Summer 2022. Linxiang City Variable Dimension Building.

The girl stood on the fence of the rooftop on the twenty-ninth floor, shaky.

Physically, if she tilts another fifteen degrees, she will fall to the second dimension.

This is not unusual.

In this month, when the suicide rate is inexplicably soaring, from time to time, people fall from a height.

Citizens are also accustomed to seeing too many similar cases.

But unlike people who are bent on death, the girl's phone is fixed to her ear. At the moment when she was about to die, the phone was automatically dialed.

"Hello, this is the suicide crisis intervention hotline, I'm Zhou Baiyu."

As soon as the man on the phone spoke, his gentle voice seemed to be infused with some kind of magic. The girl suddenly had a strong desire to survive, and her dull eyes instantly brightened.

After a while, she began to cry, as if she felt the beauty of the world again.

At 2 minutes and 25 seconds, the call ended.

Zhou Baiyu, who was far away on the other side of the city, frowned slightly.

At his desk, there is a black notebook that records the reasons why many people can't survive.

There is an off-plan house that is unfinished, and it is clear that it is the victim but owes the bank a huge amount of money. I have been with babies for many years, and I found that none of the three babies are my own. There are also close relatives who were suddenly beaten to death while walking on the street, and they have not been able to explain so far.

Essentially, Zhou Baiyu's job is to receive negative information and provide positive emotional guidance.

He's good at the job, one might even say he's too good at it. In guiding emotions, he has an incomprehensible talent.

In the face of people who are looking for death, some people have said a lot of bitter things but to no avail.

But after Zhou Baiyu took the phone, it was often just a few words, and the other party gave up the idea of seeking death, and the efficiency was amazing.

Seeing Zhou Baiyu hang up the phone, the female colleague at the workstation next to him said:

"Brother Zhou, you've been saved again, you're better than a psychiatrist. Are you really not thinking about being an emotional anchor? It can definitely explode. ”

Zhou Baiyu smiled and shook his head.

He was a little strange, the girl seemed to wake up suddenly on the phone call, and finally took the initiative to hang up the phone, which was very different from the previous calls.

But right now, he's pressed for time and has important things to deal with.

"Xiaoping, I'm in a bit of a hurry, this should be the last call, I have to leave immediately, if someone asks later, help me say that I am asking for leave."

After a pause, he said another strange thing:

"By the way, thank you very much for your company all the time, you have to take care of yourself in the future, don't wronged yourself."

"Huh? Okay, no problem, hard work Brother Zhou, go ahead. ”

The female colleague was stunned for a moment, and then decisively agreed. Watching Zhou Baiyu leave in a hurry, she felt more and more strange.

"Strange...... What's going on with Brother Zhou today? It's weird to talk about. ”

Zhou Baiyu is not only conscientious about this job, but also loves it, and has never asked for leave.

Usually, they would work overtime until the end, and they would not leave until the building was about to close.

So the female colleague was a little curious, how could Brother Zhou ask for leave at this time.

Especially in the past month, the global suicide rate has soared, and it is the busiest time.

……

In the bathroom on the floor, Zhou Baiyu picked up cold water and washed his face.

He looked at the wet face in the mirror, his eyes full of tiredness.

After a while, he pulled out his phone, opened the memo, and looked at the document he had left behind not long ago.

"Mom, Dad, by the time you read this memo, I should have died. I'm sorry I ended my life in this way......"

This is a will.

The ace operator of the suicide crisis intervention hotline, who has prevented countless suicides, actually prepared a will after "suicide" in advance.

It sounds funny.

Zhou Baiyu couldn't laugh, of course he didn't want to give up his life.

But the countdown in his eyes kept reminding him that death was coming.

[Countdown, 9:39:04.] 】

The countdown that appeared not long ago was like a logo engraved in Zhou Baiyu's sight, which couldn't be removed or stopped.

It flowed silently, reminding Zhou Baiyu that in more than nine hours, his life would usher in drastic changes.

……

……

Things have to start with an "advertisement" -

"An update is coming soon, please contact us if you can see an update prompt."

About a month ago, when Zhou Baiyu passed by a construction site, he saw a strange billboard.

Version update, apparently for a certain software or game. But this advertisement is very non-standardized, with no beginning or end.

Contact us, who are "we"? What is the contact information?

Stranger things are still happening.

