All six people in the dormitory looked at Xu Zifan. Xu Zifan's gaze swept over their numb faces one by one, and he replied, "I won't drag you down with me."
Their eyes were filled with suspicion and rejection, because Xu Zifan had clearly just been severely punished—a punishment to the point of being a troublemaker. How could a troublemaker not make mistakes? If Xu Zifan made a mistake, all six of them would be punished, and just thinking about those punishments made them extremely repulsed by him.
The dorm leader, number 516, noticed Xu Zifan's voice was hoarse. He gave Xu Zifan a small cup of his own water, saying, "Here, drink this. Don't let anything happen. Here, you can only go to the infirmary if your condition is very serious; otherwise, you have to bear it yourself. You'll get three days of rest. After three days, you'll have to attend classes and training with us. Be strong. Also, don't even think about running away! See that button on the wall? That's the alarm. If you press it, all the instructors will come, and no one will escape. If you get caught, our whole dorm will be beaten and starved. We won't let you escape."
Some of the newcomers were crying and screaming, some were trying to escape, and some were numb with despair. The dorm leader had been here for a year and had seen all sorts of freshmen, but he had never seen anyone like Xu Zifan. Despite being beaten half to death, he remained incredibly calm, which made the leader uneasy, fearing that Xu Zifan was so desperate that he wanted to escape, and then they would be in trouble.
After drinking the water, Xu Zifan felt a little better and nodded to him, "Thank you, I won't drag you down with me."
When he said it a second time, it sounded like a guarantee, carrying a convincing power, so the dorm leader didn't dare to warn him any further. He and the others returned to their beds and lay down obediently, each in the same position, not moving an inch, and the dorm instantly fell silent.
The dorm rooms are all eight-person rooms, but this one is missing someone; no one knows what they're doing. Xu Zifan half-opened his eyes, pretending to be asleep, and slowly observed the room. The room only had one window, facing the corridor he had just come from inside the school. This was the innermost room; if he went out, he would be seen by everyone in the windows on both sides of the corridor. If even one person saw him, he wouldn't be able to escape, because they would sound the alarm.
Xu Zifan remained calm, not blaming the trainees for their self-abandonment. In this environment, anyone with ideas would be constantly disciplined, and those who were afraid of being disciplined naturally dared not have any ideas. Countless examples had proven that no one could escape, no one could defy the instructors, so their fighting spirit was worn down, leaving only the instinct to avoid punishment. If one person made a mistake, the whole dormitory would be punished; in order to avoid punishment and to get enough food, they would also supervise each other.
Xu Zifan looked at the barbed wire mesh on the window. It was thick wire with a very dense mesh, welded to the iron window frame and impossible to remove. There was nothing inside the door; the bolt and lock were on the outside, making it difficult to get out. Other places, such as the walls and under the bed, were all made of cement, making it impossible to dig a tunnel out. Moreover, the other roommates would be watching, so any major movements were simply out of the question.
The environment here was very unfavorable for Xu Zifan. After getting a general idea of the dormitory situation, he closed his eyes and recalled what he had just seen outside. The corridor was long, with five surveillance cameras on each side. There were a total of one hundred dorm rooms, but some were not full, with an estimated seven hundred students. So many students were together, yet not together. Every dormitory room was locked from the outside at noon and at night, leaving no room for students to gather and cause trouble. They were completely divided.
It seems that the trainees are united only when it comes to monitoring escapees and disturbances, which is both pathetic and frustrating. However, Xu Zifan believes that there must be trainees like him who want to escape, but they just keep it to themselves. He can observe them slowly in the future and find out who they are.
At two o'clock, the wake-up bell rang outside. The six students in the dormitory immediately got up, folded their blankets into neat squares, tidied their clothes, and stood in a line at the door. Several instructors unlocked the dormitory doors one by one, and starting from the outermost dormitory, they ran towards the playground in turn. During this time, no students spoke, only the instructors' commands and the sound of the students' footsteps could be heard.
One of the instructors saw Xu Zifan lying on the bed and said, "You'll be resting for three days. Behave yourself. This is the best internet addiction treatment school in the country. It's an honor for you to be here."
