Wen Xishu didn't know how to offer comfort, because people who lack emotions probably can't understand comfort.
He thought for a moment and said:
"Continue."
Horn nodded:
"However, I know what expression to use when interacting with everyone. Although I can't feel it, I can understand the logic and imitate it."
After Horn finished speaking, he looked at Wen Xishu with a very understanding smile.
At that moment, Wen Xishu noticed that Horn's eyes were utterly calm, without any hint of a smile.
All his expressions were merely changes on the surface.
Horn continued:
"Mr. Wen Xishu, what do you think is the predicament we are facing?"
Wen Xishu was not to be outdone:
"I have contacted others and thought... the places in our lives where we feel uncomfortable—have all been optimized in this world."
"Sickly old people are cared for, black muscular men are no longer despised, those without love have a partner obsessed with them, and those without money and power have gained both."
"Everything appears perfect, if not for losing something extremely significant and noticeable... Perhaps it is the opposite sex, I think the essence of these Evil Land fragments is to keep us here."
Horn clapped:
"Very good, you have thought more deeply than I have."
"The reason I read this book is because the word 'mother' in it immediately caught my eye."
"Animals have males and females, there are significant physiological differences between them, yet humans seemingly have no such distinction..."
"But look, the clothing styles here still show two factions, one closer to our normal aesthetics."
"The other appears... delicate, charming, and cute. Though I find it unappealing, it seems many in this world enjoy it."
"So I am wondering, is there no opposite sex in this world? What we've lost may indeed be the opposite sex."
"Perhaps there is a specific term, like male corresponding to female, and man corresponding to..."
Horn, like Wen Xishu initially, still had a headache. He pressed his temple:
"The answer is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't figure it out."
Wen Xishu said:
"Maybe the answer is not important, after all, it's just a designation."
Horn nodded:
"Yes, it is not important. What matters is how to break free from here, how to detach from the rules of losing something."
"In this regard, it seems only you, Mr. Wen Xishu, can do it."
Wen Xishu did not ask why.
Horn directly said:
"You can see the synchronization rate and the world's dissonance. But I can't, and you must have verified with others, proving that only you can see it."
Wen Xishu nodded:
"Yes."
Horn continued:
"So, synchronization means assimilation. When the synchronization rate reaches one hundred percent—it means you are one hundred percent assimilated."
"You will feel that everything is reasonable, everything is acceptable."
"Soldiers, old people, those who crave power, seem to be assimilated."
"But Mr. Wen Xishu, you seem not to be. Can I understand that in your world, there is someone of the opposite sex you love deeply? So much so that you loathe this world."
Wen Xishu shook his head:
"No. I am very sure there is no such presence in my life. I don't need such a presence at all. But I do not accept my cognition being tampered with."
Horn nodded:
"Actually, I feel the same. But unfortunately, I don't have the motivation to change everything, so I gradually accepted this world."
"I find the loss of that thing neither here nor there, but I hope I can accept it without developing a significant sense of dissonance to change everything."
Wen Xishu felt it was very contradictory. If the loss is neither here nor there, for someone without emotions, why not go along with it?
Wen Xishu voiced his doubt:
"Why don't you want to accept it?"
Horn said:
"At the beginning, the Ark... was not as cold-blooded as it is now, there was no such clear class distinction either."
"The captain gradually made people numb."
The topic shifted, but Wen Xishu listened attentively.
Horn said:
"At first, the captain deprived the elderly of their benefits."
"Everyone thought, the elderly, being old is already troublesome, it doesn't matter. Although many people, out of humanitarianism, believed the elderly should be cared for..."
"But as the propaganda that the elderly should not bother young people grew louder—the elderly gradually began to be abandoned."
"Before the ecological recycling system and infinite energy were constructed, many elderly... were just energy."
Wen Xishu was slightly moved.
Horn continued:
"Later, when there were no more elderly, it started with the patients."
"The old, weak, sick, and disabled... then the middle-aged, then the poor, and finally the young."
"Because people needed to survive, because the loss of one group's interests did not affect other groups... many people stayed silent."
"But when it was their turn, they suddenly realized—there was no one left to speak for them."
"The Ark, from initially loving everyone, preserving the last civilization for humanity, turned into a completely 'survival of the fittest' brutal environment."
Wen Xishu understood:
"You think the Evil Land fragments are the same as the Ark?"
Horn clapped again, expressing his admiration for Wen Xishu:
"Yes, I said all this because—the things discarded at the beginning are all insignificant."