A few days later, Zhou Baiyu saw an advertisement in the elevator on the first floor of the office building. I saw a billboard at the bus stop in the community.

Public toilets, basketball courts, swimming pools, advertising areas for taxis......

covers the entire city, and more and more "version update" prompts make Zhou Baiyu very curious-

What kind of software or game is it that an update is going to make such a big battle?

Day 11.

It's not just Linxiang City, Hejin, the capital, and Songjiang where Zhou Baiyu is located...... These places are all the same.

In crowded areas, you will always see such a message -

"An update is coming soon."

But until that time, Zhou Baiyu was only in a state of curiosity and did not go into depth.

He is very busy at work every day, and he is always studying how to arouse positive emotions in life.

The world's suicide rate has skyrocketed, divorce rates have skyrocketed, and birth rates have plummeted.

In the past, there were few news stories about suicides, but recently, for some reason, there has been a lot of suicide-related information.

If there is really anything that should be updated, Zhou Baiyu only hopes that this world can be updated.

But what he didn't expect was ...... The next unfolding is really like the world is about to usher in a change.

On the nineteenth day, similar signs appeared not only at home but also abroad.

"Version" has become a hot topic.

Even if Zhou Baiyu is busy, he will be forced to see relevant information because of big data.

From time to time, he can see similar discussions in various forums:

Netizen Yun Dongliu: "There are also versions of billboards everywhere abroad." It is said that in the grasslands of Heizhou, there are updated hints of tribal indigenous languages, which is outrageous. ”

Netizen Zhuge Wanjun: "I saw someone say a while ago that the world is ushering in a major update version 1.0, and human beings are about to become extinct. ”

There is a lot of talk about it.

Pretend, a certain petal, and a large amount of content appeared on the neck.

Everyone is speculating about what the version of the thing is ushering in an update.

Naturally, there are many people, like Zhou Baiyu, who expect the world to usher in changes.

Zhou Baiyu was invited by a pretending post.

That post was interesting - "If the World Was Divided into Many Versions".

The author's answer made Zhou Baiyu even feel ...... Maybe there really is a version iteration in this world:

Version 1.000: Added the attack range of the Pangu Axe, increasing the efficiency of opening the sky by 25%. Fixed a bug where Pangu could not move.

Version 1.001: Weakened the divinity attribute of the Norse gods, and added a pinching function for Nuwa. Increased Zeus' chance of being indecent.

Version 1.002: We added the "Fire-Making" feature to humans. and raised the IQ of human beings. The climate is slightly warmer.

……

Version 1.018: Considering Ying Zheng being too strong, we decided to ban him. Removed the DLC item "Elixir of Immortality".

In version 1.036, we used Meteorite to fix the bug of Wang Mang's traverser.

……

The post is in the form of a game update, telling the history of each country, focusing on the history of the country, which makes people feel bright.

But it also made Zhou Baiyu and many people feel extremely scary to think about it...... If there really is a version, who are the "us" responsible for fixing the bug?

As the posts started to go viral, people began to think:

If the world is really updated in the next version, what will it look like?

If that's the case, Zhou Baiyu hopes-

"Open the two-dimensional entrance", "add a Gundam car and a giant southern cockroach car", and "comprehensively implement and promote socialism". "Fix the bug that the gap between rich and poor in the world is too large."

Of course, he still thinks that this should just be a mega-corporation building momentum.

Or countries are building momentum for something like the metaverse.

It wasn't until the twenty-third day that the hourglass, a symbol of life, suddenly appeared.

In the lower right corner of Zhou Baiyu's line of sight, there was a countdown.

This startled Zhou Baiyu.

Because as the countdown shortened, he could feel a chill of impending death.

To do this, he went to a doctor and a psychiatrist, and had a very comprehensive medical examination.

But it was concluded that he was healthy, healthy enough to be like an immortal.

After being sure that there was no problem with his body, Zhou Baiyu suddenly had an intuition-

This countdown, could it be related to the recent popular "version update"? ”

His instincts had always been accurate, and he quickly began to gather relevant information.

But the popularity of "version update" is too great, and you need to filter a large amount of information to check it.

It wasn't until yesterday that he finally used "countdown" as a keyword, and after sifting through countless information, he got a glimpse of the truth.

A terrible and desperate data analysis result is in front of his eyes:

"The version is coming soon, and I'll ...... Forced suicide? ”