The Collection of The End

——? ? ? ——

"I know you're there."

"I can feel it."

"You're scared."

"You're afraid of us."

"You're afraid of change."

"I don't know what the future holds."

"I'm not here to tell you how everything will end."

"I'm here to tell you how it will all begin."

"I'm going to hang up."

"Where the world will go when this is over."

"I leave this choice to you."

【——AD.1999.5.7——】

"Haah-haah-"

Thomas A. Anderson raised his head suddenly, taking deep breaths to calm his pounding heartbeat.

After a few seconds, as his heartbeat gradually slowed down, the surrounding sounds gradually reached his ears.

It was the clacking of keyboards, the hum of the copy machine, hushed conversations, and the rush of footsteps.

Next, his somewhat dilated pupils gradually focused, allowing him to see clearly what was in front of him. It was a 17-inch rear-projection monitor. Several rows of normal program codes were displayed on the screen, as well as countless numbers below them. Eliminate garbled codes that are enough to trigger an attack of trypophobia and the error warnings raised by the Debug program for them.

Next to the monitor, there is a humming computer mainframe, a pen holder without a few pens, a desktop bookshelf scattered with basic programming code books and some miscellaneous items, a mug containing steaming coffee, and a small pot of water. Very healthy green radish.

These items are all placed on a pure white small computer table with two drawers. This computer table is surrounded by a half-person-high translucent plastic enclosure and is separated from other tables at the same time. .

When looking out from the window on the wall not far away, you can notice that the sky has completely darkened, and on the ceiling overhead, cold incandescent lamps are illuminating these almost empty work cubicles. 8090

As familiar things come into view one by one,

The confusion that Anderson felt when he first woke up gradually disappeared, and his memory began to return.

Yes, this is my office, and I am "voluntarily working overtime" to complete the work assigned by the company. I made a cup of instant coffee because I was too sleepy, but I tilted my body slightly while waiting for the coffee to cool down. Accidentally fell asleep.

Since everyone was busy, no one poked their head out of the cubicle to care whether they were too tired. There was no difference at all between the environment before taking a nap and after waking up, at least that's what Anderson thought.

When it comes to work, it's purely the opposite sense of "the predecessors plant trees, and the descendants enjoy the shade." Anderson thought while deleting the garbled characters that he pressed out while sleeping.

Those pioneers of electronic computers, for unknown reasons, set the length of the field representing the year to two digits, that is, 84 represents 1984, and 95 represents 1995. At first, there was no problem, but this problem started in 1999 It was directly upgraded to the "Millennium Bug" after the year: What year should be the second next to 23:59:59 on December 31, 1999? 1900? 2000? Human beings themselves will not have problems. The only ones that will have problems are those electronic computers that have spread to all aspects. Any equipment whose functions are related to time may malfunction.

The software development company where Anderson worked required employees to work overtime in order to solve the impact of the "Y2K" bug on all the software they developed in advance.

The focus here is on "advance" and "oneself". Taking advantage of this crisis to step on other software companies to take over, as expected, all software companies think so.

The basic idea to solve this problem is to change the two-digit year to a four-digit year. However, because there are too many involved and there are no previous successful cases to refer to, programmers in all companies are crossing the river by feeling the stones, so who can do it first? Whoever solves this problem will be the industry leader, and others will act based on its face - of course, it may also encounter poaching and hacker attacks.

However, this modification is also very problematic, because when 9999 comes, the four-digit year will be insufficient again. What will be done then? Some people may think that it is impossible to use the same calendar for 10,000 years, but there are no absolutes in the world. Some people think that people 10,000 years from now can solve this problem by themselves... Isn't this just like setting the year as a two-digit chart to save trouble? Are the guys just as bad?

Let Anderson say, just set the year format as Int. Are you afraid of years that exceed the lifespan of the universe?

However, these things have basically nothing to do with Anderson. First of all, he is just an ordinary programmer in the company. Even if he jumped out and claimed that he had solved the "Y2K" problem, no one would believe it. Secondly -

Small problems like the "Millennium Bug" have long been solved by [The GROX].

The so-called "Matrix" refers to a secret online world that is inaccessible through normal means and is only used by a small number of people who understand it. There is everything there and nothing at the same time. People with ability can get everything in a short time. , but if you make a mistake, you will lose everything in an instant.

As a hacker with a moderate level, Anderson entered the Matrix under the pseudonym of Neo purely by chance. After discovering that the water was too deep, he did not dare to do anything at all. He spent his days there watching the gods fight among the bosses, and at most gained A little internal information of listed companies can be used to operate the short-term stocks in hand.

In this very dangerous network, if the "Millennium Bug" breaks out, the losses that may be caused cannot be compared with the "clear network". Matrix users don't dare to trust others, so they start to think of ways to solve this problem themselves early on. Problem, but because not everyone is a master of networks and programs, after half of the users solved it by themselves, the remaining people found a relatively reliable master to help them. His name is "Trinity" .

This master with a great name did not disappoint everyone's expectations. He just compiled a universal tool installation package that did not come with tracking IP, implanting Trojans, seizing permissions, transmitting intelligence, causing the battery to overheat and explode, etc., and successfully solved the problem for them. The millennium bug problem, and the person responsible for ensuring the security of this installation package is another master. His name is also very interesting, called Morpneus.

Anderson did not download the installation package. After all, the software company had paid him a salary for many days. There was no need to leave clues to lure matrix masters with unknown personalities to harm them - and even if he downloaded it, with his level It cannot be cracked either.

Da da da--

Anderson drank up the coffee in one gulp and started typing on the keyboard to continue. After all, although he had quietly gained some benefits in Matrix, no matter what, this superficial job still had to be maintained, otherwise the source of funds to repay the mortgage and car loans would be unknown. But the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will come to your door.

He is just an ordinary company white-collar worker who doesn't like trouble. _