World-Class Project
Zhang Qiang wakes up at seven o'clock every morning, not by the alarm clock, but by the notifications pushed by the "project reminder" app he set. This app is mandatory for every employee to install, set up by his company to facilitate the smooth progress of the "world-class project".
Zhang Qiang still doesn't understand what exactly the so-called "world-class project" is. Inside the company, the narrative shifts; sometimes it's AI intelligent evolution, and other times it’s metaverse infrastructure. In short, they are all concepts that sound grand but are hard to grasp. His job, simply put, is to spend every day in front of the computer screen, navigating through obscure code and data streams, like playing a maze game that can never be solved.
Zhang Qiang, an ordinary programmer, once dreamed of changing the world with code. Now, he only hopes that his code won’t crash every day. Since joining this project, his life has completely fallen into a 996 pattern. Occasionally working overtime until late at night, he looks up at the stars in the sky and feels like they are mocking his incompetence.
His mother, a simple woman who runs a small convenience store in a county town, asks him every time they video chat: "Qiang, how is your 'world-class project' going? Is it very impressive?"
Zhang Qiang can only respond vaguely, not wanting his mother to know that the code he types every day might just be for testing server performance or, perhaps, has no practical meaning at all. He doesn't want his mother to know that his so-called "world-class project" is more like a large-scale group performance, where everyone is busy, but no one knows what they are busy with.
Once, Zhang Qiang couldn't help himself and posted a thread on the company's internal forum, anonymously complaining about the absurdity of the project. Unexpectedly, the post was deleted shortly after it was published, and a warning window popped up on his computer screen, stating: "It is forbidden to spread false information, interfere with project progress, and those who re-offend will bear the consequences."
Zhang Qiang sighed. He knew that in the face of this "world-class project," individual voices were insignificant. He could only choose silence and continue to code.
One day, the project manager suddenly announced that, in order to welcome the inspection of higher-level leaders, all employees needed to work overtime for three days and nights to ensure the smooth demonstration of the "world-class project".
Zhang Qiang stayed up for three consecutive nights. His eyes were bloodshot. He felt like a wind-up robot, constantly repeating the same movements. On the day of the demonstration, he and his colleagues stood in front of the huge screen, listening to the impassioned speeches of the leaders, watching the data stream constantly flashing on the screen, his heart numb.
After the demonstration, the leaders all said that the "world-class project" had achieved great success and thanked all the employees who participated in the project. Zhang Qiang looked at the smiles on the leaders' faces and suddenly felt that it was all a farce.
Back home, his mother video-chatted with him again. This time, she seemed unusually excited, saying: "Qiang, I saw it on the news. Your 'world-class project' was on TV! It's amazing! My son is so great!"
Zhang Qiang was stunned for a moment. He turned on the TV and saw the news broadcasting the report of the "world-class project". In the video, his company was portrayed as the leader of technological innovation, and they, the programmers, were molded into technological heroes.
Zhang Qiang laughed, a laugh that was somewhat helpless and somewhat bitter. He looked at his company on the TV screen and thought that this "world-class project" was indeed worthy of its name. It successfully turned everyone into a part of it, including him and his mother, including this society.
The next day, Zhang Qiang didn't wake up at seven o'clock as usual by the app notification, but slept until noon. He opened his phone and found that the app had an extra push: the "world-class project" had come to a successful conclusion, and all employees would have a three-day vacation.
Zhang Qiang looked at his phone screen and suddenly felt that the so-called "world-class project" was like a huge ghost, which, after consuming everyone's time and energy, finally disappeared silently, leaving only a void.
He decided to make himself a brunch. He opened the refrigerator and found it empty. He remembered what his mother had asked him in the video last night, "Qiang, how is your 'world-class project' going? Is it very impressive?" He smiled helplessly. Perhaps what he participated in was a really impressive project that could make everyone believe it actually existed. He picked up his phone and opened the food delivery app. Suddenly, he noticed a new feature on the food delivery app: all food delivery orders were automatically added with a "world-class project" surcharge. He looked at the surcharge on the screen and laughed again. This time, he laughed more helplessly.