Do You Know My Name?

Customer service agent 1723 was momentarily speechless. The corner of her mouth twitched.
“No discount.”
“It’s only one yuan. You can’t lose or get cheated.” After working as customer service for most of the day, she had already been pickled by the job, the sales pitch coming naturally.

Su Lai: “Fine.”

He entered the shopping link into his phone and refreshed it a few times. The 404 error page finally stirred. A pixelated image of an expiring mystery box appeared on his screen.

This shady shopping website’s design was extremely crude.
Su Lai couldn’t find the payment method entry for a long time. The purchase button was also unresponsive. After lagging for a while, a [Loading…] prompt finally popped up.

Soon, the page crashed again.
It never loaded.

Customer service agent 1723 had already returned to her workstation. She had no more time to help the loitering security guard.

Su Lai refreshed a few more times. Just as he was about to give up, the 404 page suddenly popped up a message——

[Ding ding! Congratulations, your payment was successful!]
[Dear, your promotional mystery box is being packed. We will ship it to you as soon as possible.]

Su Lai was wary. There was no network signal here, and he hadn’t linked any payment method. How had the payment gone through?

And he hadn’t provided a shipping address. Where would they send it?

Could this be a phishing site?

It didn’t matter. There was no money in his bank account. Even if it was a phishing site, there was nothing to phish.

On the completed purchase page, a [Contact Customer Service] button appeared——

[Hello dear, I am the customer service agent here to answer your shopping questions. What can I help you with?]

Su Lai: [Please connect me to agent 1213.]

[One moment, dear. The site is providing you with the requested customer service consultation. Connecting you to agent 1213…]

But five seconds later——
[We are very sorry. Agent 1213 is temporarily unable to provide service. May I assist you instead?]

Su Lai insisted: [No.]
[My question can only be answered by agent 1213.]

[Agent 1213 is temporarily unable to provide service.]
The agent on the line kept repeating this phrase, with no intention of further explanation.

Su Lai: [How long is “temporarily”?]

Agent 1557 was about to repeat the same useless spiel——

Su Lai interrupted them.
[You promised I could request a specific agent. Now you’re saying no? What gives? If your answer doesn’t convince me, I’ll have to file a complaint.]
[Give me a straight answer. How long is “temporarily”?]

Having worked in the service industry for a long time, he knew how much customer complaints affected service workers. He was also very familiar with how to play the role of an unreasonable customer.

The dialog box kept displaying [The other party is typing…], but no text appeared.

Half a minute passed. Just as Su Lai was about to hit the complaint button, two big red characters suddenly appeared on the screen——

[FOREVER]

The bold, crimson, exaggerated characters appeared bloodily in the dialog box.
The entire webpage silently faded to black and white. The message box looked like a framed memorial photo.

[Forever forever forever forever… %￥#&]
A stream of red gibberish flashed rapidly across the screen, like a cat stepping on a keyboard. Gibberish characters brokenly popped up in the dialog box. Su Lai could even hear the nonexistent clatter of a keyboard.

A virus?
Su Lai tried to turn off the phone. But no matter how hard he pressed the power button, his phone seemed to have gained sentience. It was frozen, stuck in a bug, torturing the customer with broken characters.

Too bad the bug was wasted on him.
Su Lai’s mental state didn’t waver at all. He tilted his head, watching the deteriorating characters expressionlessly.

He guessed he had asked a question he shouldn’t have, giving the contaminants an opportunity to cause this bug.

In this bizarre, contaminated world, bugs didn’t necessarily need programmers. They needed his pink flip-flops.

Just as Su Lai was taking off his flip-flops, preparing to hit his phone with the sole, the contaminants inside seemed to sense the crisis. The gibberish collectively shuddered, then the screen went black.
They fled quickly enough.

The pink flip-flop hung mid-air. In the end, he didn’t smash it. After all, it was his own phone. A scare was enough. No need to actually destroy his property.

When Su Lai turned his phone back on, the screen was still on the customer service dialog box.
But it now showed [Agent has gone offline. The platform is looking for a new agent for you…]

[Please wait. There are currently 10,097 customers waiting in line. Estimated wait time: 10,097 minutes…]

Good grief. 10,097 customers. Why not make it a round number?

Su Lai put his shoes back on, tucked his phone away, and re-entered the elevator.
But the moment the doors closed, the number “10097” suddenly retracted into his mind, like a fish slipping through his fingers.

