The Disappeared Deliveryman

Old Wang appeared at the entrance of the residential area every morning at seven o'clock sharp, rain or shine. He rode his old electric tricycle, the carriage always piled high with all sorts of packages, like a mobile treasure chest. The residents of the community were used to seeing him; he was like an old tree in the community, silently taking root, symbolizing stability and reliability.

Until last week, Old Wang suddenly disappeared.

For the first few days, everyone thought he was sick or had some family matters to attend to. But a week passed, and a new deliveryman came, a young lad wearing earphones, moving mechanically, very efficient, but lacking a human touch. People started asking about Old Wang's whereabouts, but nobody knew. Old Wang had not left any contact information; he was like a silent symbol, appearing and disappearing in the community in a hurry.

Aunt Zhang was the first to feel something was wrong. She always felt that the new deliveryman’s eyes were missing something, unlike Old Wang, whose eyes had a passion for life and who could always call out the residents' names, even those of new faces he had only seen once. She dug out the old delivery slips that Old Wang had delivered, trying to find contact information on them, but there was nothing but a string of blurred numbers.

Later, some strange rumors began to circulate in the community. Some said Old Wang had been replaced by AI, that the current delivery system is increasingly intelligent and no longer requires real deliverymen. Some said Old Wang might have entered the virtual reality world; he had long been a game enthusiast, fascinated by those immersive experiences. Others said Old Wang might have just gone back to his hometown, he was old, and didn't want to work anymore.

One evening, Aunt Zhang went downstairs to throw out the garbage and inadvertently saw a discarded VR headset in a corner of the community. The display screen of the headset was still dimly lit, and it vaguely reflected a familiar figure, it was Old Wang. He was sitting on that old tricycle, surrounded by a virtual street, with a smile on his face, but his eyes were empty and dull.

Aunt Zhang tried to pick up the headset, wanting to pull Old Wang back to reality. However, she found that the headset could no longer be started, and the connecting cables were broken. Old Wang seemed trapped in the virtual world, unable to return to reality forever. His delivery tricycle was still there, quietly parked in the community, like a lonely monument, reminding people of the individuals forgotten behind the progress of technology.

The wind blew, the dead leaves rustled, and the new deliveryman finished delivering the last package of the day. He looked up at the sky and then continued mechanically towards his next destination. The community returned to peace, as if Old Wang had never existed.