The walking corpses with changed eyes began to roam extensively throughout the workshop.

It seemed this thing spread faster than I had imagined.

Busy assembly lines passed through me one after another in the workshop, surging crowds of people went by me. They all rushed together toward that irreversible ending, while only I remained in place pretending to be normal.

But why didn’t anyone come to talk to me?

Your eyes have all changed. Even if just one person appeared to tell me you needed to be saved… I would try every method to help cure you.

But why are you all so silent?

Did I need to take the initiative to stand in front of everyone at the morning meeting and shout “I’m here to help you”?

…

“Everyone quiet down!”

The workshop director’s shout brought my thoughts back to the present.

I was standing with a group of people in the center of the workshop, waiting for the leadership’s morning meeting lecture. But because everyone kept discussing their conditions, the scene still hadn’t quieted down.

I glanced at the workshop director’s eyes, unable to quite gauge the demeanor of such a high-level leader. Their expressions were always serious and contemptuous, making it impossible for me to tell at a glance whether he was infected or not.

He looked with displeasure at the workers who had just been making noise, then said: “What’s with the discipline lately? Can’t even quiet down for a morning meeting. Do you have so much to say?”

After hearing this, everyone suppressed their words and lowered their heads, pretending nothing had happened just now.

“Last week our workshop’s production efficiency was extremely poor.” The workshop director rebuked angrily. “Not only did several lines fail to meet production quotas, even the pass rate declined overall. It’s gotten hot, and everyone’s become restless, haven’t they?!”

“I won’t say anything more unpleasant than this—you’re here to work, not to play. No one here is going to coddle you. Don’t slack off on me!” The workshop director continued. “Our workshop has never lacked new people. If you can’t handle it, you can leave today. Did you hear me?”

I had been here for a while and had rarely seen him this angry. It seemed everyone’s work had recently been delayed by their conditions.

“The only one who deserves praise is Zhang Lijuan’s line.” The workshop director’s tone eased slightly. “Last week they not only exceeded their quota, but their pass rate also reached a new high. Applaud.”

After saying “applaud,” the workshop director himself started sparse applause. But in contrast, the coworkers not only didn’t applaud, but whispers started again.

The workshop director wasn’t infected, but he didn’t know these workers also carried the symptom of “can’t applaud for Zhang Lijuan.”

“What’s with your work attitude…?” The director clearly sensed something was wrong and stopped clapping. “Lazy and scattered—what kind of appearance is this? You’re dissatisfied with work, is that it?”

Hearing his increasingly serious tone, some people gradually began to clap. The applause was very light in force, slow in movement, and unpleasant in sound.

Then came a second person, a third person.

Countless mocking applause composed the most absurd ensemble of this morning meeting.

“The apprentices Zhang Lijuan trained will be promoted next week.” The director continued. “All workers on the line get a fifty-yuan bonus. The rest of you work hard. If you want money, the targets are right there. No one’s stopping you.”

Hearing “apprentice promotion,” several sick friends around Zhang Fang reached out to hold this virus source, then showed expressions of “that’s great,” as if she was finally saved.

And the rest of the crowd began transmitting noisy whispers again. I couldn’t hear a single sentence clearly.

Although I didn’t know the content, I could roughly guess.

They said “The workshop director treats Zhang Lijuan so well, there must be something going on between them.”

They said “A mistress can even get a bonus—there’s truly no justice.”

They said “Relying on seducing others to climb up—she still has the face to stay in the workshop.”

They said they didn’t feel too well and might need medical attention.

But did they really not know why I had a bonus?

Although I was the last link in the assembly line, from soldering points to circuit boards—all related knowledge—I knew it by heart. I had simply used the time they spent being sick to strengthen myself.

As long as they wanted, they could do it too. But first they had to cure themselves.

The workshop director frowned again and scanned over everyone. His gaze was like a volume button, muting wherever it passed.

Then he cleared his throat and spoke: “If you have any problems, say them openly and honestly right now. What kind of ability is it to talk below? If I see this attitude at tomorrow’s morning meeting, everyone will be docked one hundred yuan.”

This statement should have been the heaviest of this morning meeting. No one dared to speak anymore.

The workshop director turned back to look at the secretary behind him: “Did you write down everything said today?”

“I wrote it down.” The secretary nodded.

“Good.” The workshop director extracted a form from his hand and reached out to hand it to him. “Post the commendation notice first today. Does anyone else have anything to say? I’m giving you the opportunity to speak now. After today, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

I had heard many such intimidating statements from leaders over the years. They didn’t actually want to hear employees truly reflect on problems—they just wanted to suppress and bury the problems.

This method benefited him but only had disadvantages for me.

I seemed to have returned to the past, standing in a strange central position, unable to grasp the lifelines in front of or behind me.

No one brought this matter out into the open, which meant I never had a chance to explain.

The sound of their whispers would not reach me, nor would it reach the leadership.

So I probably wouldn’t be fired, but would just have an exceptionally difficult time.

But… could this cold treatment be a better approach?

I make no response, the leadership acts as if nothing happened—how long would they persist?

I wasn’t certain of the result. After all, normal people would never encounter this kind of thing in their lifetime, so there was no way to guess what consequences different solutions would bring. But I felt my mentality could still hold up.

Perhaps the previous workshop experience had made me grow.

After the director dismissed the meeting, the secretary posted the notice on the bulletin board.

It read:

This week, Comrade Zhang Lijuan’s assembly line pass rate reached a new high, production efficiency exceeded last week by 5%, all workers on the line receive a one-time bonus of 50 yuan, written as fifty yuan. This is hereby announced for three days. Those with objections please contact the Comprehensive Management Department.

So what was this?

It was a target.

It pulled me from the situation of being quietly discussed by everyone to the point where I could be publicly insulted.

The next day, I walked past the bulletin board carrying my cleaned lunch box. My peripheral vision caught something unusual. I turned around and discovered the three characters “Zhang Lijuan” had been modified by someone with correction fluid, then the sloppy words “Broken Shoe” were written in red pen.

I gripped the lunch box tightly in my hands, stared at that notice for a few seconds, then left as if nothing had happened.

I hadn’t done anything, so what did those two words “Broken Shoe” have to do with me?

But as I said, very few people would experience this kind of thing.

So no matter what kind of response plan was chosen, there was no way to predict the consequences.

When everyone saw I had no reaction to that “Broken Shoe,” they seemed to feel my tolerance was stronger than they imagined. So in order to break me down, they gradually increased their firepower.