in China 3.71 million people are competing for an iron rice bowl, and 98 people are competing for one job, both of which have set historical records. At the same time, 70 AI "data intelligence employees" have taken up their posts in the government hall of Futian District, Shenzhen - reducing document review time by 90%, controlling error rates within 5%, and covering 240 government scenarios. On one hand, 3.71 million people are desperately trying to squeeze in, while on the other hand, the people inside are being replaced by machines. The two images are stacked together, somewhat like a person risking their life to swim towards an island, but the island is sinking. 29 year old Shandong boy Qiao Fan locked himself in his bedroom for 4 years. Not going to class reunion, not dating, no hobbies, the bookshelf is filled with real papers and notes. The alarm clock rings at 7:30 every day, and when he presses it, he either cannot sleep or dares not wake up - waking up is filled with endless online classes and real exam questions. He said, "At the beginning of the exam, I was so anxious that I couldn't finish learning. Now, I'm so anxious that learning is useless But once it stops, the sense of guilt is overwhelming. Four years, the deeper you get stuck, the harder it is to get out. Giving up is equivalent to admitting that four years of youth were in vain; Keep going, there's no end in sight. Qiao Fan is not an exception. There is a key university graduate named Aliang in Meizhou, Guangdong. He has never entered the workplace for 4 years after graduation and relies entirely on his family for support. Despite repeatedly applying for exams, rushing to take exams, and failing the exams, he has repeatedly failed. There are even more people, whose names have not been reported, locked up in countless bedrooms across the country, doing the same thing. The positions they desperately want to enter - window processing, preliminary review of documents, 12345 wiring, secretarial and internal work, report specialist - are precisely the areas where AI excels the most. 70 AI intelligent employees in Shenzhen Futian have achieved an accuracy rate of over 95% in document format correction and an 80% increase in cross departmental task assignment efficiency. 87000 civil servants in Shaoguan use AI to expand policy interpretations, compressing their originally 3-day work into half a day. The number of windows in the Guanghan Government Service Hall in Sichuan has sharply decreased by 40%, while the duration of public service has been reduced by 65%. The number of people taking the civil service exam is getting more and more crowded, but the number of positions they get into is getting fewer and fewer. In the 2026 national examination, for the first time in seven years, recruitment will be reduced by 1630 people. This is not a temporary adjustment, but the beginning of normalized control over staffing. Will everything be fine once we get ashore? A young man named Qinghe from Hunan was admitted as a civil servant at the county prison hospital. On the day of registration, he was stunned - his workplace was even more remote than his hometown in the countryside, and he couldn't bring his phone to work. He felt like he was also imprisoned. A master's degree holder in English named Mala from Xi'an has finally landed in a public institution in Shandong after multiple city tours. However, that city has the lowest economy in the province and lacks cultural life. Xiaoji from Guangxi returned from studying abroad in the UK and joined a state-owned enterprise. On her first day at work, she walked through corridors covered in bulletin boards and maze like compartments, and saw thick folders and file bags piled up on everyone's desks - she said she didn't expect to become like that one day. Qinghe resigned three times and took a year to come out. On the day of his resignation, the sunshine was very good. He rode his bike past a tree full of flowers, like a heart. He walks that road every day and has never paid attention to it before. 23-year-old Fang Chenyu made another choice. He holds the establishment of the Yunmeng County Public Security Bureau in Hubei Province - the Public Security Post, which is close to home and has complete security. But he signed a Personal Abandonment Statement, pressed his hand print, and chose the Xizang border inspection station 3000 kilometers away. At the moment when I pressed my handprint, my heart suddenly felt empty. My father only said one sentence: 'Go out and explore while you're young.' 3.71 million people are crowded on the bridge, and AI is dismantling the bridge deck one by one under the bridge. Someone stood on the bridge for 4 years and couldn't get off, someone walked over and realized that the other side wasn't as they thought, and someone turned around from the bridge and jumped into another river. The people who are truly left behind by the times are not those who have not landed, but those who have only prepared one path. If someone around you is struggling on the highway, show them this one. Not to persuade him to give up, but to let him know - the water has changed, don't just stare at the bridge.