The enclosed space was unusually quiet. Amidst the soft hum of the descending elevator, a new prompt appeared——

[Hello dear, is there anything I can help you with?]

Su Lai: “What’s your agent ID?”

[Dear, I am agent 1213, the agent you requested, here to answer your product questions.]
[I see in the backend that you purchased an expiring promotional mystery box. Do you have any questions about this product?]

So that was it. The so-called “temporarily” wasn’t an excuse. It was a hint that only in a specific space in the building could a deceased agent be dug up from the grave to continue responding to incessant customers.

For example, in this elevator where 1213 died horribly. Even if 1213 had already been reduced to a jar of ashes, she still had to turn on her computer and reply to messages.

Su Lai: “I have a question.”
“Agent 1213, how did you die?”

Suddenly, with a loud rumble, the slowly descending elevator stopped abruptly.
The lights flickered. The cold white light turned a faint crimson.

[Dear, this question is not related to the product you purchased.]
[But…]

The dialog box fell briefly silent. The [The other party is typing…] prompt slowly turned crimson.

[My mother used to tell me: eat what you need to supplement…]
[Last time, dear, you gave me half a pig’s tongue. So I can answer your question.] (Smile)

At the same time, the system sent a notification——
[Congratulations, temporary player Wang Xiaosi. The side quest “Is Your Former Colleague Still Hanging in the Elevator Today?” has been forcibly advanced by you. You have gained 10 points of trust from agent 1213.]
[Current side quest progress: 50%.]

[Unlock Progress Reward: Work hours +30; Survival Coins +20; Unknown Item 「Product Random Discount Coupon」 x1.]
[Side quest related Item obtained: A copy of 《1213 Employee’s Personal Work Log》 in PPT format.]
[According to the PPT’s creator, although this log is titled a work log, due to its private nature, most of its content is unrelated to work.]
[Her work was meaningless, repetitive, false, and numbing. It was the most worthless contamination, not worth turning into a PPT.] (Smile) [1213’s PPT only contained despairing truth.] (crossed out)

The last crossed-out line of the New Employee Handbook: Office workers only need to write PPTs and daily reports. No one here writes a diary.

Because diaries were prohibited, 1213 named her diary a work log and made it into a PPT.
Perfectly reasonable.

[Do you want to view this log now? Yes/No.]

Su Lai didn’t immediately answer “Yes.” He switched back to the customer service dialog box and asked 1213:
“May I read your work log that isn’t about work?”

[Of course, you may.]
[But if you are also a beast of burden like me, I advise you not to try reading it easily.]

[Because this work log records my complaints and curses about work… Some content is too real (bolded), and may (crossed out) cause irreversible damage to your work state.]

[Note! A working beast of burden cannot withstand such an impact.]

1213 had fulfilled her duty as a customer service agent to warn him.
The text of her replies was also gradually turning into distorted red characters. It seemed that soon, these characters would seep out of the phone screen as drops of blood.

Employees who saw these real characters would also become “unclean.”

[The system detects that this log contains extremely strong negative emotions. Please confirm again that you have a sufficiently good mental state to view this PPT.]

In a building named “Blessed Retribution,” every breathing creature had negative emotions. Cockroaches were the exception.
Only creatures with such strong vitality as cockroaches could thrive in this dog-eat-dog office building.

Su Lai: “Confirmed.”

[PPT content is loading. Entering automatic slideshow mode——]

「My employee ID is 1213. Next, I will present my onboarding, work, and death experience in PPT format.」
「During this presentation, you may suffer varying degrees of mental contamination. Please be prepared to collapse at any time.」

「I was an ordinary graduate.」
「After graduation, I encountered the job market slump. My ordinary degree was worthless.」

「From summer to winter, from winter to summer. That year was both short and long.」
「My classmates found jobs one after another. Even if not ideal, they had somewhere to go. I was still at home, constantly refreshing job apps, submitting resumes every day until I hit the limit.」

「At first, my family encouraged me not to lose hope. Good things come to those who wait. Finding a job couldn’t be rushed…」
「Later, they changed. Good things coming to those who wait also wore down their patience. Their moods became unpredictable, their faces no longer kind.」

「From comforting to silence, from silence to complaining. Relatives laughed behind my back that I was relying on my parents after graduation. My parents said if I didn’t get a job soon, I’d lose touch with society, become someone abandoned by it. And I grew more numbly about submitting resumes. I seemed trapped.」

「I thought I would just rot at home until a recruitment call came. The interview was at Fortuitous Retribution Building.」

