“... the array was protecting the external power source, and that mirror itself is connected to the energy source, and it is fueling everything inside. The proof is the same kind of traces of energy I just saw up there - there are trails of energy coming from the mirror and into the lanterns.” Caroline explained her theory to Agent Hall and Thomas: “The only difficulty I have is I am not sure how the energy is transmitted here.”

“It really makes sense. We wouldn’t have noticed it because we didn’t get a chance to stand up there to look at everything.” After thinking for a second, Agent Hall looked up at the mirror and said: “Ms. Pei and Master Nameless were not able to spend a lot of time here, so they might not have noticed it. And after they cleansed the entire room, it’s even harder to see this, until today the energy started flowing again. I wonder what happened today - ”

“Ugh - did Ms. Wong tell you anything?” Caroline and Thomas exchanged looks, then Thomas asked.

“No, why?”

Thomas was about to answer: “Well, there’s something quite - ”

“Nothing! Nothing for now! We were just wondering what you might have heard.” Caroline immediately stopped Thomas from spilling the information about defilers and what they might be bringing unto this world: “Regardless, Agent Hall, I think that if we destroyed this mirror, we might be able to stop the energy from refueling here.”

“Or we can use this as a chance to learn something about this room, and this potential energy pipe or network that’s refueling whatever it is that’s in this room..” Thomas was confused for a moment, but went with Caroline’s choice of not letting out the news about the defilers: “Of course, that is assuming that we have time and it is safe to do. What do you think, agent?”

Agent Hall went silent, pacing in the room and scratching his jaw and nose as he considered both options proposed by Caroline and Thomas. During this time, Thomas had already peeled off another piece from the wall and wrapped it inside of a small cloth pouch he got from Xianshi Inn, which was made with materials that could withstand most corrosive substances and materials.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Well now, do you have anything to detect the composition of the walls?” Thomas raised the cloth pouch and asked.

“We have a simple enchanted centrifuge out there.” Agent Hall came out from his thoughts and said: “But we did that already, we can give you a report on the profile of the walls - what do you expect to find?”

“To be honest? Multiple strains of energy, specifically, this energy and Caroline’s, maybe even a little bit of ours.” Thomas scratched the back of his head: “Look, I might not be super familiar with arrays, but this whole setup kinda gives me the vibes, that these six bodies are some sort of energy relay. If that is the case, then Caroline just breaking the energy attack and thus cracking the wall would leave obvious traces of her energy. And if it contains our energy, then it would mean something a little bit more disturbing - ”

“You’re saying this could be a sacrifice room? One that sucks the energy from those inside, especially those that are dead or gravely injured?” Caroline slightly narrowed her eyes.

“Could be, not to divulge too much information from classified cases, but when I was still a detective, I once took a look at some photos from cult crime scenes - they had some similar traits.”

“That is our theory as well, but we don’t have that kind of device or artifacts here - hang on, let me find the other pair of headphones I have.” Agent Hall rushed out of the room.

When Agent Hall came back, he brought a pair of comically big headphones connected to a laptop which was also connected to a heavy looking small black metal box and a small external touchpad with him. Then he placed the pieces of the walls collected by Thomas into the black metal box, laid his fingers on the touchpad and activated the box. Some kind of mechanism was activated inside and the sound signals released by the pieces inside, and the signal was somehow sent through the headphones, received by Agent Hall and then processed by him, then pumped into the laptop, which then showed a detailed breakdown of different energy signatures.

“Well what’s the difference between this and your tablet?” Thomas asked.

“This one takes several hours to charge, and once charged it can only last for a bit over one hour.” Agent Hall sighed: “Mostly because of this insulation and amplification box.”

Shortly, a graph popped up on the screen, similar to the previous graph on Agent Hall’s tablet, but looks much more detailed. And from the graph, Carol saw lines that represented her energy signature, and from the numbers on the side of the graph, it was pretty obvious that the signature was strong, an indication that it was also new.

“Nice, confirmed her energy was here.” Thomas stared at the screen: “What about ours?”

“We’ll need samples of your energy signature, but hangon.” Agent Hall typed on the keyboard to bring up and zoom in on some other graphs: “Yep, that’s my energy signature. It’s very weak. but I haven’t been in this room for a few days, so it's a bit hard to tell. Now, Thomas, just infuse your power into something and put it in this box so I can collect some samples.”