I am weak and friendly

Chapter 210 Ordinary People Like Me
This sudden turn of events almost strained Tang Yiping's back.

The system clearly indicated "Helpful Student Tang," so how did it suddenly change to "Mediocre Coder Tang"?

Tang Yiping looked around and saw that the police officers, seeing how well he was doing, thought he was safe and went to maintain order elsewhere.

Could it be that to transform a certain fixed impression into a "working mask," one must have close contact with the provider of that fixed impression?

So where did this mask of "Tang, the mediocre coder" come from?
When Tang Yiping turned his head again, he saw Lao Zhang and Wang Xiqiang looking at him with expressions that said, "Let's see what tricks you're playing."

Looking at the distance between them and himself, and then at the distance between the older and younger police officers, Tang Yiping felt that the case was solved.

It's you indeed!
So, in your eyes, I'm just this mediocre coder, Tang?

Tang Yiping never expected that after working hard for more than an hour under the scorching sun to cultivate his public image, his home would be raided at the crucial moment.

Tang Yiping was about to wave them away to leave quickly and not disturb him while he was building his persona when the system notified him again:
—【Working Mask】【Tang, the Mediocre Coder】exists with a cognitive paradox and may collapse. Please solidify this mask or abandon it.

"Uh... no matter how I think about it, it seems unlikely that there could be anyone else," Old Zhang said, rubbing his chin.

He carefully considered the process of Tang Yiping meeting his Tongtong and helping Tongtong write FOEW, and felt that it was impossible to insert any other characters in the middle.

"So, the big shot was just faking it all after all..."

"What a strange hobby!"

"This is what they call 'playing dumb to fool the enemy,' right?"

"You know what, this is going to be really interesting."

"I want to see how this will ultimately develop."

Although Tang Yiping didn't hear what the two were discussing, he felt that if they continued their discussion, his "Mediocre Code Tang" was going to be destroyed.

It's probably because these two people have a paradox in their self-perception.

During this period, [0xT1P] has been in the eye of the storm. If he can't quickly make a [work mask] to wear, what if he is recognized?
Does he have to wear the "Founder of the Dragon Group" mask every day?
He waved to the two people.

Get out of here!
Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!

"Ah, the big boss is looking down on us."

"let's go."

The two of them had come because they were worried about Tang Yiping, but now that they saw that Tang Yiping was alright, they were relieved.

"Goodbye, boss, have fun!" Wang Xiqiang waved to Tang Yiping.

His voice was a little loud, and it immediately made the people nearby turn their heads to look at Tang Yiping.

The word "big shot" is probably too conspicuous in this environment.

Wang Xiqiang realized he had misspoke and quickly tried to salvage the situation, waving to the others and saying, "Gentlemen, we're heading back now."

Everyone then smiled and waved.

For a time, the sound of various "big shots" could be heard everywhere at the scene.

The two waved, turned and took a few steps, then turned back and asked, "Hey... Tang! We're going to lunch, want to come along?"

"What do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine, Tang. What would you like to eat?"

"Can I order food?!" Tang Yiping, who had been busy with the "Not Enough to Eat" task lately and had only eaten two bags of expired snacks for breakfast, and hadn't received his own iced tea yet, was suddenly excited!

Someone's treating us to a big meal!

Wait, now is not the time to eat!
Let's solidify the "working mask" of "Tang, the mediocre coder" first.

Tang Yiping waved his hand resolutely.

After the two people left, the system prompted:

—【Tang, the mediocre code writer】has stopped breaking down. To avoid cognitive conflicts from happening again, please let more people serve as cognitive anchors.

—Get at least 10 people to accept your persona as "Tang, the mediocre coder" to solidify your mask (0/10).

Tang Yiping frowned as he looked at the system's prompt.

He inexplicably felt that the C-level skill [Working Mask] was more complex than his previous skills.

Could it be because the system previously suggested that this skill was particularly well-suited to his [Corpse Hunter] class?
Tang Yiping studied the prompt in front of him, and when he looked up again, he saw that the other programmers had also left one after another, leaving only a few people behind.

The bald programmer who had initially struck up a conversation with Tang Yiping was now looking up at the direction of the 8th floor.

His expression looked a little strange.

