There was no fork at the end of the bridge. There was only one flight of stairs, which was the slightly older looking one. Had he set foot on the newer one, there would be no saving Marcus. Just this thought alone covered his back with sweat.

“Keep your eyes open and check on our positions at all times!” Marcus commanded as he helped Keryn with the guard that she carried: “Something powerful is here and it’s able to trick us with illusions. There would be no saving you if you step off these bridges or stairs.”

“Alright!” Tae Kuo wiped his forehead and took a step forward, after making sure that the concrete plate under his foot was solid, he could finally walk forward with ease and relief.

“What the fuck happened? ” Keryn asked Marcus with her voice lowered: “I saw you going over to the left, so I just followed. Shit, I can’t even tell when I was put into that illusion!”

“I don’t know either. ” Marcus shook his head and responded with a similarly low voice: “I almost got tricked - it’s not just illusion that only influences our mind, it appears to have some kind of physical projection as well.”

“Fuck.” Keryn sighed: “How did you tell?”

“I just felt something different - I reached the end and then saw Gloria waving at me from the other side. There was no reason she would just go the other way after seeing me go down this path. So I just threw something at her, and then found out it was all an illusion.” Marcus took a deep breath.

“Are you real?!” Mick and Kevin were hesitant when Gloria approached them after setting the staffers down beside the door to the safe room.

“What kind of questions do you ask when you meet with your friend from the cafe?” Tae Kuo asked, with a knife in hand.

“Specials. We ask each other about specials.” Gloria paused with her hands raised, showing that she bore no ill will: “Like Sunday Specials, Holiday Specials, things like that.”

“Okay.” Tae Kuo let out a sigh of relief before leading the way forward, setting the guard they were carrying to the side of the door. Only now did he realize that the small platform they were standing on was also hung in the air and supported by some metal bars below and no metal wires. At least the body of the safe room seemed to be well supported in all directions and angles.

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Marcus and Keryn made it to the platform. Everyone formed a temporary circle, to keep an eye on each other as well as the passed out staffers and guards they brought over here. Tae Kuo, Mick and Kevin were in charge of studying the door to the safe house. The master did not mention anything about the safe room having a strange metal lock with a paper talisman wrapped around it.

“Fucking hell, they must have some kind of key for their staff, right? It’s just that we haven’t found it.” Kevin spoke through his teeth: “Are any of them awake? We should ask them where the key is.”

“The master knocked them out cold. It could take a while, or some effort.” Marcus looked around, his eyes glowing: “What do you think the talisman is? If it’s not anything dangerous or critical to the safety of the room, we can just brute force our way in.”

“Wait for a bit. This is some kind of modified evil repelling talisman, mixed in with symbols from the classic talisman of thunder and fire, so I guess it’s going to be both a seal and a tripwire - in talisman terms.” Tae Kuo hissed: “This fucking talisman - it’s made by someone who really knows his stuff - I mean, I have tried to make composite talismans before, and I was only able to combine some simpler ones.”

“And a thunder and fire talisman exploding here would be horrible, at least from what I understand.” Kevin sighed: “This room is filled with unclean energy, so - chain reaction.”

“Wait.” Mick frowned, looking left and right: “Did you hear something?”

“What?” Marcus and Gloria asked at the same time.

“It’s - it’s from above.” Mick scratched his nose, his forehead then looked up.

Marcus hesitated for a moment, on whether he should help Mick clear his illusion. But he decided to check out the direction where Mick was looking at first.

A thin layer of gray cloud formed above. There was no indication on what it was made of. Marcus checked the bridge on the upper level. It seemed Master Liaoran still did not make it out of the hallway. Was he having difficulties dealing with the possessed guards? That would seem quite implausible.

“It’s getting louder.” Mick’s frown only grew deeper, he looked around and noticed that everyone else was looking at him: “Didn’t you hear it?”

“No, I haven’t heard anything.” Gloria shook her head: “What is it? Describe to us what you’re hearing right now.”

“It’s like - like some kind of dripping sound - like water dripping on a metal plate.” Mick scratched his head: “I - I might be hearing things, I - ”

“Wait - what’d you say?” Kevin shivered before posing this question.

“I - I said it’s a dripping noise, like water on - on a metal surface.” Mick was more hesitant: “I’m hearing things, aren’t I? It’s usually you - you Qi havers who hear or see things that are not there, right?”

“No - but not in some very specific circumstances.” Kevin shook his head: “Can you tell me the rhythm? Is it a constant one, or does it have a certain pace?”

“It has - a certain pace.” Mick answered directly: “It’s like this - one drop, long pause, then two quick drops, long pause, then another drop. And then an extra long pause, before it repeats.”

“Long, short, short, then long.” Tae Kuo and Kevin exchanged looks.

“Fire gua - of course. Of fucking course!” Kevin smacked himself on his forehead.

Right when they reached this strange conclusion, a deafening scream exploded from the direction from which they came.