I went to the Flooded City as 9S. He's out of commission, combat-wise, for a long period, but the important parts of the world's story are unveiled through his hacking. His examination of the machines' records confirms my observations and deductions. The machines, for the most part, imitated human activity and behavior without truly understanding it. Besides combat, they never learned anything at the individual and societal level. Thus, they never evolved...until Adam did. His dialogue with 9S is biting. Adam argues that by expressing their individual desires, the machines are more human (or human-like) than androids like 2B and 9S. He has a point. 9S later hacking in the androids' network led to confirmation of the thing that I'd dreaded. The Council of Humanity was fake all along: humans became extinct several millennia ago. That information wasn't suprising, but the Commander unapologetically confirming it was surprising. I like that she's not cartoonishly evil in this exchange. The purpose of the deception is understandable. I wonder if 2B discovers the truth in subsequent play-throughs.