Poison City

“So - I don’t know how much you’ve already figured out - but - the infrastructure project, it has something to do with Fengshui and electric substations.” Tae Kuo sighed as he sipped on a bottle of beer: “The city - some genius working for the city invented a new configuration of wiring electricity, said they could form some kind of giant, city-wide array. It could serve as a shield, or seal, to suppress all paranormal occurrences, and if - IF, the community collective could convince some highly cultivated scholars or monks to cooperate with them, it would have a much higher chance of success. That’s a fucking big ask, right? What they’re also asking is that the South-Eastern District make room for these new type of substations in certain special Fengshui meridian spots.”

“That’s - no way that could happen, is there?” Sue frowned.

“There’s no way that could happen. And it didn’t.” Tae Kuo shook his head: “So, naturally, the city would just say: ‘well, screw you superstitious idiots, we’re gonna build these substations in our place. Enjoy your temples and incense air pollution.’”

“But - that’s gonna be bad - that sounds like it’s gonna be bad for the South-Eastern District.” Sue raised her hand: “If they installed all the substations all over the other two districts, and only left out the South-Eastern, that would squeeze the paranormal entities from their districts to here, wouldn’t it? ”

“Right, right, exactly. That’s why the fight broke out.” Tae Kuo chugged half his bottle before looking into the medical kit: “We started the fight, because - how can ANYONE let that happen? ”

No one responded for a moment, Turner Ouyang was breathing but seemed to be in pain. His cheeks were swollen and he could only make unintelligible sounds when he tried to speak.

“Okay, here it is.” Tae Kuo found a small bottle of rice wine wine, a jar of ointment and a stethoscope and came to Turner Ouyang: “Here - let me take a look - ” He listened to the heartbeats and breathing of the young man before nodding at them: “His lung and hearts are clear. Looks like they beat him but not too bad. We’ve gotta do something with the swelling though.” Right after this, he opened the, mixed it with some ointment and extended his ointment-covered finger at Turner Ouyang’s cheek: “This is gonna sting a little.”

Turner Ouyang gasped and sucked through his teeth when Tae Kuo dabbed and rubbed the ointment on his face. After this, he took out a few long thin acupuncture needles, heated them with a lighter and poked him on some of his acupuncture points.

Gloria placed her fingers around Turner Ouyang’s lower jaws and pushed a little of her Qi in to help with the healing process.

“So - to get back to what I was saying - ” Tae Kuo went back to pick up the bottle and finished it: “As I was saying - WE started the fight. It started with protests, and then sabotage, then full-on armed conflict between the forces of the community collective and the city law enforcement. The official story is that the fight took a few weeks. But in fact it was months from start to end. And when the city law enforcement broke into some temples and places of prayer and worship, they set loose certain - things. And from what I heard, this is the driving force behind the city’s willingness to negotiate instead of steamrolling us.”

“Oh? What kind of things?” Sue and Gloria leaned in.

“I don’t know. I doubt anyone outside of the immediate circle knows. But apparently it killed enough of the city’s higher ups to make them worry.”

“And then what happened?” Sue took a look at Turner Ouyang in her laps, the swelling on his face was less purple.

“Well, I am not entirely sure. All I know is that after that the city made some kind of deal with the community collective, and they went with a less aggressive design, so that the squeeze will not happen like a flood, but more like a trickle. And the community collective will have dedicated folks to deal with the overflow.” Tae Kuo sighed: “I’m telling you, leave this city while you can.”

“So they’re essentially using electricity energy in an array?” Sue looked at Turner Ouyang and then Gloria: “But - they can’t just do that, right? Electricity is not lightning, where it comes with anti-paranormal energy. It’s just - it just doesn’t sound very plausible.”

“Yes, but it’s also a medium.” Gloria scratched her jaw and went into her thought: “I suppose - if they figure out a way to mimic the energy we use for talismans and exorcism rituals, it’s possible - ”

“Yes. But it’s also blasphemous.” Tae Kuo scoffed and shook his head: “In talismans and arrays, we actually use spells that call out to higher powers and deities. How the hell will they do that with electricity, huh?”

“It doesn’t matter at this point.” Gloria sighed: “What’s next?”

“If you’re feeling better and ready, there’s a place I’d like to take you. ” Tae Kuo opened up another bottle of beer.

“Where?”

“Fuman Coffin Home. Or should I say, under it.”