Sue was beginning tain her sciousness when sunlight shone on her face, as she was being carried by both Gloria and Gyuu Park and reached the street right outside of a famous noodle shop iire district - Chef Tang’s. It ce for people to e and buy delicious and affordable noodles, and a pce for people in dire positions to ask for help, and allegedly, buy potentially illegitimate information.

  There were three bells hanging from a short, protruding red wood beam just on the side window. One ainted red, one ainted yellow, and the st pletely bck. When they id Sue down in a long chair beside the maid dyuu Park ran and rang the yellow bell three times.

  A wooden board slid open right after, and a middle aged man opened up the window, staring at Gyuu Park, grumpy and impatient: “What are you doing here? Stinking up our pce?”

  “Chef Tang!” Gyuu Park almost jumped.

  “What have you been up to, little Gyuu?” The middle aged man frowned: “And how did you - ”

  “We need help, Chef. I am willing to pay, trade, whatever it costs.” Gyuu Park immediately raised his hand and stopped further questions from ing his way: “We really need your help, and some information would be nice. Because I have some pretty iing intel for you as well.”

  “... how iing?” The middle aged man asked after a short pause and a few looks up and down Gyuu Park’s entire body..

  “Something about the docks, and something about the shadows that are lurking in the warehouse. And something about the karmiormalities in there.”

  “Son of a bitch - ” Chef Tang’s eyes opened wide: “What did you do? You know that kind of rituals are forbidden!”

  “No! No! I didn’t do anything horrible or irresponsible. ” Gyuu Park immediately waved his hands and stood back: “I just - I just peeked at the residuals.”

  “Peeked - tsk.” Chef Tang grunted: “Is that how you became this stinky?”

  “No, and it’s a long story - ”

  “Well, e on in through the back then. And bring your stinky friends with you.” Chef Tang slid the window closed.

  The twely polished metal doors on the back of the entire noodle shop creaked open, two staffers of the shop in uniforms helped Gloria and Gyuu Park carry Sue inside, and put her on a ptform made of pure stoh red wood aal frames.

  This seemed to be a specially designed room at the back of the noodle shop, with meticulous patterns painted on the walls, tiles that resembled talisman symbols and writings on the ceiling, and red wood pilrs on the four ers, perfectly fag the feneral dires. There were also lively patterns of divis engraved oerior of the pilrs.

  “What happeo her?” Chef Tang, the middle aged man who owhe noodle shop, came over and asked.

  “We performed the ritual to take a cursory look at the abnormalities of the flow of Qiyun and karma in one of the warehouses. A giant duster appeared in the vision, and it started to take advantage of our presend our vision to feed on the remnants of some pollutants.” Gyuu Park expined: “I tried to break us out, but it seemed she’s still not pletely out of it yet. We had to run away from the warehouse. ”

  “Duster?” Chef Tang put his right index and middle finger on Sue’s right temple, theemple: “How ‘giant’ it be? They’re not supposed to grow - ”

  “The size of a young child.” Gyuu Park responded: “Wheried to leave the warehouse, a whole horde of them rushed out and tried to attack us. Which is - ”

  “ - never heard of.” Chef Wang frowned: “How many dusters?”

  “At least a few dozens of them, maybe even up to a hundred.” Gloria answered.

  Chef Tang took a look at her, then Sue, and finally had his eyes fixed on Gyuu Park. After a short while, he turo the two staffers: “BriHE sword, then close it dowhe door and surroundings. Hold on the special orders, nobody es in here until I e out.”

  “Yes, Chef!” The two staffers immediately closed the doors ahe room. After a moment, one of the staffers brought in a short sword still in its elegant sheath, pced right on top of a red velvet cushion, carried on a wooden tray.

  “You, stand beside the bed.” Chef Tang took the short sword, then loria and Gyuu Park: “One on each side. ”

  Gloria and Gyuu Park did as they were told, theang walked to the head of the ptform. He thehe short sword in his left hand, id it horizontally and ran his right hand fingers along the body of the sword, infusing it with his Qi.

  The sheath of the swlowed in ahereal purple light. Chef Tang thehe bde up, and started ting some kind of spell of unknown nguage with a low voice. After around half a mihe pommel of the sword started blinking in blue light. Chef Tang immediately put his right index and middle fingers on the pommel. Then with a quick pull, he pulled a small droplet of densed blue energy liquid from the bottom of the pommel and locked it onto the tips of his fingers.

  Chef Tang tinued ting, his Qi slowly enclosing the droplet of blue energy, f a thin yer of purple outer shell.

  “Now, be ready, do not resist, and do not make any sudden moves.” Chef Tang said with a stern tohen while Gyuu Park and Gloria were still nodding, he threw the droplet of energy onto Sue’s forehead.

  The purple shell cracked, then six tiny needles and legs grew out of the different cracked parts and sunk into Sue’s skin. Tiny droplets of red blood seeped out, and quickly turned gray, then turned pale, and finally turned into six droplets of different shades of bd gray. These gray patterns began spinning, while the droplets slowly rose into the air, gradually floating closer and closer to each other.

  Gloria and Gyuu Park stared at the droplets. For some reason, these droplets of liquid were giving off an aura that felt hauntingly familiar to both of them.

  “This stinking dirt rag. It came with you. ” Chef Tang spoke through his teeth: “And I thought your information was not worth that much. Some are up to no good. Some are trying the forbidden arts again. This - this is a disgrace.”

  “What - ” Gloria was about to ask. But then the six droplets merged into one, grew at least a huimes in size, and started ging in shape and smoking. Hairs started growing out of it, and almost at the same time, two tiny legs.

  “It tched onto Sue. It followed us - this is why - ” Gyuu Park narrowed his eyes.

  “Yes. And it is exactly the reason why it’s stinky as hell here.” Chef Taracted his left arm, then unched a palm strike against the ceiling. A gush of an intense energy beam cshed with the metal ceiling, and two heavy metal doors were opened by this strike. Sunlight came right in, and through the sunroof with a metal frame that had are symbols edged into it.

  The drop of hairy liquid was locked in the air by the beam of sunlight, and with a high pitched scream, it turned into a puff of smoke.