Despite the aggressive sun, rains started to fall like invisible threads, bringing a layer of greyscale over a helpless, worn-down district. Old houses with weathered roofs scattered across the uneven road. Every tickling droplet that beat against the roof carried with it, the nervous tune of a bad omen. The drenched earth brought out an old scent. Nesting alongside this scent, was the hot humidity that never failed to bring a drowsiness of mind.

  Zun ran from one building to another. Her whole body trembled in chilling pain, but she pressed on and jumped over the barbed wire fence, narrowly missing a worn-out signboard that wrote ‘Valley of the Dead’. There, she saw a group of household trash cans by the channel drain water and went to hide behind them. Her muscles felt heavy and stubborn. Pushing her shivering hands, she tried to light a healing spell, but her energy was blocked. A flush of agitation pinned her mind at the edge and her vision started to split in response.

  Blood! No wait, it’s just my hands. No, this is blood, wait, it’s rainwater. It’s only rainwater.

  She tried to shrug it off and hugged herself for bodily warmth.

  My energy won’t flow. I have to calm down. I need to heal myself, I can’t let that old man and his team find me. They are definitely on their way now. They are definitely all over the place, finding me. They won’t let me run away like this. I’m going to die! He is going to suck my energy dry like a dead fish.

  Her eyes fell on the pool of rainwater filling up on the uneven plain of earth in front of her. As if she could see Koi and Roger running across the path through that reflection, she immediately splashed the water and hit the ground several times.

  “Be tough Zun!!! Be tough! You aren’t a helpless kid! You are not going to cry about this! Stop being so pathetic and heal yourself fast! Open up already! You stupid energy! Open up already! I need to heal right now!”

  She turned to the left and noticed the row of abandoned old houses arranged in what seemed like an intentional straight line, tempting her in like a beckon. Inadvertently, she followed the path deeper into the cold-damned neighbourhood until she found herself lost in front of a massive, deserted hospital, stranded in the midst of overgrown weeds. A familiar taste of anguish lingered like a ghost in the air thickened with fog, obscuring the top of the building. The weathered painting, dressed in the rusting colour of red algae, carelessly exposed the skeleton of the structure, bearing a sign of negligence.

  A rush of emotion hit her mind in waves, that of anger and of sadness. She held onto her head to stop the aggressive throbbing. Sounds of children’s cries overlapping with the dying moan of dead men attacked her senses in repetitive, blurry pitches. She dragged herself forward to reach for the entrance, which bore a dusty signboard with faded, colourful prints of flower buds and displayed three words: Lotus Children Hospital. She burst in unapologetically and immediately saw the reception just opposite the entrance, half lit by a dim light filtered through shattered windows. It was occupied by a single wooden desk leaning against the wall and a wall clock right above it. The time was half past eleven.

  Zun stormed into the emergency centre to her right and stumbled across the observation units. Her eyes moved from one messy desk and cabinet to another until she spotted several unused first aid kits and tore open the bags.

  “Go away. Don’t come.”

  “I am scared. Go away.”

  “Please don’t come!”

  Voices spoke to her, almost tearing her attention apart until she couldn’t recognise if they were her own pledging or not. She rushed through the labels of all the medicines, but all of them showed sign of decay.

  Impossible! How old is this hospital?

  “Go away! Die! Die! DIE!!”

  “SHUT UP!!”

  Shivered ran through her skin, raising every single hair on the back of her neck. Her palms felt hot, and her forehead was sweating fast. She kept on turning back as if someone was peeping at her. Not just one, perhaps two, maybe three or even twenty and more. They were behind the cubicle curtains, under the desks, lying on the bug-infested beds, inside the cupboards, and sitting on the chairs. It was as if the whole air was breathing around her, angered by her intrusion…or maybe it was just her and her own pathetic hysteria.

  Infuriated, Zun slammed the desk beside her, scattering all the papers, books and medicines across the floor carelessly. The smell of the spilled medicine stank and choked her off guard. She scratched her own hair, pushing those bloody nails on her scalp as if a magical idea would pop out of that dumb brain. At that moment, she spotted several old silver coins on the ground.

