William Clark stared at the screen, at a 3D, lifelike, 21-year-old Charlotte Reed, and couldn’t help but get stirred up.

Especially since she was only wearing underwear, it made him even more agitated, even giving rise to some dangerous thoughts!

You know, if I made a porn site, rounding up all the male and female celebrities from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Europe, America—each with their own section... That’s just asking to get 404’d!!!

He sighed, admiring those peerless beauties from the last century, when he suddenly discovered a [splicing] function.

So, sighing even more, he started messing around: “Qingxia’s eyebrows, Zhilin’s eyes, Jiaxin’s nose, Zuxian’s face, Manyu’s collarbone, Zimei’s chest...”

“Wow!”

Lost in his own world, he suddenly turned his head and met Evelyn’s unabashed gaze.

“Uh...”

“No need to explain, no need to explain!”

She waved her hand, her face tilting upward.

Chapter 8: I Am Like a God

Three hours later.

Evelyn was chewing on a tube-shaped snack like it was toothpaste, dragging over a small stool to sit side by side, pointing and clicking like an internet-addicted girl: “The nostrils are too big! Make the eyebrows thinner!”

“Wouldn’t phoenix eyes look better?”

“Make the neck longer, long necks are pretty.”

After much effort, William Clark scrutinized the screen over and over, shaking his head: “Still not right, doesn’t feel right.”

“I agree, start over.”

So they deleted the character and started sculpting the eighth face.

Tinkering back and forth, perfection and flaw were always just a hair’s breadth apart. Clearly, just a tiny tweak would do it, but after changing it, it looked worse; restoring it, it still didn’t look good.

“Don’t rush, I spent three days on my first character. Try some templates.”

“I’ve tried them all, but it always feels a bit off... Hey, looks like there’s no [Taoist].”

William Clark casually clicked on [Taoist].

The character appeared.

“This...”

For a second, he felt his heart skip a beat.

“I’ll tweak it.”

With the focus and precision he used for writing his thesis, he carefully drew the character’s eyebrows, reddened the lips, slightly lifted the corners of the eyes, then outlined the neck, waist, arms, and back...

It was as if a magical hand was exploring and molding, finally bringing the character to life.

“How is it?”

“Not bad!”

Evelyn liked it too, saying, “If you think it’s good, next step is to pick a voice.”

Choosing a voice was much easier. William Clark picked a voice, then it was time to name her. A female Taoist needed a fitting name, so after thinking for a moment, he typed three characters: Ashley Brooks.

Finally, he clicked confirm, and the character was generated.

On the screen stood a young Taoist priestess, about twenty years old, indistinguishable from a real person, blinking as she looked at him.

Blue cloth Taoist robe, white socks and cloud shoes, hair coiled into a bun, with a wooden hairpin stuck in it. Her small face and slender figure were thin but not bony, a stretch of snowy, delicate neck emerging from the straight-collared robe, upright like a lotus stem.

The most special thing was her eyes.

Her gaze was as clear as water, with the purity of someone secluded deep in the mountains, untouched by the world; yet there was also a unique spirit, a natural grace, a cultivated bearing—between her brows and eyes, one could forget the mundane.

“Little Taoist?” William Clark called.

“I’m here!”

A delicate yet crisp voice, like spring water dancing in a mountain stream.

When people talk about beauties from the 80s and 90s, they always say each had their own charm, all stunning in their own way.

When it comes to beauties after the 2000s, though the quality dropped sharply, you could still find a few representative, memorable ones.

But as for today’s beauties... are there even any left?!

Honestly, William Clark really couldn’t tell the young idols apart—guys all looked about the same, girls too.

The decline in aesthetics among film and TV workers, bottomless capital hyping people up, unscrupulous media exaggeration, celebrities’ active pandering, and the increasingly childish, brainless fans... all trapped people’s appreciation of others on a path called “aesthetic freedom in name, but actually utter nonsense,” with no turning back.

Take “mud idol” fans, for example.

What’s a “mud idol”? It’s “anti-Su”—fans who like feminized male idols, call them “wife,” and imagine them as all sorts of weak, submissive types. Even if the idol is 190cm tall, with a buzz cut and a beard, fans will still cup their faces and sigh:

“Oh my, he’s so cute when he looks weak and shy!”

But the character William Clark created—she was a real beauty.

Evelyn was very satisfied too, saying, “Try loading her into a scene.”

“Like this?”

“Yes!”

He opened the scene settings, found a [courtyard] asset, and clicked load. The screen changed instantly, and the little Taoist priestess was now in a quiet, ancient courtyard.

There was an old tree in the yard, a cliff on one side, and a pool of water below. Vines and moss grew on the cliff, and a clear spring gushed out, pouring into the pool.

Under the tree was a large bluestone. He opened the action settings and chose [sit cross-legged].

The little Taoist priestess lightly leapt onto the bluestone and sat cross-legged.

“Preview dynamic effects?”

“Yes!”

In an instant, the whole scene came alive.

There was wind, the vines on the cliff swayed gently, the spring began to flow, tinkling. The light became soft and natural, illuminating the ancient courtyard, where a little Taoist priestess sat cross-legged on the bluestone, perfectly at one with her surroundings...