010

By the third day of Lei Pu's arrival here, three things had been accomplished. A partnership with Lude was established, deepening the relationship further. Additionally, insights were gained into the cyclical nature of the "corrective therapy" within the building complex. Within this secluded enclave, daily activities such as morning runs, early classes, viewing sessions in the dark room, and evening readings in the library were routine. On odd-numbered days, individuals reflected on their mistakes in the repentance room, while on even-numbered days, they fought for survival in a desperate bid for vitality. The remaining days were filled with a bewildering array of inhumane "therapeutic methods."

In the blink of an eye, more than three months had passed since Lei Pu arrived at the "treatment centre," with none of the eight individuals having left. 

Following a perilous early class on a Friday, they ran several laps around the earthen playground before returning to the repentance room for confession. Seated on wooden stools or kneeling on cushions, the eight individuals formed a circle, gazing upward at the images of Jesus and the Ten Kings of Hell depicted on the ceiling, engaging in confession and repentance. Some delivered lengthy introductions without getting to the point, others humbly admitted their mistakes in a few words, while a few continued to express themselves concisely as they had for the past three months.

The human flesh roulette wheel spun to Lude, who gazed boldly at the colourful Jesus and cross, and uttered, "I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort." With a slight curl of his lips, Lude finished his sentence. 

Though Lian Pu's demeanour remained unchanged, his index finger tapped silently on his thigh. Locking eyes with the most sinister of the Ten Kings of Hell, he spoke calmly yet assertively, "In the West, there was a great man whose only way of relieving stress was through running, so he ran into the Olympics. My way of relieving stress is to exchange a few glances with you." 

Without lowering their heads, Lude, Lian Pu, and 0007 all accepted the known punishment together. 

Before entering the dark room, Lude and Lian Pu exchanged their usual secret words from the confessional room. 

"Maurice." 

"Turing."

Emerging from the dark room, Lude and Lian Pu bore similar yet different expressions of resentment and endurance on their faces. They were led to the room of reconciliation where the man in the white coat, Chen Er, stood. 

Clearly, today's room of reconciliation would not hear any words of repentance from those who had gone astray.

Among the remaining eight individuals, six boys sat in a row, while the other two girls sat across from them. 

"Close your eyes," Chen'Er said, "imagine being caressed by a woman, or touched by a man, oh, and those images you've seen countless times in the dark room, try hard to recall." No sooner had Chen finished speaking, someone couldn't control their physiological reaction and began to feel nauseous. 

"And then?" 

Lude opened his eyes, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see were the stress reactions that Lian Pu had only dared to show when sneaking out of the dark room and hiding in the toilet. Lian Pu had never mentioned his stress reactions to the darkroom to him, and he pretended not to know when he found out. But even if he pretended well, it felt like his heart was being torn apart. 

The fire in his heart suddenly couldn't be contained. 

"Remember the physiological therapy we gave you during special training? It has the same origin." Chen'Er met Lude's gaze and said, "Seriously think about it, do you truly like the same sex? Do you have no desire for the homosexuality?" 

Lude chuckled and looked at Chen'Er, saying, "Chen'Er, do you think we are all confused about our sexual identity? Or do you believe that love should only occur between individuals of the opposite sex in this world?" 

"Exactly." 

"Then why don't you try this therapy on yourself to see if you prefer women or men?" Lude sat back leisurely, "After all, you're not married."

"I am very clear about my own sexual orientation, there's no need for the young Master of the Xing family to remind me." 

Lude stood up, approached Chen'Er, and said word by word, "I am also very clear, I am one hundred per cent into men." His gaze continued to press on Chen'Er, "Hong Kong released a law last year to decriminalise homosexual activities, so what is the purpose of you imposing this on us here? "

Chen'Er took a few steps back, steadied his mind, pointed at Lude, and raised his voice, "Lude, you need to understand one thing, that consent form with black and white text, your relatives also signed it." Chen'Er pointed to the ground, "And 20 years ago, when Hong Kong sealed off Sha Tau Kok, once you entered here, you were no longer the young Master of the Xing family in Hong Kong." 

