Without any doubt or hesitation, Marcus k on the ground and dunked his head right into the bucket. The temperature of the water would cause any normal person’s skin to get burned, blister and even swell, but it just fely slightly hot for him.

  With his entire head submerged ier, Marcus started hearing faint voices whispering in his ears. It was not the normally muffled versation he would hear when one was under water, but clear voices of normal tones and speed.

  “Where - where are they taking us? ” One of the voices asked while sniffling, it sounded like a frightened child.

  “I don’t know, st, you’re making them upset. They’ll hit us. They’ll whip us!” This was another voice, also a child, but maybe slightly older.

  “I want my mom… I want my mom…” This was a third child, g, insobly.

  “They’ll bury us. They’ll bury us below the trees…” A fourth child, calm but full of despair.

  “Detective, are you okay?” When Marcus finally pulled his head out of the bucket, Wuzui asked, with a worried look on his face: “You were in there for quite a while.”

  “I’m good, I’m good. Thank you.” Marcus took a deep breath as he wiped his face: “Yeah, I have some questions for you. Hope you help me.”

  “Wash your hands with the water.” Master Liaoran walked behind Marcus, with the beads on his right wrist: “Rex, I’m going to help push your Qi ahem cirg. The poisons in your system actually provided a good opportunity for you to have a breakthrough.”

  “Oof!” Marcus grunted and almost coughed as the master nded his gentle, alm on his bad streams of warm Qi poured into his bad flowed towards his heart, his spine and shoulders. His Qi was somewhat “asleep” before due to his overexertion and physical exhaustion during the fight, but now it became invigorated and ready to mobilize once again. Following the guidand dire of Master Liaoran’s Qi, Marcus trated and pushed his own Qi to flow through his meridians. The remainder of the poisons seeped into the body was broken down, isoted and gradually burnt away.

  Steam started rising up from Marcus’ exposed skin, and droplets of light gree started appearing as well - taining toxins, but ralized.

  “Sorry about that. Took me a mihere.” When Marcus opened his eyes again, he Wuzui, who atiently waiting by his side: “But the short version is this: I went to your old turf to check out a few things. Because I did not believe you when we first met, untilI I came into tact with something.”

  “You went to that house?” Wuzui seemed slightly surprised.

  “Yeah.” When Master Liaoran pulled his palm back, Marcus k down to wash his hands in the bucket: “The house with a tree in the backyard, and the tree had a face carved on it.”

  “How - how’s that pow?”

  “The pce is pletely deserted. ” Marcus shook his head: “I’m sorry. I couldn’t see anyone even if I tried. The pce with a light was a building a couple of blocks away. And this wound on my shoulder was thanks to the tree as well.”

  “The tree came alive, didn’t it?” Wuzui’s lips trembled, and his eyelids shivered.

  “Yes.” Marodded as he sprihe water on his forearms: “Really tough son of a bitch, I hit it with two kicks, enough to dent a steel pte but just barely cracked its skiually it was buro a crisp by the two talismans you gave me. So, my gratitude for that.”

  “Amitabha.” Wuzui put his palms together and said a prayer: “My gratitude for you as well. Though I could not be certain, I believed that some of my close friends in the gang were lost to this creature. Now they could finally rest.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t be so sure. Sorry.” Marcus sighed.

  “Why?”

  “The detective is right.” Master Liaoran also sighed: “The evil, un being that left their marks on him, it couldn’t be satiated just by the taking of lives. We should go there and see for ourselves. For now let’s wait, then we’ll visit the guests the detective brough first.”

  While Marcus tinued washing his hands and forearms with the water, he expio both Master Liaoran and Wuzui what he saw in full, including the versations he just heard when he dunked his head ier. And through the versatio to know about the full story on Wuzui’s side: he was indeed assighe cheap and dangerous blod used the house as a temporary hideout. Initially everything seemed fine for everyone in his crew, other than them having nightmares when they spent the night in that house, until one m, where one of the members of Wuzui’s crew was found dead in the backyard.

  The death seemed gruesome, Wuzui shuddered even as he mentio now. Yet the higher ups in the gang just quickly and quietly disposed of the body and told them to keep their mouths shut. He and his crew became worried, naturally. But things only started from there - another member of the crew suffered a simirly horrible death a few days ter, and this time causing a few of the members to run away and into hiding, leaving only Wuzui and one of his friends. He was told by one of the crew who ran away that the tree would kill them if they stayed. They then decided to not spend the night in the house anymore, but what remained in the house did not stop haunting them. For days after, Wuzui started dreaming about a faceless woman with a few faceless babies hanging on to her body, and even started seeing visions of the woman in real life. Then when he finally gathered enough talismans to go safely into hiding, he was arrested by Marcus.

  “Thanks to Master. I am finally safe, and on a path to find peace.” Wuzui bowed.

  “We’re done now. Let’s greet uests.” Master Liaoran sighed: “Detective, y the bucket with you?”

  The water in the bucket had bee darker, with traces of ink-like substance flowing inside, yet even after Marcus’ stirring with both of his arms, the substaill had not blended in with the rest of the water. The bite mark on Marcus’ hand seemed to have been cured, and he no longer felt the numbness or itess ing from it.

  Master Liaoran pulled out one paper talisman from his robe as Wuzui opehe front game to the temple. Marcus followed the master forward, down the mountain road and to a pce where there was one wooden pole on each side, both of which had some bells and pendants made of red thread knots hanging on them.

  “The Temple of Fetfulness weles all guests and donors. It is but a pce where all pursue pead tranquility.” Master Liaoran stood firm, raised his right hand with the talisman tucked between his middle and index fingers and spoke with a stern voice: “But all guests o show themselves before entering.”

  The talisma up in fmes, and its ashes were lifted into the air then scattered on the surface of the road by the night breezes. Four pale figures, all wearing different clothes but had the same kind of tree roots ed around their bodies appeared at the same time on the road, kneeling down and kowtowing to Master Liaoran.

  Wuzui squirmed, then covered his mouth and started weeping silently while his eyes lingered on two of the four pale spirits kneeling on the ground.

  “Namo Amitabha. I see now, the suffering of ta almost made you pletely earthbound.” Master Liaoran walked around the four spirits and said gently, while rotating the prayer beads in his hand: “It’s nothing short of cruel torment, I’m sure. But it’s probably fate that brought you here. ”

  “ you - you help them, master?” Wuzui sniffled and asked with a shaking voice.

  “I’ll do what I must.” Master Liaoran stood behind the four spirits: “Detective, before we start, you may want to take a look at this.”

  Marcus and Wuzui immediately ran to the master’s side and focused their sight along the master’s finger.

  Dark rope and s, ected to these poor spirits’ back, tying up their spines and rib bones and shag them to somethih the ground.