Xu Zifan remained silent. Unlike Instructor Li, this instructor wasn't irritable; he simply closed the door and left. Xu Zifan analyzed the instructors' manner of speaking. They constantly praised the school, as if the students were incredibly lucky to have come here. In reality, this was all psychological suggestion, implying to the students that this was the best school, that many people were vying to come, and that their parents had paid exorbitant tuition fees to send them here for their own good. If they didn't reform themselves, they would be letting down their parents, the school, and society.
If trainees hear these kinds of voices every day, day after day, they will eventually be successfully influenced by psychological suggestion. Coupled with the reality that every act of resistance will result in beatings and that escape is impossible, the trainees' will to resist will gradually disappear, their willpower will weaken, and they will become puppets, doing whatever the school tells them to do. If they are eventually able to leave, they will naturally become reformed "good kids."
It's baffling why the government turns a blind eye to these places that drive normal people to mental health issues, allowing so many similar schools to spring up. Perhaps only a few major incidents will prompt the government to take them seriously. The repeated tragedies of students dying haven't spurred the government's attention; is it because the students' parents simply don't pursue the matter?
Xu Zifan had been pondering these matters. Only when there was absolutely no sound outside did he force himself to stand up despite the pain in his body and slowly walk out the door. He leaned against the door as if to rest, using his body to block the security camera. He fiddled with the lock on the outside of the door; it was a very thick bolt and the lock was also very sturdy, impossible to open with brute force.
He walked slowly with his head down, glancing at the dorm rooms on both sides out of the corner of his eye. The dorm rooms were mostly empty, with little belongings; everyone's few possessions were neatly arranged. At the far end of the corridor was the bathroom, very basic, a long row of squat toilets that smelled awful. Several water heaters were mounted on the wall, so it seemed that showering was done there.
Two stacks of large plastic basins were piled up outside the restroom; Xu Zifan guessed they were for washing clothes. This school aimed to use the harshest conditions to break down the trainees' willpower and force them to obey the instructors' commands completely. It's hard to imagine that, as parents, some dote on their children and are afraid they'll suffer, while others are heartless enough to send their children to this kind of place to live this kind of life.
He walked to the corner and looked out over the training ground, watching the trainees train through a row of trees. All the trainees were doing push-ups under the sun, and if anyone ran out of strength, the instructor would hit them on the buttocks with a stick and scold them.
Several instructors patrolled the area with sticks when suddenly one of the trainees got a leg cramp. He couldn't bear it and collapsed to the ground, curling up and begging for mercy, "Instructor, my leg cramped up. I didn't mean to. Please don't hit me!"
The instructor took a few steps forward, raised his stick, and started hitting him. "Making excuses! Keep making excuses! You're full of lies and all you do is deceive people. Am I hitting you? I'm teaching you a lesson. Even if you really get cramps, you have to endure it. This is military training. Have you ever seen any soldiers move because of cramps? You can't even handle this little thing. I don't see any determination in you to reform!"
The student screamed in pain, clutching his head, and bumped into a nearby student. That student stopped and shifted, unable to resist glancing at him a few times. The instructor then struck him with a stick, yelling, "What are you looking at? How many times have I told you not to daydream? Don't you have ears? Why are you shifting? Did I tell you to move? You're not allowed to move without the instructor's permission. How many times have I told you? How many times?"
The trainee quickly moved back and continued doing push-ups, but the instructor hit him again with a stick. "Did I tell you to move back? I just told you to listen to instructions. Are you deaf? Get up! Run fifty laps around the track while holding your ears! If your ears aren't red after you finish, it means you didn't hold them tight enough. Report to me when you're done!"
"Yes, instructor!" The trainee immediately got up and ran without saying a word.
The trainee who had been cramping earlier had recovered, though tears streamed down his face. The pain from the beatings made it impossible for him to do push-ups. The instructor, exhausted from the beating, panted and put his hands on his hips, saying, "Go and get your twenty lashes. You're locked in the dark room today and no food."
"Yes, instructor!" The trainees dared not disobey at all, and scrambled to their feet to prepare to leave.