  These can be used in payphones! I can call my mom with this. She will definitely help me! If only they hadn’t confiscated my phone, but I am not so unlucky after all.

  She quickly picked up the coins and ran for the exit, only to realise she was running in a circle. The exit was not in sight and every corner looked the same. From the position of the beds and desks, the cracks in the windows, and even the mess she left behind, it appeared she was running around the same space over and over again. Her head started to stir violently with overlapping screams pitching in her ears like demons.

  “STOP IT! STOP IT!!”

  “It’s you! You cause this! You killed us! You did it!!”

  “NO SHUT UP!! Damn you! Damned this sh*t world!!!”

  “You will die with me!! Every one of you!!”

  Zun fell to the ground and screamed at the top of her voice. “I didn’t! I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!!! I didn’t touch a soul!!”

  “CURSE YOU!! CURSE YOU!!!”

  Suddenly, someone came almost rushing in with his disabled left leg dragging across the floor, screaming, “What’s wrong?”.

  Zun turned around and jumped to her feet. The sight of his appearance left her speechless. The old man was dressed in a dirty loose-fitting garment, marked with dated sewn patterns that made her feel old, but what hit her harder was his left leg. It was barely a skin-wrapped skeletal remnant with no volume of flesh or colour of life. She could trace his tibia and fibula with even her eyes half-closed!

  “What are you? Don’t you dare come near me!!” She took some steps back and snatched a small pair of scissors from the first aid kit. Just as she warned him, he stepped forward, walking right into the mess Zun created.

  “Hey yah! Why is there rubbish all over the place?!” He swung his arms midair as he stumbled, knocking into all sorts of items littered across the floor. “Excuse me, excuse me, you there right? Could you please help me gather the rubbish?”

  He pointed in all the wrong directions, and that’s when Zun realised the man was blind, perhaps with a level of residual vision only. She started fidgeting with the scissors in silent tension and didn’t reply.

  Did he not hear me earlier?

  “Would you be so kind as to help me?” He called out again as he started moving around and clumsily touching the floor to pick up the mess and put it in his trolley.

  “…no”

  The blind man stopped for a while and continued to move the damaged books and expired medicine. Zun eyes followed his movements. He didn’t look like a threat, rather, he looked sick - too sick.

  “What are you doing here?” She asked after a moment of hesitation.

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  “It’s my job. I clean and collect trash.”

  I don’t know that they have a domestic worker stationed in a place like this? An unfamiliar discomfort pinched her mind and brought her attention closer towards the old man's cruel situation. She blinked a few times, tuning in a quivering feeling that had started rippling within her, but her body failed to respond to that sensitivity - it was numb, dumb and dried. She slowly loosened her grip on the scissors and was about to move, when the old man leaned beside the desk and started eating a dirty piece of bread, wrapped in an oily paper. The keychain around his belt caught her eye. It was a dirty but cute fluffy teddy bear holding a heart that wrote “My little princess”.

  It hit her right in the bullseye. “That keychain...is cute.” She tried to comment in an uncharacteristically friendly manner.

  The old man stood for a while and replied, “My daughter’s dead. She went missing one day in the hospital and was found in the landfill just around the corner with only an identifiable handprint.”

  “What?” She was stunned by this sudden revelation.

  “The rest of her body was mutilated. It was like an animal had chewed her from head to toe. The exorcists said it’s this demon, it’s that demon, but in the end, every demon they caught never solved the problem.” He sighed.

  “That’s because—”

  “Because fate, right?” He completed her sentence.

  Zun shot a quick glance at the old man. He seemed to feel relieved, thinking it was fate that took his daughter away. That his daughter was in a place she was meant to be — a place made for her. As if a bolt of lightning had hit her muscles, Zun quickly got to her feet and started picking up the rubbish. She got a handful of it and moved them into the trolley, struggling with each step from her aching wounds.

