Esoteric Buddhism: To live as king in America

"...I'm sorry for dragging you into this. You should be living a normal life, not being involved in things like this. It's not fair, it's my fault, and I will definitely make it up to you. But for now, get some sleep..."

In the dark, silent room, a ray of dawn light pierced through the gaps in the blinds and shone on Lisa's face. Savoring those last, tender words, the fortune teller girl opened her eyes from almost a day's slumber.

Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, Lisa's face showed a moment of confusion, but then a familiar face came into view.

The man was sitting on a chair by the bed. He was wearing a decent-looking suit, but his skin was pale and he looked tired and swollen.

The man had been sitting in the chair with his eyes closed, but the moment Lisa looked at him, he seemed to sense something, immediately opened his eyes, and smiled at Lisa.

"Hey, Miss Lisa. It's September 21st, 9 a.m. How are you feeling?"

"Wang...no, Mr. Mian!!!"

When Lisa realized that she was alone in a room with the man in front of her, her eyes widened and her face showed disbelief.

Looking at Mian's face, Lisa felt a flood of memories rush to her mind: the kidnapping that happened yesterday, the ruthless gangsters, and the miracles performed by the person before her.

After a long and restful sleep, Lisa almost thought it was all a dream. Until she confirmed that the hero who didn't seem like a hero in her dream was indeed there, right before her eyes.

Yes, I am here.

The words were still incredibly reassuring, and the smile on the pale, thin man's face seemed to possess a unique magic, causing Lisa, who had just regained consciousness, to momentarily feel a little dazed again.

He smiled and said slowly:

"Don't worry, this is Ain's room. She's the little girl who's always been with me; she slept with you yesterday. She woke up a little earlier than you and is having breakfast downstairs now. I just got here a short while ago, estimating when you woke up."

Mian lowered her head, took out her phone, and glanced at the time again.

"Although 5 a.m. is still quite early, I still suggest that you get up as soon as possible if you don't feel too uncomfortable. We have a long journey ahead of us today, so it's best to leave early. Shirley got a used car, so you can catch up on sleep in the car if you need to."

Mian stood up from the chair and waved to the suitcase that was packed full next to the bed.

"I've tried my best to prepare some things you might need, but I must say I don't know much about these things. Luckily, we have enough funds, a full 50. You can buy anything you need on the way. Oh, by the way!"

Mian seemed to remember something. She continued, "..."

"I've already asked Leo to go find your parents. I borrowed your phone to talk to them beforehand, and if nothing unexpected happens, they should be on their way by now. I'm very sorry, but you may not be able to continue living and studying in Freedom. But I've heard that Golden City and Independence City aren't too bad either. If all else fails, you can go abroad, like to the Ribbon Union—judging from yesterday's news, they seem to have almost recovered from their failures in the last century."

"How are you? Can you get up?"

Mian reached out his hand to Lisa on the ship, and Lisa took it in a daze and got out of bed.

Only then did she realize that she seemed to have already changed into a set of clothes that were easy to move in, but the details were very rough, as if they had been dressed by a child.

"Mr. Mian, is this because of what happened yesterday?"

Lisa tentatively asked. Mian, however, answered quite readily:

"Yes, some very bad things."

Seeing that Lisa was able to stand steadily, Mian let go of one hand, carefully holding Lisa's hand with the other, and then used the other hand to lift the heavy suitcase next to her.

"As you saw yesterday, there are some terrible things in this world that are not usually encountered by normal people. For some reason, I have become entangled in these terrible things. I overestimated the impact of these terrible things on me, to the point that I dragged you into this mess, and I am very sorry for that."

Hearing the apology spoken again, Lisa saw the man in front of her bend down and try to bow to her.

Immediately, a blush appeared on Lisa's face, who was already shy and introverted.

"No, no, no, you don't need to say that."

In a panic, she reached out and, disregarding social distance and the boundaries between men and women, grabbed Mian's arm, hurriedly saying:

"I'm fine now, not that this is the best sleep I've had recently... oh no, that's not important..."

Lisa was somewhat incoherent.

"In short, what I want to say is that I'm perfectly fine here. I haven't suffered any special damage, and I'm perfectly healthy. Even excluding yesterday, you saved me twice. Besides, this was something no one could have predicted, so it's not your fault. In any case, you don't need to apologize to me here."

However, Mian only gave Lisa a self-deprecating smile in response to her words.

"In any case, you've been ruined by me and may have to completely abandon your previous life. All I can say is that I will try my best to make amends. I've already consulted with Sherry and Leo, and here's 50. If there's anything left after we go on the run, we'll prioritize helping your family get back on their feet in the new place. But honestly, even so, it's hard to say whether we can return to our current lifestyle."

No, how could that be?

Shy Lisa really wanted to say this to the man in front of her.

She knew her family's situation best. Their savings were almost gone, and her mother's job wasn't respectable at all; she was just barely maintaining a semblance of dignity, while in reality, they were on the verge of bankruptcy.

If they could have tens of thousands of yuan in initial capital to move to a new city, it might not be a bad thing for their family.

not to mention……

Lisa looked at the man who was holding her hand and walking forward, and a strange feeling arose in her heart.

She actually thought that perhaps it would be a good thing to embark on a journey of escape with the man in front of her.

Wait, why did I think of this? I'm really...

The girl, who was being led forward by Mian, fell behind, and two blushes once again quietly flashed across her face.

After leaving the room and going downstairs, past the front desk, Lisa was led by Mian to the door.

A sturdy, durable, and spacious car with a retro flair was parked outside. The bearded man with the peculiar name was sitting in the driver's seat, waving his thick arm at Lisa and her companion.

