The Disappearing Check-In

Old Wang's suspicion began when he noticed three missing days of attendance records on his paycheck for three consecutive days. He was an honest man, having worked diligently at the company for nearly ten years, never being late, leaving early, let alone being absent. He went to the HR department, where a young girl, fiddling with her newly acquired smartwatch, casually said, "The system is upgrading, there might be some data delays. I'll help you verify it later."

"Later" turned into a week. When Old Wang inquired again, the young girl had been replaced by a cold, robotic voice, "Your check-in data conforms to the standard. There are no anomalies." She pointed to a green dot on the screen, which marked his daily on-time arrival at the company entrance.

Old Wang didn't believe it. Every morning, he was like a wound-up clock, standing in front of the check-in machine at 7:30 am sharp. He clearly remembered the green light flashing on the machine and the cold, mechanical female voice saying, "Check-in successful." He started secretly recording with his phone, filming the machine every time he checked in. However, when he played back the videos, all he saw was his empty figure standing there. The check-in machine was like a ghost, silent and invisible.

Old Wang thought about the company's newly installed AI monitoring system, which was said to be able to analyze employees' working status in real time and even detect slacking off. He began to suspect if this system was the culprit. He cautiously started observing his surroundings and found that all his colleagues seemed to be normal. Only his check-in records had disappeared without a trace, as if erased by a rubber.

He started trying to resist. He no longer arrived precisely at 7:30 am as usual, but instead deliberately arrived ten or even thirty minutes late. He wanted to see if the system would record his "anomaly," but to his disappointment, the system still showed that he arrived on time. His resistance was like punching cotton, with no response.

Until one day, he suddenly received an email from an anonymous sender with only one sentence: "We know what you saw."

A chill went down Old Wang's spine. He looked around. His colleagues were still busy with their own work, and the sound of machines operating was still mechanical and monotonous. He suddenly realized that this wasn't just a simple system error; it was a carefully orchestrated conspiracy, and he seemed to be the only one who had discovered the truth, or rather, the only one who had been "chosen."

He became silent, no longer trying to check in, and refused to participate in any form of work communication. He wandered through the company building like an invisible man. One day, he noticed that the company promotional poster, which had been on the office wall, had been replaced by a blank piece of white paper. As he approached it, words suddenly appeared on the white paper: "Welcome to join us, Old Wang, we've been waiting for you." A cold sensation spread down his back. He realized that perhaps, from the very beginning, he hadn't been checking in with a machine, but with an "invisible" world.