  The old man stood there eating his bread quietly as if he didn’t notice what Zun was doing or was pretending in one way or another. Zun stumbled, causing some rubbish to fall, but she picked them up enthusiastically again and kept moving.

  “Do you want some bread?” He asked.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  The old man took his trolley and began to move. “Once you take a life, it’s hard not to take another.” He whispered out of the blue.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like all those people from this district, who go to the tower at the outskirt just to come back with an empty heart.”

  “The tower? What do you mean by that?”

  “Just one life is all it takes. Young woman, hold onto your morale. Hold onto your kindness. You cannot go there. You cannot make a pact with a demon!” With a burst of agitation, he suddenly turned back and held her arms tightly.

  “I…I am not going anywhere. Make a pact with what demon? Are you talking about the malicious mage? Calm down, I am an Angel, I follow Lord Father’s philosophy.” She tried to free herself and took a few steps back.

  Out of thin air, a little girl rushed in, skipping her steps as she made her way towards them. “Father! Let’s go. What’s taking you so long?” She cried out.

  “Oh, of course, my little princess. Let me get my trolley.”

  Without an additional explanation, the pair left just like that, leaving Zun very perplexed.

  Didn’t he say his daughter is dead? Maybe he has more than one, but why is he saying all of that to me? If I remember correctly, the tower is where the malicious mages sign contracts with demons. Does it mean it used to be located here? So weird…

  Zun felt a familiar sadness as she watched their figures leave the emergency centre and slowly disappear. That sight reminded her of her mother and herself.

  It’s not fate. Fate would not be so unfair because Lord Father will protect us and break this darkness. He will save us all.

  The thought was accompanied by a will of determination, and suddenly Zun was snapped back into reality. Wait! I am still trapped here. How did I forget?? I need to follow that old man out!!

  Zun quickly rushed out of the department and found the exit almost too easily, to her amusement. It was like none of the confusion earlier had ever happened.

  Damned! It’s definitely my hysteria!

  She went out and looked around the neighbourhood. The chill rain was still falling, but there was not a single person in sight.

  Already gone so fast? This whole experience is so weird. It feels like a fever dream.

  As she was recounting her experience, her eyes fell on a payphone at a distance. Her mood immediately lightened up as she rushed toward the source of her hope.

  Back in the strange hospital, the old man and his daughter were actually heading upstairs to the inpatient ward. A dark shadow followed them closely, and with the sound of a water splash, the little girl was gone. The old man stood paralysed and called out her name, only to receive a response from the background rain, slowly drowning away his sanity.

  The hour hand of the hospital clock struck twelve and everything went silent again.

  Inside the Exorcist building

  Koi walked out of the ritual room followed by Chan and a few other Angels. He worn an agitated look that was compelled to a state of permanent depression; his fingertips trembled as if fighting against a constant cramp. All of them looked visibly worn off with eyes hollowed out like splitting images of decomposing corpses.

  One of the Angels gave in to curiosity and broke the silence. “Will the energy from a corpse really work?”

  “HUSH! Of course it will as long as the energy has not die.” The unnecessarily loud remark made Chan look like he was ranting.

  Chan traced Koi’s depressed silhouette and thought to himself. Of course, Zun’s energy would fit more.

  Yet, entitled to secrecy, Koi ignored the conversation and asked, “Where is Tin?”

  “He—he is in the medical centre right beside the investigation room.” Chan’s reply came in like rapid fire.

  Koi prepared to head in that direction, but Chan immediately skipped to the front. “W-What about Zun? Any order on how we should deal with her? I mean, she killed Roger and four other Angels. This is an emergency case now! What if she threatens the people and—.”

  “Chan, it was an accident. When Roger was performing the ritual, he misspelt and caused an accident, killing himself and other angels. Zun just took that chance and ran away.”

  “WHAT??!!! IMPOSSIBLE!” Chan shouted in disbelief, but realising how he had just rudely doubted Koi, he quickly restored his composure by taking a few deep breaths and asked, “Why would she run away if she didn’t cause this accident?!!!”

