杏吧原创

IT鈥橲 yet another day where I can鈥檛 make up my mind. I鈥檝e been dragging my feet for a couple of months already, as though I were walking through a pool of thick, heavy sludge. I feel my life being used up dozens of times faster than before 鈥� where 鈥渂efore鈥� is before the Gene Extension programme had been commercialised. And before I had come up with my plan.

I gaze into the distance from a window on the top floor of an office building. The city spreads below me like an exposed silicon die, and me no more than an electron running along its dense nanometre-thick routes. In the scheme of things, that鈥檚 how small I am. The decisions I make are no big deal. If I could only make a decision鈥� But like so many times before, I can鈥檛 decide. The waffling continues.

Hadron shows up late, again, bringing a gust of wind with him into the office. He has a bruise on his face. A bandage is stuck on his forehead, but he seems very self-possessed. He holds his head high, as though a medal were stuck there. His desk is opposite mine. He sits down, turns on his computer, then stares at me, clearly waiting for me to ask a question. However, I鈥檓 not interested.

鈥淒id you see it on TV last night?鈥� Hadron finally asks.

He鈥檚 talking about the 鈥淔air Life鈥� attack on a hospital downtown, also the biggest Gene Extension Centre in the country. Two long, black burn scars mar the hospital鈥檚 snow white exterior as though dirty hands had fondled the face of a jade-like beauty. Frightening. 鈥淔air Life鈥� is the largest and also most extreme of the many groups opposed to Gene Extension. Hadron is a member, but I didn鈥檛 see him on TV. The crowd outside the hospital had roiled like the tide.

鈥淲e just had an all-hands,鈥� I say in response. 鈥淵ou know the company policy. Keep this up and you won鈥檛 have a way to feed yourself.鈥�

Gene Extension is short for Gene Reforming Life-Extension Technology. By removing those gene segments that produce the ageing clock, humanity鈥檚 typical lifespan can be extended to as long as 300 years. This technology was first commercialised five years ago, and it quickly became a disaster that鈥檚 spread to every society and government in the world. Though it鈥檚 widely coveted, almost no one can afford it. Gene Extension for one person costs as much as a mansion, and the already widening gap between the rich and the poor suddenly feels even more insurmountable.

鈥淏esides crimes that get the death penalty, once you become one of the Gene Extended, they鈥檙e all worth committing鈥�

鈥淚 don鈥檛 care,鈥� Hadron says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to live even a hundred years. What do I have to care about?鈥�

Smoking is strictly prohibited in the office, but Hadron lights a cigarette now. Like he鈥檚 trying to show just how little he cares.

鈥淓nvy. Envy is hazardous to your health.鈥� I wave away the smoke from my eyes. 鈥淭he past also had lots of people who died too early because they couldn鈥檛 afford to pay the medical bills.鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not the same thing. Practically everyone can afford healthcare. Now, though, the 99 per cent look helplessly at the 1 per cent who have all the money and will live to be 300. I鈥檓 not afraid to admit I鈥檓 envious. It鈥檚 envy that鈥檚 keeping society fair.鈥� He leans into me from the table. 鈥淎re you so sure you鈥檙e not envious? Join us.鈥�

Hadron鈥檚 gaze makes me shiver. For a moment, I wonder if he鈥檚 looking through me. Yes, I want to become who he envies. I want to became a Gene Extended person.

But the fact is, I don鈥檛 have much money. I鈥檓 in my 30s and still have an entry-level job. It鈥檚 in the finance department though. Plenty of opportunities to embezzle funds. After years of planning, it鈥檚 all done. Now, I only have to click my mouse, and the 5 million I need for Gene Extension will go into my secret bank account. From there, it鈥檒l be transferred to the Gene Extension Centre鈥檚 account. I鈥檝e installed layers upon layers of camouflage into the labyrinthine financial system. It鈥檒l be at least half a year before they discover the money is missing. When they do, I鈥檒l lose my job, I鈥檒l be sentenced, I鈥檒l lose everything I own, I鈥檒l suffer the disapproving gazes of countless people鈥�

But, by then, I鈥檒l be someone who can live for 300 years.

And yet I鈥檓 still hesitating.

