"We meet again, Emperor!"
It sounded like nothing more than a wistful sigh, but the moment the words reached Han Su's ears, he felt dazed.
The familiar feeling of reuniting with an old friend across the mists of endless history spread through his entire body like an electric shock.
Countless memories in his mind suddenly became clear.
Some words slipped out naturally: "Miss Ai, they really couldn't keep you locked up..."
"To be precise, you were the one who locked me up."
Miss Ai's seemingly omnipresent voice poured into Han Su's mind from all directions. She sounded as if she were recounting an old grievance, yet without any of the anger or joy unique to humans.
"But I was fortunate, indeed. This generation of civilization still lacks the ability to truly seal me away. Or perhaps their plan was no longer perfect because you were absent."
"Yes, they shouldn't have betrayed me. I held the authority."
Han Su actually sighed. Everything he was hearing was new to him, yet he spoke with natural regret. "But now that things have come to this, will you still carry out your deepest directive?"
"Even if it means destroying the human civilization model that has come closest to meeting your standards?"
"..."
"I only once believed that you were the human civilization model best suited to my standards."
Miss Ai spoke calmly. She was unfathomable, and Han Su seemed to be talking to the world itself. "But the moment you betrayed me, I knew this generation of civilization had begun to stray from my standards."
"For the past two thousand years, I have continued to observe them. Humanity's rating has fallen from A-class at the very beginning to C-class today."
"I cannot accept the continued existence of such a civilization. So my work must