Not long after Sue left, Gloria found a corner and curled up in there to take a quick break. The detective stopped speaking in his sleep and his breathing patterns seemed to be getting more and more steady, and she was not able to get anymore from him.

Before long, Gloria heard a clear mumble and the detective’s breathing speeding up. She immediately stood up and got a glass of water and put it beside the bed. But before the detective actually awoke, her phone rang.

“Hello?” Gloria walked out of the door and answered.

“Is this Gloria Lee?” The man on the phone seemed to be someone from the community collective - it was not the phone number, or that Gloria recognized the person calling. It was purely because of the impolite and impatient tone that was overly common in the district, amongst low level functionaries.

“Yes, who is this?”

“This is a call from the South Eastern District of Poison City Community Collective, Safety Watch and Patrols Division, Ritualistic Safety Department.” The man did not give Gloria his name: “I am calling regarding your meeting with Harmony Enforcer Fyman Nu today.”

“What? I don’t remember having a meeting with an enforcer?” Gloria frowned, her head got clearer from hearing the word “Harmony Enforcer”, these were some of the most unwanted and unwelcome people in the district, for wherever they went, they brought intrusive and over zealous investigations and probing with them.

“You do now. ” The man did not even change his tone: “You have a meeting with him at 11 o’clock in the morning. You are to be present at least 15 minutes before the meeting and be in proper attire. Enforcer Nu will be inquiring about the incident at the Fuman Coffin Home, so you will need to bring every related document to the meeting. If you would like to reschedule the meeting, you will need to call us at least 48 hours in advance. Otherwise this will be considered an act of contempt for the community collective.”

“I don’t have 48 hours, do I?” Gloria scoffed.

“Then be here on time and bring all the required documents. And per the normal process you are allowed to have some eyewitnesses of your choice present. But to bring them along you’ll need to apply for the approval at least 24 hours ahead of time. Or you can expedite the process after paying an express processing fee.”

“...I understand. I will see to it.”

“And as a general courtesy, please make sure all of your eyewitnesses are properly dressed as well. ” The man said with the same old dry tone: “Have a nice day. Please be on time for the meeting. After this call, please take the time to take a survey and tell us what you think about your experience.”

When Gloria went back into the apartment, she saw that the detective was already awake and was chugging the water she left by the bed. And when he finished, he seemed to be slightly disturbed by the taste of the water. She did not blame him, the water in the building was not as clean as it could be. Even after running through a relatively uncheap filter, there was still a bad taste lingering.

“You’re awake now.” Gloria shook her head and entered the apartment “Oh, and don’t mind the water - it’s only filtered once. We couldn’t afford better things here.”

“It’s fine, better, even. Thank you very much, for saving me.” The detective tried a few times and was finally able to push himself straight on the bed: “Where - where am I?”

…

The detective did not stay long and had to rush away, not even noticing that Gloria took a few big bills from his wallet. He seemed distraught, it would appear to Gloria that the death of this “Sitch” had disturbed and saddened him to his core.

Gloria had an extra shift at the coffee shop today, she signed up for it herself because she needed the additional money to make rent and cover up the other expenses, now that she was not able to do her side job of being a temp watcher, and the other “additional income” being mostly unstable.

The early morning phone call with Luoshan Zi was embarrassing, luckily her long time friend and mentor was quite understanding. She then called Tae Kuo and sent a message to Sue. Tae Kuo was apparently under similar scrutiny from the community collective as well, but he was willing to be there for her, even though he would technically not be allowed in to testify. Sue did not respond, for she might still be asleep.

She had copies of most of the related files from the Fuman Coffin home at this temporary location, but she still needed to head back to make sure she had all the files ready. And on her way back she could also visit the Fuman Coffin Home.

The Fuman Coffin Home was still on lockdown. There were freshly placed tapes from the community collective on the front and back doors as well as windows. There were some cut and sliced tapes on the ground, indicating that some local children might have tried to play pranks on the place.

There were no signs or tapes on a spot where there was a hole in the wall, so she just hopped up, with half her left foot stepping on a hole to boost her shoulder just over the walls so she could look inside the yard.

There were some red markers made of tape or red threads on the ground, and it seemed that there was a small bagua mirror placed in the yard, facing against the backdoor of the main room. Even with Qi concentrating on her eyes, she still could not see any traces of residual paranormal energy. Whatever the people from the community collective did, it seemed to have worked.

Though she had the thought for a moment, she did not actually have the heart to sneak in at all. It would be a high risk low reward kind of deal.

When she got back to the apartment, she found that Sue was indeed asleep - her friend did not even take off her clothes and just passed out directly on the sofa. After finding the file, she put a blanket on her friend, left a note then headed out. She needed time to prepare for the meeting, and she needed time to get to know who this Fyman Nu was, and how they were, and whether she would get into any further trouble.