The Color of Screenshots

Old Li was a senior employee of the "Color Analysis Department," or rather, a former senior employee. He was responsible for analyzing the color changes of phone screenshots, the company's most important business. Since the iOS18 update, phone screenshots gradually turn redder with usage time, and the depth of the red color is actually linked to an employee's "contribution value." The deeper the red, the faster the promotion, and the bigger the bonus.

When Old Li first joined the company, he thought it was a stupid rule. He tried to find the logic behind it, but was told, "Logic? Isn't this technological progress? Who can explain quantum mechanics? Just accept it." He wanted to argue, but seeing his colleagues frantically taking screenshots, he swallowed his words.

Every day, the office was filled with a faint sense of anxiety. Everyone was constantly taking screenshots, their phone screens flashing an eerie red light, like a giant breeding farm, and they were the livestock waiting to be harvested. Xiao Wang, a new intern, even turned on a small heater in the restroom to make his phone screenshots turn red faster. When the manager found out, instead of being criticized, he was promoted to "Color Accelerator," a model for the entire company to learn from. Old Li scoffed at this, believing it was an insult to humanity and a desecration of technology.

Old Li’s phone screenshots always showed a light pink color, neither hot nor cold. He tried taking screenshots like crazy, and tried all sorts of weird methods to make it turn red, but all to no avail. His path to promotion was thus stagnant, and his salary remained the same. His colleagues in the department all looked at him with strange eyes, as if he were an alien. Some even secretly asked him, "Old Li, are you dissatisfied with the company? Your screenshot color is so light, are you trying to rebel?"

Old Li always smiled, without explaining. He just thought it was too absurd that human wisdom was being used to evaluate the color change of a phone screen, and that it was used to distinguish between different classes of people. It was like holding a competition of who had the greatest lung capacity to decide who became president, so ridiculous.

"Old Li, your color analysis index is at the bottom again for this month's performance assessment," the manager said with a fake smile, handing him a pay cut notice. "The company has decided to transfer you to the 'Discarded Color Recycling Department' to collect and recycle discarded screenshots."

Old Li took the notice. He had long expected this day. He did not argue or feel frustrated, just calmly said, "Okay."

"Aren't you going to ask why we're transferring you to the 'Discarded Color Recycling Department'?" The manager seemed surprised by Old Li's reaction.

"No need," Old Li said, "I know, there, no one should be taking screenshots."

Old Li was transferred to the "Discarded Color Recycling Department" in the company's basement. It was dark and damp, filled with all kinds of discarded phones and screenshots. His daily job was to organize these discarded screens, and wipe off the red and blackened screenshots with a special liquid, restoring them to their original white color.

One day, while cleaning an old phone, he found a special screenshot on the screen. This screenshot was of a color he had never seen before - pure white.

Old Li was stunned. He had never seen such a color, so pure, like a blank sheet of paper, without any impurities. He carefully held the phone, walked to the brightest place, and examined it carefully. He finally understood that this pure white was not produced by the phone itself, but the original color of the screenshot. It had never been polluted, never been changed, like a person who always kept a childlike heart.

He remembered when he first joined the company, he had also had this kind of color. But in this crazy screenshot war, he had gradually been dyed other colors, becoming anxious, numb, and like everyone else.

Old Li suddenly laughed, laughed loudly, and in the dark basement, the laughter sounded a bit strange. He realized that he had been searching for an answer, an answer to prove that he had not been assimilated. And this answer was right in front of him, in this discarded phone, in this pure white color.

He took out his own phone, opened the screenshot function, and aimed at the pure white screenshot, pressing the screenshot button. His phone screen flashed, and then, slowly, turned pure white.

In the office, everyone's phone screens began to flash, the red gradually faded, and finally they all turned pure white. People stopped taking meaningless screenshots, looked up, and stared blankly around. They forgot the color of their phone screenshots, forgot promotions, forgot bonuses, they just stared blankly at each other.

After that day, the company's business completely stopped. No one analyzed screenshot colors anymore, and no one went crazy trying to make their phones turn red. The company fell into silence, like a giant tomb.

As for Old Li, he was still in the basement, organizing those discarded phones, wiping off those once crazy screenshots. He was still laughing, but his laughter had become calmer, and deeper. He knew that some colors could never be changed. He knew that even in the midst of an absurd torrent, one could still maintain the pure white of their heart.