I鈥檝e researched the statutes carefully. The penalties for corruption are 5 million yuan and at most 20 years. After 20 years, I鈥檒l still have over 200 years of useful life ahead of me. The question now is, given the maths is so simple, can I really be the only one planning something like that? In fact, besides crimes that get the death penalty, once you鈥檝e become one of the Gene Extended, they鈥檙e all worth committing. So, how many people are there like me, who鈥檝e planned it but are hesitating? This thought makes me want to act right now and, at the same time, makes me flinch.

What makes me waver the most, though, is Jian Jian. Before I met her, I didn鈥檛 believe there was any love in the world. After I met her, I didn鈥檛 believe that there was anything but love in the world. If I leave her, what would be the point in living even 2000 years? On the scales of life, two and a half centuries sits on one side and the pain of leaving Jian Jian sits on the other. The scales are practically balanced.

The head of our department calls a meeting, and I can guess from the look on his face that it isn鈥檛 to discuss work. Rather, it鈥檚 directed at a specific person. Sure enough, the chief says, today, he wants to talk about the 鈥渋ntolerable鈥� conduct of some of the staff. I don鈥檛 look at Hadron, but I know he鈥檚 in trouble. The chief, however, says someone else鈥檚 name.

鈥淟iu Wei, according to reliable sources, you joined the IT Republic?鈥�

Liu Wei nodded, as self-assured as Louis XVI walking to the guillotine. 鈥淭his has nothing to do with work. I don鈥檛 want work interfering with my personal freedoms.鈥�

The chief sternly shook his head. He thrust a finger at Liu Wei. 鈥淰ery few things have nothing to do with work. Don鈥檛 bring your cherished university ideals into the workplace. If a country can condemn its president on main street, that鈥檚 called democracy. However, if everyone disobeys their boss, then this country will collapse.鈥�

鈥淭he virtual nation is about to be recognised.鈥�

鈥淩ecognised by whom? The United Nations? Or a world power? Stop dreaming.鈥�

The chief didn鈥檛 put much faith in his last sentence. The territory human society owns is divided into two parts. One part is every continent and island on Earth. The other part is cyberspace.

The latter recapitulated human history at a hundred times the speed. In cyberspace, after tens of years of a disorganised Stone Age, nations emerged as a matter of course. Virtual nations chiefly stem from two sources. The first is every sort of bulletin board system aggregated together. The second is massively multi-player online games. Virtual nations have heads of state and legislatures similar to those of physical nations. They even have online armed forces. Their borders and citizenships are not like physical nations. Virtual nations chiefly take belief, virtue and occupation as their organising principles. Citizens of every virtual nation are spread all over the world. Virtual nations, with a combined population of over 2 billion, established a virtual United Nations comparable to the physical one. It鈥檚 a huge political entity that overlaps the traditional nations.

The IT Republic is a superpower in the virtual world. Its population is 80 million and still rapidly growing. The country is composed mostly of IT professionals, and makes aggressive political demands. It also has formidable power against the physical world. I don鈥檛 know what Liu Wei鈥檚 citizenship is. They say that the head of the IT Republic is an ordinary employee of some IT company. Conversely, more than one head of a physical nation has been exposed as an ordinary citizen of a virtual nation.

The chief gives everyone on our team a stern warning. No one can have a second nationality. He allows Liu Wei to go to the president鈥檚 office, then he ends the meeting. We haven鈥檛 even risen from our seats when Zheng Lili, who had stayed at her desk during the meeting, lets out a head-splitting scream. Something horrible has happened. We rush to turn on the news.

Back at my desk I pull up a news site. A broadcast is streaming on the homepage, the newsreader is in a daze. He announces that the United Nations has voted down Resolution 3617. That was the IT Republic鈥檚 request for diplomatic recognition. It had passed the Security Council. In response, the IT Republic has declared war against the physical world. It began attacking the world鈥檚 financial systems half an hour ago.

I look at Liu Wei. This seems to have surprised him, too.

The picture changes to that of a large city, a bird鈥檚 eye view of a street of tall buildings, and a traffic jam. People stream out of cars and buildings. It鈥檚 like the aftermath of an earthquake. The shot cuts to a large supermarket. A crowd pushes in like the tide. Madly, they scramble for cans and packages of food. Row after row of shelves shake and crash into each other, like sandbars broken up by a tidal wave鈥�

鈥淲hat鈥檚 happening?鈥� I ask, terrified.

