Professor Kong Hu stood at the front of the field like a statue carved from granite. His bellow silenced the last whisper of conversation.
"Stand at attention!"
The first years jolted upright.
Back straight, heels together, arms at their sides. It was easier said than done. Their uniforms were still half-wrinkled. Sweat already clung to their skin from the rush earlier. Still, nobody dared move.
"You are not allowed to move or say a single word until otherwise ordered," he growled.
And then—click.
A spotlight switched on overhead. Then off. Then another one flickered on at the side, then another behind them. A disorienting strobe began, light and shadow slicing through the field with no rhythm, no logic. Students squinted. Some flinched. Most just gritted their teeth and held their positions.
By the third hour, someone finally cracked.
