New Times, New Hell

Chapter 65 - Programmers Never Encounter Ghosts

For a moment, Liu Wei froze. Eventually, he spoke, “Say that again?”

The youth did as he asked. “I just wanted to suggest that our app could add a friend circle function. Would that be possible?”

Liu Wei’s expression was cold. “WeChat already has a friend circle function. It would be pretty much useless if we created one too.”

“How could that be the same?” The youth looked like he didn’t agree. “WeChat is for your friends in life. You can’t contact them again after death. I hope that Luofeng will be able to help us achieve reunion in death.”

Liu Wei: “……” This person was actually treating this app so seriously?

He had truly gotten into the character of a dead person?

Reunion in death…… Liu Wei couldn’t help being petty for a moment. “How come you aren’t suggesting for us to create an Underworld forum to help the dead resolve all the various difficulties they experience?”

The youth clapped. “Good idea! As expected, professionals’ ideas are more all-encompassing!”

Liu Wei: “……” He had clearly used a mocking tone of voice!

But the youth’s expression was extremely sincere. Thus, he felt a bit embarrassed instead and stopped mocking the other. Only, he became even more curious about how this app worked. He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Can you give me your phone for a moment?”

“Of course, of course. You guys were the ones who developed it anyways.” The youth enthusiastically handed his phone over.

Liu Wei had originally thought that there was a bug in the app, which was why he couldn’t open it. However, upon looking over the version in the youth’s phone, all functions were working smoothly.

He first clicked into the【Ghost-al Information】section. The youth’s registration information appeared on the page.

Name: Zhong Ka

Sex: Male

ID number: *****************x

Time of Death: x Hour, x Month, x Day, 2018

Cause of Death: Car accident on Desperate Mountain

Residence in Life: 99 Ancient Well Boulevard, Ancient Well District, Fu City

Grave Location: Fu City’s Public Western Cemetery

Liu Wei: “……”

Though he already knew the app’s contents because he had helped develop them, personally seeing someone fill out these areas so seriously still made him feel quite conflicted. Especially upon noticing that the other had actually simulated a time and cause of death. What could be going on in his mind?

Even if you treated this as a simulation game, wouldn’t it still be fairly ominous?

Liu Wei’s mouth twitched. He still needed to act like nothing was wrong and ask Zhong Ka, “Could it be that Fu City’s Public Western Cemetery is your ideal grave location?”

According to his understanding, this youth was probably doing this for fun and had chosen his favorite cemetery in advance or something.

Only to see Zhong Ka’s expression become glum. “Not even. My family chose that spot. The ideal grave location for me would obviously be Mingzhu’s Private Cemetery, but it’s too expensive. My family couldn’t afford it.”

Liu Wei: “……” You’re so invested in your online cemetery choosing that you even discussed with your family?

Zhong Ka excitedly continued to ask, “Say, ‘grave location’ sounds too ordinary. Can you change it to ‘royal mausoleum’ or something along those lines?”

Liu Wei almost choked. “……What, there’s an imperial throne you need to inherit?”

Zhong Ka snickered. “Because I never experienced what it was like to be rich when alive, it would be nice to dream about such things in death, you know?”

Liu Wei: “……”

“And and&#k2026;&#k2026;” Zhong Ka wasn’t done yet. “I think in the Ghost-al Information section, you can add an &#k2018;Epitaph’ slot. Kind of like an individual signature. You don’t know this, but in life, I had already come up with my epitaph. Unfortunately, I hadn’t expected to die so soon, so wasn’t able to tell my family in advance what to inscribe on my gravestone. &#k2018;I still am more inclined towards Mingzhu’s Private Cemetery.’ What do you think?”

Liu Wei pretended he hadn’t heard anything and calmly clicked open the second part of the app:【Good and Evil Scores】

This module was currently fairly simple. Only two lines of text showed up:

Good and Evil Scores: Details unavailable

Important Life Events: [Click for details]

Zhong Ka curiously asked, “Why aren’t we allowed to look at the details of our good and evil scores?”

