“What? What’s that got to do with - how - ” Gloria was stunned for a brief moment, then almost shot the question: “How did you know about the underground temple.” But she was able to push this question down. Eager to find answers as she was, it was grossly unwise to ask this question and basically give away a secret that Gyuu Park devoted so much effort to figure out.

“It’s - not super important, it’s just - I have found some very arcane and even bizarre connection between what’s happening and this story. I am still trying to make sense of it.” Marcus shook his head and waved his hand, as if to throw the thought away for the moment: “Now, can you tell me what else you saw here? Anything would help.”

“Oh - it’s not that unique or bizarre, quite similar to what you just said, actually. ” Gloria was disappointed. She could understand Marcus’ hesitation and reservation, it was just if he could tell her a little bit more she could be on to something. Some kind of missing connection in the whole picture. “It’s a piece of memory - the memory I sorta wanted to forget. It was something I heard while on that ship. My mother was telling me to climb onto something so that I could float and not drown. I was - well, I was in one of the premium rooms, because my parents were once well-to-do. My dad complained about there being no one around when the water started coming in, before the entire ship sank.”

“I’m sorry… it must have been rough … I saw similar things as well - my father took me out of our room. We floated and paddled our way to the nearest shore we could find. ” Marcus took a deep breath: “My father was never the same after that. And with Kevin’s theory, I think I can sort of understand him much better now. It never stopped haunting me, but losing my mother was definitely, especially hard for him.”

“Yeah. ” Gloria shook her head with a wry smile: “I think I can relate - a little. I lost my parents that night. I don’t exactly have nightmares about them, not anymore, but - I don’t know. It’s just there, and I can’t shake it off my mind. ”

“I’m sorry. ” Marcus sighed, then asked with a carefully weighed tone: “So - did someone in the South-Eastern District raise you?”

“Yeah. I was found by the shore. A group of locals raised me, the main one is my current boss. Who also taught me how to fight…” Gloria chuckled: “I even tried to go back and see if I could find some relatives of mine in the Northern District that could take me in. But - I couldn’t find any of them. Almost all of them just outright disappeared.”

“I’m sorry.” Marcus shook his head.

Gloria took a careful look at the left side of Marcus’ face, thinking back on what she had heard from Marcus, she uttered a question: “Wait, did you used to love the story about the Burnt Queen? I was wondering why you asked that earlier - did you happen to bring a pretty expensive copy with you onboard and carry it everywhere?”

“Yes - a collected edition copy. How’d you know?” Marcus’ eyes opened wide.

“You probably don’t remember this, but - ” Gloria chuckled as she scratched the side of her face: “I once wandered into the lounge without my parents watching me. And I saw a boy reading by a coffee table. Sounds like it’s you. I bugged my parents about getting a copy like yours after I was brought back to our cabin. ”

“I’m not sure I remember - ”

“I know you don’t, you barely noticed the pot of hot tea that almost spilled on you.”

“Oh, I remember that - ”

“Hey guys, do you hear something?” While both Marcus and Gloria laughed at this interesting turn of fate, Kevin asked while looking around.

“What?” Gloria narrowed her eyes: “What’d you hear?”

“People - people chattering, some kind of echoey voices.” Kevin scratched his head: “I think I just heard something from - from this corner…” He answered as he drew a circle around him with his left hand. It was a small corner, with a half crushed empty metal box, some wrenches, screwdrivers and drills scattered on the ground. The metal box looked like it used to be the switch box of this substation, and the tools looked somewhat new.

“Hang on.” Gloria took a deep breath, then activated her Qi and concentrated on her eyes. There they were once again, the same dark particles in the air whenever paranormal entities were near. She wanted to advise the other two to leave for a moment, but the density of them seemed to be way less than what would warrant an evacuation. She turned to trace the flow of the particles, and instantly found that they appeared to be coming from the crushed empty switch box.

And at the same time, Marcus was looking at the box with a frown. His Qi glowing in his eyes. He saw it as well.

“What - what’d you see?” Kevin asked with a shaking voice, stepping away from the box.

Marcus made a “shhh” gesture, then knelt down on its side. Gloria knelt down by him, turning her right ear at the box.

There was a lot of inaudible chattering, some sound from the wind blowing through closely placed metal objects, and a faint weeping at the backdrop. Gloria tried her hardest, yet she still could not make out much. The chatters were clearly in the common language, just too muffled to make sense.

“Please! Think of something! Do something! ” One clear sentence burst out. And then came more desperate prayers and pleas.

“We’re gonna die here! We’re gonna die here! Please! Buddha! The graceful Bodhisattva, help us! Please don’t dim! Please shine!”

“John! John Mitchell! He knew! He knew!”