“Yes. Indeed.” Marcus and Kevin nodded.

“So - those people who are dead - who are sacrificed, somehow, are now being burnt. Am I understanding this correctly?” Gloria asked with a frown.

“You’re two for two, unfortunately.” Marcus sighed: “And, I’m afraid I can’t tell you too much about the cases we’re looking at. And of course, this information stays between us. But, we actually stumbled upon a potential site of this alleged ‘sacrifice’.”

Gloria felt the muscles on her back and upper arms tense up as she almost jumped at Marcus and held him by his shoulders: “Where is it!? Where did you find it?”

“Calm down, calm down.” Marcus waved his hands: “It’s the docks area - didn’t you hear? That platform of the docks area, where they were going to have that food festival. But - you know.”

“But what?” Gloria frowned.

“You don’t know?” Kevin asked, also frowning: “That’s really kind of a big news. How come you’ve not heard?”

“Well, I - ” Gloria’s face dimmed, she did not want to answer or to recall as to why she had not been paying attention to things for the past few days: “Sorry - I was very occupied so I didn’t really keep track of things… what happened?”

“You may need to speed up a bit.” Marcus sighed: “Because neither the city nor the community collective wants people learning about what happened. To put it simply - a big fight happened there, because under that platform there was some sort of secret chamber. The fire was just in the chamber - a furnace, maybe. And there were sickos that got kids from all over the city and apparently were trying to use them as sacrifices. Most of the kids were saved, but the entire platform sank under the water afterwards, leaving nary a piece of evidence for us. And no diver was smart enough to dive in that water.”

“...who - who are these people? ” Gloria had to take a deep breath, before she could ask the question lest her heartbeats and clenched teeth affect her voice and ability to speak calmly. “Are they apprehended by the city? Or the collective?”

“Neither, actually. ” Marcus rubbed his right shoulder as he responded: “The first ones to make it to the scene were the men of Chef Tang, you know, the owner of the noodle shop. He got, I believe, most of the men that were alive. All the city got was a promise from him that he will share the intel with us as long as he finds something.”

“Going against the city? That’s - that’s not smart.” Gloria scratched her head, and then rubbed her temples: “Did you hear anything yet? I mean, I’ve heard of Chef Tang before, he always keeps his word.”

“Yeah, but that’s not gonna convince the city, is it?” Kevin chuckled while sped up rubbing his own upper arms for warmth: “Okay, folks, can we find a better place for this conversation? You guys are tough and Qi infused. But Im’m just a regular old civilian here. Anymore of this I’ll get a cold and you’ll be out of a forensic tech.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m just going anyway.” Gloria checked her phone: “I need to head back. It’s too late. I’ll see you tomorrow - hopefully.”

“Wait - one more question. And I’ll really appreciate it if you could help me with it.” Marcus called out to Gloria.

“Okay. Shoot.” Gloria crossed her arms.

“When you fought that woman - those spirits, especially those connected to Lake Aqiu, did you notice - ” Marcus weighed his words with a stern look on his face: “- did you notice a chain on their back? Not like an actual metal chain, but chain that looks like - ”

“Like they are made of aqua weeds and into tight ropes? ” Gloria gasped lightly, and narrowed her eyes: “Yes. I did notice from almost all of them I came into contact with. What do you wanna know about it? What do YOU know about it?”

“... okay. That’s really good to know.” Marcus let out a long exhale and exchanged looks with Kevin again: “Truly. Thank you. I actually don’t know too much about it. I just noticed it - I think they are - how do I say this, the physical embodiment of their connections to the lake, and the force behind this 15 year cycle.”

“Interesting - I haven’t thought of it that way. But it is definitely possible.” Gloria nodded, frowning: “Have you ever cut open or broken one of these chains?”

“No - no I haven’t. I don’t believe it will be easy?”

“You’re right, it’s not easy.” Gloria nodded, fixing her eyes on Marcus’: “I - I have a friend of mine, he broke one of these chains in a fight. Interestingly also in the docks area. And according to him, the moment he created a wound on the chain, thick and pungent liquid spilled out and almost instantly triggered some kind of reaction from a blessed oil coin he had and the environment. It called some a bolt of lightning, and annihilated the ghost - the creature.”

“Lightning? That’s - ” Kevin scratched his jaw.

Gloria looked Kevin in the eyes: “Weird, bizarre, or - ?”

“Reassuring, I think that’s more the word I am looking for.” Kevin shrugged.

“- because of the lightning?” Gloria raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah exactly.” Kevin took a deep breath, then kept rubbing his upper arms: “Call me a hopeless optimist, but I like to think of a loud, bright lightning bolt from the sky as some kind of symbol of cosmic justice.”

Gloria paused for a moment, then chuckled, shaking her head: “Yeah, yeah, don’t we all.”