At this moment, a girl with very fair skin stood up and said, "Aren't you going too far? I was right behind him and I could see it clearly. He was obviously having a cramp. Can't he even take a break?"
The instructors' eyes immediately turned to her. The instructor who had hit her touched the stick and said coldly, "Another disobedient one. I'm tired, I'll take a break. You can handle it."
Another instructor walked over, grabbed the girl's hair, threw her onto the playground, and stepped on her back, saying, "Number 1017, new here, right? Have you memorized the school rules? The first one is to obey orders. Are you blind?"
The girl screamed, "It hurts! Let me go! Let me go!"
"Looks like you were just pretending to be well-behaved before, and you've already shown your true colors after only a few days? Someone as unruly as you is just scum of society. You'll only be a threat to society and a disgrace to your parents. Your parents spent 60,000 yuan on your tuition for a year, and instead of reforming yourself, you dare to cause trouble here. You pity him, don't you? Then you'll take the punishment for him!"
After speaking, the instructor looked at the trainee who was having cramps and asked, "She took the punishment for you. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think my decision was fair?"
The trainee with cramps stood at attention and shouted, "Reporting, instructor! It's perfectly fair!"
"If you insist on not letting her take the punishment for you, I can let her go. Do you choose to be punished or for her to be punished?"
"Reporting, Instructor, I choose her to be punished!"
The girl looked at the student with cramps in disbelief. She was trying to help him, how could he be so heartless? The instructor ordered the student back to the group and said to all the students, "Right is right, wrong is wrong. Whoever makes a mistake will be punished. That's fairness. Our school is absolutely fair. Self-righteous justice is just foolish behavior. Do you understand?"
"I've got it!"
After the trainees answered, they continued to diligently do push-ups. The instructor nodded in satisfaction and glanced at the girls' original spot. "Who shares a room with 1017? Step forward!"
Xu Zifan noticed that several girls trembled almost imperceptibly, so he quickly stood up and ran to the instructor, lining up in a row.
The instructor pointed at the girl and said, "New girl, did you tell them to keep an eye on her and teach her well?"
The female trainee on the far side shouted, "Reporting, instructor, we confessed! We failed to teach her properly; we were at fault!"
"What should we do then?"
"Reporting to the instructor, the entire group is to be punished!"
"Very good, go over there and do frog jumps for half an hour, and each person will receive five lashes. If this happens again, the punishment will be doubled!"
"Yes, instructor!"
The other seven girls in the dormitory went frog jumps, but the girl kept shaking her head, "No, why is this happening? Hitting someone is illegal, you're abusing me, I'm going to call the police, I'm going to find my parents, you can't imprison me, you can't abuse me like this, let me go!"
"Someone help me, take her to a dark room, let her talk nonsense like a madwoman, and make her reflect on her actions."
Xu Zifan sighed. This girl probably didn't find the place particularly terrifying when she first arrived, nor did she put up much resistance. Now that she's showing signs of fear and resistance, it's too late. The walls here are extremely high, with electric fences on top; it's impossible to see in from the outside.
You can see inside, but you can't see outside from inside. It's like a prison. The girl is definitely going to get what's coming to her.
New troublemakers are used by the instructors as examples to deter others. Making the cramped trainees choose their actions was a way to extinguish any "righteous indignation" in the girls and show everyone the consequences of standing up for others. The repeated emphasis on only acting on the instructor's orders demanded absolute obedience; disobedience was met with severe beatings. The harsh treatment of the cramped trainees was meant to show everyone that in this school, students had to endure all difficulties and could not use any excuse to disobey the instructors' orders.
All of this had been meticulously planned and researched, and who knows how many people had been ruined trying to figure out these "useful" methods. He looked down at the tree branch; all he could do now was probably make a slingshot and shoot stones to embarrass the instructor, but that would be completely useless and would only anger the instructor, who would then vent his anger on the trainees. He couldn't do anything now, and to avoid being discovered by the instructor and made an example of, Xu Zifan quietly retreated and slowly walked back.
