The next day, I went to the company as usual. But the first thing I did when I sat at my desk was not to revise the demand, but to open the client background of Kangfu Group.
I had worked overtime for two years to serve this major client. Although my background permissions were limited, I could operate the "user portrait tag" module with my eyes closed. Before, I only regarded this as a normal business demand—adding consumption capacity, work and rest rules, health status one by one, never thinking too much about it.
But after Aunt Wang left last night, a light kept shining in my mind: why would a lemon candy seller need "health status"?
I clicked on the tag tree and scrolled down three layers.
My fingers stopped.
"Neurological Behavior Indicators — Long-term Consumption Tracking — Abnormal Fluctuation Alert."
This was not a candy-selling system. This was a data monitoring platform for long-term human experiments. Behind each piece of data was a specific person. Their changes in sleep, mood, and memory were all quantified into line charts.
I counted. The number of line charts: 12,700.
Twelve thousand seven hundred people.
A chill ran down my back. I closed the background, and my palms were covered in sweat.
I walked to the smoking room and dialed Aunt Wang's phone.
"Aunt Wang, I checked Kangfu's tag system. That 'Neurological Behavior Indicators' module——"
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone. Aunt Wang's voice was lowered even more: "You saw it."
"What exactly is in the document?"
"Xiao Li, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you clearly in advance. The document contains complete evidence that Kangfu makes counterfeit candies with inferior raw materials and resells user data. More importantly——illegal chemical components were detected in the counterfeit candies they produce. The 12,000+ 'abnormal fluctuations' in the background are people who have been eating counterfeit candies for a long time. If this continues, these people will suffer irreversible damage to their nervous systems."
"Illegal chemical components?" My voice tightened, "Aren't they afraid of killing people?"
"They're not afraid of people dying. What they're afraid of is the matter being exposed, affecting the stock price and the valuation of their data business. Kangfu resells data to foreign capital, and the annual profit is more than selling candy for a hundred years."
I leaned against the cold tile wall of the smoking room. The city outside the window was gray, as if covered by a plastic film.
The document bag in my pocket was thin, but it felt as heavy as a stone.
When I got off work, the leader specially came over and patted my shoulder: "Xiao Li, do a good job on the Kangfu project. If you do well, the promotion quota at the end of the year will be yours."
I pulled the corner of my mouth and said nothing.
Promotion quota, or the candy from fifteen years ago?
I walked out of the office building, and it was already dark. I held the document bag in my pocket and walked towards the subway station.
At that moment, I suddenly realized something—some choices are not yours to make. It was the candy from fifteen years ago that made the choice for you.