Yu Zhengdu had personally developed this section. Even Zhao Ruola hadn’t participated. Though the things showing up were very simple, Liu Wei knew that the calculations behind them were extremely complex. And, certain parts of the information had been encrypted. He didn’t really know anything either, so could only vaguely say, “Our CTO wrote this code. I don’t understand it.”

As he spoke, he also clicked into the last module:【Self-Service Reincarnation】

This was also the module he was the most curious about. As a member of the development team, he naturally knew the original model and finished model for this app. But as for the app’s market orientation and target users, the company had never gone into detail. Only, looking at Boss and the two tech masters’ attitudes, it was very likely that this app would only be designed for a specific group instead of being publicly released or distributed on the app stores.

The employees in the development department had discussed this in private before. In the end, everyone anonymously theorized that maybe because the company’s strange evil removal and health products were geared towards more superstitious people anyways, they had developed this app possibly to attract these kinds of clients. It would help everyone simulate the feeling of reincarnating into a next life. The ultimate goals were most likely built-in advertisements, product promotion, and the like.

But even so, everyone still believed that this app’s functions were too ridiculous:

Under the influence of intense curiosity, Liu Wei clicked open the【Self-Service Reincarnation】page:

Reincarnation Time: June 13, 2019

Reincarnation Point: Ancient Well Reincarnation Point, Ancient Well District, Fu City

Reincarnation Point Contact Number: 404-*******

Reincarnation Path: Human

Details of Reincarnation Path: Middle class family

One-click Reincarnation: [Agree]

Reincarnation Help: 1) Countdown notifications for reincarnation 2) Reincarnation point mapping service 3) Emergency services

After long-pressing on the screen, a description page would also appear:

Description:

1. After agreeing to one-click reincarnation, Luofeng’s headquarters will automatically locate the user’s location, providing extra guarantees;

2. Users who have not clicked [Agree] to one-click reincarnation must create their own plan for reincarnation. In order to prevent messing up the schedule, users who attempt to escape reincarnation will be severely punished. Please do not believe that you might luck out;

3. If you encounter unexpected situations such as evil ghosts preventing you from reincarnating or other such instances, please press [Emergency Help] or call the reincarnation point contact number to receive assistance.

Luofeng Life Management Co. Ltd. is wholeheartedly here to serve you.

Liu Wei: “……”

When they had been developing it, they had felt that this app was very silly. After seeing real users using it, a feeling of ‘seriously being silly’ became all the more apparent. It rushed at him, causing him to instantly grow increasingly confused as to how to interact with this user.

But the users seemed to be much better at getting accustomed than he was. Zhong Ka pointed at the page and very sincerely conferred with Liu Wei, “I think that this reincarnation path section can be more humane…… Oh, I mean, more ghost-ane. We all know that the reincarnation path is decided based on the Good and Evil Scores. Would it be possible to provide us some reference data so we know what scores are linked to what reincarnation path? This way, we’ll have more of a general idea.”

“And, how are these Good and Evil Scores actually calculated? For example, what causes Good Scores, what causes Evil Scores. This way, it can help us do good things with a clear goal……”

Liu Wei’s expression reflected his mental breakdown. He watched Zhong Ka very seriously offer ridiculous function suggestions for this ridiculous app. But these suggestions seemed to fit the app’s original qualities very well. Temporarily, he actually found it difficult to discern if he was the abnormal one or if the other was the abnormal one.

What was quite rare, though, was that Liu Wei could still maintain a tech homebody’s exemplar logical thinking skills. He could even follow Zhong Ka’s train of thought and discuss with him, “I understand what you mean. You hope that we can make this Good and Evil Scores section similar to those missions in games, where different missions are associated with different Good Scores and Evil Scores, right? After accepting a mission and completing it, you’ll be able to collect the corresponding score. Different score levels are linked to different reincarnation results……this way, you’ll be able to accept different missions to achieve your ideal reincarnation results.”

“Exactly!” Zhong Ka gave him a thumbs up. “As expected from Luofeng’s employees. Too outstanding.”

Liu Wei expressionlessly stated, “I will relay your suggestions to our Leader.”

