Chapter 90 - Six Years Past

As Xiang left the room Yuzu immediately focused her attention on the strings that floated in the air. The thread she was most interested in was of Dr. Baolan’s, which was pure and white.

She reached out to it and observed what had taken place while she had been unconscious.

“It’s very bad.” The image of Dr. Baolan sprung up in her mind. The ninety year old doctor, who wore an old woolen coat overtop a comfortable button up shirt and brown slacks, appeared in Yuzu’s mind. He frowned immediately upon seeing Yuzu lying motionless on the bed.

It was a bit strange seeing herself in the third person, watching as the old man checked the various acupressure points on her body. He did a gentle full examination, gently pressing two fingers against the lymph nodes on her neck, the point between her collarbones, and various locations down her arms and legs.

Xiang and Sansen Zhao watched quietly as Dr. Baolan shook his head, “Her meridians have been damaged. Has she experienced any great stress in the past few days?”

Xiang shook his head, “I don’t know. She was out in the city somewhere two nights ago during that night... But she didn’t say anything to me. She wasn’t hurt or anything. Only she was really weak. I thought it had something to do with her illness, as usual.”

 “Yes. It is directly related to her illness.” Dr. Baolan nodded. “I can’t promise if I can help her this time. Her condition is quite severe. But I will do my best.”

He pulled up a stool beside Yuzu and held onto her hand, while Xiang took a seat beside him. This was the position that they had been in when Yuzu had woken up. Dr. Baolan took her hand and closed his eyes, and he didn’t move for a long while. It appeared that he wasn’t doing anything, or that he even had fallen asleep.

After some time Yuzu’s eyes fluttered open, and the scene proceeded as it had just happened.

Yuzu frowned. She couldn’t tell what Dr. Baolan had done. In the white world, after sending her request for prayers to Char Char and the group around her, she had felt a strange sensation of her spirit being tugged on by her body.

Sensing that it was not dangerous, and having nothing else to do on the plateau, Yuzu allowed herself to be drawn back to her body, where she promptly woke up. Clearly Dr. Baolan had enacted some Exalted power to bring her back. 

She skipped past the vision until Dr. Baolan left with Sansen Zhao. His string left the room, heading towards Sansen’s study on the second floor below. Even though it was some distance away, Yuzu found she was able to extend her reach to the study and observe the conversation.

“Will she recover?” Sansen asked, motioning for the doctor to sit down on a plushly upholstered chair. He took the seat across from it and requested for the maid to bring up some tea and refreshments.

“It looks grave.” Dr. Baolan said, sitting down, “There is a hole in her spirit, from which her life force has been leaking out little by little. It remains from what happened back then.”

“Yes, over the past few years I’ve noticed that she’s gotten weaker. Her fainting episodes have also become more frequent over the past year. It’s a real shame, she’s such a clever and intelligent girl.” Sansen said.

“I am certain that something happened quite recently. Perhaps in the last two or three days.” Dr. Baolan said, stroking his beard, “The hole in her spirit has torn violently from some great spiritual force.”

“The attack of the monster seems the most likely cause.” Sansen said.

Dr. Baolan nodded, “What a terrifying creature...”

There was a knock on the door as Xiang entered the room. He had a stern look on his face as he walked in front of the two older men. He clenched and unclenched his hands several times, and then knelt down and bowed deeply to both the doctor and Sansen, his head touching the ground.

“Thank you for helping Yuzu!” He exclaimed.

“Come, now.” Sansen said, motioning for Xiang to rise. “There is no need to bow. We all wish the best for Yuzu.”

“You’ve changed a lot, Xiang.” Dr. Baolan grinned, “You’ve turned into a respectable young man.”

“Will she be okay?” Xiang asked.

“For now.” Dr. Baolan said.

In her room, Yuzu blinked in shock as she watched her brother kneel down in the vision. Xiang being humble? She’d never imagined he had the ability to show any emotion other than anger and constipation.

At Sansen’s insistence, Xiang took a seat on one of the chairs, thereby joining the conversation properly. The maid arrived, serving each of them tea and presenting a plate of fresh cut fruit before leaving the room.

“We are in your debt.” Sansen said, “You are no doubt extremely busy.”

Dr. Baolan sighed and nodded, “As you know, I have numerous patients, and many of them are deathly ill due to the disease that is spreading in the city.”

“The devil eyes, you mean.” Sansen said, his tone darkening, “Have you had luck with treating it?”

