A voice came from inside the space saying, "The thermostat has been activated. The thermostat has been activated successfully."

I glanced sideways at the indoor temperature displayed on the instrument next to me. The temperature was rising at a visible rate, from below ten degrees Celsius to above twenty degrees Celsius before gradually stabilizing.

The middle-aged man let out a long breath and slumped to the ground, as if to continue his unfinished dream.

But the next second, it seemed like he sat down on something he shouldn't have, and he sat up abruptly, frantically pacing around in the cramped space crammed with various instruments, muttering to himself as he did so:

"It's over, it's over, it's all over. I'm not dreaming, it's all real, it's all over!"

After scratching his head and turning around for a while, he suddenly smiled and said:

"You all think I'm wrong, but reality has proven my theory right!"

His joy lasted no more than three minutes before the middle-aged man muttered dejectedly to himself:

"So what if I'm right? It's irrelevant now. The whole world is gone! What's the point of me living alone? Oh well, my theory still has one last step to prove, so I'll complete that proof myself!"

As he spoke, the man walked to the laptop, used his right hand to adjust his slipping glasses, and through the lenses, one could see the resolute look in his eyes at that moment.

At this moment, life and death were no longer at stake; rather, a mission or responsibility compelled the middle-aged man to complete the next task. Accompanied by the clattering of the computer keyboard, piercing alarms began to sound all around.

"Warning! Energy saving mode is being activated! Countdown: ten, nine, eight..."

As the countdown began, the man strode to a device resembling a space capsule, opened the transparent hatch, and lay down inside. The hatch then closed.

The instruments in the space capsule, which could only accommodate one person, began to flash, and an unknown liquid began to be injected into it. The middle-aged man lay calmly and motionless. As the countdown reached "zero," the entire space was plunged into darkness.

The towering mountain peaks, with faint chanting of Buddhist hymns emanating from their summits, suggest a gathering to celebrate something.

Not far from the foot of the mountain, on a low hillside, there is a dilapidated little thatched hut. The occasional coughing sounds inside seem to tell passersby that someone still lives there.

With a creak, the door of the thatched hut was pushed open, and a man dressed in plain clothes, leaning on a cane, with gray hair, walked out.

If it weren't for his broad shoulders and strong arms, which proved that he was in his prime, you would mistake him for an elderly man in his sixties just by his head of silver hair.