Birong Star, Lunar New Year's Day.
The entire planet entered a visiting mode, with relatives visiting each other and the flow of people surging. In the public parking lots on streets and alleys, private cars with "Fu" characters plastered on them were taking off and landing. Red firecracker debris still lingered on the streets, trampled into a mess by the crowds of visitors.
In previous years, relatives would just chat, sit for a while, and leave, perhaps staying for a meal.
But this year, the visiting tradition on Birong Star gained a new activity: going to the hospital collectively!
Going to the hospital on Lunar New Year's Day was considered inauspicious by many in the past, but now it was different. They were going to Longevity Hospitals, which sounded very auspicious.
The hundreds of Longevity Hospitals across the planet became like tourist attractions during a Golden Week holiday, packed beyond capacity, with visitor numbers in the tens of thousands. Off-duty traffic police were called in to maintain order.
People visiting the hospitals were primarily there for two things: to learn about the longevity surgery and to sign up for appointments.
Longevity Hospitals in various locations were well-prepared. As soon as the warehouse doors opened, they began distributing flyers and arranged for announcers to give talks.
Simultaneously, advertisements for Longevity Hospitals aggressively appeared on major online platforms. Some news apps and short video apps featured Longevity Hospital information on their front pages, ensuring everyone could see it.
On Lunar New Year's Day, Longevity Hospitals were not officially open, so surgery appointments could not yet be made. On Jiangye Star, Birong Star, and the Exile Star, across hundreds of billions of people celebrating the New Year, relatives and friends gathered to study the hospital's rules, almost with the intensity of last-minute exam cramming.
On the second day of Lunar New Year, the Longevity Hospital App opened its appointment portal.
The number of appointments reached 9 billion people by that morning, far exceeding expectations, which genuinely startled Jiang Ye.
It seemed people were still very enthusiastic about "living longer."
Although many people complained about the hardships of life and wished they could die sooner, when the opportunity for a lifespan of several hundred years arose, their bodies were honest enough to book appointments online.
On the third day of Lunar New Year, the top trending topic on Birong Star's internet became "Longevity Surgery Appointment Times Announced."
Some people began posting screenshots of their mobile phones online.
The information in the screenshots was simple: the Longevity Hospital App had pushed out appointment results, including tentative surgery times and locations.
"I was at work when my phone popped up a notification. My surgery is scheduled for a year from now!"
"I'm a high school senior. As soon as my morning reading finished, the results popped up on my phone. My grandmother and I booked at the same time. My grandmother can have surgery in two weeks, but I have to wait two years?"
"Just now, an old man on the street jumped up with joy, holding his phone and shouting that he could have surgery next week. I'm really envious. My appointment time hasn't come out yet."
"How is the surgery time sorted? Why are the appointment times so different for simultaneous bookings? Is it randomly assigned?"
"It seems to be sorted by age. The older you are, the earlier you get scheduled. My grandfather's surgery is in a month, my father's is in six months, and mine is in a year and a half."
"It's not just age; payment method also affects the order. My cousin and I are the same age. I paid in full upfront and will have surgery in a year. My cousin used a longevity loan, and he's scheduled for eighteen months later."
More and more netizens were discussing, and everyone was paying attention to the sorting of surgery times.
In the evening, Jiang Ye posted a video on social media.
In the video, Jiang Ye sat behind his desk, with several small dishes and a bowl of noodles in front of him. The sunset glowed outside the window. He was likely recording the video during his mealtime.
"Hello to the netizens of Jiangye Star, Birong Star, and the Exile Star, I am Jiang Ye!"
"Today, I saw many people online discussing an issue: the order of assignment for longevity surgery."
"Yesterday, nine billion people booked appointments, with similar appointment times. But today, when the results came out, some people could have surgery in a couple of days, while others were scheduled for years later. So many people are questioning how this sorting is done and who is responsible for it."
"Here, I will reveal the answer: the sorting was done by the Wisdom Bacteria!"
"From midnight to 3 AM today, within three hours, the Wisdom Bacteria read the planet's databases, read the appointment list, and then arranged the surgery times for nine billion people."
"The sorting by the Wisdom Bacteria was carefully made after they thoroughly considered the condition of the entire planet."
"There are many specific rules, and I will mention a few important ones here."
"The first rule is prioritizing the elderly," Jiang Ye said. "This is not difficult to understand. The older a person is, the more they are racing against time. If younger people had surgery first, many elderly people might not live to see the operating table while waiting.
"I want to clarify one point here: the younger you are, the stronger the effect of longevity surgery. An old man in his eighties might only gain a hundred years of life after surgery, while a person in their twenties or thirties can gain nearly three hundred years. So, I ask all young people not to be anxious. A long life is very long, so please uphold the tradition of respecting the elderly."
"The second rule is the payment method," Jiang Ye said. "Those who pay in full upfront will have surgery earlier than those using longevity loans or longevity contracts. I hope everyone understands that each surgery involves huge cost consumption. If Longevity Hospitals are to remain solvent, they definitely need sufficient cash flow to support them. Therefore, prioritizing those who pay in full is a must."
"However, the payment method rule is prioritized below the elderly priority rule," Jiang Ye shifted his tone. "For example, a twenty-year-old who pays in full will at most be ranked ahead of other twenty-year-olds, perhaps only by a week. But an eighty-year-old who chooses a longevity loan will be ranked far ahead."
"The third rule is credit score and social value," Jiang Ye said. "This rule has the same priority as the payment method rule."
"Everyone has a credit score, which is recorded in the planet's database. Someone who frequently defaults on payments or has been caught for petty theft will have a low credit score. Conversely, those who abide by the law and have a good repayment history will have a high credit score. The higher the credit score, the earlier the ranking."
"Social value is a very broad concept," Jiang Ye said. "Creating wealth is social value, making academic contributions is social value, and personal character is also social value."
"When the Wisdom Bacteria judges social value, the databases they read include the following," Jiang Ye picked up a piece of paper. "Global consumption and investment records, global academic paper records, global charitable donation records, global citizen occupation databases, social media posting records, global volunteer databases, interstellar organization membership information databases, and military honor databases."
"Therefore, people with good credit and high social value will also have their surgery times moved forward," Jiang Ye put down the paper.