Chapter 94: The Dawn of the Big Data Era

Fat Girl No. 25 wailed, “How are we supposed to survive like this? That food tastes so awful, and they still want us to trade things for it?”

Wind No. 3 chimed in, “Well, I still have plenty of pepper and soy sauce at home to trade for rice. As for clothes and bedding, I guess I’ll just have to trade those for mushrooms.”

Wang Cuihua sent a voice message: “Who would want to trade for such terrible food? Isn’t this just pushing more people to go out and loot?”

Wang Qiqi No. 13 said, “@everyone, oh right, I forgot to mention—now you can also trade kitchen knives, machetes, and all kinds of metal rods. Apparently, you can get a piece of meat or a steamed bun for one. There aren’t many spots, though, so if you’re late, you’ll miss out. Anyway, no one’s really cooking at home anymore, so might as well trade them.”

Wang Cuihua sent another voice message: “It’s so chaotic outside—who dares to trade away their knives? We need to keep something for self-defense. But we could look around outside. Oh, and what about the homes of those who died in our neighborhood? Can we go in and take their knives to trade for food?”

Wang Qiqi No. 13 replied, “Sure, I have all the keys. Tomorrow, let’s search together and see what we can find.”

Jing Shu narrowed her eyes. In her previous life, she hadn’t understood, but now it all made sense. It seemed the government was doing this on purpose: if you don’t want to eat the free food, if you’re causing trouble and complaining, then fine—they’ll just change tactics.

There’s no such thing as getting something for nothing. If you want to eat, you have to give something in return.

Now that Jing Shu thought about it, she couldn’t help but admire the government’s cleverness. With this simple method, they separated those willing to obediently eat the communal food from those who would rather rob others, providing clear-cut data for big data analysis.

Those unwilling to trade for food would likely keep looting, while those willing to trade would generally stop resorting to theft.

In the era of big data in 2023, no one has any privacy.

For example, a person’s movements—what food they collected at what time and place, where they went according to their phone’s GPS, how long they stayed there, even their chat records, financial status, and spending habits—all could be tracked.

To put it bluntly, even how many times you booked a hotel room with your lover in a week could be known.

The Wucheng police could use data on where deaths and crimes occurred, who had been in those areas recently, and satellite photos to identify suspects.

Soon, everyone’s ID card would be linked to a score—the higher the score, the more dangerous you were considered, likely to have committed robbery, murder, or other crimes.

That’s why Jing Shu told Wang Dazhao to never get caught on camera or have his information scanned. If someone keeps showing up at crime scenes, they’ll be labeled “high-risk.”

Some people thought that as long as they didn’t carry their phones, they couldn’t be tracked. But big data could still analyze you based on the food you collected in the past six months, your previous spending habits, and what you used to buy.

Once the data was compiled, it could reveal everything you’d done. If you’d never had money, never bought or stocked up on food, but showed up for free food distributions, and then stopped collecting when trading was required—what were you doing during that time?

These people would get the highest risk scores and be labeled “high-probability criminals.” If satellites or cameras caught them, or their phone records showed them visiting shady places—especially places that had been robbed—and their calls included suspicious conversations, they’d be flagged.

That’s the power of the big data era—very few can escape its net.

After all, even if there were no witnesses, no one discovered anything, and not even the police were present, people would still be shocked at how their whereabouts could be tracked so clearly.

The system was designed to provoke repeat offenders, so big data could record who had collected free food and then disappeared from the records. These people would be placed under special surveillance.

As it turned out, the truly capable stood out no matter where they were.

The next day, when Jing Shu’s family went to the Aijia Supermarket to collect water, the place had changed for the third time. Now, there was a new area in the plaza for recycling old items, divided into three main sections: condiments, metal knives, and household goods.

The place was bustling, with families lining up in different sections. The knife recycling line was in a separate, fenced-off lane.

The most popular section was for trading in kitchen knives and metal rods—anything that could be used as a weapon. You’d get a piece of cooked meat or a steamed bun on the spot, which tempted countless people. Some were already planning to trade in a knife or two, racking their brains for anything else they could exchange.

Some even thought about stealing from knife shops or finding iron rods at factories to trade.

For condiments, there were big barrels for collection. Staff weighed your items, scanned your ID, and the transaction was done.

The line for recycling sheets and clothes was the longest. Not many people had condiments left at home, but there was plenty of clothing and fabric.

“Jing Shu, what are they doing over there?” Grandma Jing asked curiously.

“Grandma, they’re recycling old things. For example, you give them your condiments—since no one has food at home, condiments aren’t much use now. The staff scan your ID, and it’s like adding money to your account. Then you can use your ID to collect white rice.”

“So high-tech!”

Jing Shu always thought the knife and metal recycling policy was ruthless. It might not seem like much now, but in less than three months, only the rich or powerful would still have knives left. Even robbers, once they got used to eating white rice and couldn’t rob anymore, would eventually trade their knives for food.

Food is meant for the people, so the country wasn’t really losing anything. But by collecting and recycling unused knives, they were disarming would-be robbers, pulling the tiger’s teeth, and making everyone safer—reducing the number of violent robberies caused by unequal force."