"Are you okay?" Kurnawan asked, holding me warily.
I was in too much pain to answer. Then the door opened, and the pain slowly subsided.
I had to take a few deep breaths before I felt alright again.
The young woman who had been praying moments before quickly covered her face with her tudung and left.
In her hands was the glass bottle filled with oil, with a root submerged inside.
"Come in. Next time, don't peep into other people's huts," a deep voice called from within.
I slowly entered the hut.
Inside were many odd items.
Some bones were lying around, a snake was in a cage, and a kris (knife) hung on the wall.
The old man, Tok Pak, was sitting down, lighting a pipe and looking at us intensely.
"Are you here for a Pengasih (Love) spell like that woman?" He pointed in the direction the woman had gone, using his pipe.
"No, we're not here for a Pengasih. We need your help with this." I handed him my phone, showing him the picture of the red worm.
He looked at the picture and frowned.
"My friend got bitten by this worm, and he's now in the hospital. Can you help heal him?"
Hearing this, Tok Pak took a deep puff from his pipe, exhaled, and asked, "How long has he been bitten?"
"One day ago."
He grinned uncomfortably as he stared at us.
"You're lucky. If you'd come a day later, I wouldn't have been able to help.
"I need to perform a spiritual ritual to ward off the evil spirit making him sick. It will cost you IDR $15 million."
"He's in the hospital now. We can take you there. Here's IDR $5 million as a deposit."
I had taken some cash bundles from my Shifu's safe for this trip.
Luckily, it was more than enough to pay the Bomoh.
"Let me make preparations."
He accepted the IDR $5 million, took down the Kris from the wall, and put some dried plants into his bag.
Then we left the hut.
On the way, I called Amy Lee to update her. I needed her and Sea Snake Fang at the hospital just in case.
You never know whether someone is trustworthy.
…
When we arrived at the hospital, Amy Lee was already there.
"Are you sure about this Bomoh guy?" she asked.
"Yes, we have to try something."
We then went straight into Bobby's ward.
Bobby was still unconscious, lying on the bed with the machines beeping periodically.
His hands had become even more swollen, despite the antibiotics.
The Bomoh examined Bobby's wound, shook his head, and mumbled to himself.
He then took out a piece of yellow cloth and spread it on the floor.
Next, he pulled out a dark-colored urn, grabbed a bunch of dried plants, placed them inside the urn, and started burning them.
He sat down, closed his eyes, put his hands together with his palms facing up, and began chanting.
"Who are you? What are you doing in the hospital? Security!"
A nurse entered the ward and shouted at the Bomoh to stop.
The Bomoh, deep in his trance and focused on his chanting, ignored the nurse.
The nurse approached the Bomoh and tried to pull him out of the ward.
Amy Lee saw this and tapped the nurse on her shoulder.
The nurse turned around, opened her mouth to speak, but then miraculously stopped.
She seemed to be in a daze as Amy Lee whispered in her ear.
After nodding furiously, the nurse left the ward as if nothing had happened.
Later, I would learn that Amy Lee came from a family that specialized in all kinds of smells—smells that could render you horny, sedated, or in total submission.
When Amy Lee tapped the nurse's shoulder, she had silently applied submission powder to it.
With the nurse gone, the Bomoh continued his ritual.
After chanting, he took out the Kris and, with a stabbing motion, pinpointed Bobby's hand wound, 'stabbing' at it repeatedly.
He cursed in a language I couldn't understand as he performed the stabbing motion.
This went on for a few minutes.
Finally, Tok Pak stopped, took out a towel, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.
"Mix this with water and let your friend drink it. After that, he will recover soon.
"The red worm is a type that feasts on the flesh of corpses. Your friend has been cursed by a vengeful spirit from a corpse, but I've exorcised the spirit. He should start to feel better."
He handed me a packet of grayish powder, instructing me on what to do next as he packed up.
I then paid him the remaining balance.
He reminded me to follow his instructions, then left.
I mixed the powder with the drinking water available in the ward and fed it to Bobby.
Since he was unconscious, we had to lift him upright, tilt his head back, open his mouth, and slowly drip the water into his mouth using a spoon.
We laid him back down and went outside the hospital for a smoke.
When we returned, Bobby coughed and regained consciousness.
"Hey, Bobby, are you feeling better?" I asked.
"I had a really exhausting dream. I dreamt I was digging for the construction of a tomb, and when it was completed, I was sealed inside. No matter how much I screamed, no one came, and then I woke up."
"Wait…" I suddenly got excited as I tried to piece everything together. Then it hit me, "I get it now! The main chamber of the tomb is behind the hole where the red worm was."
Amy Lee's eyes lit up when she heard me.
"The red worm most likely devoured the corpse of the workers, who was offered as sacrifice after constructing the tomb, which was a common practice before the Ming Dynasty.
"But in this case, they did it to silence those who constructed the tomb."
I snapped my fingers, pleased with myself for figuring it out.
"Let's make our move once Bobby recovers," Amy Lee said with determination.