Column(Ch22- First-day experience in black tortoise peak)

Written by- Silver Crown

First day's experience in Black Tortoise peak

We quietly finished a cup of tea she offered. While we were drinking, Senior Xia is thoroughly observing each of our countenances, mannerisms, and behavior. When my eyes darted back at her, she had already stopped observing.

Her hand raised the teacup toward her mouth and finished tea in one swig. She put down the tea cup and nodded her head in satisfaction. Then, she stood up from the chair and ordered us to follow her. Of course, the trays and leftovers were swallowed by the table.

She guided us to the restroom inside the cafeteria. The first thing she explained was which one is for males and which is for females. It was a customary procedure for every new batch. The sect rule doesn't allow disciples to discharge everywhere they see fit. At almost every corner and facility there is a restroom for labor disciples.

The entry into the female toiletry is protected by an array that prevents male disciples from entering and peeking inside. And vice versa, a similar type of array is applied for male restrooms. To demonstrate how effective the array works, Senior Xia grabbed Dàn tóu (Egghead) by the neck and shoved him into the entrance of the female restroom. In my eyes, he was pushed into a dark room by Senior Xia and bounced back from the room.

The unlucky Egghead falls on the floor with the iconic Yamcha's Death Pose. I shook my head, feeling a little pity for him.

Egghead couldn't get up from the floor easily. Although he didn't have visible injuries, he was lying weakly in a small crater. His body is twitching from time to time. It seems like he got electrocuted. This unfortunate Egghead would be in a perfect harem scenario if I wasn't assigned to this group. Now, he got electrocuted and I can expect two of us would be treated differently by the senior.

"As you can see, the array isn't lethal. It will just stun you a bit and push you back. It will hurt of course."

"Don't worry. It wouldn't cause permanent damage. The effect will wear off shortly. So, even if you are in a hurry, I advised you to choose the correct entrance. Unless you want to get shocked and finish it inside your pant."

Senior Xia picked up Egghead's body from the floor and put his right arm on my left shoulder. She instructed me to support Egghead's body till he recovered.

After that, she led women folks into the female restroom. Leaving me and Egghead wobbly standing beside the entrance of the male restroom.

We stood there and waited for a group led by a male supervisor. Luckily, we didn't have to wait awkwardly for too long. Another group came and led us into the restroom. As I expected, the restroom is clean, a bit modern, and neat. The only thing different from the modern restroom I knew is the fact that there are no mirrors or Urinals installed inside the restroom. Instead, there are some ventilation systems for erasing the smell. It works nicely and is quite effective. I only smell a sweet scent from my nose instead of the typical smell of ammonia or Mothball.

The supervising senior taught us how to use the tools inside and how they operate. Taught us what is allowed and what is not allowed. Demonstrate the correct way and illustrate what disaster will happen if we do something that is not supposed to do. Two of us joined our group back after we finished business inside the toilet.

This time, Senior Xia led the group to the assignments hall. She explained some groundwork procedures and introduced some work to us. There are a variety of jobs ranging from something that requires skill or knowledge to miscellaneous small errands. Senior Xia picked some suitable jobs for our group. She chose two shifts that are beginner friendly and don't require much technical knowledge. For the rest of the day, we followed where she led, did what she instructed, and listened & memorized things she explained.

First, we did some assigned jobs she chose. Rested for a bit after work. Took our lunch at the cafeteria. She led our group and strolled around some facilities after lunch in order to familiarize fresh disciples with Tortoise Peak's environment. Later that, we did another shift at a different place. Took a break in the middle for supper and rehydration. Eventually, evening arrived.

Senior Xia took a glance at the time indicator and declared that our shift for today is finished. Even though our shift is finished we couldn't depart from the workplace wantonly. Following her order, we rounded up our job and cleaned up the workplace neatly. After we finished tidying up, we became sweaty and smelly. So, Senior Xia took a detour to the bathhouse instead of directly heading back to the cafeteria. We took a quick shower in the bathhouse and washed away dust and sweat from our bodies. Then, we grabbed dinner together before the sun completely set on the horizon.