「They were hiring e-commerce customer service. But I majored in Chinese. Honestly, inside I refused. I’m an introvert. Talking was what I was worst at. A phone ringing would startle me. Answering a call would make me stammer. I knew I wasn’t suited for customer service…」

「But everyone—my family, my friends—said I should try to take the first step. Being a customer service agent would help me overcome my fear of speaking. Introverts were most likely to be eliminated by this society.」

「I didn’t want to just get by. But if I didn’t get by, I couldn’t survive.」
「I had already recognized reality. My abilities weren’t enough to support my dreams.」

「Half a month later.」
「The work was even more frightening than I imagined. I worked over ten hours a day. My job was only getting cursed at, getting cursed at, and getting cursed at.」
「Answering calls non-stop. The sound of keyboards clicking to reply never stopped. The customers here were so strange. They kept contaminating me, invading me… I felt myself becoming abnormal too.」
「Several times I thought I was going deaf. My hearing had run away from my body. I couldn’t feel myself anymore.」

「I submitted my resignation. My leader didn’t approve and lectured me, calling me a quitter, a coward.」
「”Without the opportunity this company gave you, you would never find a job in your life. What right do you young people have to be picky? Leave this company, and your resume is worthless!” “007 is your blessed retribution. How can someone who doesn’t give their all deserve to live? Do you think breathing is free?” “Young people should learn to criticize themselves, not the company that pays their salary!” Those were his exact words.」

「Should I face my weaknesses and fears and work even harder for the company?」
「I knew running away wouldn’t solve anything. My family also didn’t want me to quit. They said this was how work was. You should love what you do. I shouldn’t be picky or have too many of my own ideas. I should grit my teeth, endure hardship, and after a few years, it would be fine…」

「But was that true?」
「I was so tired. I started having auditory hallucinations. I desperately wanted to leave this place…」

「They wouldn’t let me go! They wouldn’t let me resign! They threatened that I couldn’t find any job outside. If I went home, I’d just be mocked by my parents again!」
「I just wanted to live!」
「To live as a decent person. Was that really so hard?」

「Another half month.」
「I compromised again. I didn’t quit Fortuitous Retribution Building because I had no way out!」
「No one allowed me to resign. I was trapped here.」

「They said, “No choice is the best choice”!」

「It seemed my body had “evolved” through work. My hearing became docile through evolution. I got used to hearing customers’ curses and abuse, as if I was born to be cursed at.」
「My language system was also reshaped. The word “dear” was etched into my cognition.」

「Through numbness, I became peaceful. I reached a reconciliation with myself and Fortuitous Retribution Building.」
「Later, my memory also began to decline. I started forgetting things unrelated to work: my life, my experiences, my dreams, and who I was.」
「Who was I, behind the ID 1213?」
「Never mind. Forgetting wasn’t so bad. I didn’t need to remember things unrelated to work…」

「Until that day. The building’s elevator broke down. I was trapped inside, unable to get back to my workstation on time.」

「In the stalled elevator, the keyboard and phone sounds were completely cut off. The world suddenly became so quiet.」
「I suddenly couldn’t hear any noise. Only the low hum of the motor.」
「The quietness itself seemed noisy.」

「My hearing recovered. Because I started feeling uneasy about the unfamiliar silence around me.」
) I started asking myself: Who am I?」
「Who am I? The voice kept echoing inside me, growing louder and louder, too loud to ignore.」

「I didn’t dare think. Beasts of burden don’t need such ability.」
「But I had to start thinking.」

「If the broken elevator was never fixed, if I was forever trapped in this absolute silence…」
「No more endless complaints. No more keyboard clicks.」
「No one to force me to do work that required constant talking.」
「No one to invalidate my value anymore.」

「If only I couldn’t hear anything anymore!」
「If only I couldn’t speak, then I wouldn’t have to answer complaint calls!」
「If I disappeared from this world, there would be no so-called value! I wouldn’t be guilt-tripped anymore!」

「I got it!」
「In that instant, I suddenly understood.」
「My ears were redundant! My tongue, my fingers too!」
「If I cut them off, I couldn’t hear, couldn’t speak, couldn’t type. The endless complaints would have nothing to do with me.」

「Fortuitous Retribution Building doesn’t need deaf and mute beasts of burden.」
「This way, I could be free from the never-ending overtime and complaints.」

「——Right?」

「By the way…」
「Excuse me, do you know my name——?」