I got off at Vatuma station with Jing Yi. Opposite me was an old building like a royal fortress bordered by a river. The gate of the fortress reads Vatuma School with an old logo in the shape of a circle in blue, red, and light brown. I wondered if this fortress could be a school. I didn't want to open up any strange questions to Jing Yi.

We stopped at the end of the bridge across the fortress, which was dark gray and about a hundred meters high. I stood with Mao's cat in my left hand, an umbrella in my right, a backpack behind me, my jacket, scarf and sneakers on, looking like a lost person.

Several people my age were also gathered around me with backpacks and umbrellas in their right hands. I actually want to ask why everyone here is carrying an umbrella, like it's required. But I'll just ask Zayn if I meet him.

The sky was getting darker, I was lost in reverie remembering something Jing Yi said. If it's a new student admission, wouldn't they ask for my identity? Or what about the entrance fee. I didn't meet any of the requirements. "Jing Yi, how much do we actually have to pay to get in here or what documents do we have to bring?" I asked her carefully, so she wouldn't get suspicious.

"Like any other school, we pay at the end when they manage to educate us properly. Your question is very strange, how can you not understand, it's like you just came out of a cave. You're from a carryvine family that mostly meditates? Haha. I'm also a carryvine family but not like you, hehe.." she replied with a slight laugh. "And... why identity, your sanza already showed your identity. You're weird... Well... look, they're about to open the fence," she added.

There was the sound of a machine or tool from the direction of the large gate. Soon, the gate opened. From outside the gate, the area inside the fort looked like it was lined with trees along a straight stone path. Followed by the not-so-bright streetlights. Friday night, July 27, I realized that I was really in someone else's world. Jing Yi and a few other new students enthusiastically crossed the bridge and entered the fortress area. The gate closed as we entered the castle.

A person dressed in a dark blue sweater greeted the group of about a hundred of us. "Welcome guys, I'm Yu Fan, one of your seniors. Also the leader of the carryvine division. Before you become a student here, you have to do orientation activities. During this orientation, the only thing you have to do is follow orders. There may be some of you who are unable to follow orders, no problem," explained the man with the shady face.

He was accompanied by several of his friends who wore the same color sweater. We walked along the path in the evening. Lined with fig trees in the area. Halfway down the path, we stopped under the biggest fig tree of all, next to which was a pile of wooden boxes.

"Under this fig tree, you guys sit down, we'll take a short break here," Yu Fan said. Meanwhile, his friend was busy lighting a fire in a large iron container.

"Okay, please put all your belongings in your wooden boxes. Then you have to burn them here," he explained standing in front of us, pointing to the fireplace inside the large container box.

"Burn all our stuff?" another new student chimed in.

"Ehem. Burn all your belongings. You can refuse if you're not up to it," Yu Fan replied.

"If we refuse, what will we get?" another student asked.

Yu Fan didn't answer, shaking his head and smiling faintly.

Burning all my stuff? I paused, thinking. "Will the cat I brought also go into that box?" I asked.

"Yeah, all the stuff you brought," a friend by the fireplace chimed in.

"How cruel of them," someone next to me grumbled. "I refuse," he added, standing up in defiance. His opposition was followed by several others.

"Those who refuse, please come with me," Yu Fan's friend said.

While many others refused their orders, Jing Yi was the first to stand up and put her things in her wooden box. Then she walked to the fireplace and set it on fire. One by one, the other students followed Jing Yi. But there were not many who refused.

"Eighty-two," I heard Yu Fan count the number of students who had burned their luggage boxes. "You, what about you," he asked me.

I saw that there were no more people around me. I bit my lower lip, my body frozen, thinking about Mao's cat, the car keys and Zayn's umbrella. But the old man said Zayn was at Vatuma School. Without thinking, I walked towards Yu Fan, and I also saw Jing Yi giving me a code as if to say "it will be alright".

"Yes! Eighty-three people," I heard Yu Fan's voice after I put my box into the fireplace.

All my stuff was gone, my phone, money, jewelry, everything I owned. I left all my possessions behind and set them on fire. The group of people who refused were being directed to walk in another direction.

"Okay, let's walk to the next place," with a friendly smile Yu Fan led us back on our night journey.

"What about those who refused? Are they coming with us?" I asked.

"No, they're on a different path from us," he replied with his eyes straight ahead.

We continued to walk following the lights on the cobblestone road. The road was slightly downhill. The fig orchards are no longer visible, now there are only olive tree groves. In the distance, we could see a group of people waiting. The color of their sweaters looks different. Now they were wearing light brown.

They shouted from the lower road. "Hey... newbie...," they seemed to be joking.

One of them leaned against the biggest olive tree among the others. "My name is Kai Wen, leader of the ramage division. Here, I don't tell you to burn your things like Yu Fan," he joked with a glance at Yu Fan. But I was surprised when I heard his name. Kai Wen? Isn't that the name written on Zayn's umbrella? I was a little lost in thought as I thought about the umbrella I had burned. It turned out that the owner was the division head.

"Do you see that cliff from here? The distance from here to there is approximately one kilometer, like from the starting point of the gate to here. Here we only provide half a liter of drink. It doesn't seem like enough for...," Kai paused his speech and whispered to Yu Fan. "It doesn't seem to be enough for 83 people. Yes... But what the heck, this is all that's available," he added.

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"Half a liter for 83 people?" said one of the new students.

"Not enough."

"Our stuff was scorched, I actually brought a drink in my backpack."

"How do we divide it up?"

I heard my friends asking and protesting to the seniors.

"Divide it up, you guys organize it. We won't interfere," Kai said. He placed the bottle in front of us.

