Jianmen blew on a long piece of light yellow paper, flattened it, and stuck it on the stone gate, right where the gap at the center was. Then he took out a small traditional Chinese writing brush and started drawing some ancient words, arcane symbols and simple arrays on that piece of paper.
“Why not just blast it open?” Tze Cha asked on the side.
“I like the way you think, brute force is almost always the answer to destroying your enemy. But when it comes to gathering information and intelligence from a hostile environment, it is by far not the best option.” Jianmen smiled, then placed his right palm on the fresh new sigil he just completed and turned around at everyone behind him: “Remember, keep your energy signatures down, keep communications to a minimum because any information exchange through the door could disturb the instances of clustered malice here. And lastly, we will have a very short window to enter, so once it opens, go in there as quickly as possible.”
“Understood.” Nameless said while still holding his zen staff.
“And if the wooden coin gets activated, I will be alerted.” Jianmen pushed the paper sigil and in turn the stone gate gently, the stone gate gave off a strange squeak like that made by a light wooden door with loose hinges and slowly swung open from the center.
Jianmen stepped through the gap at the center and held the gate open from behind, then Tze Cha went in, then Josephine Wong, and finally Nameless.
Behind the stone gate was a long and dark hallway. There was practically no light in the environment, but none of the four that came in was completely reliant on light to see things around, so they just started walking down the hallway slowly and with caution.
Jianmen closed his eyes and sensed the environment around them - there were used electric wires on the ceiling, connected to dead lights whose fuses were still mostly intact. Behind the windows on his right side were rooms with desks, computers, microscopes and test tubes inside and scattered everywhere in a mess.
“Why’d you agree to come in with us?” Josephine Wong delivered a message to Jianmen using a concealed telepathic spell: “Will the effect of the oil last that long?”
“It will have to.” Jianmen replied: “One Eye would definitely suspect something if we just showed up and left. And we don’t have to show him that we’re at our peak, we just have to show that we have the ability to make him pay should he plot anything against us. And also, enough to convince him that it would be beneficial for him to join us in our fight.”
“Again with the politics.” Josephine Wong shook her head: “You know he would be taking this chance to observe you and try to poke holes in your facade?”
“Which would give us more time to scout this place.”
The four reached a fork on the hallway, one way was leading straight right, while the other was leading to a slight left. It would have posted a choice for the four, if not for something they sensed and saw on the far end of the path on the right - bodies, four bodies that were still relatively fresh and free of decay and rot due to their mummification.
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“Careful.” Jianmen said to everyone in the team: “I don't think they were here when this place became what it is.”
“Tsk, so, someone found this place first?” Tze Cha’s eye glowed in dark orange, and led the way to the four corpses: “Let me see who these unlucky pests are.”
“Don’t devour anything - we will need the information.” Josephine Wong said.
“Be wary of your attitude, young witch.” Tze Cha humphed and walked straight to the four bodies. Jianmen walked at an arm’s length behind him but did not say or do anything, and when Tze Cha knelt down beside the corpses, he did so as well.
“Well, there’s nothing to enjoy here.” Tze Cha shook his head and stood up just after barely a few seconds: “Suckers’ are all dry.”
“Both physically and spiritually, it seems.” Jianmen placed his fingers on the wrist of one of the bodies - the hand was light, fragile and empty as if it was made of cardboard, and it was because all the fluids and a lot of the organic substance within the body had been drained, along with the absolute majority of the spirit and memory.
“So, integration into the malice?” Josephine Wong knelt down and flipped open the robe on one of the bodies and found a metal medallion: “Coven of Crows - that’s interesting.”
“Yeah, how so?” Tze Cha asked.
“First of all, their groups tend to work in groups of six.” Josephine Wong picked up this metal medallion and examined it from front to back: “And second of all, they are a Coven known to be associated with Lucias Vyn, a High Broker of the Exalted Bondsmen.”
“It matters not to me.” Tze Cha was about to continue walking down the hallway.
“They also dabble in the dealings with demons and evil gods, or the evil gods’ emissaries.” Josephine Wong continued searching through the body until she found a triangle-shaped tattoo on the corpse’s chest: “And uh… I don’t recognize this symbol, possibly from some lesser known ‘gods’ who have more bluff than knowledge and power.”
This information was revealed with clear intentions, and it worked - Tze Cha stopped walking away, came back and knelt down beside Josephine Wong to see what she found.
“Hoztang.” Tze Cha scoffed: “Self appointed Lord of Dread, immature little demigod who can’t even forge his own realm.”