  “Huh! When she realised she wasn’t possessed and knew we were just planning to suck her energy, of course she would run! Now stop asking about that brat, I will deal with her myself later.”

  “It—it’s impossible! Roger misspelling ritual steps…four Angels died with chains penetrating their ribs…and even a big hole in the roof.”

  Chan's constant blabbering finally stirred up Koi's rage. Like the reflex of an old habit, Koi had a choking hold on him by the collar and yelled, “If you want to grieve for his death, go to your own little corner and cry! Don’t hold back the team!”

  Chan instantly regretted his question and swallowed his concerns like a bitter pill. His Captain brushed past him and walked toward the medical centre. In the hope of redeeming himself, Chan quickly paced forward again as they approached the door.

  Koi’s entrance at this hour was rather unexpected. The Angel nurse who was caring for Tin jolted off his seat in an attempt to hide his sleepiness. Tin was lying by the bed, comfortably asleep. Although his situation has improved, the bruises and slashed wounds still look painfully fresh. Unbothered to explain himself, Koi walked toward Tin and pulled his blanket away. It succeeded in waking Tin up, who now found himself eye to eye with the formidable Captain. His fear-stricken eyes told Koi that Tin remembered him and all his deeds. Reading the atmosphere, Chan gestured to the nurse to leave quickly.

  Koi sat down in front of Tin to meet his eye level, causing Tin to instantly recede to a dismissive posture. “Tin, how are you feeling?” Koi asked, keeping his cool.

  Tin shook his head.

  Koi stroked Tin’s hair gently before grabbing the top of his head, threatening him with a silent gesture of dominance. Tin went still as a frozen cat. “Your mother is very worried about you. It seems like your condition is improving, isn’t that great?”

  “....”

  “Tell me, do you remember anything that happened in this place?”

  “....”

  “I don’t remember that you are deaf?” Koi raised his eyebrows.

  “No—no nothing, I…I don’t remember anything.” Tin shook his head violently without breaking eye contact.

  “Good.”

  Koi stood up and looked at Chan over his shoulder.

  “So you are still here? Finish dealing with your pitiful feeling already, huh? Tell the Angel to contact Tin’s mother. We are sending Tin back today. Tell her his situation is stable now, but we are still investigating her missing daughter.”

  “Understood!” Chan turned around and called the Angel in.

  Koi motioned with his hand to the Angel, “Dress him nicely and send him back home.”

  The Angel nodded and took Tin out. The miserable boy heard everything Koi said and looked over at the Angel for an answer or at least a word of comfort, but all he received was two blank eyes. Maybe he was a bad boy, that’s why he received this treatment. Maybe everything was his fault, that’s why the Exorcists didn’t like him. Filled with shame, he swallowed his pain and cried in silent tears.

  Chan stepped forward and asked, “Are we sending some angels to guard their home?”

  Koi looked at his insecure officer and placed his hand on the wall beside Chan, before leaning towards his face.

  “Listen carefully.” He told Chan everything about King Cobra and his search for a soul with an impenetrable karmic cycle to seek immortality. Chan was lost in words.

  Koi gave him a wide smirk and whispered, “We will use Tin as bait.” He narrowed his lusterless eyes as he continued, “If King Cobra came out that night and disguised as his mother, he is very likely to come out again this time too.”

  “That makes sense…” These were the only remarks Chan was able to contribute as he weighed his fear.

  “But of course I won’t let Tin get eaten before we can catch the Cobra.” Koi petted Chan’s back. “I have drawn a sigil sign on his crown, which will prevent direct demonic possession. Prepare the team. We are catching a big fish this time.”

  Chan nodded as cold sweat dripped from his forehead. Flashback of Roger's death still didn’t leave Chan. To know King Cobra was involved made him feel like he might die soon, too.

  Koi leaned on the wall beside Chan and let out a dragging sigh. His mind seemed to have fallen into another deep thought, and he took out his phone to dial a number.

  “Zun’s gone missing. Has she contacted you?”

  Let’s see how this will plan out.