Walking Through the Gaps

The day Lin Shen lost his job, he stood on the rooftop and looked down. He didn't jump. He got stuck, neither up nor down, half-transparent and suspended in midair. A System appeared: Want to live? Go save the people who are stuck just like you. So he started walking. He walked past the girl on the rooftop, the father who hadn't spoken in three years, the delivery rider throttled by the algorithm, the woman who sat in the cemetery every day, the convenience store at three in the morning, the cleaner who had swept the streets for twelve years, the old man who had waited at the bus stop for three years, and the night-shift patrol officer who had been drawing a map for three years. He didn't know how to save them. He only knew to step into their lives and keep them company for a while. Then he discovered that every time someone remembered him, he existed for one more day. This isn't a wish-fulfillment story. It's a story that might suddenly make you want to message someone in the middle of the night.