Meanwhile, the girl called Ayn who had been following Mr. Mian was kicking pebbles, and for some reason, she seemed to have a troubled look on her face.

It wasn't until Lisa saw the two of them that she belatedly realized that Mr. Mian beside her seemed to have really arranged everything.

Hey, bro.

Shirley opened the trunk, got out of the car, took the luggage from Mian's hands, and put it in the trunk. Mian took the opportunity to touch the car, feeling its solid body, and sighed in admiration.

"That's a really good car."

"Of course."

A bright smile spread across Shirley's bearded face.

"The Bloodsteel 08 was the favorite of the gangs back in my hometown when I was young. I drove it once when I was seventeen or eighteen. It had a lot of horsepower and a long range. It felt like I could take it anywhere I wanted to go."

At this point, a look of melancholy appeared on Shirley's face.

"It's a pity that the manufacturer went bankrupt. Damn times, they never leave a way for truly good things like this to survive."

He opened the car door and gestured for Lisa to enter.

"So when I saw this in stock here, I immediately bought it. I've already tested it, and the car's performance is just as good as ever. You need this kind of good stuff for a strategic retreat."

"Not fleeing?"

Mian smiled. Sherry, on the other hand, just winked mischievously twice.

"Of course it's a strategic retreat. I'm a soldier, brother, even after I've retired. As soldiers, we don't talk about desertion, we only talk about strategic retreat, because it means that we will come back at any time if necessary."

"Then let's forget about it."

Mian's smile widened even more.

"It's best to leave this den of iniquity and not come back, Miss Lisa?"

Mian turned to Lisa, who hurriedly responded and was then invited by Mian into the back seat of the Bloodsteel 08.

"Don't worry, we've already planned the route. We'll go through the Black Tower district, leave via the Jefferson Bridge, and wait a moment at the last gas station there. Soon, Leo will be there with your parents too. Ain!"

When her name was called, Ain showed an unwilling expression.

"My lord..."

"Listen to me, do you remember your knightly oath?"

She seemed to want to say something, but before she could speak, she was interrupted by Mian. In the end, she could only lower her head and get into the car from the other side.

Mian closed the car door, leaned against the window, and continued speaking to Lisa:

"Ain's senses are sharp enough. With her around, nothing serious should happen. But if we do run into trouble, we'll listen to Shirley. She's a veteran and used to these kinds of things."

Mian kept nagging and instructing, and Lisa nodded in agreement in a daze. But at that moment, Lisa suddenly realized something.

Both car doors were closed, and Shirley in the driver's seat had started the engine. Mr. Mian, however, remained outside.

Lisa suddenly thought of something, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Mr. Mian!"

Realizing this, Lisa quickly turned around, only to see Mr. Mian had already taken two steps back and waved at Lisa.

Lisa wanted to say something more, but the Bloodsteel 08 had already started up. With a roar of the engine, Sherry floored the accelerator and sped off towards the end of the road. The man's figure in Lisa's vision grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely.

Mian lowered his waving hand and watched as the exhaust fumes of the Bloodsteel 08 disappeared from sight. He let out a long sigh.

"So that means everything's arranged now."

Thinking this, he turned around and headed towards Luffy Park, recalling Matt's words from yesterday:

"What can it do? It's served at the dinner table, of course."

Matt casually rubbed his hands together over the coffee cup and said:

"You know that cannibalism has always been a tradition in many esoteric religions, and many spells require this method to be performed. It's just a pity that this long-standing tradition seems to have attracted some pretentious mortals now."

Matt's lips curled up slightly, revealing a hint of mockery.

"Some poor wretches, mixed-race kids? What superhuman would even care about something of that caliber? Only that stupid bishop and his useless supporters, who are good for nothing but providing money, treat this meaningless eating as a ritual of unity. And what's with all this 'slaughtering on the spot'? It's utterly boring."

Suddenly, Matt stopped narrating, looked at Mian in front of him, and asked with some doubt:

"What's wrong, Mr. Mian? I don't know if I'm seeing things, but I think I saw some kind of anger in your eyes just now?"

Mian still remembers his answer at the time; he said there was no problem and everything was normal.

But in reality, once he heard that children were involved in this matter, he had no other choice.

His power was insufficient; this has always been the case in this world; such things happen all the time, stopping things here and there...

He could find a thousand reasons to dissuade himself from getting involved, just like the other tragedies he had witnessed in this strange city so different from his hometown. But similarly, Mian only needed one reason to overturn all of the above.

He is a teacher.

Teaching and nurturing children to become the next generation of successors to society is his job and his ideal.

He can tolerate many things, but this is the one thing he cannot even tolerate temporarily giving in to.

Mian had tried to conceal her identity by calling the police station, but the responses from the officers were disappointing, consisting only of endless perfunctory responses and procrastination.

Ultimately, Mian lacked conclusive evidence, and the other side was a powerful and influential group. They might eventually send one or two people to investigate the Donna Hotel. But facing a group of police officers who didn't even pay attention to the long-haired man, Mian simply couldn't trust their capabilities.

Then it can only be him; the cheat code he possesses might just be waiting for this moment.

Mian arrived alone at Luffy Park and stood before the fortune teller's stall. Matt had been waiting there for a long time. The cunning transvestite had changed his appearance, and upon seeing Mian, he smirked, revealing two rows of shark teeth.

"Welcome, Mr. Mian, or rather, Mr. Wang He. Are you ready?"

Mian nodded expressionlessly.

"Ready? Let's head to the Donna Hotel now."

Go and rescue all the children, all the innocent people.