“No, I’m not gonna stop looking.” At the door of Chef Tang’s noodle shop, while Gyuu Park was still inside having a private word with the Chef, Gloria said to Sue as she was pacing back and forth.

“I - I’m worried about you, Gloria. ” Sue came close and held Gloria by her arm: “I know about Chef Tang’s reputation. If he says something is dangerous, it most certainly is. And we are not going to change that. ”

“But - I know this. I just need answers. ” Gloria rubbed her temples: “Things are not adding up here. I want to get to the bottom of it.”

“Why? ” Sue asked, her voice was shaking: “We - we know quite enough now, don’t we? I want to know more too, but I don’t want to see you get hurt trying to find things out… I - I am genuinely worried about you.”

Gloria grunted, and paced around some more in silence. After a long, deep breath, she turned to her friend: “Sue, I need to tell you something. About the night I fought that ghost at the substation, I meant.”

“What?” Sue seemed surprised. “I thought you told me everything already.”

“No - not everything. There was something I - I didn’t want to tell you - or anyone.” Gloria found a spot to sit on the side of the road: “The night at that electric substation. I did not get that close by accident - I was actually pulled there - or lured there, if I - when I think about it.”

“Lured you there? What could have lured you there?” Sue asked, even more concerned.

“Something - I don’t know what it was. But it seemed to be able to put me in some kind of illusion, or trance. It - it put some kind of memory flashback in my mind, some from other people, and some from my own.” Gloria ticked her tongue, and looked up at the sky: “I heard these voices from people screaming, complaining about the ship sinking. And then I heard my parents’ words before it happened - I …” Gloria found it hard to go on without letting her voice shake, so she paused and tried to take a breather to calm herself down.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Sue sat down by Gloria’s side and held her shoulders: “But hey, at least we are looking in the right direction. We’re looking at the water now. And - yeah, now that things kinda make sense why it’s dangerous. If it’s got to do with what happened, I can kinda imagine why it’s dangerous.”

“Yeah, I know. ” Gloria sniffed and then sighed: “I - I’ll understand if you want to stop now. But I want to keep looking. I don’t know how I can - just let it go…”

“... let’s regroup and sleep on it?” Sue held Gloria’s shoulders tighter and asked.

“Thank you.” Gloria held Sue’s hand.

Just this moment, the back door of the noodle shop opened. Gyuu Park came out, bowed to whoever was speaking with him through the door, and came over to Gloria and Sue’s side.

“So? What did you talk about?” Sue asked.

“I - I asked Chef Tang some things regarding the Association of Local Churches. ” Gyuu Park shrugged: “Mostly guidance on who I can ask for help in the event that my temple needs a new clergy, or watcher. Apparently I need some money for the processing fees. And it requires some kind of public official notice filed through the community collective.”

“What? Are you retiring?” Gloria looked up at Gyuu Park.

“Nonsense. ” Gyuu Park snickered: “But I feel like I do need help. There’s only me in that temple, and if I need to continue investigating this with you, I’ll need help.”

“Thanks, Gyuu, but I …”

“You’re not gonna stop looking. So I’m not gonna stop either. It’s bigger than you. ” Gyuu Park waved his hands: “Don’t think I am doing this for you. I am doing this for my temple, and maybe even the district. But mostly for my temple. You see, if I can solve something like this, my temple wouldn’t be as broke…”

“I know, thank you very much, Gyuu.” Gloria stood up and wiped the corners of her eyes.

“So, now what?” Sue asked: “We essentially found - nothing.”

“Well, we know enough about how omens might have occurred. And how the Qiyun being frozen near the docks may have caused the uprise in paranormal activities.” Gyuu Park scratched his jaw: “Yes, we can’t actually act on that. But at least we know. Let’s gather more information, and see if we can piece things together. I know this is gonna be a long shot, but - ”

“We should go find those related to the victims.” Gloria snapped her fingers: “We should go right now. I mean - we’ve put it off because of what happened. But I think it’s a good lead to go on. At least we can see if it was a targeted operation, or was it just a random occurrence.”

“Alright. But who should we go find first?” Gloria sighed.

“Actually, I have an idea.” Gyuu Park pulled out his phone, flipped through some notes of his, and showed it to Gloria and Sue: “I asked around some contacts of mine for information about the team that was dispatched to the electric substation. I heard that some of them were facing some - serious advice from the company, and even some members of the community collective. So - I’d say we pay them a visit but kinda in a low profile.”

“How are we going to do that then?” Sue helped Gloria clean the bit of her pants to get rid of the dirt she got from sitting on the ground, “If that was the case, wouldn’t they send people to watch their places?”

“Which is why, we’ll need to either bribe them or convince these people watching over them that we are just coming in for some non related visit.” Gyuu Park nodded: “Now, first thing to bribe these suckers - ”

“Smoke and alcohol.” Gloria and Sue answered at the same time.

“No, that’s first level stuff.” Gyuu Park smiled: “If we’re trying to bribe them, we’d gonna have to be a bit more convincing and tempting.”

“Which means?” Gloria frowned.

“Which means we need lamp oil, special red wood, and talisman paper.” Gyuu Park answered.

“But - we don’t have that, do we?” Sue scratched her head, then looked at Gloria.

“I have some. ” Gyuu Park raised his eyebrows: “I wouldn’t have brought it up if - ”

“But those things are expensive and hard to come by. Are you sure?” Gloria asked, her frown grew deeper.

“And it’s for a good use.” Gyuu Park shrugged: “Now, let’s go there later today. From what I’ve heard, late afternoon is a better time for us.”