Why am I a villain and still have my own jokes?

"It is true that the only one who was sent back was Gao Zihang."

The person being questioned seemed to be unhurried. He stretched out his hand calmly and made a "please" gesture with his palm tilted.

"And Gao Zihang's actions: meeting 'us', becoming the new leader, preserving as much manpower as possible, and using space devices to store sufficient supplies... Isn't everything going according to plan and expectation?"

The woman snorted coldly, obviously not buying it:

"Plans and expectations? Our plans and expectations, or yours alone?

"Oh, you are the one in charge now, you have your own information source and your own thoughts, well, I have nothing to say!

"But don't forget why we started the retrospective plan with so much difficulty!

"It's to stop the corruption of the top brass at the base! It's to prevent the extinction of humanity caused by the invasion of alien technology thirty years ago!

"Do you think we are blind? Not to mention forty years ago, even if it was you thirty years ago, no, you now! Suppressing yourself to the first level of supernatural power, can you handle the beast tide like that 'Si Rui' did?

"It's not about 'escaping unscathed', it's about annihilating them all! That's a level three beast tide!"

"The only one sent back was Gao Zihang? Si Rui, you really know how to play word games now.

"Gao Zihang is the only person who can trace back time, but there are more people on that timeline than just those who can trace back time, is that what you mean?!

"But how dare you put such a dangerous variable in our last hope! He is an alien! Another Si Xingnan!

"The power they possess that transcends the constraints of rules and abuses the origin of the world will overdraw the life of this world!

"Have you been the new commander for so long that your brain has gone awry? If we let him act in the new timeline, then what's the point of launching this retrospective project?

"Will it destroy all of humanity faster than this timeline?!

At the end, the woman's anger seemed to have reached its peak. She picked up the only teacup on the table and threw it hard on the ground.

Unfortunately, the cup's material could not support the shattered state she had imagined. The high-density molecules instantly transformed into liquid, turning into a pool of transparent crystal mud on the ground, and then slowly returned to its original form.

——Not even a sound was made.

After a brief silence, Si Rui slowly said:

“I think you need to calm down first, Suxin.

"I want to correct one thing first. I never thought that it was the technological invasion thirty years ago that caused us to have to launch the Retrospector Project to save the situation from destruction today.

"That technological invasion only accelerated the process of destruction. The top brass in the past were already rotten to the core. Even without the new technology brought by Si Xingnan, they would always have a thousand ways... to cause the destruction of humanity."

As he spoke, he looked at the empty right sleeve of He Suxin, as if hinting at something.

He Suxin instantly understood what he was hesitating to say: long before the new technology came into being in early summer, she had already lost her entire right arm.

And this is obviously not a so-called "accident".

But he didn't say the harsh truth after all, and continued:

“Although we have officially determined that it is the alien technology that has caused the loss of the origin of the world and the collapse of time and space, humans will also be assimilated by the origin during the collapse and go to extinction.

"But... is it really like that? Is it because of the emergence of alien technology that the origin of the world began to be lost?

“In fact, wasn’t there already a sign of everything before Si Xingnan showed up?

“Only ten years have passed, and everyone has begun to take zombies, mutant plants, superpowers... these things for granted, and think that the new order is a natural progression.

“It seems that no one has ever studied that the evolution of the world had actually entered the countdown before the so-called zombie outbreak.

“Entropy is increasing rapidly, and the source energy is being lost abnormally.

“The appearance of zombies is, on the surface, an abnormal arrangement of genes, but in essence it is a temporary evolution of rules and means for the origin of the world to protect itself. It achieves the effect of energy reunion by mutating life forms to resist the trend of increasing entropy.

"If humans had united from the beginning, perhaps they could have survived this wave of energy turmoil, and the origin of the world could have been restored to the delicate balance of maintenance. Unfortunately, as long as humanity is a variable, the so-called unity at the beginning is just an unrealistic fantasy.

“Everything is predetermined. Without alien technology, the world will still go towards energy extinction, and humanity will be buried with it.

"And when the alien technology overturned the thatched hut on top of the ruins, you naturally regarded it as the culprit for the ruins? It's so ironic!

“This is a storm of destruction followed by construction. If it weren’t for the fact that heterogeneous technologies have accelerated the exploration of space-time concepts and the realization of scientific and technological achievements, we wouldn’t even have this so-called retrospective project.

"Besides, Gao Zihang's memories after his 'rebirth', the alien space device he carried with him, and the spiritual spring that enhanced his abilities and strengthened his body, which one of them didn't rely on alien technology? When I proposed so many insurance measures, didn't you all agree?

"Admit it, from the very beginning, the foundation of our plan was built on the aliens. Without the aliens, we would be truly helpless against the destruction of the world!"

He Suxin couldn't refute it, but these words obviously had a serious impact on her ideas. She just murmured:

"...You have read the information left by Si Xingnan. You have been completely brainwashed now."

