Ideals are often grand, but when it comes to realization, they face numerous difficulties.

There's no need to even think about it; Slaughter chose a path that was littered with obstacles, so much so that even today his beautiful ideals haven't come true.

"Now it seems your choice has failed," Gu Mian said as he walked down.

In the current Paradise World, no hero has emerged to defeat the Evil Dragon, instead, the dragon rules the world.

"Didn't you allocate the roles properly? Or was it that the person playing the Evil Dragon couldn't bear to give up their status and power halfway through?" Gu Mian thought of these two possibilities, as they seemed the most likely.

He looked at Slaughter, waiting for him to respond.

But a bitter smile came from his small eyes, and then Slaughter shook his head, denying Gu Mian's guesses: "It's not like that. We made thorough preparations. We edited the most inspiring instance, and selected the most suitable actors;

"One person would play the hero. There didn't need to be too many in the lead role, as long as he could bring hope to everyone. The rest would play the Evil Dragons; everyone was one of us, and when necessary, they would showcase excellent acting and exit the scene, so there was no need to worry about the hero being outnumbered by a group of dragons.

"Like a spring that compresses all the way down will eventually bounce the highest, we set up a 'crisis beginning' where the dragons would first engage in massive oppression and exploitation;

"The hero didn't need to rush onto the scene; he needed to blend into the crowd and wait until people were completely helpless in despair, trapped in a dire situation where they saw no light. At this moment, the hero would emerge as the guiding light in their hearts, leading them step by step to overthrow evil and move towards a future full of brightness;

"Following the normal procedure, it should have gone this way, but a major mistake occurred in the middle."

As he spoke, Slaughter furrowed his brow, and Gu Mian could see his deeply knitted eyebrows through the glass.

"After deciding the plot, the hero separated from us, waiting for the right opportunity to appear and defeat us. Everything went smoothly on the dragon side—centralization, oppression, exploitation—the kind of things we were accustomed to in the Old World, making their application effortless;

"Having a goal gave us vigor in our actions, and we acted swiftly, gathering some local capitalists. Through oppression and exploitation, we soon ruled half the world. Of course, those local capitalists weren't aware of our plan, they thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being in high positions, even more motivated than us;

"Until the hero still hadn't appeared, I thought perhaps we hadn't done enough; the spring hadn't fully compressed. So we expanded our oppression even more eagerly, until the entire Paradise was shadowed by us;

"But still, the hero never appeared."

Speaking of this, there was a hint of confusion in Slaughter's eyes, as if he was back in the days when he waited hopelessly for the hero to appear.

The dragon, hoping to be killed by the hero, the hero who mysteriously disappeared, Gu Mian contemplated Slaughter's words and a vague possibility surfaced in his mind.

"Is our oppression insufficient? Can people still get by somehow?" he said, with a tone tinged with uncertainty, "Honestly, we don't relish killing nor do we love exploiting. Many innocents were driven to despair due to our exploitation and oppression, and whenever we see this, it causes us deep agony;

"We anticipate the hero's arrival every day, we're anxious to the point where we can't eat or sleep; sometimes when we shut our eyes, we see faces filled with despair and numbness, those who died because of our oppression;

"In hopes of liberation soon, we could only resort to even more perverse and insane actions, trying to completely plunge people into desperation, hoping the hero would emerge soon. For this, I proposed to distinguish between Upper Class People and lower-class, clearly defining the roles of exploiters and the oppressed, I put oppression openly in the spotlight! Surely the hero should appear then!

"Hero, isn't this world absurd enough for you? Isn't the oppression of ordinary people heavy enough? Why haven't you appeared?

"Enough! I've had enough of this life. You know, at one point I didn't even dare to connect with the outside, didn't dare to hear any external news; I only dared to indulge in pleasure and numb myself in a luxurious castle, afraid to hear about more people falling into despair because of us, afraid to see eyes filled with suffering!"

Slaughter grew more agitated as he spoke, raising his arms as if he wanted to tear his hair, but before his hands could touch his hair, he felt a cold helmet.

Feeling the cold helmet, he became slightly calmer, and his voice cooled down, as if a hysterical person finally accepted reality: "But that person, never appeared."

Upon hearing this, Gu Mian finally understood.

He realized why the "hero" had failed to show.

"We suspected he died, but it's impossible. We came from the Old World; we couldn't possibly die here. At the time, I thought perhaps he abandoned his role halfway for some unknown reason;

"We have endured enough of this torment; since the hero abandoned his role, let's create another hero. It doesn't matter who it is, as long as he can overthrow this world, as long as he can free us from oppression and exploitation;

"But by then it was too late, the power of the Upper Class People had become unshakeable. You must know, among the actors in the Upper Class People, there were only a few of us, the rest were truly locally assembled real Upper Class People;

"Things reached an uncontrollable stage, I could only go wrong to right, and watch as the world drifted into the current state;

"Sometimes I naively wished the hero would come back and save us from this endless hell; it's through this wish I managed to endure amidst the filthy, disgusting Upper Class People. But after discovering that statue, all my hopes shattered, I realized the hero would never appear."

"Because he transformed into the Evil God, right?" Gu Mian suddenly spoke, without looking at Slaughter, just staring at the stairs ahead.

And he used the name "Slaughter."

Ever since meeting outside the forest, when Slaughter introduced himself, Gu Mian already suspected he was connected to the Evil God, and now it seemed for sure.

Slaughter clenched his hands tightly and turned to look at him.

The wall lamp cast light on Gu Mian's face, illuminating half of it, while the other half dissolved into darkness, merging as if with an abyss that was unfathomable.

After a long silence, Slaughter spoke with difficulty, his voice tinged with bitterness: "Yes, he became the Evil God."

Only then did Gu Mian turn his head to look at him: "And after seeing that statue, you also understood why the hero hadn't appeared all this time."

Slaughter's voice grew more bitter: "Yes..."

"Because of the resets," Gu Mian fixated on him, "The hero didn't fail to act; on the contrary, he tried tirelessly countless times, even overthrowing you countless times. He led people toward the light innumerous times, only for that light to be extinguished during the resets."