The number of living staffers and guards in the room was seven, this meant that Marcus, Keryn and Gloria would have to each carry two, while Kevin and Tae Kuo would have to carry the final one, leaving Mick to be the one to keep watch on their surroundings at all times.
Faint cries, moans and mumbling crept all around them through the walls. Dark spots were spreading and growing on the already pale gray walls. The paint began melting and dripping around them. Even the air grew colder as they ran through the hallway.
Before long, an opening in the wall appeared in front of them. But they had yet to reach the second crossing.
It turned out that they did not miss it, but it was a crossing in a bridge in the air that span across what looked like half the diameter of the entire building. Below the bridge was a hole through which one could see what looked like several floors below ground, and when they looked up, this giant shaft was sealed at two floors above them. The bridges were lifted by the steel wires above connected to the concrete ceiling and supported by horizontal concrete beams under their soles. And the right turn they needed to take? It was a flight of downward stairs in the air built with chains and concrete plates, connecting to the bridge one floor below.
“Alright, you heard the master.” Marcus took a deep breath: “I’ll go down first, then you guys follow me. If you find it hard to maintain balance, just wait for me to help you, okay?”
“Okay.” Tae Kuo and Kevin answered at the same time, this advice was surely only meant for them, as it would be hard to believe that either Keryn or Gloria would need help.
Marcus took one step on the first step of the stairs - there was only a little bit of movement under his foot, so he took a few more. The chains were tight, and the concrete plates were also stabilized. It was only slightly wobbly than the appearance would suggest, so he looked back and announced: “Okay, this is actually sturdier than it looks. I’ll speed up a bit and come back to help you as soon as possible.”
He rushed down, using only minimal amount of his Qi in the process. Before long, he reached the bridge on the same level as the second floor. This bridge had only one exit, which led to the outer area of this floor but not to the interior. Instead, it forked into two separate flights of stairs on the inner end, each would connect to a separate bridge on the first floor.
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Two flights, Master Liaoran’s instruction was that there would be a flight of stairs after making this turn. Marcus took only a moment, before taking the one on the right - the one that looked slightly older and whose cement sheets showed more cracks.
At the end of the bridge below, was a heavy metal door with a small glass window. Marcus tried to look into it from the window - it seemed behind the door was an empty room with wooden beams and red threads lined on the walls - one that looked exactly like a safe room from potential paranormal threats.
“Marcus!” Gloria’s call came from the other bridge connecting to the left, through the empty space spanning across the center of the hole: “The safe room is right here!”
“What!? It’s right here as well!” Marcus frowned. After considering for a short moment, he put the two staffers on his shoulder down by the door in front of him and ran up the stairs behind him halfway, so he could see the opposite side more clearly.
And there it was, on the other side of the building, two flights of stairs apart, Gloria was standing on the other bridge waving at him.
For a brief moment, Marcus was almost tempted to go over there and take a look. But after some quick consideration, he ripped a small piece of metal from the handrail next to him and threw it at Gloria.
Gloria was still waving at Marcus, calling out his name. But even as the piece of metal was shooting at her forehead, she kept on waving. The very next moment, ripples spread from her forehead as the piece of metal broke through her forehead, leaving traces of smoke and paper-like shreds floating in the air.
Chilling fear exploded from Marcus’ mind, he immediately focused his Qi on his eyes and ears and ran up the stairs. After a few steps he almost ran into Gloria, but he just did not have the time to explain everything, because at this moment, Keryn and the rest of the team were walking in the opposite direction, and in just a few steps they would fall from the bridge and to their deaths.
“STOP!!” Marcus roared, before unleashing a few finger strikes from a short distance aiming at his friends’ backs. This was not to harm them, but to hit their pressure points from behind in an attempt to stop them from going forward, or even just to push some Qi into their bodies trying to clear the illusion.
Mick, Tae Kuo and Kevin were all hit right on their pressure points, and were temporarily frozen in their movement. Keryn, on the other hand, was not, because she too was a practitioner of mystic martial arts. Instead, she stumbled a few steps and looked around, looking worried and concerned. Even though Marcus, Tae Kuo, Kevin and Mick were right behind her, her facial expression suggested that she did not see any of them at all.
“Keryn Lance! Tae Kuo! Kevin Loo! Mick Cramer! See and hear me!” Marcus raised his voice and concentrated his Qi to blast a loud roar aiming at his teammates: “Wake up and see before you!”
The roar was unleashed with essentially all Marcus knew on how to use Qi to cleanse and blast off paranormal energy from a distance. It was not damaging to an experienced fighter like Keryn by any meaningful degree, but hopefully it would be enough to strike her out of her illusion.
Keryn grunted and began rubbing her temples. The staffer and guard on her shoulders fell to her side, just in time to be caught by Marcus.
“What - what happened?” In but an instant Keryn’s forehead and neck were covered in cold sweat.
“Follow me. You were duped by illusions. We all were.” Marcus turned to check on the civilian teammates: “Come! We must get away from this area.”