The Homecoming Train

Old Liu clutched the crumpled train ticket, the "101 hours" on it like a needle, piercing his heart. It wasn't that he couldn't afford a sleeper, or that he didn't know high-speed rail was faster. But he had to take this slow train. It was part of his "Year-End Dedication Award," purchased uniformly by the company.

The company grandly called it "experiencing life, staying true to our original aspirations," but in reality, it was a disguised deduction of year-end bonuses. Old Liu's "Dream Future Technology Company" was notorious in the industry for its high-intensity overtime and endless PPTs, yet their year-end benefits were shockingly stingy. For that little bit of performance bonus, everyone was grinding like tireless machines, even their journey home was being "educated."

Old Liu was 38 years old, the oldest programmer in the company. He was like an old computer, still running, but no longer keeping pace with the times. He once dreamed of changing the world with code, but now he was being worn down by endless bugs and requirement changes.

The train car was filled with colleagues "experiencing life" just like him. Some were trying to grab digital red envelopes on their phones, others were video-calling their families, and still others were fast asleep. The air was thick with the smell of instant noodles and sweat, noisy and oppressive.

Old Liu leaned against the hard seat back, trying hard to appear calm. He pulled out his phone and started sending messages in the WeChat group.

"Happy New Year, everyone! The signal on the train is a bit weak, so my replies might be slow."

"Brother Liu is awesome! 101 hours, you're an iron man!"

"Brother Liu, stay safe! Get home soon!"

He replied to each one, with a formulaic smile on his face. These blessings were like bubbles, beautiful but fragile. He put his phone back in his pocket, looking at the fleeting scenery outside the window, feeling like a tree uprooted, drifting on the way home.

During the long journey, he started chatting with his colleagues around him. Lao Wang was from the same department, and also about the same age. Lao Wang said with a wry smile, "This is not experiencing life, it's torture! When I go back home this year, my wife is definitely going to complain again about me being useless."

"You're still okay, at least you have a home." Old Liu said softly. He had been divorced for two years, and his ex-wife had taken their child to another city.

In the train car, people started discussing the company's new project. Some were complaining about the project manager's incompetence, others were cursing the customer's unreasonable demands. Everyone poured out their grievances, as if trying to dump all the negative energy on this train.

Old Liu listened silently, saying nothing. He felt these complaints were meaningless, like an old radio, constantly repeating the same static.

On the third day of the train journey, some strange phenomena started appearing in the train car. Some people's phones suddenly ran out of battery, and no matter how much they tried to charge them, they wouldn't power on. Some started to have inexplicable stomachaches, and taking medicine didn't help. Others started experiencing hallucinations, saying they saw unknown creatures in the train car.

At first, Old Liu thought it was caused by fatigue from the long journey, but as time went on, he realized that things were not that simple.

He saw a young colleague suddenly giggling at the air, saying he was having a meeting with a client. Another colleague started repeating "modify it immediately" like a robot, just like they did during overtime.

"Is everyone too tired?" Old Liu couldn't help but ask.

"Tired?" Lao Wang stared straight ahead, his mouth twitching, as if he were typing code on a computer screen, "The boss said, we must struggle, we must burn our youth!"

Old Liu finally understood, this was not an ordinary train. This "Dedication" train was draining the last bit of humanity from them, turning them into machines that only knew how to work.

He started to panic, he wanted to get off the train, he wanted to escape.

He ran to the connecting part of the train cars, trying to open the door. However, the door seemed to be welded shut, it wouldn't budge. He sat on the ground in despair, watching the scenery rushing by outside the window, feeling like an ant trapped in a transparent glass jar, unable to escape no matter how hard he struggled.

When the train finally arrived at its destination, Old Liu numbly followed the crowd off the train. He saw many people in uniforms waiting for them on the platform. They held some kind of device, scanning the passengers getting off the train.

"Welcome home, diligent employees!" said a person in a white uniform, holding a loudspeaker, "Please line up in an orderly manner, scan your ID information, and receive your year-end benefits."

Old Liu was swept along by the crowd towards the scanner. When the device scanned him, he felt a jolt, as if he were being electrocuted.

Then, he saw the scene before him, he saw on the scanner's screen, a piece of data: working hours: 9876 hours. Dedication index: 99.99%.

A smile appeared on his face, a mechanical and empty smile. He reached out and took the metal tag handed to him by the person. On it was engraved his number: D00123.

He felt a sense of confusion. He raised his head and saw that the other "colleagues" were the same as him, expressionless, mechanically walking towards the exit.

At that moment, he forgot about his home, forgot about his family, forgot everything. He only knew that he had to go back to work. Because he was a "diligent" employee.

"Clang," the metal tag in his hand fell to the ground, making a crisp sound. He bent down, picked up the tag, and continued following the crowd, walking towards the door leading to "Dream Future Technology Company", like a pre-programmed application, precise and ruthless.