After retiring, Old Wang's greatest pleasure was taking an evening stroll in the community garden. He always felt that the ground beneath his feet was a bit strange; not soft, but rather hollow. He tried stamping on it, to confirm he wasn't just seeing things.

Old Wang lived on the first floor and had suffered from dampness for years. He mused that it would be great if he had a basement. This thought, like weeds growing wildly in a corner, spread in his mind each day.

Zhang Qiang stared at the empty tea room, feeling a void in his heart. The shelves, once filled with snacks and drinks, now only held cold glass and a few outdated notices. ByteDance had canceled afternoon tea. The news was like a silent earthquake, causing the entire office area to feel a bit shaky.

Zhang Qiang had been working at ByteDance for three years, progressing from a naive intern to a slightly jaded team leader. Afternoon tea was the moment he looked forward to most each day. That brief twenty minutes was a rare time for him and his colleagues to relax, and it was the fuel that allowed him to continue into the endless ocean of code.

“Hello everyone, I’m back!” On the screen, "Xiao Tuan Tuan" waved to the audience with a bright smile, sporting slightly disheveled short hair. She was no longer the heavily made-up, saccharine-voiced entertainment streamer from before. Now, she was bare-faced, wearing a plain gray crew-neck shirt, looking more like a college student just stepping out of a dormitory.

"I've gone through a 'special' rehabilitation, and now, I've been released from prison!" She spoke in a light tone, as if sharing an amusing story, but it caused an uproar in the live stream.

Old Wang was stunned for a moment when he received the egg.

This egg was slightly larger than a goose egg, grayish-white all over, with a rough surface, as if it had been rolled in mud. In the office, other colleagues were holding similar eggs, with varied expressions; some looked at them curiously, while others were completely bewildered.

"Old Wang, your hairstyle today, wow, it's trendy!" Little Zhang said, glancing at Old Wang's head while coding. Old Wang, in his early thirties and a programmer, had a freshly permed curly hairstyle, looking like a sheep that had been electrocuted.

"Yeah, just got it done." Old Wang touched his hair, his tone tinged with helplessness. "Company policy, perm your hair once a year, considered an 'annual benefit' for employees."

Old Wang had been feeling like something was off recently. Every morning, he would wake up at exactly 7:30 am, mechanically put on his work uniform, squeeze onto the subway, and then in the office, like a finely tuned machine, he would tap away at his keyboard, processing all sorts of forms and reports. Ever since the company implemented "Qiang Culture," everything had changed.

This so-called "Qiang Culture" was initially just a slogan, plastered in the most visible spot of the company corridor: Your "Qiang" is the company's "Qiang"! Every morning meeting, the leader would repeat this phrase with great passion, as if it could inject everyone with a shot of chicken blood, making them forget about overtime, performance reviews, and that they were still living human beings.

The "Concentration" training base is located in an inconspicuous gray building in the suburbs, with no sign at the entrance. Every morning at seven o'clock, students arrive one after another to begin their day of "concentration" training.

A-Qiang is a new student here. He used to be a senior executive at a company, but was demoted by his boss after spacing out during an important meeting. By chance, he saw a flyer for "Concentration," and with a try-it-out mentality, he paid a large tuition fee and joined this mysterious organization.

Old Li is a Go enthusiast. Although his skills aren't that great, only around amateur 3-dan, his passion is undeniable. He always likes to apply Go principles to life, often using terms like "honte" (the proper move), "myoshu" (the brilliant move), and "zokusyu" (the vulgar move). In his department, a new leader recently arrived, surnamed Zhao, nicknamed "Zhao Honte."

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.

Old Liu, the director of the Spring Festival Intangible Cultural Heritage Application Office, had been losing hair a lot recently. Not because he was overworked, but because he was worried. The higher-ups had issued a strict order: the introduction for the Spring Festival's application had to be limited to 200 words.