The Disappeared Lunch

Lunch break arrived, and Old Wang stared at his phone screen, waiting for his lunch, a double beef rice bowl. The phone app showed that the delivery person had arrived downstairs, but there was no knock on the door. He opened the door, and the corridor was empty, with only a faint fragrance lingering in the air.

Old Wang frowned and checked his phone. The order status showed "Delivered." He called the delivery person, but there was no answer. He began to feel irritable, hungry and tired, this was the moment he looked forward to the most every day.

Just then, the door next door opened, and a young girl came out, holding a well-packaged takeout meal. The girl was stunned for a moment, saw Old Wang, and said with a smile, "Uncle, this seems to be yours, right? The delivery guy said he delivered it to the wrong floor."

Old Wang took the takeout and said thank you. The girl went back inside and closed the door. He opened the lunch box, the aroma of beef wafted out, but today's smell seemed particularly different, with a faint hint of lemon. He took a bite, the taste was very strange, not the beef rice he usually ate.

Looking at the order information with confusion, Old Wang found that the name on the order was a completely unfamiliar name - "Lin Xiaowei". He checked the order details again, and it was recorded in detail that it was a "Herb Lemon Roasted Chicken Rice".

Old Wang opened the app again and found that the order record on his account was still the double beef rice bowl. He was completely confused; he had clearly not ordered any herb lemon roasted chicken rice.

He tried to call the delivery person again, but there was still no answer. Old Wang looked at his phone again and found that his "Delivered" order record had been updated to "Being Delivered" at some point, and the order number had also changed. The new order's delivery address was actually a cafe in the city center.

Old Wang felt a chill run down his back. He suddenly thought of the girl's smile just now, that smile seemed to have an imperceptible strangeness. He went to the girl's door again, and gently knocked, but there was no answer. He tried to turn the doorknob, and the door was not locked.

The door opened, and the room was empty. There was a new takeout meal on the table, with "Double Beef Rice Bowl" written on the packaging.

Old Wang's heart was racing. He trembled and opened the lunchbox, and a familiar smell came over him. This was indeed his beef rice bowl, but he felt a strong sense of fear.

He looked up into the depths of the room, and the closet door in the bedroom had a crack. He walked over cautiously and pushed open the closet door. Inside, hung neatly arranged clothes, but at the very back, there was a screen. On the screen, it was playing the scene of Old Wang just opening the door, standing in the corridor, looking so lost and helpless.

Old Wang understood in an instant that he had been swallowed up by the AI food delivery system. He had become a "ghost" in the system's operation. His order was constantly being reset, his existence was forgotten, he was just a symbol constantly updated in the data stream. His lunch, along with him, was constantly being delivered to the wrong place, and then constantly being taken back.

And that girl was just a mirror image of the AI system, used to cover up the strangeness of it all.

The city lights still flickered, but Old Wang, he disappeared, along with his lunch, disappearing into the ruthless calculations of AI.