鈥淵ou still don鈥檛 understand?鈥� Zheng Lili asks. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no rich or poor any more. Everyone is penniless. Steal or you won鈥檛 eat!鈥�

Of course, I understand, but I don鈥檛 dare to believe this nightmare is real. Coins and paper money stopped circulating three years ago. Even buying a pack of cigarettes from a kiosk on the side of the street requires a card reader. In this total information age, what is wealth? Ultimately, it鈥檚 no more than strands of pulses and magnetic marks inside computer storage. As far as this grand office building is concerned, if the electronic records in relevant departments are deleted, even though a company holds title deeds, no one will recognise its property rights. What is money? Money isn鈥檛 worth shit. Money is just a strand of electromagnetic marks even smaller than bacteria and pulses that disappear in a flash. As far as the IT Republic is concerned, close to half the IT workers in the physical world are its citizens. Erasing those marks is extremely easy.

Programmers, network engineers and database managers form the main body of the IT Republic. They are a 21st-century revival of the 19th-century industrial army, except physical labour is now mental labour, and gets more and more difficult. They work with code as indistinct as thick fog and labyrinthine network hardware and software. Like dock workers from 200 years ago, they bear a heavy load on their backs.

Information technology advances in great strides. Except for those lucky enough to climb into management, everyone鈥檚 knowledge and skills grow obsolete quickly. New IT graduates pour in like hungry termites. The old workers (not actually old, most are just over 30) are forced to the side, replaced and abandoned. The newcomers, though, don鈥檛 last long either. The vast majority of them don鈥檛 have long-term prospects鈥� This class is known as the technology proletariat.

Do not say that we own not a thing. We鈥檙e about to reformat the world! This is a corrupt version of The Internationale.

A thought strikes me like lightning. Oh, no. My money, which doesn鈥檛 belong to me but will buy me over 200 years of life, will it be deleted? But if everything will be reformatted, won鈥檛 the result be the same? My money, my Gene Extension, my dreams鈥� It grows dark before my eyes. My chest grows tight and I stumble away from my desk.

Zheng Lili laughs then, and I stop. She stands near me.

鈥淗appy April Fool鈥檚 Day,鈥� a sober Liu Wei says, glancing at the network switch at a corner of the office.

The office network isn鈥檛 connected to the outside world. Zheng Lili鈥檚 laptop is sitting on the switch, acting as a server. That bitch! She must have gone to a lot of trouble to pull off this April Fool鈥檚 joke, most of it to produce that news footage. An in-house designer, though, could have used 3D software to produce that footage. It wouldn鈥檛 have been that hard.

Others obviously don鈥檛 think Zheng Lili鈥檚 joke went too far. 鈥淥h, come on,鈥� Hadron says to me. 鈥淧ractical jokes are supposed to raise the hair on your neck if they鈥檙e being done right. What鈥檚 there to be afraid of?鈥� He points at the executives upstairs.

I break into a cold sweat, wondering whether he suspects anything because of my reaction to Zheng Lili鈥檚 prank. Can he see through me? But even that鈥檚 not my biggest worry.

Reformatting the world, is that really just the mad ravings of IT Republic extremists? Is this really just an April Fool鈥檚 joke? How long can the hair that suspends the sword last?

In an instant, like a bright light driving away the dark, my doubt is gone. I have decided.

I ask Jian Jian to meet me this evening. When I see her against the backdrop of a sea of the city鈥檚 street lamps, my hard heart softens again. She seems so delicate, like a candle flame that can be snuffed out by the slightest breeze. How can I hurt her? As she comes closer and I can see her eyes, the scales in my heart have already tilted completely to the other side. Without her, what do I even want those 200-plus years for? Will time truly heal all wounds? It could simply be two centuries of non-stop punishment. Love elevates me, an extremely selfish man, to lofty heights.

Jian Jian speaks first, though. Unexpectedly, she says what I prepared to say to her, word for word: 鈥淚鈥檝e been turning this over in my head for a long time now. I think we should break up.鈥�

Lost, I ask her why.

鈥淢any years from now, I鈥檒l still be young. You鈥檒l already be old.鈥�

It takes a long moment for me to understand what she鈥檚 saying. Then I realise what the look on her face as she was walking toward me had meant. I had mistaken her solemn expression as her having guessed what I was about to do. Laughter bubbles through me. It grows until it is loud and pitched at the sky. I am such an idiot. I never considered what era this is, what temptations appear before us. When I stop laughing, I feel relieved. My body is so light, I might float away. At the same time, though, I鈥檓 genuinely happy for Jian Jian.