With that, Chen'Er left the meditation room.

The incident in the prayer room, though not a farce, requires someone to take full responsibility. 

This person is not Lude, but Lian Pu. 

There was no specific reason, only a draw that picked Lian Pu. 

As Lian Pu was taken away, Lude received a symbolic punishment in the dark room. 

Upon learning of Lian Pu's removal, Lude first appeared stunned, then entered a state of frenzy, unable to run like a madman to the chemical treatment room but only clutched his head, leaning against the cement wall, and slipping to the ground. 

"Before Lian Pu was taken away, let me pass on a message," 0007 squatted in front of Lude and said, "On this path of love and freedom, there are many things Young Master Xing cannot do, but Lian Pu can." 

Lude gripped his hair tightly, realising distinctly that the Xing family could do without one young master, that he no longer wanted the Xing family, but Lian Pu was part of his life.

The punishment endured by Lian Pu is aversion therapy. Both hands were fastened on either side of the operating table, legs bent and spread apart for fixation, belt loosened. The endoscope at the foot of the operating bed accurately reflected the stimuli for him, along with the appearance of another man's genitalia. Lian Pu was forced to view the same-sex stimuli, subjected to electric shocks, fed emetic agents to induce vomiting repeatedly. He clenched his fingers until they bled in silence, though the sudden cold sweat betrayed his agony each time, his lungs feeling emptied. The negative feedback ceased when different-sex stimuli appeared in the viewfinder. 

Lian Pu was subjected to this repeatedly until he could no longer vomit bile. Some of his mental fortitude teetered on the edge, yet he managed to notice several transparent chemical bottles on a rack, labelled with numbers, containing the severed parts. 

One of them was labeled 0004. 

When Lian Pu was carried out, his spirit diminished, his gaze unfocused. However, at the moment he caught sight of Lude, he strained a smile. 

Lian Pu was taken back to the dormitory, Lude did not follow, instead, he went to find 0007. Known as Yu Guoliang, who had been following Lude, he was the first to advance in Xinglu's "trial by fire" plan. 

"Tonight, in the top floor office, search through the contents of the dark box," Lude handed the key to Yu Guoliang, thinking of Lian Pu, he said, "We can't wait any longer."

Upon arriving at the dormitory, Lude found Lian Pu lying on the bed with eyes closed, facing away from him, shivering and sweating profusely. 

As Lude climbed a few steps closer and touched Lian Pu's arm, Lian Pu recoiled in a defensive stance. 

"Lian Pu," Lude's voice was gentle to avoid startling him, "it's me, Lude." Despite his reassurance, Lian Pu remained tense, with his entire body and nerves on edge. 

"Lian Pu, it's me, Lude," Lude called out softly, trying to ease the tension. 

His words seemed to resonate with Lian Pu, gradually loosening his guarded state.

Lude gently supported Lian Pu with one hand and took a handkerchief from his pocket to carefully wipe away the cold sweat from Lian Pu's face. 

"Look at me, Lian Pu," Lude directed at him, who had been keeping his eyes closed since sitting up, "Lian Pu, I'm Lude, open your eyes and look at me." 

Lian Pu's eyelids seemed heavy as he slowly opened his eyes. He hesitated before finally raising his gaze to meet Lude's concerned expression.

Lude's furrowed brow revealed his deep worry as he locked eyes with Lian Pu. 

Lian Pu spoke softly, saying, "I'm fine," but realising the lack of conviction, he repeated, "Lude, I really am fine." 

Unnoticed by anyone, Lude's hand holding the handkerchief trembled slightly.

Lude gave Lian Pu a sip of water, as Lian Pu leaned on Lude's shoulder, closing his eyes to recall the events that took place in the chemotherapy room. The images alone made Lian Pu physically nauseous just thinking about them, yet he still tightly held Lude's hand and recounted what had happened inside.

"Do you still feel uncomfortable now?" Not even the last syllable had fully dropped, and Lude almost slapped himself in the face for asking such a question. 

