“Geez, what the hell?” Looking at Gloria’s slightly limping figure, Gyuu Park rushed out of the 24-hour coffee shop they arranged earlier: “You fought? Who?”

“Detective Marcus Cai. ” Gloria let Gyuu Park help her into the coffee shop and into the booth: “Surprise surprise, he’s a mystic martial arts practitioner. Presumably unregistered.”

“Definitely unregistered.” Gyuu Park raised her hand to signal at the waitress: “Hello, can we have another cup of tea please? ” Then he lowered his voice and asked Gloria: “So, what’d you find?”

“Case files, but that guy ripped them.” Gloria sighed and put the files onto the desk: “I checked, most of the information is still there - and pictures - look at the pictures.”

Gyuu Park flattened the rolled up and torn pages and recoiled a little as he flipped through them: “Yikes, this is definitely not something to read on a table. But - well, good thing that we have something on the forensic report - heavily decomposed, cause of death unknown - traces of - well, this part is missing. And - looks like their name tags are still there with them, identity some of them found, but - looks like the names are not included here. Or maybe they were, but in the ripped off parts…”

“Heavily decomposed, that’s quite unnatural, right?” Gloria asked as she smiled at the waitress and took the tea from her.

“Yes, but unfortunately not as arcane and obscure as we’d hoped.” Gyuu Park sighed: “Rapid decay indicates close contact with high density of foul and grim energy, typically of the paranormal nature.”

“Hmm, maybe it was just because of the electricity?” Gloria sighed and rubbed her temple.

“Yeah, I wish. But no.” Gyuu Park took another look at the pictures and almost wretched: “Some of these bodies looked bloated and had sores on them, like bodies that had been in the water for a prolonged period of time.”

“Hey, wait, water.” Gloria immediately sat straight: “Do you remember that piece of grass I brought to your temple? I think it was aqua weed.”

“Yeah, I remember, I couldn’t find it anymore though. You know - after what happened.” Gyuu Park sighed and continued looking through the broken pages: “And I think you’re onto something, this right here - ” He proceeded to show a picture to Gloria, who immediately looked away.

“Dude! I’m drinking here! You just have to pick the worst time don’t you?!” Gloria coughed because her abrupt movement caused her to not swallow her tea properly.

“I’m sorry. But I meant this.” Gyuu Park folded the corner of the report and showed Gloria only a small part of the picture. It showed a patch of wet ground on the side of a bloated hand, and beside it laid some wet and intertwined grass and weeds. “This is what you saw right?”

“... yes.” Gloria took another look at the picture, then nodded: “So, water ghouls? Lost drowned? I - I don’t know much more about water entities. It’s - but how did they get so far away from the nearest water source?”

“I have no idea. But - you know. I think this 15 year cycle theory of yours is really starting to worry me. I am really not liking this thought.” Gyuu Park sat back and looked up: “You know - I think - I mean I know, things are gonna get real bad real soon. So I just want to say, you gotta be careful, okay?”

“You mean WE gotta be careful.” Gloria shrugged and scoffed: “You’re still in on the case, are you not?”

“Yes of course.” Gyuu Park responded, chuckling with a wry smile on his face.

“Wait. Question.” Gloria was about to sip her tea again, before a thought hit her mind: “I’ve heard from my babysitting job that there are children missing in the Northern District - they were not certain but they think whoever’s behind this are probably targeting poor - I mean, not so well-off households. Do you think - the cycle could affect children?”

“This is news to me. I suppose it is possible.” Gyuu Park answered after some thought: “But we need more concrete proof before we can say anything definite. Have you heard anything specific? Did they say anything about suspects? Persons of interest?”

“Not really. ” Gloria scratched her jaw: “They mentioned people seeing vans and SUVs, I guess those could potentially be the suspects. They were really, seriously rattled by this. And - ” She pondered for a short moment: “What - what can you tell me about Cat Granny?”

Gyuu Park almost choked on his tea when he heard the name: “Hrm - what, what brings this idea to your head? Did you go into some urban legend rabbit hole?”

“No - no, I mean, the kid I was babysitting, smart kid, and he thought he found out the answer - ” Gloria stammered, trying to explain but was still slightly struggling: “So - this idea just stuck with me - I just remember hearing about the Cat Granny, but I’ve never learned anything detailed about her, so - ”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. I’m not judging.” Gyuu Park shook his head and hands: “It’s just - uh, the story’s understandably terrifying, and politically complicated, if you’d believe me.”

“Oh? How’s so?” Gloria raised her eyebrows.

“Okay - ” Gyuu Park leaned in and lowered his voice, also gesturing Gloria to come closer: “You know, remember you were asking me about Qiyun and Omens?”

“Yes? And how is that related?”

“Okay - you did not hear this from me, but - ” Gyuu Park looked around, then lowered his voice more: “Let’s start with this - as you can possibly imagine, with the idea of Qiyun and flow of Karma, that humans are media through which Qiyun and Karma takes effect on the world as well.”

“... I can’t say I haven’t thought of it this way. Still glad to know my hunches are correct.” Gloria nodded.

“Smart. Now, this means that when someone dies, the Qiyun bestowed upon and carried by them would disperse to the world.” Gyuu Park continued: “You might have heard of this notion - it’s one of the reasons some parts of our district still have those fancy rituals after members of their family pass.”

“Yeah, understandable.” Gloria recalled the watcher’s notes on how to respectfully treat the bodies, all of which she could still recite by heart.

“The appearance of Cat Granny, one theory among official clergymen and clergywoman, is that it’s a freak accident because of this effect.” Gyuu Park seemed really worried and even horrified as he spoke: “As you may know, cats are known for, according to folklore, half-in and half-out. And the actual Cat Granny incident happened during the wake of an old woman. On the third or fourth night, the folks who were supposed to keep watch of the body fell asleep, and a cat snuck in to eat the sacrificial food.”

“Oh, no - ”

“This was theorized afterwards, of course, from the scratches and bite marks on the food. But that night, the body of the old woman was missing. And starting from the 7th night after her death, she started reappearing, her face turning cat-like, and began snatching young kids, eating them alive.” Gyuu Park shivered as he continued: “Eventually the community collective gathered a team to hunt her down, cornering her in a small abandoned house and practically burning her alive. It’s said that a dead cat was found inside the abdomen of her body.”