“No.” Dr. Baolan shook his head, “Not me, nor any of my colleagues. We have tried many things to treat it, but it is insidious. Strengthening the patient only strengthens the parasite. Attacking the parasite directly causes it to go into a frenzy and kill its host. Since it lives off the blood of the patient, what’s good for the patient is good for it; what’s bad for it is bad for the patient.”

“Yuzu doesn’t have it, does she?” Xiang asked.

“No.” Dr. Baolan said. “Take care not to let her catch it, I’m afraid her body would not be able to take it. Are you still living nearby?”

“Yes.” Xiang nodded.

“He’s been taking care of Zwei and Yuzu all these years.” Sansen said. “They still run Tai’s old pawn shop.”

Tai was the name of Yuzu and Xiang’s father.

“Ah.” The doctor’s expression changed as a grimace formed on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Sansen asked.

“Speaking Tai’s name reminded my why I accepted your call today.” Dr. Baolan cast a glance towards Sansen and then laid his eyes on Xiang. The old man stroked his beard, contemplating his next words. 

After a moment he leaned forward, his voice turning low. “Markus Gantt has been seen in Kumin.”

This name which wasn’t familiar to Yuzu had an immediate effect on Sansen Zhao who nearly spilled his teacup in surprise. Dr. Baolan looked calmly at Xiang, who had a confused expression on his face.

“You may not recognize this name, Xiang, but you definitely are familiar with his deeds. He is a tall, gaunt man with sickly white skin, thin white hair and red pupils. He was last seen in Noga six years ago.”

Xiang swallowed hard as he suddenly subconsciously clenched his hands into fists. 

“You don’t mean...”

The old man nodded solemnly, “The man that killed your parents has returned.”

Yuzu blinked, suddenly letting go of the string as she couldn’t comprehend what she had just heard. Her parents... murdered? That didn’t make sense. All this time she had thought that they had died at sea during a storm.

Old painful memories sprung up as she remembered that day six years ago. Their family was on a trip to an island just off the coast where they were staying at one of Uncle Zhao’s manors for a few days. On the day of her parents’ deaths it was particularly stormy. Her parents had gone out while Yuzu and her brothers were told to stay inside.

As the day wore on the weather got worse. The clouds were so heavy that they blotted out all the light of the sun making it appear as if it were night. The winds howled and shrieked as lightning lit up the sky. The storm was so powerful that it ripped trees out of the ground and tore out a section out of the manor. 

Yuzu and Zwei were in the manor at the time and were nearly crushed by a collapsing part of the building. Trapped amongst the rubble, they could only wait for rescue by Uncle Zhao’s staff. They were eventually found and brought to a second building where they found Xiang waiting. He was soaked to the bone and shivering uncontrollably, his eyes wide as if he’d seen something horrible.

Yuzu had never asked Xiang what had happened and Xiang never mentioned it. The day after the incident Yuzu fell violently ill. She remained bedridden for a week until they made it back to the mainland and Dr. Baolan was able to save her. Only when she had recovered did she learn that her parents had died on that night.

After hearing Dr. Baolan’s words just now, Yuzu suddenly realized that the situation surrounding her parents’ deaths was not so simple. A sinking feeling filled her heart as her memories flashed before her. It was almost too much to take in as she didn’t know whether to feel surprised or sad.

She touched the threads again, continuing with the vision.

“The man that killed your parents has returned.” Dr. Baolan said.

At these words, Xiang’s frowned subtly, closing his eyes as a pained look crossed his face. He did not look surprised, so Yuzu could only assume that he was aware of this fact before hand.

“What is Gantt doing in Noga?” Sansen asked.

“We don’t know, but the current events are surely a part of it. We sent one man to follow a lead but he hasn’t returned.” Dr. Baolan sighed, “Gantt is extremely tricky to track down. Six years ago we had a chance but we missed it. Now after all these years he’s back, but we’re in a worse position while he is certainly stronger.”

Xiang shook his head, staring down at the floor intensely, “I don’t understand. What’s this have to do with me?” 

Dr. Baolan glanced at Sansen before saying, “Six years ago you witnessed your parents’ death. Though we had the best intentions, through our failure you and your family paid the ultimate price. This has always hung heavily on our shoulders. The man responsible has now returned.”

“If such a thing happened to me, I would want to know.” Dr. Baolan said, the tone of his voice was deep and meaningful as he looked Xiang in the eyes.

“So I came to today to inform you... and to offer you the chance to make things right.”