Marcus organized his thoughts, and combined his memories with the information he learned all along the way before retelling what happened at his own apartment complex. The Lady in White remained calm most of the time, her facial expression changed when Marcus mentioned his vision gifted by the White Wuchang, especially the part about the black altar.

“And - do you have any idea on who those men around the altar were?” The Lady in White asked after Marcus finished his retelling.

“I - I have some suspicions, but no definitive answer - ”

“Speak, for I am not holding you to anything even if you’re wrong.”

“My sincere gratitude, my lady.” Marcus bowed lightly and took a deep breath: “I believe - I believe it’s those monks and practitioners missing from the South-Eastern District. I - I’ve read up on the ideas of ‘pillars’. And they are these - these providers of positive, supportive forces in spells and rituals. So - whatever that kind of ritual they’re doing in my vision, it’s obviously very dark. And to suppress that kind of darkness, they’d need the energy from those monks and practitioners. Whoever’s responsible for this - this ritual or massive spell, they’d definitely need this suppression to lessen their risk of being corrupted by the spell itself.”

“I see. ” The Lady in White nodded with approval: “Well then, I’ll take this piece of fabric off your hands. And you shall have two more questions. However you want to use them would be up to you.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Marcus bowed toward the lady, then turned back to Gloria: “I think - let’s just each have two questions. Why don’t you go first?”

“That’s so kind. Thank you.” Gloria smiled, patted Marcus on the side of his arm and stepped forward.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Gloria hesitated for a few seconds in front of the Lady in White, then opened her mouth: “Lady, thank you for gracing us with your wisdom. So, I have these questions: First, since Lady you have been watching over our city for quite a while now, I was wondering this… There have been a lot of people taking young children away from poor parents all around the city, seemingly offering them in some kind of sacrificial ritual. Can you enlighten me on who these people are? And I did not mean the ground level henchmen, but people at the top, people running the whole operation. They must be - they must be some kind of highly organized syndicate?”

“I am not sure what this ‘syndicate’ is. But you are half right. They WERE highly organized.” The Lady in White shook her head: “They were once a large group, not unlike a nest of snakes. They lay dormant when the time’s not right, and spring into action every 15 years. They held these foul rituals at various places, so foul that even the powers of this place could not easily locate them. Through the years, members of this group came and went, more went than came. But this one thing was certain - they came from every place and sector of this city of yours. They dwelled in your city hall, they crawled in that tall, flat headed building where powerful people conduct their daily business. And one corner they like to gather in, stands on top of a shiny building. A building with a liquid lightning going through its veins and skins.”

“Power Corporations.” Marcus muttered under his breath.

Gloria nodded at Marcus, having fully understood what Marcus meant. “Thank you very much, my lady. So here’s my second question: my friends and I have been looking into the flow of Qiyun around different corners of the city. We focused more on our district, the South-Eastern District. We found that the flow of Qiyun has been stagnant in a lot of places. ” She took a deep breath mid question to weigh and organize her words: “So I guess what I want to understand is - why? I guess we kinda know they’re linked to these rituals, but we don’t KNOW it and we have no idea as to why.”

“You and your friends are correct. It has to do with these rituals. In fact, it’s a direct result of them.” The Lady nodded: “I know not what the ritual is named. I know not who created it. But it is as foul and against the natural order of being as rituals can be. It would forcefully take away the Qiyun of those sacrificed and feed it back to those who run the ritual. On the surface, it serves as a temporary suppression of the curse. It is only keeping the beast temporarily satiated. The curse requires more and more sacrifice, and the selfishness of man would skew everyone’s choices who chooses to participate in that undertaking. Which, in turn, would make the presumption of the ritual more shaky.”

“What is the presumption - nevermind. It’s not my turn.” Gloria almost followed up with a question, before pulling back and bowed once again to the Lady in White. For fear of angering the lady.

“My first question would be a follow up of hers.” Marcus thought for a short moment: “With this ritual going on, how do we stop it? I mean the curse, and this vicious cycle. Or break it? Without causing grave disturbance or causing further harm to our city?”