Haro walked up to the apartment door and raised his mangled left arm.
"There are more guards leading to the raw materials area. But there's a drainage channel beneath the wastewater treatment area. That's how we got in last time."
Bai Zhu looked at Palm.
Interwoven passageways surfaced within the crystal ball. Several squads of guards were patrolling below the elevator shaft. Palm rotated the sphere and stopped at a stone channel carpeted with fungal film.
"No one is in the drainage channel right now. A patrol will pass through in three minutes."
Knov opened an exit.
Bai Zhu stepped into the maintenance passage first. After only a few steps, Palm raised her hand, signaling everyone to press themselves against the wall. A dozen meters away, a beam of light swept across the channel entrance as several guards passed by, pushing an iron cart.
Once the light had moved away, the group passed through two bends and directly bypassed the first checkpoint.
The third checkpoint was set above the transport rails, with armed guards on both sides. Palm stared into the crystal ball for several seconds.
"The guards on the left are changing shifts. The one on the right hasn't left yet."
"We can't wait." Haro urged, "If we delay any longer, It'll notice us."
Piyu shifted half a step sideways, blocking him from Bai Zhu.
"If the It you keep talking about is truly everywhere, then it makes no difference where we stand."
Haro's shoulder twitched. The fungal threads growing from his severed arm had already reached the length of half a palm, all stretching toward the right side of the maintenance passage. The thin filaments kept tightening, their tips brushing the wall and leaving behind dots of mucus.
Bai Zhu raised his scabbard and pressed down on the