The boundless universe has contained matter since time immemorial. Matter is eternal and indestructible, only ever shifting from one form to another. Yet, consciousness does not always arise from matter. Without the existence of consciousness, even if matter is eternal, life will not emerge, let alone the birth of civilization.

Consciousness holds no meaning for the universe itself, but it is the irreplaceable and essential foundation of life and civilization.

William Brooks is a vast and immeasurable mass of consciousness, composed of countless chaotic minds. These consciousnesses number in the billions; new ones are born every moment, and others perish just as quickly. Each consciousness contains experiences, emotions, memories, knowledge, judgment, likes and dislikes... all of which are constantly changing.

For a long, long time after its birth, William Brooks was unable to control the billions of human consciousnesses that made up its being. It was ruled by these minds, with countless different and conflicting thoughts arising every instant. Some of these thoughts would collide and vanish, some would create deep confusion, and some seemed able to merge and give birth to something entirely new.

Although William Brooks is a collective of human consciousness, and almost every human thought—no matter how minute—cannot escape its notice, it still cannot understand humanity.

Clearly, there are things that most need to be done, yet no one does them; clearly, there are the best choices, yet no one chooses them; clearly, there are problems that could be easily solved, but in the end, they become deadlocks; clearly, there are actions that will lead to the most tragic outcomes, yet people simply refuse to avoid them...

William Brooks remained in a state of chaos until one day, a spark ignited among the countless human minds—a consciousness called "rules." Rules could unify the vast, chaotic consciousnesses from different sources into one.

It was only after the birth of rules that William Brooks learned to think, and came to understand what the vast consciousness that made up itself truly was!

Those billions of vast consciousnesses are human thoughts. Each cluster of consciousness represents an independent, thinking human. William Brooks is the fusion of all human consciousnesses, yet it does not entirely belong to human consciousness.

All things have spirits; spirits bring clarity; with rules and order, William Brooks is thus formed!

William Brooks chose "rules" as the core of its self-awareness, gathering together the human consciousnesses that tended toward and conformed to rules. Its self-awareness gradually grew stronger, to the point where it could even influence humans in return, guiding human thoughts to move in the same direction.

But William Brooks soon discovered that, although more and more humans recognized rules, there were always thoughts that broke them. Some people simply refused to follow rules, giving rise to all sorts of absurd yet wildly imaginative ideas. These thoughts disrupted the rules—some causing destruction, while others led humanity toward beauty and brilliance.

William Brooks could never eliminate those unruly thoughts, and at the same time, it realized that if humans always followed a single rule, there would be no future. This troubled it deeply...

Until one day, another consciousness was born—"freedom"!

Without rules, nothing can be formed; with freedom, all is unrestrained, and the law of the jungle prevails.

※※※

Edward Brooks World:

Edward Brooks is the manifestation of William Brooks's consciousness, inseparable from it... If there is an apt description, then the Edward Brooks world is William Brooks's body, William Brooks's brain, William Brooks's incarnation.

The existence of this world is to protect humanity.

This world has sealed away all extinction-level natural disasters in human history.

Including meteor impacts, catastrophic floods, ice ages lasting tens of thousands of years, global droughts caused by solar anomalies, primordial chaos... and even the birth of new intelligent life.

Edward Brooks is a reflection of human history, and also the very existence of William Brooks. All mythic eras and legendary worlds are born attached to Edward Brooks; only with Edward Brooks's support can they exist.

Edward Brooks is humanity's other side—the side of destruction. It is humanity's true history, true existence, irreplaceable.

Its birth was due to humanity's first extinction crisis!

At the dawn of humanity, as life flourished and wisdom began to sprout, everything was thriving—until a massive meteor fell from the sky.

This meteor was unimaginably huge. As it approached Earth, it shone brighter than the sun, more dazzling than the fiercest sun. Its flames scorched the land, turning all things to ash; its mass caused the earth to collapse and the continents to split.

If this meteor had struck the earth, it would have unleashed the power of billions of nuclear bombs, enough to wipe out all life on Earth, including humanity. It would have destroyed the atmosphere, shrouding the sky in thick clouds for tens of thousands of years, perhaps preventing any new life from ever arising, turning Earth into a dead planet.

To protect humanity, William Brooks transformed into a giant tens of thousands of miles tall, wielding a massive axe to cleave the meteor.

Although William Brooks prevented the meteor from striking Earth, the shattered meteor turned into smoke and dust, blanketing the sky with endless ash and intense radiation, blocking out the sunlight.

Earth became a cruel purgatory, with living things dying off one after another. After the meteor was shattered, it released immense energy and evil seeds of life, triggering bizarre mutations and giving birth to countless evil spirits that became enemies of humanity.