going home. He just wanted to see them before the New Year.
Jenny was probably missing him a lot.
"Ding dong."
A few seconds passed. No answer.
He rang the bell again. Aunt Lisa, wearing an apron, opened the door.
"William?"
She clearly didn't expect to see him, and looked happily surprised.
William grinned. "Aunt Lisa."
She glanced behind him and, seeing no one else, waved him in. "Come on in, I was just making breakfast."
After William stepped inside, Aunt Lisa called out into the house, "Jenny, get up! Look who's here!"
"Ugh…" Jenny's groggy voice came from the room, full of reluctance.
After changing his shoes, he saw the piano still sitting in the living room.
Well, of course—it had only been a week since he left. What could have changed?
He sat down in front of the piano and tried pressing a few keys, playing the notes he'd just seen on the staff floating above Aunt Lisa's head. What came out was a cheerful tune.
It seemed Aunt Lisa really was happy about William's visit.
Maybe the piano woke her up—Jenny came out of her room in white floral pajamas, rubbing her eyes.
"Good morning."
"Mm… good morning." Jenny answered politely, still half-asleep.
She rubbed her eyes again, and finally, notes appeared on the staff above her head.
Dun-dun! Dun-dun-dun!
William decided to just follow her staff and play. It started with urgency, then excitement, and then pure joy.
"Wil… Wil… Wil—"
Jenny was so excited she couldn't even finish her sentence.
She waited until William stopped playing before shouting, "Brother William!"
Her voice rang loud and clear.
After being apart for so long, the little girl didn't even want to eat breakfast without holding onto William.
After a brief chat with Aunt Lisa and her family, he accepted her invitation to have lunch at their house.
"I'll keep teaching you to play Canon in D, okay?"
William gently patted Jenny's head—he still hadn't forgotten his promise.
"Okay!"
Jenny happily agreed, spending a pleasant morning learning as William guided her hands on the keys.
At lunch, Aunt Lisa asked about William's New Year plans.
For certain reasons, he didn't know where his family on Blue Star was, so there was no hometown for him to return to.
When she heard he wasn't going back, Aunt Lisa invited him to celebrate the New Year with them.
They were warm and welcoming, but William still felt it wasn't right for him to go, so he declined.
For the first time, he felt a strange emotion.
On the ride back, he idly strummed the air—no sound came out. It was as if the whole world had drifted away from him.
That feeling… was loneliness.
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