Ruo wakes up, it doesn't seem like much time has passed, even though it's already night.
She looked up while she was still lying on the bed, looked at the window. The net has strange hoops on it like those in animal cages, to prevent them from escaping, from a place they weren't even supposed to be.
The air was cold.
A faint, heavy scent lingered in the room, as if it came from something wounded.
She stood up.
The moonlight filtered through the window—the only free thing in the room.
Maybe in the empire.
It fell gently across her face, like a whisper of comfort.
She exhaled slowly, opened the door, and slipped back into character.
She had her gaze down when she closed the door behind her.
But as she looked up, Madam Wen was already there. Too close.
Ruo Yu startled, stepping back sharply.
Or at least that's what Lily—the mask she wore—did.
Madam Wen laughed.
"Sorry, dear. I didn't mean to frighten you."
Her voice was sugar-coated, false.
"Lucky you woke up right on time."
She reached for Ruo Yu's hand, held it gently, then let go and walked ahead.
Ruo followed without a word.
"I told you we would train you," Madam Wen said.
"Lucky you arrived on the day of the Inner Balance Sessions."
Ruo Yu raised her head.
"Inner Balance... Sessions?"
Her voice was unsure. Curious. Pretending to be curious.
"This session is for your soul," Madam Wen replied.
"Before we employ you, we must first care for you."
She gestured toward a room.
"Go in. All your fears will melt away.
I will pray for you."
Her hand landed softly on Ruo Yu's shoulder.
Ruo Yu returned a polite smile—empty, thin.
Ruo Yu thought to herself, "Is this place a brothel or a cult?"
Did he send me into something worse than the last? I didn't even know a place like this existed."
Ruo Yu gently opened the door,
Inside, a woman dressed in white stood in the center.
Her face and hair veiled in pale cloth.
She nodded as Ruo entered.
"Finally," she said gently. "The number is complete. We can begin."
Ruo Yu sat on the only empty cushion.
The room was round, bathed in warm light.
The air was thick with lotus.
In the center, the same girl from this morning played music again—
but now it was softer, sadder -- more dangerous.
Ruo looked at the girls and adjusted her position to match them. The woman spoke, "We will begin the breathing therapy session: breathe slowly."
Ruo saw those around her closing their eyes and breathing slowly, just as the woman had instructed. Ruo was reluctant to close her eyes, as she wouldn't be able to observe the situation.
Amidst her scattered thoughts, the woman spoke again, "Imagine yourselves, freeing yourself from the past."
Ruo almost laughed.
But that would be her laugh, not Lily's.
She closed her eyes.
She imagined a little girl standing in the ruins of something once whole.
A voice approached her—faceless, impossible to name.
"Your home is gone. You have no name. No family. You must forget."
"Okay. I will." The girl said, and strangely enough she wasn't lying, she really had intended to do so at that moment when she agreed, she intended to give up like he had told her, but maybe after some time she didn't really know how to live without a past. And only on lies. And she felt a little panicked, because he hadn't given her anything, and expected everything from her.
Ruo opened her eyes.
Beside her, a girl wept quietly, pressing both hands to her heart.
"Maybe she too was told to forget, and given nothing in return."
The woman's voice returned.
"Now, we begin the confessions."
She walked between the girls.
One by one, they spoke.
"I stole food."
"I ran from my parents."
"I left my child behind."
Each voice cracked slightly, carrying guilt, whether real or forced.
Ruo realized the goal:
Break pride.
Bleed their dignity quietly.
She thought of something funny to say, a lie to mock the whole ritual.
But Lily couldn't joke.
And someone beat her to it.
"I killed someone," a girl confessed.
No one flinched.
Not even at that.
Each was too buried in her own ache to judge another's.
Then it was Ruo Yu's turn.
A single tear slid down her cheek.
"I abandoned someone I loved," she said.
It wasn't a sin. She didn't believe in sin.
But if she told herself it was—maybe it would become one.
Next, they were told to choose new names.
Names of purity.
Obedience.
She chose "Flower."
But in her mind, it was black.
A bloom that marked death.
Then came the final act.
"Implicit Hypnosis," the woman called it.
She stood at the center.
The music grew louder.
The words rang like a spell.
"You are no longer your past.
Your pain is a shadow.
You are now light.
You belong to the Lotus."
When the others rose, so did Ruo Yu.
But the woman came to her and whispered:
"You… you're not fully here yet. But you will be."
The words cut through her mask.
And that was the moment Ruo knew—
She had to find the real owner of this place.
End this mission.
And get out.