Tang Yiping asked him, "Everyone has left, aren't you leaving?"

"Hmm..." The bald programmer M composed himself and said, "I've got nothing else to do anyway... I'm planning to look around here a bit more, what about you guys?"

The bald programmer looked at the others.

The bald programmer looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "I do find it a bit strange... Don't you guys find it strange too?"

"Strange? What's strange?" Tang Yiping asked.

"Shh!" The bald programmer quickly silenced Tang Yiping, glanced around warily, and said, "Those cars from earlier were strange!"

"Yeah, it is a bit strange," another programmer said in a low voice.

"That police car just now, it was like it was deliberately trying to make everyone see it, it had its siren on and even showed a face inside the window... It gave the impression that it was intentionally trying to make everyone mistakenly believe that the big boss had already left..." said the bald programmer.

"I also find it strange. After all, if the big boss wanted to leave, he could have just left secretly. What happened just now must have been a diversionary tactic. The big boss might still be inside the building."

"right."

"In other words, everyone's gone, the curfew is lifted, and we might be able to go in and find the big boss."

Tang Yiping was helpless as he listened to everyone's reasoning.

No, you guys really won't rest until you catch me, huh!
Are you all Sherlock Holmes?

Sure enough, it's really impossible to do without wearing the "working mask".

"However, to get inside, you'd need to swipe a card or something, or some other kind of permission," said the bald programmer, and then...

Everyone looked at Tang Yiping.

"Uh..." Tang Yiping waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no! If I take you up there, I'll lose my job!"

Fortunately, these people weren't so heartless as to force Tang Yiping. After sighing for a while, they huddled together to think of other solutions.

After a while, they obviously couldn't come up with a solution. The bald guy said to Tang Yiping, "Post our idea on the forum and ask everyone if they have any ideas."

Tang Yiping: "???"

Wait, I need help online, how do I catch myself, right?

We've entered the second half now, haven't we?

"Uh... okay." Tang Yiping really didn't want to do this.

But why do I feel inexplicably eager to try it out?

"Tang, keep up the good work! If you do well in your live streams, I'll introduce you to an internship!" said the bald programmer.

"Really? What company?"

"Uh... we're just a small company, the pay is so-so, we're barely surviving. But if you're just an intern, it should be fine. Last year, our interns got 3600 yuan a month, which is better than Linghai Technology!" said the bald programmer.

Wow, wouldn't that be about 1.1 times the size of Linghai Technology?

Rounding up, it's roughly equivalent to the previous Linghai Technology.

Tang Yiping was somewhat intrigued and decided to go and take a look.

"You'd better keep your word!" Tang Yiping said, enthusiastically starting the second half of his live stream on the forum. Meanwhile, the programmers at Ωbald had been discussing for a long time without reaching a conclusion, then turned to Tang Yiping and asked, "Tang, does anyone on the forum have any good ideas?"

"They said that Linghai Technology just released a job posting, and if you go for an interview, you might meet a big shot!"

You know what, the experts on the forum are really helpful.

"Really?"

What kind of job are you hiring?

"This might actually work!"

When will you start hiring?

Tang Yiping didn't know when his company posted the recruitment notice. He glanced down at the screenshot posted on the forum by the forum bigwig and said, "This weekend, at the summer recruitment fair in the university town."

Wait, isn't this the job fair I wanted to go to?

Why do I always feel like the world lines are converging?

"What a coincidence? Our company was also recruiting that day."

"Our company is the same..." These programmers, who were probably all from Hailing City, started complaining to each other.

"The company's HR department didn't actually have any plans to hire anyone, but the development zone and industrial park both told us that we had to hire some recent graduates to increase the employment rate... We had no choice but to offer two positions, and the salaries were extremely low anyway."

"The current employment rate is just awful..."

"I'm afraid Linghai Technology will be overwhelmed by the demand."

"How about we apply for the job?"

"Pfft, we hire others, then we jump ship ourselves?"

"No conflict, no conflict."

"It's not impossible."

The group half-jokingly and half-amicably agreed on a strategy, stopped worrying and anxious, exchanged contact information, and then left without waiting there.

However, there was still one person who hadn't left.

Tang Yiping looked at the bald programmer and asked, puzzled, "Aren't you leaving yet?"

