In the dead of night, a dozen men from northern Myanmar suddenly burst out, surrounding us with guns. We had never seen anything like this before and were all terrified.
Some of the girls were so scared they screamed right on the spot.
"Welcome to northern Myanmar, welcome to paradise!"
The beautiful HR manager, Zhang Fengfeng, who usually spoke so sweetly, now had a sly smile on her face, laughing even brighter.
The dozen men surrounding us with guns also began to laugh wildly.
Their ferocious expressions resembled demons from hell.
"Take everything off them; do it by the usual rules."
Zhang Fengfeng gestured and gave instructions before turning and walking into a small, low building.
The armed men from Myanmar rushed forward, kicking and punching us, shouting in broken Chinese.
Someone tried to resist after being hit, only to get smashed in the head with a rifle butt. He collapsed to the ground, his face covered in blood.
The young man from northeastern China who had fallen tried to get up again, but one of the thugs lifted an iron rod and struck his leg hard.
Everyone could hear his gut-wrenching scream in that moment.
I knew then his leg had surely been broken.
The brutality of these thugs from Myanmar made my scalp tingle, and every hair on my body stood up.
"Whoever dares to defy orders, I'll kill them!"
The man who broke the young man's leg grinned savagely, pulling out a knife and flashing it at us, making several people tremble.
We had all just seen the young man get his leg broken, and nobody doubted they were serious.
I was in a daze, and a single thought filled my mind: my life was over.
After they took away all our belongings, they brutally drove us into individual iron cages.
The cage they put me in was less than a meter in length, width, and height. I couldn't stand up straight or lie down.
All I could do was curl up like a dog inside the cage.
At that moment, huddled in the cage, I clenched my fists, filled with regret and longing for my parents back home.
If I had just listened to my father and found a decent job after graduating from university, I wouldn't be in this mess.
I hated Zhang Fengfeng for tricking me into coming here.
But honestly, I hated myself even more.
I hated myself for being so foolish, for believing in a pie-in-the-sky, and for thinking I was invincible even though I had no real skills.
I bit my lip, trying not to cry, and after some wandering thoughts, I had only one goal in mind.
I had to find a way to escape.
Before I could come up with a plan, ice-cold water splashed over me, making my whole body shiver.
Being locked in the dog cage was just the beginning.
Once we were all confined in separate cages, those thugs turned high-pressure water hoses on us, drenching us.
It was already August, but nighttime in the mountains of northern Myanmar is only about a dozen degrees. The cold water from the high-pressure hoses left many people shaking.
The thugs laughed heartily as they sprayed us, as if we were nothing more than animals to them.
They sprayed us for five or six minutes before stopping.
I was curled up in the cage, hugging my knees, shivering all over. My entire body was soaked, even my underwear dripping wet.
I thought being confined in that cage and hosed down would be the lowest point of my life.
But what happened next made me understand true humiliation.
Two men approached with sticks, opened my cage, and looked down at me, ordering me to crawl out.
Honestly, I wanted to stay in the cage.
Somehow, I felt it might be safer in there.
As soon as I hesitated, one of the men jabbed my back with the stick, causing me so much pain I nearly screamed.
"Hurry up and crawl out."
With the stick jabbing my back, I was forced to crawl out on all fours, feeling utterly degraded.
I truly felt like I was worse than a dog at that moment.
No owner would ever treat their dog like this.
"Take off your clothes."
Outside the cage, the two men barely tall enough to reach my chin.
"What?"
I was momentarily confused, wondering if I'd misheard due to their broken Chinese.
Then, one of them slapped me hard across the face, numbing one side and leaving my head ringing.
"Take off your clothes!"
After that slap, he hit me all over with the iron rod.
These thugs didn't treat us like humans; they were trying to beat me to death.
After several hits, I couldn't take it anymore.
If I let them keep beating me, they'd kill me here tonight.
"I'll undress! I'll undress!"
Overwhelmed with pain, I instinctively shielded my head and agreed.
"Pathetic dog!"
After a few more hits, the thug spat in my face and cursed before stopping.
I glanced around at my caged companions; each one was curled up, staring at me, yet no one spoke up for me.
To have any chance of escaping one day, and to avoid being beaten to death that night, I stripped completely in front of dozens of men and women.
Not even my underwear was left.
In the face of survival, privacy and dignity mean nothing.
I felt my moral boundaries crumbling.
Was that the end?
No, it was far from over.
Then, they hung me up by my feet.
Two men who looked like doctors examined me inside and out.
They took a huge bag of blood—at least 500 milliliters.
They opened my mouth like inspecting livestock, checking my teeth and mouth.
They even measured my size.
The worst part is that they took a bamboo pole shaped tool and inserted it into my butt, as if checking something.
I later found out that not everyone got this "special treatment."
Only healthy people will let you pass these tests.
This, in fact, was why I eventually had a chance to escape that hell.
But to grab that sliver of hope, I paid a price I still don't want to remember.
That tragic memory buried deep in my heart, countless nights have awakened me from nightmares.