“An incredible human being, someone I have never seen before.”

"I still don't understand how he replaced the mechanism. I can only vaguely guess that he used some tricky methods and took a different approach."

“I remember him telling me: If you can never win in the end, then you might as well blend in and become the referee yourself by going along with the crowd.”

"Without falling, without becoming, without understanding, there can be no change."

"Shortly after that, he became part of the mechanism, or rather, integrated into the mechanism."

"Unfortunately, he did not change the mechanism as he said he would; he was simply absorbed by it."

Lu Zhouming shrugged: "I think I remember something. It's like this, he was probably tricked. He underestimated the terror of the mechanism. He was like a human being melted in an ocean of strong sulfuric acid, leaving no trace of his body."

"Only some beings from too long ago still remember the traces of their existence and the things they did."

"You mean, he failed?"

Su Lin frowned, and Lu Zhouming slowly shook his head: "No, he succeeded."

"It worked?"

"Yes, he changed the status quo of humanity within the system. He turned an entire star field into a desolate wasteland and created a special cage for humanity, a cage that belongs only to humanity."

Lu Zhouming raised his hand and pointed at Su Lin's chest: "You are in the cage. The escape game is a cage for humanity, and also a means to protect humanity, making humanity an outlier under the mechanism."

"He protected you like endangered animals, but the so-called protection was only temporary."

Lu Zhouming was smiling, but there seemed to be a hint of mockery in his smile.

This perfect servant, who did not endorse his former master's actions, seemed to be merely making a meaningless and insignificant struggle in despair.

They sacrificed themselves, only to give their kind a brief respite. After this brief protection, they still had to face an even more hopeless future, and in this inescapable future, they continued to march toward extinction.

The outcome remained unchanged, so how can this be considered a meaningful act?