My friends scrambled over each other, I just stayed where I was with Jing Yi, and we looked into each other's eyes. "Aren't they so violent?" grumbled Jing Yi in a whisper to me. She invited me to walk towards the crowd. As I walked, I looked at Kai. But I quickly averted my gaze when he noticed that I was watching him.

By the time I was in the crowd of my friends, the drinking water was only a quarter of a bottle, it was gone so fast. Meanwhile, there were many who hadn't gotten it yet. Some of us complained and muttered to each other.

"You're so greedy."

"You weaklings can't fight over it."

"You suck."

"You're the violent one!"

"Haha never mind... No need to worry. No one will starve to death here, not even the moving creatures," Kai joked.

"Let's walk out of this olive grove. Then continue to the Xinin Desert," he added.

We walked over the rocks, slightly uphill. So vast was the entrance to the fort all the way to the school. As big as this school is, I don't even see a building that resembles a school.

The olive trees are no longer there. We walked on brownish sand. Small hills are visible along the way. I was getting thirsty, and thought of something fresh to drink. Maybe this is just my suggestion.

Suddenly someone called out. "Leader Kai. My stomach hurts so bad, I want to vomit."

"Ugh... me too... I'm dizzy, I feel like fainting."

"Same... I feel nauseous too, what was that drink?"

We all stopped. Kai Wen and the other seniors looked relaxed and didn't show any confusion. But they still helped some of our friends. "Those of you who are sick, gather with me. And for those who are not strong, also gather with me. But if you're still strong, stay with Kai," said Kai's friend.

My friends walked with their bodies bent over holding their heads, some vomited, some held their stomachs, some had fainted.

"Ummm... how many of you are with me?" Kai counted our number. "Only fifty-three? Quite a lot of gluttons too. Okay go on, you guys follow me," he added.

Some of our friends chuckled with relief. "It's a good thing we didn't get a share."

"Right, it's a good thing I didn't drink it."

"But I drank it, and my stomach didn't hurt."

"Yes, I also drank a little."

"You'll find out later," Kai replied.

Finally we reached a high cliff, with some ropes hanging down. This cliff is similar to the cliffs in the Huangshan Mountains. "Newbie, here you have to climb this cliff," Kai said.

"Climb this cliff? What if we get trapped like before? You told us to drink, but we got a stomachache instead," said one of the students.

Kai didn't answer, just raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Who wants to climb this cliff?"

Some friends raised their hands. "Oh yes... additional... eyes must be closed," Kai explained. Then they immediately lowered their hands.

"Crazy. After they burned things and poisoned our friends, they want to drop us from a height. This school is famous for being good but why is it like this," protested one of us.

"Anyone want to be the first climber?" he offered with a blindfold.

I saw that none of my friends raised their hands. "Me," I said as I lowered the scarf covering my mouth.

This was my first time rock climbing again, after my parents were gone. It was only with them that I took up this extreme hobby.

"Ladies? You can if you want," he greeted me.

My mouth felt like saying that I burned your umbrella. "Why are you smiling? What are you daydreaming about," he reprimanded me as he put the harness and blindfold on me.

I shook my head and smiled slightly. "Ready?" Kai asked.

"Yes," I replied with my eyes closed, and I raised my scarf to cover my mouth. As I began to plant my feet on the 700m cliff wall, he whispered softly to me. "Open your eyes, but don't tell the others."

It turned out that these were not blindfolds, but infrared goggles for clearer vision at night.

I climbed the wall carefully. The terrain wasn't that difficult, it was just that I needed to adapt because it had been two years since I'd climbed a rock. Having already passed half of the height of the cliff, my friend below caught up with me to the top. I stopped for a moment, feeling very thirsty and tired after walking almost two kilometers, let alone climbing a cliff.

I continued on my way, occasionally looking up and down. About five meters away I reached the top of the cliff. My steps stopped when I looked behind me, I could see the lights of the cityscape outside the fort that I passed earlier, the area of this school was vast. Taking a deep breath, I moved a little faster to get to the top. As I touched the edge of the cliff, someone from above grabbed my hand and helped me up.

As I stood at the top, with a cloth over my eyes, and a scarf covering my mouth, I paused for a moment. In front of me, was Zayn. The person I was looking for. "What's your name?" he didn't recognize me. Until he asked me twice. "Hey?" he added.

I paused for a moment to see if he had forgotten me. A male friend of theirs chimed in. "Looks like she doesn't have a name... hahaha."

I realized, then took off my blindfold and scarf. "Rui..Zhu," I replied.

We stared at each other for a few seconds. He frowned, and his eyes widened to see me. His expression looked very shocked when he saw me.

I reflexively looked around me, across my left was Jian Lin who was also surprised to see me. They were wearing maroon sweaters.

"Put your hands on this miroshinfall," Zayn said with a blank stare. Behind him, a group of his friends wearing the same sweater also looked at me.

As I placed my palm on a glass with running water, the water turned light brown. The monitor screen next to it displayed the voice "successful scan... detected 37% Ramage, 33% Carryvine, 30% Galazum". There was a robotic voice from the device called miroshinfall.

"Ramage is part of Rui Zhu!" Zayn said in a low tone.

Zayn's friends followed his words. Then their eyes turned to greet my friend who had made it to the top.

"There's one more brown leaf on that tree. Is that from me, from this flowing water?" I wondered at the sight of a tree. I realized the change in color of the leaves after a small, blinding flash of light appeared.

"What did you say?" Zayn asked me softly as he approached me.

"Hmm?" I asked him back.

"What did you see just now?" his tone seemed so serious.

"The tree. Am I wrong?" I asked.

"None of the students here can see it, except me and Jian Lin," he replied in a soft voice.