Zhong Ka nodded and didn’t forget to remind the other, “And those friend circle and forum functions……”

Liu Wei: “……Got it, got it.”

No wonder this Zhong Ka had specially rushed to the company in the middle of the night. He truly had a lot of suggestions.

Liu Wei looked up at the time. Unknowingly, it had already passed midnight. He yawned and pushed Zhong Ka towards the exit. “Alright, I’ve noted them all down. Hurry and head back. It’s the middle of the night, aren’t you tired?”

As Zhong Ka walked, he muttered, “The middle of the night is when I’m most awake ah……”

Liu Wei pushed him to the doorway. Just as he was about to close the door, he discovered that he was still holding onto Zheng Yan’s eight trigrams mirror. He hurriedly ran back to Zheng Yan’s spot and set the item down. After, he walked out and looked around, but discovered that the youth named Zhong Ka had already disappeared.

“He left so fast.” Liu Wei scratched his head and pressed on the elevator button, only to discover that the elevator was still stopped on this floor. It hadn’t gone down. A strange feeling flashed through his mind, but it was already quite late. He was honestly too tired, so didn’t think too much of it. He slowly got into the elevator and went home.

Because the app’s Good and Evil Scores section had been solely developed by Yu Zhengdu, the next day during work, Liu Wei went straight to Yu Zhengdu, still yawning. He shared what had happened last night when he had encountered Zhong Ka. At the end, he admitted, slightly embarrassed, “Leader, does our app have a lot of problems? I originally wanted to download it on my phone, but it said that my phone was out of service range. And, after I registered, I still couldn’t use it……”

Yu Zhengdu vaguely explained, “Oh, I added a design that requires authorization from headquarters after registration before the app can be used.”

Liu Wei was extremely confused. “……Is that necessary?” It was uncertain whether or not this app could even achieve a hundred users. Were so many blockades necessary?

Yu Zhengdu didn’t answer his question. Instead, he asked with a strange expression on his face, “You encountered one of our release candidate volunteers?”

Liu Wei nodded. “Yeah. Our release candidate users are too diligent. He came to the company in the middle of the night. And, let me tell you, at the time, Zheng ge’s equipment suddenly started glowing. Scared me half to death……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

This Liu Wei was honestly so accepting. Not even thinking of any other possibilities under these circumstances?

Yu Zhengdu didn’t try to scare him either. He only followed the other’s train of thought and inquired what new ideas the release candidate user had given during his personal visit to the company.

Liu Wei complained while relaying, “He wants us to create a friend circle and forum. I’m in utter disbelief. Who could make a better friend circle than WeChat’s? Isn’t that just wasting resources?”

Yu Zhengdu recorded this in a little notebook. “I mentioned those to Erica already. They’re in progress right now. Later versions might have them.”

To be more accurate, what they wanted to do was allow user accounts to automatically connect to their relations from the mortal realm.

In the time that Yu Zhengdu had worked for Luofeng, he had discovered that there were a lot of problems with management in the Underworld as well. For example, many Underworld spirits would often become dangerous to society because they became isolated after death. Consequently, if it was possible to help them reunite with their friends and family from life – for example, as soon as their family members passed away, they could receive an instant notification – to some degree, this could help maintain the safety and peace of the Underworld.

“There’s no need,” Liu Wei replied in a daze. “Leader, is WeChat not easy to use? Or is Weibo not fun enough?”

Yu Zhengdu calmly patted his shoulder. “You need to have dreams.”

“Okay.” Liu Wei shrugged and didn’t dwell too much on it. After all, which programmer hadn’t gotten harmed by a product manager before? It was fine as long as you got used to it. At least their Leader had technological skills too.

Liu Wei continued on to say, “That Zhong Ka had another suggestion. He hoped that we could make the Good and Evil Scores and their obtainment conditions transparent. I think it’s entirely possible, just like those game companies. To have customers use our app more, we need to make it as simple as possible and allow them to be capable of setting goals.”

“If we can make this section transparent, we would definitely be able to stimulate users to more actively complete missions, greatly increasing their time spent on the app……”

The more he spoke, the more excited Liu Wei became. He completely forgot how disdainful he had been of this silly app in the beginning.

