“May I ask a question? Consider it a reward for winning the endgame just now? Sure,” Emily Thompson replied.

Standing nearby, Ethan Clark heard this and dispersed the onlookers, allowing the two to talk in peace.

“Was that harmonica music just now played by you?” Brian Brooks asked.

Ethan Clark and Olivia Harris were clearly taken aback. They thought Brian Brooks would use the opportunity of winning the game to ask something important, but it turned out he was just asking about the tune?

The melody was beautiful and had never circulated outside, but it didn’t seem worth wasting such an important opportunity.

Emily Thompson looked up with a smile and said, “It was me. Why? Is this your first time hearing this melody?”

Brian Brooks thought for a moment and said, “It sounds wonderful.”

“Mm,” Emily Thompson nodded only after the crowd had dispersed and replied, “This piece was composed by the founder of our organization.”

Brian Brooks was stunned for a long time, unable to speak. He really wanted to say: I guess your founder might be from Earth!

And this founder seemed a bit shameless, passing off a song as his own work.

Wait, how long has Emily Thompson’s organization existed? He didn’t even know when that predecessor traveled here.

Brian Brooks asked again, “Could you sing the whole song for me? I’d like to hear it.”

Emily Thompson said, “The lyrics to this song aren’t very complete. Over the long years, things are always lost in the river of time.”

“That’s fine, I just want to listen,” Brian Brooks said. He wanted to confirm whether the lyrics were the same as on Earth.

Emily Thompson picked up the big cat from the table and held it in his arms. “Xiaoxiao, sing it for him.”

Olivia Harris: “Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, the fragrant grass stretches to the sky. The evening breeze brushes the willows, the flute’s sound fades, the sun sets beyond the mountains. To the ends of the earth, to the corners of the land, partings are often many...”

Emily Thompson smiled and said, “The line ‘partings are often many’ was added by later generations. It’s said that it wasn’t like this at first, but no matter how it’s amended, it always seems to miss something.”

After standing in silence for a long time, Brian Brooks suddenly said, “How about changing it to ‘half of close friends are gone’?”

“‘Half of close friends are gone’?” Emily Thompson was taken aback.

He didn’t know why, but he felt that only these five words truly matched the song.

Farewell after farewell, people are like the afterglow of the setting sun, close friends far away at the ends of the earth.

In youth, they drank heartily together, life burning bright as midsummer.

But who knows which farewell will be the last, never to meet again.

Emily Thompson seemed to be sitting in this prison, watching the orange-red sun sink below the horizon, while a friend waved to him from afar.

After waving, the friend turned and left.

“Thank you,” Emily Thompson said. “This addition is really good, as if it was always meant to be the original lyric.”

“You’re welcome,” Brian Brooks shamelessly accepted the compliment.

Emily Thompson said with some longing, “Sometimes I’m truly amazed. Our founder was a person of extraordinary talent. It’s said that back then, he composed countless songs and lyrics, each one a timeless classic. But when the last era ended, all were lost except for this one piece.”

“Only one left? That’s really a pity,” Brian Brooks thought to himself. Emily Thompson directly mentioned the previous era, so that predecessor must have crossed over a very, very long time ago.

An era isn’t a unit of time, but the beginning of a new civilization.

It seemed that humanity here had experienced the cycle of an era, though no one knew what had happened.

“There’s another one where only the name is known, but no one knows the melody. The elders searched many ruins but never found the score,” Emily Thompson shook his head.

Brian Brooks hesitated for two seconds, then tentatively asked, “What’s the name of that piece?”

Emily Thompson glanced at him and said, “Canon.”

If Brian Brooks had still doubted the founder’s identity as a traveler before, now he was completely certain...

Brian Brooks wondered, given Emily Thompson’s attitude toward the founder, if he gave him the score for Canon, could he exchange it for the path to transcendence?

He wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t even explain where he got the score.

Better wait. Right now, Brian Brooks hadn’t memorized Canon’s score anyway, so he’d weigh it carefully after returning.

After the conversation ended, Brian Brooks went straight through the crowd to the reading area. He really needed to catch up on sleep now, even if it meant skipping a meal.

But he had barely laid his head on the desk in the reading area when John Miller cautiously followed him over.

John Miller wanted to come over and talk to Brian Brooks, but was afraid of being seen, so he anxiously scratched his head outside the reading area.

Brian Brooks looked up at him expressionlessly and said, “Go take care of your own business first, don’t bother me.”

There were surveillance cameras everywhere in Prison No. 18. Even when inmates held welcome ceremonies for newcomers, they had to hide in their cells, so sleeping in the reading area was safe.

Brian Brooks actually wanted to chat with John Miller and figure out what plans the Qing family had.

But with his return imminent, he didn’t want any complications.

So he sent John Miller away for now, planning to consider how to get information from him after he returned.