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After putting away the small notebook filled to the brim with writing and checking the photos taken during the finals, Charlotte nodded in satisfaction. Now, the final report for Teyvat's Second Bubble-Blowing Competition was complete.
But there was still one more thing.
The bustling crowd had not fully dispersed yet. The contestants were in no hurry to leave, and neither were the friends who had come to cheer them on.
Charlotte quickly spotted Victor Wang in his usual spot and also noticed an additional figure—someone who had not appeared a few days ago.
"Miss Lisa, are you here to watch the competition as well?"
"Just passing by."
After exchanging brief greetings, Charlotte tentatively asked Victor Wang, "Can the special interview we agreed on earlier proceed as planned?"
Having only been greeted and then immediately hearing that question, Lisa instantly realized what Charlotte was worried about and smiled. "So, you already have an appointment. In that case, you can't go back on it."
Paimon and the others were already used to Charlotte's interviews, and Lisa did not seem to have anything else to attend to. Victor Wang said his goodbyes and followed Charlotte to a nearby café.
In the past, it had always been a verbal Q&A, but this time the questions seemed to be more numerous. After taking their seats, Charlotte took out her notebook and spent half a minute organizing her thoughts.
"I have a reading list here. Sorted by release date, it looks like this:
[Tales from the Box], [Alice in Wonderland], [Romeo and Juliet], [Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai], [Butterfly Lovers], [The Chronicles of Shenzhou's Broken Sword], [The Merchant of Fontaine], [That Time Someone Reincarnated as a Slime], [The Eminence in Shadow], [The Master of Calamity!], [Romance of the Three Kingdoms], [The Qin Empire], [Thirty-Six Stratagems], [The Art of War], [Strategic Arts], [Hamlet], [A Midsummer Night's Dream], [Sherlock Holmes].
If we break it down by subgenre, this list includes fairy tales, stage plays, traditional opera, light novels, novels, military treatises, and detective fiction.
The terrifying part is that in each category, these books almost all rank among the top of the bestseller lists.
Even more terrifying is that this entire list is the work of a single person.
And the most terrifying of all is that so many high-quality works emerged from nothing within just two and a half years.
Mr. Victor—or rather, Teacher Dust—anyone who truly understands the full scope of your works cannot help but be amazed. And that brings me to my question: how is it that your works can span so many genres and still achieve such tremendous success?"
"Have I really written that many books already..." Hearing Charlotte recite such a long list of titles, Victor Wang felt a surge of emotion. He chose his words carefully. "I think there are probably two main reasons."
"First, without a doubt, is talent. Although I really don't want to admit it, these books aren't something I could have written through hard work alone."
"Second, I read a lot and have a good memory. Through accumulation, good words, good sentences, and good stories I've encountered in the past can all become something I can use one day."
The talent referred to the innate ability of a transmigrator—[Borrowed Wisdom]. The reading volume came from his time on Earth. As for the memory, that was genuinely his own. All in all, it was a rather honest answer, wasn't it?
He had even let slip that these books were not truly his own, yet there was no way anyone would suspect him.
The wisdom of language was truly miraculous.
"Hmm... reading a lot is easy enough to understand, but not many people would deliberately mention having a good memory. Does that mean you're very confident in your memory?"
"Of course. If necessary, I can even recite the [Teyvat Universal Dictionary] backward."
Charlotte puffed her cheeks innocently, rummaged through her backpack, and placed a book open on the table. With utmost seriousness, she said, "I actually brought the [Teyvat Universal Dictionary]. Please, go ahead?"
Victor Wang raised an eyebrow and calmly began reciting strings of sentences that, to bystanders, sounded inverted and obscure. Charlotte's eyes grew wider and wider.
"Alright, alright, it's actually true!"
"There's no benefit in lying to you."
"That's not true at all. So many people try to gain a good reputation among the uninformed by deceiving or bribing newspapers—they'll resort to any means necessary. If you haven't seen it yourself, you wouldn't dare believe it... alright, alright, let's get back to your works."
Swallowing back her complaints about those people, Charlotte continued, "[Romance of the Three Kingdoms], as a work of fictionalized history, constructs an incredibly vivid world through its schemes and battles. Some of its characters leave such a deep impression that readers can't forget them for a long time. As the author, which character from this book do you like the most?"
Victor Wang answered smoothly, "My personal preference has no meaning. That question should be left to the readers."
"Then what about [Hamlet]? Some say Hamlet's revenge succeeds, and despite the heavy cost, it is deeply satisfying. Others say that in pursuing revenge, Hamlet paid far too much for something not worth it. Some say Hamlet is brave and intelligent, while others say he is indecisive and hesitant. How do you view Hamlet?"
"There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand readers' eyes. Even my own view of Hamlet changes at different times. That question is very hard to answer."
Seeing that Victor Wang did not want to directly answer these questions, Charlotte helplessly changed the topic. "In [Sherlock Holmes], the scene in [The Final Problem] where Holmes and Moriarty fall together into the waterfall is incredibly nerve-wracking. If one didn't know there were many more chapters afterward, it would feel as though you truly intended to kill Holmes right there, wouldn't it?"
Be more confident—the original author really did intend to kill him there. As for the later resurrection...
Victor Wang chuckled. "Readers must always remember two laws: the no-injury-with-smoke law and the survival-after-falling law."
He further explained, "Generally speaking, in fictional combat scenes, if there's a lot of smoke obscuring vision, important characters often won't suffer fatal injuries. Similarly, if a character falls off a cliff or jumps into a river and no body is found, there's a high probability that they aren't actually dead. That said, if you trust these two laws too much, an author might just turn them against you and stab you in the back."
"So that's how it is... you should reserve your doubts until the truth is confirmed..."
Charlotte nodded deeply in agreement as she carefully noted down the two laws, then asked, "Regarding military treatises... it's said that in order to write them, you simulated a vast alternate world in your mind. [The Qin Empire], [Romance of the Three Kingdoms], [Thirty-Six Stratagems], [The Art of War], and [Strategic Arts] all come from that world. Is that true?"
Victor Wang took a deep breath and answered slowly, "To me, that world almost truly exists."
Although he did not answer directly, it was effectively an affirmation. Charlotte understood his meaning.
"The final question regarding to you Teacher Dust: what are you planning to write next, and when can everyone look forward to seeing it?"
"Haha, I don't know that myself... there are still so many things worth writing. Recently, I've been working on a travelogue of Teyvat, but that book can't be written unless the journey reaches its end. As for other works, we'll see how things go."
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