You're a holdout, aren't you?

"I..." The bald programmer shook his head and said, "Tang, are you really unable to bring anyone in?"

"I already told you, the big shot isn't even in our company, nor is he in the building," Tang Yiping said, shrugging. "What do you want with him?"

I have a feeling that this person's motives are different from others.

“Okay…” the bald programmer sighed, then instructed Tang Yiping, “Tang, don’t listen to them. Working at a big shot’s company is a great opportunity. Don’t jump ship to another place. This may be the best opportunity of your life. Don’t give it up easily.”

"You need to study hard and practice algorithms. You should also practice the coding problems on Maike.com. You should go back to work now. There's no one blocking the road now, so it's not right for you not to go to work."

After giving Tang Yiping his instructions, he seemed to have put something down, let out a long sigh, turned around and said, "I'm leaving too."

"Brother, what exactly is the reason you're here to see the big boss?" Tang Yiping asked. "Why is it so important that you want to see him?"

He always felt that this person seemed to have an inexplicable obsession.

"Me?" The bald programmer smiled, shook his head, and said, "Do you know about the 'Listening Ear' from the boss?"

"Didn't the big boss use 211 different software programs in his code?" said M-bald programmer.

Tang Yiping nodded.

"My code has also been cited."

Tang Yiping: "!!!"

He stared wide-eyed at the bald programmer in front of him.

Not really.

"So, you came to see the big boss today because you want to..."

"I didn't really intend to do anything, I just wanted to see what such a skilled programmer was like," said the bald programmer, Xiao Se. "This is probably the last time I'll be so impulsive as I bid farewell to my programming career. I'll probably be going back to my hometown tomorrow."

"Uh... what's going on?" Tang Yiping asked. "I remember that programmers whose programs were referenced by big shots... seem to be quite popular, and a lot of people are paying attention to this."

"You mean the 'Lonely Ashtray' guy?" the bald programmer laughed. "He was the first programmer to be cited by that guy..."

"Which number are you in?"

"No. 162."

Tang Yiping: "..."

"You know, even if a lot of people pay attention, who will care who the 162nd person is?" said the bald programmer.

It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but even he himself doesn't remember which code the 162nd one was.

Most of the online celebrities had already left, but a few remained, continuing their live streams.

There happened to be a delivery guy in a food delivery uniform doing a live stream, singing a song:

"People as outstanding as me"
He should have lived a brilliant life.

How come after more than 20 years...

Still adrift in the sea of ​​people…

Listening to this song, the bald programmer smiled.

Some people are just that ordinary.

Even if you get the attention of a big shot, you're still just the most ordinary one.

"The code that the expert cited was something I wrote back in college. At the time, I thought I could change the world, and I ambitiously went to work for a big startup. But then..."

He gave a wry smile and said to Tang Yiping, "Tang, you must study hard and make progress! Don't end up like me, a programmer for so many years with nothing to show for it. The only thing I can be proud of is what I wrote 20 years ago when I was in school. To be honest, I couldn't even understand my own code back then. It turns out I'm not even as good as my younger self."

Tang Yiping sniffed.

He now understood why he had spoken so much with this bald programmer.

Ah, that familiar feeling!
This guy has really forgotten a lot of skills!

"How about I treat you to something to eat?" Tang Yiping said.

He felt inexplicably guilty. If he hadn't placed him at 162, but at 12, things probably wouldn't be like this now.

"No need," the bald programmer shook his head. "Even if we're talking about food, I should be the one treating you, since you're still an intern."

"Then let's not invite each other."

"AA?"

"Hehe, I have another idea." Tang Yiping looked around, then led the bald programmer to a somewhat rusty vending machine and asked, "What would you like to eat? Or have something to drink?"

"Uh..." The bald programmer looked on in bewilderment as Tang Yiping patted the vending machine and two bottles of drinks fell out with a clatter.

"This belongs to my former company. How did you manage to make it?"

Tang Yiping: "Was your previous company Touchpoint Interconnect?"

During this period, Tang Yiping had checked a lot of information about Touchpoint Interconnect, but strangely, there wasn't much information about it online.

This company is remarkably low-profile.

(End of this chapter)