Lian Pu couldn't see his expression, but could sense Lude's torment and pain from his choked voice.

"I'm still a bit dizzy, nothing serious." Lian Pu leaned against the wall, eyes closed, and felt Lude's hand, speaking firmly as if putting his life on the line, "Lude, I feel no shame in loving you; for the freedom we both desire, we cherish it deeply."

There is a hillside forest on the right rear side of the building. 

At four in the morning, Lude leaned against a tree, smoking heavily. 

Yu Guoliang searched the top-floor office thoroughly, finding a complete document and a hidden compartment.

Lude pinched the papers through the file folder, roughly guessing what was inside. He took a deep drag of his cigarette, lowered his hand, and said, "Today, I was too impulsive." 

In those words, regret filled his voice. He often clashed with the people in the building, and afterwards, he was subjected to various punishments, but never once did anyone offer to shoulder all the absurd responsibilities on his behalf.

"Those people always act recklessly." Yu Guoliang took a cigarette, asked Lude for a light, and looked up at the dark sky. "It's been 269 days, Lude, do you think he's still waiting for me to come out?" 

Yu Guoliang has a partner, and they have been together for a long time, deeply in love. He didn't tell his partner where he was going or when he would return. 

Lude also gazed at the starless night, "When you left, he said he would wait for you to come home. Since he said so, you must believe him." 

Believe that we can destroy this unjust gender conversion therapy centre, believe that we can continue walking with our loved ones. 

"I am always believing." Yu Guoliang chuckled, "If a person has no faith, they will either go crazy or die here." With that, Yu Guoliang's gaze fell on Lude and asked, "Did you arrange for that guy to come in?" 

"He came in on his own," Lude shook his head, took another puff of the cigarette, and asked, "Do you know the former Jiangnan Lian family?" Yu Guoliang was not from Hong Kong but immigrated there with his parents. 

"The Lian family that wrote 'With all our strength, rivers may collapse but the nation will not downfall'?" 

"Yes," Lude said, "He was someone I wanted to collaborate with." 

Then, Lude did not elaborate further. Yu Guoliang did not ask more either, as some things are understood without being said. 

Lude took a deep breath, the fresh air filling his lungs, then pressed the cigarette butt against the tree trunk, squeezed the file bag in his hand, exhaled heavily, his eyes sharp as a wolf, "We won't stay here for long."

That night, Lian Pu had a nightmare, waking up drenched in sweat, hands grasping at nothing in the air. 

Lude swiftly grabbed Lian Pu's hands, soothing him by gently patting his arms like comforting a baby, until Lian Pu's breathing steadied. Instead of returning to his own bed, Lude leaned against Lian Pu's bed, creating a safe space for him to sleep peacefully.

Lude closed his eyes slightly, reviewing the information in the file. The four individuals who had left and the contents of the file all matched, with a decreasing level of brutality, indicating a potential newfound conscience during the operation process.

No.0001, Bai Tu, underwent a procedure known as cerebral white matter ablation. 

A needle was inserted into the frontal lobe, swept down through the eye sockets, and then up through the skull, repeating this process to ensure the neural pathways were severed. Following the cerebral white matter ablation, patient 0001's mental state deviated from the norm, impairing their ability to care for themselves, hence, treatment was approved.

No.0004, Chen Lie, voluntarily underwent a chemical castration procedure. 

Post-surgery, Chen Lie experienced excruciating tearing pain between the lower abdomen and genitalia every day. However, he expressed that the surgery was relatively successful as it eliminated any inappropriate thoughts towards men.

No.0005, Dong Qian, and No.0009, Xu Ming, after excessive electroshock therapy, developed delusional and paranoid reactions leading to diagnosed mental instability. 

Despite this, a yellowed fabric strip remains in their files, seemingly hastily torn from clothing. Written in blood on the fabric strip is the message:

Homosexuality is not evil, not depraved, and should not be classified as an illness.

Lude opened his eyes, gently bringing Lian Pu's hand to his lips, whispering, "For the freedom we all seek and the love I hold for you, we cherish and value it."