“What? Is it serious?” Seeing the ed look on Tae Kuo’s face, Gloria asked, worried.

  “I am not sure yet. I’ve never seen this kind of signs before.” Tae Kuo k down by the pool and shook his head: “You see this green stuff? It is a sign of someone being affected by some kind of omen. But it had always e with signs of being cursed or ied by un energy. It’s very strahat you are affected by the omens but not did not show any signs of being ied by un presence.”

  “Uh - so what do these omeo me? Should I be worried?” Gloria sighed.

  “I don’t know. ” Tae Kuo sighed: “But from the looks of it, I don’t think it’s something terrible or serious. Might just be mildly ive. ”

  “Mildly ive? ”

  “Possibly affeg your mood, and may increase your stress or make you more anxious.” Tae Kuo scratched his jaw: “Aside from that, I am really out of my depth here. Like I said, it’s actually my first time seeing this. I think I might o go to the unity archive and see if I find any records on this.”

  “What - what else we do?” Sue asked, ing to Gloria’s side: “You sure know what to do with this, Sifu Kuo! If not anything specific, at least tell us what might help.”

  “Okay - here’s ohing.” Tae Kuo thought for a short while, then looked up at Gloria and Sue when the sound of footsteps from several individuals appeared: “Try to stay away from any potential sight where there might be paranormal occurrences. And visit the temple and light some inse sticks, ask for some blessed water if you . And maybe get some more protective talismans or artifacts to put in your house.”

  “We - I mean Gloria already does that.” Sue looked at Gloria, then turned her eyes at the dire of the footsteps.

  “Give me some time then.” Tae Kuo rubbed his temples while looking toward the dire of the footsteps: “Excuse me, I think those might be the folks from the unity collective. And if you have the ce, I’d suggest visiting the unity archive for records and manuals about omens. ”

  “I was actually just about to go to the archives.” Gloria shook her head lightly then patted Sue on her left shoulder: “Now, Sue, if you don’t have anything to do, just go bay pd I’ll e back when I’m done.”

  “No, nonono.” Sue immediately shook her head at Gloria: “I’m ing with you. Two find things faster than one.”

  “Okay, okay, update me if you find anything.” The footsteps stopped, then someone knocked on the backdoor of the coffin home, Tae Kuo went for it, about to let those outside in: “I’ll also try and see if I find anything. Just remember, try to stay away from potential un beings. Now that I am back, Gloria you don’t have to look after things here for a while.”

  “Oh, and we need more makeup.” Sue raised her hand before Tae Kuo opehe door.

  The unity collective sent a total of four men, all wearing their uniforms and armbands, with serious looks on their faces. All of them brought suitcases with them, some big, some small but all had engravings oerior. But her Gloria nor Sue had the ce or time to see them at work, they headed right to the local unity archive, hoping to find some answers before they o jump through the hoops to visit the tral one.

  The local unity collective archive location was about five blocks away, going along some winding roads and passing through a local early flea market, they got there in just under 30 minutes. Normally, this would be a pce for the locals to e look for district-wide records, which meant that there wouldn’t be much of a crowd here. But somehht now, there was quite a big one waiting in the main hall, waiting for the receptionist to call their number.

  “What the hell is this?” Gloria frowhen turo one of the security guards: “What’s the occasion today?”

  “A lot of people are looking for blueprints to buildings in the older areas.” The security guard answered without almost any facial expression.

  “Why?”

  “New stru pns. People need copies of their blueprints so they d reparations from the collective.”

  “Sue? Sue!” Just this moment, a young man walked out from the gate leading to the inner parts of the archive: “What - what are you doing here?”

  “Hey, Turner.” Sue the young man: “You’re w here now?”

  “Oh, yeah, I was lucky to be appointed here, as the new senior curator.” Turner smiled while looking straight at Sue’s face: “So, what I help you with? I mean, if you’re in a hurry maybe I help you without having to stand in the line.”

  “Uh - ” Sue took a quick look at Gloria, then turo Turner: “Sure! We’re actually in a hurry. And we’d really appreciate it if you help us.”

  “Sure, sure, e over.” Turner immediately gestured Sue and Gloria to e with her.

  Both followed Turo a ter in the back, where a middle aged woman was typing something in front of an old puter, with a big mug of steaming tea in front of her.

  “Ms. Bao! How are you doing today?” Turner went up to the middle aged woman and greeted her with an upbeat attitude: “I have some friends here who want to look for some records, you help us and bring us the test catalog?”

  “Your friends?” Ms. Bao looked over from her puter monitor at the two girls, then her eyes fixed on Gloria: “Gloria? Gloria Lee?”

  “Ye - yes. Hi…” Sensing the slightly unfriendly tone, Gloria tried to py it cool: “I’m sorry, how did you know me?”

  “You visited a few times before when I was here. Every time we tell you we ot let you view some records, you threaten to go over our heads.” Ms. Bao scoffed.

  “I - I am terribly sorry. Because I - I wouldn’t have e here if I didn’t have something really important.” Gloria immediately bowed.

  “I - I assure you, Ms. Bao, that she meant it.” Turner immediately interjected before Ms. Bao could say anything: “And - right now they are burdened with another emergent issue at hand, so I really hope you do us a huge favor. Not just us, but also the unity.”

  “What is this urgent issue then, Mr. Ouyang?” Ms. Bao sighed and asked.

  “Yes, we have entered something ominous, back at the Fuman Coffin Home.” Sue expined with a soft and slightly apologetie: “We have trouble uanding what happened and needed help, so Sifu Kuo sent us to look for records and manuals on it. ”

  “Do you have an official inquiry letter?” Ms. Bao adjusted her gsses and asked.

  Gloria exged looks with Sue: “No, not really, it just happened retly, and the collective is sending people over, so everything’s in a hurry - ”

  “I’m sorry, but without an official letter, we ot let you access the ritualistic, paranormal and supernatural ses of the archive.” Ms. Bao shook her head and was about to get back to her puter.

  “That’s not true. Those ses are open to everyone. Only certairicted sub ses require additional permissions…” Gloria wao call Ms. Bao out, but she pulled it bad whispered to Sue instead.

  “Ms. Bao, I think you appreciate the urgency. you do me a favor? I’d be very appreciative.” Turner got in front of Sue and Gloria.

  Ms. Bao looked into Turner’s eyes, then took a look at Gloria, sighed, theed: “Alright, let me get the catalog. But you’d better bring the letter soon.”