But Yu Zhengdu’s response to this suggestion was slightly uninterested. “We can’t do that.”

Liu Wei felt like he had been splashed by a cold bucket of water. He made a noise of surprise and asked, “Why? I think it’s a good idea……”

Yu Zhengdu smiled and patiently explained, “Don’t we often say ‘don’t not perform little acts of kindness because they are little, don’t perform little acts of evil because they are little’? Good acts and bad acts actually shouldn’t be classified as big or little, nor should they be quantified. If we publicized the conditions for attaining good and evil scores, it would definitely cause a group of users to do things only for this score. No one would perform small acts of kindness anymore, while people might feel that performing a small act of evil would be irrelevant because it was small. This isn’t the original intention for the development of our Good and Evil Scores function.”

One shouldn’t ask what the background of a hero is, nor should they judge how great he is through the impact of his actions.

But just as how the law also weighed things differently, human thought was complex. This was a practical problem. Even in the Underworld, it was impossible to fairly judge each Underworld spirit. Thus, the Life and Death Accounts’ calculations for good and evil scores were actually very complex.

The Underworld and mortal realms often assumed that “big” acts of kindness meant a higher Good score. Actually, though, that didn’t happen. Even if two different people did the same thing, oftentimes, because of the differences in circumstance, the weighted results would be different.

Due to the same concept, the scores that corresponded with each reincarnation result couldn’t be publicized either.

In other words, the most important purpose of the【Good and Evil Scores】section, aside from making it easier for everyone to check that their important life events were right and to calculate the results for reincarnation, was to remind people to think kind thoughts often instead of completing certain acts to reach a goal.

One should only do good things without considering rewards.

After hearing this explanation, Liu Wei became deeply touched: “……”

In all honesty, he had originally thought that this app’s market orientation was a death simulation game. Naturally, his trail of thought started following the logic of simulated games. He hadn’t at all thought that Leader would have such noble aspirations in his heart.

He actually wanted to use this app to communicate such a deep concept to the users?

Liu Wei thought about it and seriously said, “Leader, though I don’t believe that our users will think this way, I still support you.”

These days, it was very rare for people to be able to remember the original intentions for their actions. Though the results might not be ideal, those who worked endlessly for their dreams deserved respect.

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

As soon as he looked at Liu Wei’s expression, he knew that this innocent tech homebody had gotten things wrong. Who knew how great of an image he now had in the other’s heart.

Ey, he would find out eventually. This wasn’t a touching story about someone fighting the norms to rise and accomplish their dreams at all. It was truly only fulfilling the basic needs of work……

After they finished their conversation, Yu Zhengdu patted Liu Wei’s shoulder. “You need to stop working so much overtime. Look out for your health. Also, don’t go touching Zheng Yan’s stuff.”

Liu Wei nodded. When he got back to his own work station, he couldn’t help remembering what had happened last night. Speaking of, he should’ve added Zhong Ka on WeChat to continue their discussion. He thought about it and typed “Zhong Ka” into the search bar online. Unexpectedly, the search results instantly shocked him immensely.

The results page actually had several news links. They were all reporting on the same thing: a large scale multi-car accident on Desolate Mountain.

And the name “Zhong Ka” was in the victims list.

Liu Wei: !!!!!!

Liu Wei slapped the table and stood up. He shouted, “Leader, our release candidate users are too much!”

Yu Zhengdu hadn’t gotten that far away yet. Upon hearing this, he came back and asked, “What happened?”

Liu Wei pointed at the news and spoke, voice filled with indignance, “He actually stole a deceased victim’s personal information to register for his account. Too unbecoming!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Yu Zhengdu patted his shoulder. “Work hard. You are very suited for our company.”

The author has something to say:

Zhong Ka: I’m a ghost.

Liu Wei: No, you aren’t.

As long as you’re scientific and materialist enough, ghosts aren’t ghosts!

Now everyone knows why Liu Wei’s hair is so much thicker than everyone else’s, right?