I Used the System to Turn 996 into Five Days and Eight Hours

The boss posted an announcement in the group chat: “Starting this month, everyone works 996. If you don't like it, get out.” The employees collectively asked the boss, “Are we getting overtime pay?” The boss said, “Talk back again and you're fired. If you won't do it, plenty of others will. There's no overtime pay.” The boss said: “Young people shouldn't always be thinking about clocking out. Look at the big tech companies, they work 996. We only work 9127, so we're already pretty generous.” (Note: 9 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.) My girlfriend said, “If you don't change jobs, I'm changing boyfriends.” Then she did. My landlord said, “Rent's going up by 500 this month. If you don't like it, leave.” I looked at my bank balance. In three years at the company, my monthly salary had gone from 8,000 to 8,500, thanks to an annual raise of 500. At three in the morning, I was at the office revising the thirty-seventh version of a project brief. The moment my computer blue-screened, a line of code appeared on the screen: [Reality Rule Editing System loaded. You can use code to change any rule in the real world.] I thought I was hallucinating. Staying up too late had driven me insane. Then the next day, the boss posted an announcement in the group chat: “Starting this month, everyone works 996. If you don't want to, leave now.” The group chat fell silent as death. Nobody dared speak. Nobody dared quit. The mortgage still had to be paid, the kids still had to be raised, and their parents still needed medical care. I stared at my phone, my knuckles clenched white. Then I snapped. I typed a line into the System's code box: // Modify: Employees' daily working hours ≤ 8