He had noticed that everyone had a water bottle, and the dorm leader was so reluctant to share the water with him, suggesting that the water supply in the dorm might be rationed. On his way back, he drank some tap water from the sink in the bathroom, then went back to his dorm room, lay down, and closed his eyes to rest.
If he could access a cell phone or computer, there would be so many things he could do. But how could he possibly access them? His dorm leader said that unless his condition was extremely serious, he shouldn't go to the infirmary. The infirmary should have some equipment, right? In his previous life, he spent his entire life investing in research labs. High-tech research wasn't currently of use, but research on mental power and psychology was very suitable for this place—these were intangible.
Xu Zifan rested for an afternoon. The trainees returned at six o'clock, followed by free time. Everyone lined up to use the restroom, then fetched water to wash their sweat-soaked clothes and hang them to dry. They were allowed to talk during this time, but they spoke very softly, afraid of standing out and being seen by the instructors. Sometimes the instructors would hit people without reason; the best way to protect oneself was to blend in.
By 7 o'clock, everyone had finished packing and lined up to go to the cafeteria for lunch. Xu Zifan went too; he hadn't yet observed the cafeteria. The people at this school were very cautious; there should be many knives or other potentially dangerous tools in the cafeteria kitchen. However, the entrance to the kitchen was at the back of the cafeteria, inaccessible to the students. The food distribution point was very small, accessible only by a stainless steel tray, making it impossible to reach inside and take anything.
A dozen or so instructors stood around the canteen, constantly watching the trainees. Anyone who spoke too loudly would be hit, wasting food would also result in a beating, and any disputes between trainees would lead to them being taken out for discipline. However, there were no security cameras. Perhaps they figured they didn't need to be monitored while eating, since the instructors were watching.
Instructor Li frowned when he saw Xu Zifan. "You, 1018, what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you not to eat today?"
Xu Zifan lowered his head and said, "I came to ask the instructor if I can see a doctor. I feel very unwell."
"Such a delicate flower! Are you some kind of sissy? You need to see a doctor even though you're perfectly fine. Do you think doctors have nothing better to do than this? I bet you're just making excuses!" Instructor Li strode up to him, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him aside. "Let me see, let me see, what makes you feel unwell? Pretending! Keep pretending!"
Xu Zifan's acting skills were honed through lifetimes of learning from powerful figures in the underworld; they were ingrained in his very being. Upon hearing this, he immediately held his breath, his face growing paler and paler, looking as if he were being suffocated by Instructor Li's collar. Then, Xu Zifan began to gag at Instructor Li, startling him so much that Instructor Li released him abruptly and took several steps back in disgust.
Xu Zifan's eyes grew dimmer and dimmer. He grabbed the chair next to him and fell down with a loud thud, his whole body convulsing.
The instructor who was closest shouted, "Quick, take him to the infirmary! What happened to him?"
Instructor Li frowned and said, "I don't know. He was fine before, but Dr. Yang said he was a little weak."
Given their habit of disregarding human life, the fact that Dr. Yang uttered the word "weak" meant it was very serious. Of course, the fewer deaths the better, so upon hearing this, the two nearby instructors immediately lifted Xu Zifan and rushed him to the infirmary. Xu Zifan "fell unconscious," occasionally twitching along the way, and was quickly taken to the infirmary and placed on a bed.
"Where's Dr. Yang? Something happened to the new doctor."
"Dr. Yang isn't here; he's out running errands."
"Dr. Liu? Then you can examine him, give him an injection or something, and we'll be going now."
"Okay, leave it to me." Seeing that Xu Zifan's condition was not right, Dr. Liu quickly prepared the medicine.
Hearing the sound of others leaving, Xu Zifan opened his eyes a crack and saw that only Dr. Liu was in the infirmary, her back to him. He sat up, glanced at the wall clock, and said softly, "It's 7:10? I thought it was 7:30."
Dr. Liu was startled. Turning around, she saw that he had stopped convulsing and said warily, "Lie down. Your condition is not good. I will treat you now."
Xu Zifan looked at the medicine in his hand, got out of bed, and said, "Doctor, I feel very unwell. I want to tell you about my condition." He then glanced at the wall clock, "Is it 7:30?"