When Wu Xiaoming regained his focus and strength, he made a very simple decision - to head to the hospital along with the other monks. And luckily, he was not too late, the monks brought Kiyohide to the foot of the hill and waited by the side of the road. Kiyohide was now bleeding from both his nose and the corners of his eyes. But he still seemed to be conscious, just mumbling and speaking a lot of nonsense - from the pronunciation, it was most likely some native Taiwanese dialect.
The ambulance came in under fifteen minutes. Abbot Saito and two other monks called a rideshare and were ready to follow it to the hospital.
Wu Xiaoming asked if he could tag along. The two monks both looked at the Abbot, who sighed and nodded. Smiling, he squeezed into the backseat.
"Thank you for letting me tag along." Wu Xiaoming said as he closed the door of the rideshare.
"It's best that you come as well. I think you will have a lot of questions." Abbot Saito nodded, looking at Wu Xiaoming from the rearview mirror: "But don't worry, I think Kiyohide will just be fine."
The hospital was just thirty minutes away - it was as if fate was helping them, their rideshare did not run into even one red light and just arrived right behind the ambulance.
As the EMT pushed Kiyohide into the ER, Wu Xiaoming overheard them mentioning "intracranial pressure" and "elevated heart rate" - it did not sound unserious, which made the Abbot's optimism even stranger.
"He will be fine." Abbot Saito patted Wu Xiaoming on the shoulder: "He had gone through worse - way worse. Also - don't be hard on yourself. I don't know how you did it, but you DID help him - a great favor, if I may say so on his behalf."
"O - okay. I think I understand a little bit, but can you elaborate?"
"Namo Amitabha. I don't fully understand it either. But - " Abbot Saito sighed: " - but as I see it, he went through a great trauma, of body, mind and soul that night fifteen years ago. He never could remember what happened, so he never told us. But - the previous Abbot did handle everything. And - it was quite a sad story."
The Abbot paused, seemingly taking a moment to organize his thoughts. Wu Xiaoming did not interrupt, only waited for him to continue.
"Namo Amitabha." Abbot Saito sighed and began rotating his beads: "The previous Abbot was my mentor. He found Kiyohide on the side of the stairs to our temple, holding a box in his arms. He called us to pull him into the inner sanctum. And entrusted me and a few other students to guard the door.
"He locked himself with Kiyohide for a while, then he came out and told us that Kiyohide brought something incredibly dark to our temple.
"Many of us wanted to throw him out. Some of us wanted to call other temples for help. But my mentor refused. It was a turbulent time for a lot of us in the area - things not worth mentioning today. And our kind mentor simply could not let a man who had struggled so much to come ask for help die in vain.
"So he organized a cleansing ritual - to the best of his abilities. He also got some trusted old friends of his to assist us. And three days later, we performed the ritual. The creature was already weakened from injuries and being away from its homeland. So we were able to purify it - part of it, at least. My mentor told us this: the creature had a part of its soul out there, lingering somewhere no one could find. Only when that piece was destroyed, will the creature be truly gone.
"And Kiyohide here - he suffered a similar fate. A part of his soul was missing when he came to us. Which made him - unlike others. He could not remember where he came from, why he came here, or who he was. From his accent we thought he was Chinese - maybe Fujianese or Taiwanese, but we never knew for sure. It's hard for him to learn things, he forgets most of the things he learned. Yet at the same time, he does not have a lot of the same wants and needs as others. We arranged for him to take care of the garden, which seemed to be helping him.
"For years, he had been the same - well, not exactly the same. He had become quieter, more forgetful and he slept longer. We were worried, but my mentor had passed on, we had no idea what to do. And then - you came."
Wu Xiaoming's heart pounded a few times, this cleared a lot of things up. But he had no idea what to say at this moment.
"You know why I knew you were lying back there?" Abbot Saito chuckled: "No one had ever come for him. He had no ID on him, nothing. We tried to find his family, and we found no one. You are the first one after so many years, and you don't look like someone who's been looking for him for long. And if you are really connected to his family, you'd be much more upfront and honest about everything. Am I right, young man?"
"Yes, you are right." Wu Xiaoming scratched his head: "I am terribly sorry. But - I just cannot tell you why I needed to find him. But I assure you, I did not mean you, or Kiyohide any harm."
Abbot Saito nodded: "Then promise me this - don't tell anyone about him just yet. Don't tell anyone anything from what I told you. It's not for any of us to say. It's Kiyohide's own affairs. He would need to handle it."
"I completely agree." Wu Xiaoming nodded.
"Still, I wish to know." Abbot Saito hesitated: "Is the creature - is it destroyed?"
"I - I believe so, yeah." Wu Xiaoming nodded again: "I don't know how to, or if I should tell you this but - Kiyohide's soul has been fighting that creature's soul, for all these years. He was able to contain it for a long time and - and then he won."
"You know where it is, don't you?" Abbot Saito fixed his eyes on Wu Xiaoming, curious, but still calm and collected. "You found them there."
"I - well - "
"It's fine. Don't tell me now." Abbot Saito shook his head: "Now's not the time."
"I don't understand - "
"It's okay, young man. Because I can tell you are new to this." Abbot Saito smiled: "I mentioned a dark creature, I mentioned soul, you were not surprised at all. This means you know about this kind of business already. But - you haven't mentioned - you seem to be unfamiliar with other related things. So… I guess what I can say is: be careful of MAGLAA. And - should you need help in the future, even if you need some help, a reference or referral to join MAGLAA, you can always find us."
"What is MAGLAA?" Wu Xiaoming frowned.
"It's a group of people. And if I can give you any advice, it will be that you shouldn't join them if you have the choice." Abbot Saito sighed. Yet before he could say anything more, the ER doctor just stepped out of the operating room. The Abbot apologized to Wu Xiaoming before coming up to the doctor to ask about Kiyohide's situation.
Wu Xiaoming took a step back and checked his phone - it was already in the afternoon and Douglass Kirkland had already sent him a few messages asking him where he was. He should probably get back to him and go home.
"Hey, Xiaoming! I was just about to call. Where are you?" Douglass Kirkland sounded concerned and slightly stressed when he picked up the call.
"I'm on my way back. Got held up a little. I'm just calling to let you know I'm done and I am ready to go home."
"You're done? You're not doing the show anymore?"
"What? Nonono - that's not what I meant. I just mean I finished the shoot and I think my part's complete, unless the director wanted me to have a few more shots or do some narration." Wu Xiaoming chuckled: "I think I did well - not entirely sure if they'd agree with me though."
"Okay, but you're not at the Sproutlinger Hotel, right? Where are you?"
"I'm on a rideshare home. " Wu Xiaoming was confused by Douglass Kirkland's rushiness: "What - what's wrong?"
"Search 'Sproutlinger Hotel, breaking news' if you want to know more. But don't look at the pictures." Douglass Kirkland groaned: "But essentially - early this morning, probably right after your shoot, some guy jumped off the hotel building and died."