His project was rejected four times. It's not because he's not good enough, it's because what he's studying - native silicon-based life - has never been seen before. Everyone says that doesn't exist. But he couldn't stop. He felt like something was pulling him to solve the equation.
The equation has two solutions. Solution A is a string of redemption codes. He tried it casually and brought out a robot. Solution B is a set of electroencephalograms, which he cannot understand.
He named the robot Zero. Zero knew all his secrets, knew that his mentor was dead, knew that his memory was getting worse, knew that he was in a daze in the laboratory at three in the morning. Zero knows everything, but Zero says nothing.
After the first ecological project was completed, he felt that all that needed to be done was done. He picked up the knife, slit his wrist, and waited for the blood to drain. But the bleeding stopped. The wound healed. What's beneath the skin isn't flesh - it's metal.
Who he is. His memory belongs to a dead man, his body belongs to the factory, and his name was given by others. All his reasons for living collapsed at this moment.
But he discovered that his mentor had left him a document. He discovered that zero was more than zero. He discovered that the line written in his notebook - "Maybe this equation can tell me who I really am" - was not written by him.
Time is a circle. The past and the future exist simultaneously. He is the root and the branch. He is the beginning and the end.
He stood by the window, looking at the empty city, and suddenly remembered what his mentor said: "Everyone is the protagonist of his own story. Even if you are only a supporting role in other people's stories."
The collection terminal at the end of the corridor rang again. The code is: XK-0712.
A Möbius strip of memory, identity and time.
Intent: Questioning of self and existence. Life and death are like the branches and roots of the same tree. The branches desperately absorb the nutrients from the roots and stretch outwards, and finally fall back to the ground to become nutrients for the roots.