"Okay, Su Xin, sit down. Although I have other reasons, I think I need to explain this to you first. 'Gao Zihang's actions did not deviate from our plan and expectations' - this is what we all think.

Si Rui shrugged.

“But do you really think that by relying on Gao Zihang to rebuild the base with past memories, we can turn the situation around and avoid destruction?

“It’s not the first day that you and I have known Gao Zihang. He just seems to be the most reliable among our candidates.

“But unfortunately, among our candidates, there is actually not a single reliable one.

"If Gao Zihang looked good before he was sent back, then what kind of person was Gao Zihang thirty years ago? Do I need to make an evaluation now?"

This was the first time Si Rui showed his true emotions in this conversation, so his tone was full of sarcasm. But he didn't say anything more, as if this was something everyone knew.

Perhaps finally believing that this was an open and honest conversation, He Suxin gradually calmed down, sat opposite Si Rui, and slowly responded:

"I don't think so. Maybe he's not... that perfect as a retrospective. But being a retrospective gives him enough advantages:

"He has unprecedented special abilities and the opportunity to start over. He has all the memories of his past successes and an ambition that is even more boiling than at the beginning."

"If he can really gather his team of psychics earlier, he will definitely be able to get to the core of the base earlier than you and make a judgment earlier. At least this is a good start.

"On the contrary, it's that... 'Si Rui', he is the biggest variable.

"Even if he doesn't have any alien technology, he still takes away Gao Zihang's prestige in the entire team. And this man's leadership and ambition should not be underestimated - more importantly, their philosophies are obviously not interoperable.

“Maybe you want to introduce a Plan B, but if this Plan B will destroy Plan A, what’s the point?”

But Si Rui responded calmly:

“I thought you wouldn’t be so optimistic after everything you’ve been through.

"Will all the psychic teams be the same? The original guards of the northern base were also psychic teams. Will you choose to join them just because they are stronger?

“You should realize more clearly that Gao Zihang has never been Plan A. If I didn’t need to lead the experiment here, Plan A should have been implemented by me going back to the past.

“But the fact is, you can’t even fully agree with my usual style of doing things. Do you think your past self would agree with Gao Zihang from thirty years ago?

"Is there any fundamental difference between the black market leaders and the guards thirty years ago? Weaker? Or more stupid? This is not an advantage.

"In addition to the data on the beast tide, you have also seen the latest situation. No one will be dissatisfied because something better replaces something that was not good in the original plan. You were much more honest in the past than you are now."

"But this is only for now! I didn't experience new technological changes in the past, so I naturally made such a judgment. But what about the future?! More importantly, our experimental data does not leave any room for an extra alien, not to mention such an extraordinary one--!"

[Ding ding ding! Ding ding ding——! Alarm! Alarm! The alien data filtering system is overloaded. The alien data filtering system is overloaded. Please handle it in time! Please handle it in time! ]

"Look! You know it! The amount of data brought by this retrospective is simply overloaded! Our filtering system will collapse! The entire space-time model may collapse!"

He Suxin stood up suddenly with a look of horror on her face.

However, Si Rui was not moved. He picked up the cup on the table and even took a sip of tea slowly before saying:

“If you don’t want the filtration system to fail, turn off the filtration system.”

"What did you say--!"

"This is the real reason I want to tell you today. You are right, Si Xingnan, the alien, is very scary. Although he is not the culprit of the destruction, he made full use of it to achieve his own goals. And when we try to survive, we are destined to step into his 'trap' step by step."

Before He Suxin could express her anger, Si Rui stood up, raised his head and said:

[Emperor Shu. Open the real-time data of the Retrospective Model, open the live view of the model operation, and grant the relevant data permissions to Dr. He Suxin.]

The artificial intelligence that just made the announcement responded to Si Rui's command:

【Voiceprint confirmation: Executive Officer Si Rui. Di Shu received the instruction, opened the real-time view of the model operation, and synchronized the data permissions with Dr. He Suxin.

[Retrospector model, running time 876 hours. Level 98.7 contact integrity 28.9%, level 15.2 space-time shock bearing limit margin %, level interface crack degree %.

[Please note that the current first-level interface crack is expanding and is close to the 20% warning value.

[The first phase of the repair plan for the model numbered YYZ01 in the database is running. Emperor Shu recommends starting the second phase to accelerate the repair. 】

He Suxin did not express her opinion immediately, but quickly browsed the data that had just been opened. As the reading progressed, her expression became more and more solemn:

"This is not something that happened in just one or two days... Maybe this model has had this problem from the beginning! Why has no one discovered it?!"

She didn't doubt that Si Rui had concealed the truth from everyone. Because although they had never talked about that topic, they all knew it. Introducing a new alien into Si Rui's body in another timeline actually meant that they killed Si Rui of that timeline with their own hands the moment the alien arrived.

Therefore, no matter what the purpose was, even if she doubted the other party's mental state, He Suxin would never doubt that the first person to make an actual "sacrifice" would betray their plan subjectively and fundamentally.