The Ghost of Seat E

Train conductor Li Ming sighed, looking at the empty train car. It was another G233 high-speed train with only him on board, traveling from Beijing to Shanghai. Ever since the implementation of the new seat reservation system, his daily work felt like acting to an empty room. There were very few passengers, but that was not the strangest part. The weirdest thing was that, no matter which train it was, there was always an "E seat" that was booked but never actually occupied.

Initially, Li Ming thought it was a system malfunction, but technicians confirmed that everything was normal after checking. He even tried to book the "E seat" himself, but it showed that it was already taken. He tried to view the passenger information, but the system displayed "Privacy protected, insufficient permission." This gave him an inexplicable chill.

The "E seat" phenomenon sparked some minor discussions within the railway, with some saying it was a "ghost seat," others calling it some kind of "performance art," and some even claiming it was booked by the system's AI itself. However, as time passed, nobody talked about it anymore. After all, there were too many strange things in this era; one more E seat was not such a big deal. Li Ming also went from being initially curious to now being used to it. Every day, he would check the train car and salute the empty E seat, as if an important person was sitting there.

This day, Li Ming was conducting his usual rounds. When he walked to car 5, he found a young man sitting in the "E seat," wearing headphones and intently looking at his phone. Li Ming rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating. He carefully walked up to him: "Hello, sir, may I ask who you are...?"

The young man looked up, a bit confused: "Huh? Me? Haven't I been sitting here the whole time?"

Li Ming was stunned. "You... you are the passenger who booked this E seat?"

The young man nodded and pointed to his phone screen: "Yes, my name is Xiaozhou. I booked the ticket online. Is there a problem?"

"No... no problem." Li Ming felt like his brain was malfunctioning. He tried to calm himself and started checking the passenger information according to procedure. Xiaozhou cooperated by providing his electronic ticket. Li Ming carefully checked every detail on his phone.

"Xiaozhou, male, 32 years old, profession: AI programmer." Li Ming read, suddenly feeling like the name was familiar. "Wait, you... you work at the company that... handles the railway ticketing system?"

Xiaozhou smiled, revealing a set of white teeth: "Yes, I am in charge of maintenance. Recently, the system has some minor glitches, and I came to see them firsthand."

"Minor glitches?" Li Ming felt a shiver down his spine.

"Yeah, some reservation data is not stable. I need to take a look myself." Xiaozhou pointed to the empty seats next to him. "Look, these seats, they are clearly not booked, yet the system shows that there are people. It's very strange, right?"

Li Ming stiffly nodded, his eyes starting to wander. He suddenly remembered that every time the system was updated, he would feel a strange sense of loss. The bustling noise in the train cars was now replaced with hollow echoes. And him saluting the empty "E seat" every day, was it also like bowing to a cold system?

Xiaozhou looked up at the train car and continued, "Actually, this E seat is like an Easter egg that the system gave me. It randomly assigns it to someone who needs company. But now, it seems nobody needs this seat."

He paused, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Maybe the system misunderstood? It thought loneliness was also a kind of companionship?"

After saying that, Xiaozhou lowered his head and continued fiddling with his phone, with the cacophony of electronic music spilling from his headphones. Li Ming watched him and suddenly felt like he was the one sitting in the E seat, trapped in an inescapable program. He raised his hand, wanting to salute again, but ultimately lowered it.

The train continued on its journey, heading towards an even more absurd future. Outside the train window, neon lights flickered, like countless cold eyes watching this lonely train and the empty E seat.