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 oo keep wat 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 begaing 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 sed 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 whie 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 ected to the crete ceiling and supported by horizontal crete beams uheir soles. And the right turn they o take? It was a flight of downward stairs in the air built with s and crete ptes, eg 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 bance, 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 loria would need help.

  Marcus took oep 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 s were tight, and the crete ptes were also stabilized. It was only slightly wobbly than the appearance would suggest, so he looked bad announced: “Okay, this is actually sturdier than it looks. I’ll speed up a bit and e 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 sed floor. This bridge had only o, 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 ect to a separate bridge on the first floor.

  Two flights, Master Liaoran’s instru 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 ohat looked slightly older and whose t sheets showed more cracks.

  At the end of the bridge below, was a heavy metal door with a small gss window. Marcus tried to look into it from the window - it seemed behind the door was ay room with wooden beams ahreads lined on the walls - ohat looked exactly like a safe room from potential paranormal threats.

  “Marcus!” Gloria’s call came from the other bridge eg to the left, through the empty space spanning across the ter of the hole: “The safe room is right here!”

  “What!? It’s right here as well!” Marcus frowned. After sidering 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, oher side of the building, two flights of stairs apart, Gloria was standing oher bridge waving at him.

  For a brief moment, Marcus was almost tempted to go over there and take a look. But after some quick sideration, he ripped a small pieetal from the handrail o him and threw it at Gloria.

  Gloria was still waving at Marcus, calling out his name. But even as the pieetal was shooting at her forehead, she kept on waving. The very moment, ripples spread from her forehead as the pieetal broke through her forehead, leaving traoke 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 expihing, because at this moment, Keryn and the rest of the team were walking in the opposite dire, and in just a few steps they would fall from the bridge and to their deaths.

  “STOP!!” Marcus roared, before unleashing a few firikes 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, aemporarily frozen in their movement. Keryn, oher hand, was not, because she too ractitioner of mystic martial arts. Instead, she stumbled a few steps and looked around, looking worried and ed. 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 Laae Kuo! Kevin Loo! Mick Cramer! See and hear me!” Marcus raised his void trated his Qi to bst 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 se and bst off paranormal energy from a dista 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 rubbiemples. 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 turo che the civilian teammates: “e! We must get away from this area.”

  Shout outs to my patrons:

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  Jonathan

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