When we are done with eating, Senior Xia taught us the time unit used in the cultivation world. Its usefulness, and how to use the time-measuring artifacts (clocks) we got from the sect. She dismissed our group after she finished her explanation. But it was on the condition that only people who can answer correctly and were able to use the clock are allowed to go back and rest. It was quite easy to learn if someone knew the number and how to count. It is mostly the same as past lifetime measurements. The smallest unit is a blink mostly 0.1 sec. A minute has 60 sec(breath) and an hour is made up of 60 minutes. Instead of having 24 hours a day, their system has 30 hours.

Before she starts testing, Senior Xia told us the time and place where our group will meet up tomorrow. Jījiǎo (horn) was the first person who can answer correctly. She got permission to leave and rest but she didn't go back immediately. She is just sitting on her chair quietly waiting for her dorm mates.

Even in this world, Girls can quickly befriend each other. It wasn't even a day yet she already has some friends. Whereas the words exchanged between Eggface and I aren't more than two or three lines this whole day. That's how boys work. The interaction between me and the girl members is normal at best. Sorry, I have to exclude one person from this list.

My eyes landed on Quǎn lèi (canine) whose head seemed to be streaming from overusing. This doggo gave me an unwanted share of trouble for the entire day. I have met two people with dog aliases in their nicknames, Quan Lei and Rab Dog. Both of them make me aggravated in different ways.

Helping her doesn't require much physical effort but it wears me out mentally. Worst of all, she didn't have a conscience that her actions were troubling me. I'm doing things out of politeness but she thinks my kindness is for granted. It makes me feel like caretaking a three-year-old child. It is clear that Senior Xia is enjoying the show. She didn't stop Quan Lei or educate her wrong mannerisms. She watched the drama from the sideline while stuffing her food into her mouth like Michael Jason.

I didn't want to dwindle around here anymore. So, as soon as I got permission to leave, I said goodbye to Senior Xia and others and left the cafeteria. I unfolded the tortoise peak map and took a road that lead to my cottage. I walked along the road with light steps. Somehow I found the night scene is more beautiful than the day. Many red and yellow lanterns are lightening up the whole peak. Apart from the occasional sound of leaves fluttering by the breeze, everything is quiet. Flowers and rocks that shine at night and the starry sky with a galaxy of stars are quite pleasing and captivating.

I stopped my track and stood on the roadside and give myself some time to appreciate the night sky. Whenever I watch the night sky, I feel a little melancholy out of nowhere. The night sky in this world has a red and purple dual-color galaxy and a vast array of stars. Maybe somewhere, in some part of the universe, there exists a blue planet called Earth where I lived in my past life. These stars feel so distant and unreachable. Maybe the light I'm currently seeing traveled a thousand or several billion light years to reach this world.

After gazing at the stars for some time, I sighed. I cracked my neck and walked towards my cottage again. All I have on the distant blue planet are some memories that felt like a long dream. I'm now part of the Zolus world. I am living my life in this mysterious world.

There is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty bubbling up in my mind. Will I be able to fit in this cultivation world? Is this world peaceful or chaotic? Many things will change as time passes. Will my mentality remain the same? Will these cultivators honor their promise and teach me the way? What if they are just dangling carrots in our eyes to make use of us and work us to the bone?

I shook my head. None of it matters. I have to improvise, adapt and overcome every hardship. I wipe away negative thoughts and start humming a song. Humming 'Twinkle twinkle little star', I hurried my footsteps. I sang a few songs I recalled from my past life till I reached the door of my cottage. I checked whether I'm in the right house or the right door. There are other similar cottages arranged besides this cottage. I took out my house token inside my clothes and entered it into a slot illuminated by soft yellow light. I felt relieved when the rectangular house token safely entered the slot. I opened the door and entered the house. The lanterns hanging from the ceiling slowly lit up the entire cabin as soon as I opened the door. The pale yellow light coming from them creates a warm and cozy atmosphere inside the cabin. I took off the shoes at the entrance and lay on the floor.

'Tomorrow will be another long day,' I muttered quietly.