鈥淧ractical jokes are supposed to raise the hair on your neck. What鈥檚 there to be afraid of?鈥�

鈥淲here did you get so much money?鈥� I ask her.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just enough for me.鈥� Her voice is low. She avoids my gaze.

鈥淚 know. It doesn鈥檛 matter. I mean, it takes a lot of money for just you, too.鈥�

鈥淢y dad gave me some. One hundred years is enough. I saved some money. By then, the interest ought to be sizable.鈥�

I guessed wrong. She doesn鈥檛 want Gene Extension. She wants hibernation, another achievement of life science that鈥檚 been commercialised. At about 50 degrees below zero, drugs and an extracorporeal circulation system reduce the metabolism down to 1 per cent of normal. Someone hibernating for 100 years will only age one.

鈥淟ife is tiring, and tedious. I just want to escape,鈥� Jian Jian said.

鈥淐an you escape after a century? By then, no one will recognise your academic credentials. You won鈥檛 be used to what society will have become. Will you be able to cope?鈥�

鈥淭he times always get better don鈥檛 they? In the future, maybe I can do Gene Extension. By then, it will surely be more affordable.鈥�

Jian Jian and I left without saying anything else. Perhaps, one century later, we can meet again, but I didn鈥檛 promise her anything. Then, she will still be her, but I鈥檒l be someone who has experienced another 100 years of change.

Once she leaves, I don鈥檛 hesitate. I take out my cellphone, log into the online banking system, and transfer 5 million into the Gene Extension Centre鈥檚 bank account. Although it鈥檚 close to midnight, I still receive a call from the Centre鈥檚 director right away. He says that the manipulations to improve my genes can start tomorrow. If all goes smoothly, it will be over in a week. He earnestly repeats the Centre鈥檚 promise of secrecy. Out of the Gene Extended whose identities have been revealed, three have already been murdered.

鈥淵ou鈥檒l be happy with your decision,鈥� the director says. 鈥淏ecause you will receive not just over two centuries but possibly eternal life.鈥�

I understand what he鈥檚 getting at. Who knows what technologies may arise over the next two centuries? Perhaps, by then, it鈥檒l be possible to copy consciousness and memory, create permanent backups that can be poured into a new body whenever we want. Perhaps we won鈥檛 even need bodies. Our consciousnesses will drift on the network like gods, passing through countless sensors to experience the world and the universe. This truly is eternal life.

The director continues: 鈥淚n fact, if you have time, you have everything. Given enough time, a monkey randomly hitting keys on a typewriter can type out the complete works of Shakespeare. And what you have is time.鈥�

鈥淢e? Not us?鈥�

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 go under Gene Extension.鈥�

鈥淲丑测?鈥�

After a long silence, he says, 鈥淭his world changes too quickly. Too many opportunities, too many temptations, too many desires, too many dangers. I get dizzy thinking about it. When all is said and done, you鈥檙e still old. But don鈥檛 worry.鈥� He then says the same thing Jian Jian says. 鈥淭he times always get better.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檒l keep diaries from now on because the me of two centuries from now will surely be a stranger鈥�

Now, I鈥檓 sitting in my cramped apartment writing in this diary. This is the first diary I鈥檝e ever kept. I鈥檒l keep diaries from now on because I should leave something behind. Time also allows someone to lose everything. I know. I鈥檓 not just a long lifetime. The me of two centuries from now will surely be a stranger. In fact, considering it carefully, what I thought at first is very dubious. The union of my body, memory and consciousness is always changing. The me before I broke up with Jian Jian, the me before I paid the embezzled money, the me before I spoke with the director, even up to the me before I typed out 鈥渆ven鈥�, they are all already different people. Having realised this, I鈥檓 relieved.

But I should leave something behind.

In the dark sky outside the window, pre-dawn stars send out their last, pallid light. Compared to the brilliant sea of street lamps in the city, the stars are dim. I can just make them out. They are, however, symbols of the eternal. Just tonight, I don鈥檛 know how many are like me, a new generation setting off on a journey. No matter good or bad, we will be the first generation to truly touch eternity.