"Chang Wufei. You'll know him soon enough. He's the one that wants to see you."

At the door to the engine room, Syaoran could already picture in his mind what this Chang Wufei would look like: Hair buzzed to near non-existence by a razor, physique like that of a gorilla, beard that was a little more than a goatee, heavy and thick glasses on the bridge of a huge nose.

Steeling himself for a confrontation, Syaoran knocked on the door. There was a moment of silence, save for murmuring from within, before the door swung open heavily. And as he stepped in, it swung itself shut behind him.

Within the room, it was anything but quiet. Bellowing across the walls at a high volume was a rumbling noise, reminding Syaoran very much of a movie he had watched. What was it called again? Earthquake?

"Relax, Mr. Li Syaoran," a familiar voice carried to him over the disturbing rumbles. "You'll get used to it after a while."

There, way at the front where Syaoran had barely noticed before, was a young man of around Touya's age. His slanted almond-shaped black eyes and jet-black hair secured in a tight ponytail were giveaways regarding his cultural heritage. His biceps were well-defined, but not overly so as pictured earlier. He wore a pair of white training pants and a blue muscle shirt, and draped over a chair was the white top that, when worn, would complete a traditional Chinese outfit.

This had to be Chang Wufei.

The man's hard eyes looked him over, as though sizing him up. Then they were covered from view by his eyelids, and he raised a hand in a half-salute. "I see that it is not necessary to introduce myself, as Almasy has already told you my name. Should be correct, is it not?"

"Yes, it is," Syaoran answered. "But...um...but how did you know that when we were four carriages away?"

"The same way that I knew there was a fight going on," Wufei replied bluntly. He nodded up at the rumbling sound that seemed to vibrate from the ceilings. "The ones responsible for what you're hearing presently can be seen in the seventh monitor screen over there."

Syaoran crossed the room to the monitor screen that Wufei was pointing at, and observed it. "It's the three hyenas I saw earlier," he noted. Then he understood. "This noise...it's their snoring, isn't it?"

"Correct." Wufei nodded as emphasis to his word. "All sounds made in any one of the passenger carriages is at a fixed amplification of four times the volume in here."

"So that was why you were so...angry just now."

Wufei nodded again, and, for moment, looked a little more tired and a little less fierce. "Yes. You could say that it was," he said, then his old facade snapped back into position.

Syaoran watched him carefully. "So...you called me in here to tell me off?"

Wufei snorted and waved him off. "I can't be bothered with that sort of thing. Besides, only weaklings make enemies with people that are stuck with them until Jade-Emperor-himself-knows-when."

"Okay," Syaoran said slowly. "So-o-o... What am I here for?"

"Administrative matters and audio tutorial," Wufei answered, extending his hand toward him, palm up. "Hand me your Life-Tool."

Syaoran pulled out the small green palmtop from his pocket and presented it.

Taking the small machine, Wufei placed it at a main console and plugged it in to a unit. A set of letters and numbers appeared on the screen, and the strong hand flew nimbly over the keyboard as they typed it in. Then Wufei disconnected the Life-Tool and handed it back.

"This way, I can call you in a more private matter, or you can tell me ahead of time if you want to come here," he explained.

Syaoran took it back and examined it himself. The code he had seen earlier was no longer there.

"Almasy has already gone through the basic stuff. Less work for me," Wufei said, a little more to himself. Then he came to address Syaoran again. "We'll go on with your networking. Activate your Life-Tool... You there? Good. There's an icon on the right under your 'Locating' folder. See it?"

"The one that looks like a silver donut with a nail shoved through it?"

"That's a disc, not a donut. And the whole thing is supposed to be Fog's symbol," Wufei explained, looking scandalized for a minute. "But never mind. Activate that icon to your own preference."

Syaoran started to do as he was instructed. He came across a pop menu of 'optional additions', and frowned a little. "What do they mean by 'Peer Alert'?"

"It works a little like the e-mailing system back in the real word," Wufei replied. "Except, with Peer Alert, you are notified on the status of whoever you fill in the list. And it does not have to be someone who's already dead. You can fill in someone who's still among the living and hasn't come down here yet."

"And how do I do that?" Syaoran asked.

"The names you see in 'Locating' are the basic restricted list for dead people only." Wufei explained. "In order to see the full list, which would include the living, you have to change the properties of 'Locating' to 'liberal'. Try that... Got it?"

Just as Syaoran was about to answer, another rumbling echoed through the engine room, this time like thunder. Wufei muttered something along the lines of "injustice" and "stupid weaklings".

"The bowling session's started. You want to go there and join in the game?"

"I'd rather stay here and finish the rest of the tutorial... May I?"

Looking a little more pleased, Wufei bent over Syaoran's Life-Tool again. "Now we'll look at the video activation of selected people from the 'Locating' list..."

/-/

Akita spied a silver-haired man just coming in, and went to meet him. "Tsukishiro Yukito?" she asked.

"Yes, that's me," the man replied, bowing slightly in greeting. "And you're...?"

Akita stepped back slightly to return the bow. "I am Akita Hikari. Fujiwara Sanji's making an overseas call right now. Your friend - she's in the room there," she informed, pointing.

Tsukishiro Yukito thanked her, and moved on. After the man had disappeared from her sights, Akita headed for main office. But Fujiwara was already done and no longer there. Then she made her way to a storage room. Seeing the door slightly ajar, she looked in.

Fujiwara was furiously making his way through a packet of beef jerky, gnawing at the tough meat like it had done him wrong.

Akita was silent as she watched him. Fujiwara Sanji never allowed himself to cry, not for the sake of his pride, but for his duty. It would be no surprise to say that he had forgotten how to voluntarily shed a tear.

Carefully, she shut the door behind her, giving the man she admired some privacy to be human again.