Step Tracking Labyrinth

Old Wang is a retired veteran whose biggest hobby these days is strolling around his neighborhood every day. He has a smartphone with a step-counting APP called "Flying Steps." This APP is said to accumulate points based on the number of steps taken, and the points can be redeemed for small gifts. Old Wang thinks it's great and walks even more enthusiastically every day.

There's also an old man named Mr. Li in the neighborhood who also likes using this APP. Every day they meet, they have to show off each other's steps for the day. Old Wang always wins by a small margin, and Mr. Li would jealously say, "Old Wang, you walk every day, where do you think you're going?" Old Wang would always smile without saying a word, secretly delighted in his heart.

One day, Old Wang noticed that the "Flying Steps" APP had updated, and the new version could display the user's detailed walking trajectory, along with altitude and speed. Old Wang found this feature novel and opened his own trajectory map. The screen showed a dense mess of colored lines, like an abstract painting.

Suddenly, Old Wang noticed that on his trajectory map, there was a strange red line that went straight through the neighborhood and then disappeared into the distance. This red line didn't match his daily walking route at all. Old Wang was a bit confused, he had never been there.

The next day, Old Wang met Mr. Li in the neighborhood. Mr. Li mysteriously leaned in and said, "Old Wang, you walked a strange path yesterday, didn't you?" Old Wang was stunned, and Mr. Li continued, "I saw your trajectory, that red line, what's going on?" Old Wang was even more confused and quickly asked Mr. Li, "You saw it too?" Mr. Li nodded, pointing to his phone, and there was also a similar line on the screen, only it was green.

The two began to study each other's trajectories. They found that in the neighborhood, everyone who used the "Flying Steps" APP had a line on their trajectory map that was unrelated to their daily activities. Red, green, yellow, all kinds of colors, like a strange colorful maze.

They told other old people in the neighborhood about it. Everyone opened their APP and found that the situation was the same. The old people began to discuss it, some said it was an APP malfunction, some said aliens had invaded, and some said the developers were up to some conspiracy.

Old Wang felt that something was wrong. He tried to follow the direction of the red line. The red line pointed to a wasteland outside the neighborhood, where there was an abandoned factory. Old Wang curiously walked into the factory and found that it was empty, except for an old computer, with the backend data of the "Flying Steps" APP displayed on the screen.

In the data, all users' trajectories were connected by colored lines, forming a huge map. And the center of the map was the coordinates of their neighborhood.

Old Wang felt that it was all too absurd, he couldn't understand why a step-counting APP would turn out like this. At that moment, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him. A young man in a suit walked over, holding a tablet in his hand.

The young man saw Old Wang and said with a smile, "Hello, you're Old Wang, right? I'm the head of the 'Flying Steps' APP, we're conducting a new experiment, thank you for your participation."

Old Wang was confused, "What experiment? What's going on?"

The young man pointed to the map on the screen and said, "We've discovered that the trajectory of people walking every day can actually form a potential energy map. And your steps are providing important data for our energy research."

Old Wang was stunned; he felt like his brain was in complete chaos.

The young man continued, "To thank all of our users for their contributions, we've decided to give each user a beautiful gift. At the same time, we'll gradually close this feature. After all, it's just step counting, it's better to keep it simple."

The next day, Old Wang opened the "Flying Steps" APP again and found that all the trajectories had disappeared, leaving only the simple daily step count records. Old Wang felt like he had had a dream, but the strange red line was deeply imprinted in his mind. He began to wonder if every step he had taken so hard had become a meaningless number, a line on someone else's blueprint.

Old Wang suddenly felt that going out for a walk every day didn't seem so interesting anymore. He looked at the phone in his hand and uninstalled the "Flying Steps" APP.

He sighed and walked towards the chess and card room at the entrance of the neighborhood. Today, he wanted to play a few good games with Mr. Li, instead of showing off who had more steps.

But at this moment, he didn't know that all his steps had been recorded, and every step he took had become part of a huge secret plan.