I knew that relying solely on my own strength wouldn’t be enough.

Summoning all my courage, I stood on my shaky legs and bowed deeply to the young man.

“Since you’ve offered me advice, could you help me end this bad luck? I’m willing to give you anything you want in return.”

“I don’t go around looking for good deeds to do every day. I just happened to cross your path.”

He replied with a gentle smile, dimples appearing on his cheeks.

“I don’t need anything from you, but there is one condition: from now on, before you take any action, you must consult me. Don’t act impulsively.”

Breaking a Parasitic Insect curse was complex; even a small misstep could disrupt the entire process.

If the other party sensed anything amiss and prepares accordingly, it would make breaking the curse far more challenging.

But the crucial task is to discover where they placed the insect.

“Understood.”

I agreed quickly, then asked, “Do I need to repair this scar immediately?”

If Linda noticed the scar at the corner of my eye was gone, it could tip her off.

“Yes, we need to fix it as soon as we get off the train tomorrow morning.”

The young man said, scrutinizing me. “Once it’s repaired, it will halt your current streak of bad luck. As for the future...”

He abruptly stopped talking and stared intently at my chest.

It made me feel uneasy despite his seemingly good intentions.

“Sir...”

I began to speak, but before I could finish, he leapt up from the bed and grabbed my neck with his strong hands.

Panic surged, and I instinctively wanted to scream.

But before I could, he pulled at the red string around my neck, yanking off the jade pendant I had been wearing.

Examining it closely, he frowned and said, “If I’m not mistaken, this was given to you by your best friend.”

"Yes."

My heart sank deeper as I realized the implications. Biting my lip, I asked, “This jade pendant affects my luck too, doesn’t it?”

Every year on our birthdays, Linda and I exchange gifts.

Linda, who comes from a modest background, usually gives handmade trinkets. But this year, she surprised me with this valuable-looking jade pendant.

I assumed it was her way of making amends for accidentally cutting my skin, so I accepted it without hesitation.

I never suspected it was part of a sinister plan, a trap designed to drain me dry!

The malice in human nature could be unfathomable.

The young man didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he turned on his phone’s flashlight and inspected the jade pendant carefully.

After a moment, he placed the pendant on a small table, pulled out a bag of silver-gray powder from his backpack, and sprinkled it meticulously over the pendant.

I had never seen anything like it. I watched, wide-eyed, afraid to blink and miss something crucial.

What happened next left me speechless.

The silver-gray powder began to turn black, reminiscent of a silver spoon detecting poison in an old TV drama.

The transformation was rapid and continued for about ten minutes. When the powder had completely blackened, the young man used a small broom to sweep the blackened ash away bit by bit.

As the ash cleared, I saw a fine crack appear in the center of the once-intact jade pendant.

From this tiny fissure emerged a slender silver insect, its small eyes darting left and right as if surveying its surroundings.

I was stunned.

My scalp prickled, and I felt faint with fear.

I had been carrying this cursed thing day and night, letting it feed on my life force and disrupt my fate.

If not for this young man’s intervention, I might never have realized what was happening to me until it was too late.

It took me a while to find my voice in the great shock, "Sir..."

Before I could say more, he shot me a sharp, silencing look.

I understood immediately.

He didn’t want to alert the insect. If it sensed danger and retreated into the jade, extracting it would become even harder.

But it was already too late.

My voice startled the creature. It hesitated for a moment before shrinking back, attempting to retreat into the jade pendant.

But something unexpected happened. The creature's tiny eyes flicked toward me, and in an instant, it darted forward, crawling rapidly in my direction.

The young man, anticipating this, tried to catch it with his tweezers.

However, the creature was incredibly fast. Before I could react, it flew to my face and entered my nostrils.

I felt a tickle inside my nose and instinctively tried to scratch it, but it was too late. The creature had already entered my body.

"Sir..."

I gasped, my eyes wide with terror, clutching the young man's hand in desperation.

He acted swiftly. Tilting my chin up, he poured a dark brown liquid from a small porcelain bottle into my nostrils.

The liquid had a pungent, almost nauseating smell, like rotting manure, which made me gag violently.

As I retched, my stomach convulsed, and I vomited repeatedly onto the floor.

I was unprepared for what came next.

To my horror, small insects began to crawl out of the vomit.

They were tiny, about the size of ants, but each had more than a dozen legs and seemed to multiply rapidly, their numbers growing before my eyes.

I bit down on my arm hard, trying to suppress the urge to scream.

The young man held the bottle tightly, watching the writhing mass of bugs with calm intensity. He waited as they scurried around, forming a wriggling black swarm.

From the center of the vomit, a larger, more prominent Parasitic Insect began to emerge.

It looked like the smaller ones but was noticeably bigger—a clear leader of the swarm.

In a flash, the young man poured more of the liquid directly onto the leader.

The scene unfolded in an instant.

The next second, the larger insect was trapped in the bottle, securely locked away.

Without their leader, the smaller insects quickly became disoriented and lethargic. Within moments, they stopped moving entirely and died.

The Parasitic Insect twisted and writhed at the mouth of the bottle, desperately trying to escape. The young man quickly sprinkled a thick layer of silver-gray powder around the bottle’s opening.

Under the influence of the powder, the insect's frantic movements slowed, and its head drooped lifelessly.

Watching this, I felt my anxiety ease slightly.

But I still kept my hands over my mouth, too afraid to make a sound after my previous outburst nearly caused disaster.

The young man glanced up at me, then carefully sealed the insect in the porcelain bottle. It was only then that I realized the creature was over four inches long.

He sighed deeply and gave me a reassuring look. “Don’t worry, it’s powerless now.”

“Is it...really dead?”

I asked, my voice trembling. “Could it...come back to life?”

My mind raced with fear. If such a small insect could hide in a jade pendant, what might it do in a more spacious container?

“No, it’s not dead.”

The young man said, placing the bottle in his black bag.

“This is a Blood Parasitic Insect. It drains a person’s blood, energy, and luck. What we have here is a Baby Insect. We need it to find the Mother Insect.”

"What!"

I stared at him in disbelief. “Are you saying Linda has a Mother Insect?”

I had heard stories about wealthy people using dark arts like raising poisonous insects or ghosts to safeguard their fortune.

But I never imagined such things would touch my life.

“It could be her or someone behind her.”

He replied, looking more relaxed now. He rubbed his temples and tried to comfort me.

“Don’t worry. From what I see, the Mother Insect hasn’t activated yet. Otherwise, you wouldn’t just be unlucky—you’d be facing something much worse.”

When someone siphoned off another's luck, it must be done gradually and with precise timing; otherwise, it would backfire.

This gave me a small measure of relief. My life wasn’t in immediate danger. Swallowing hard, I said respectfully, “Thank you for saving me, sir.”

“My name is Sherwood Walker. You can call me Sherwood.”

He introduced himself calmly. “We can talk more tomorrow. Let’s get some sleep.”

With that, he tossed the quilt back and lay down, as if our conversation had been about mundane matters and not a life-threatening encounter with a deadly Parasitic Insect.

While Sherwood fell asleep quickly, I couldn’t find any rest.

I lay awake, replaying every moment of my relationship with Linda over the past few years.

Linda is just an ordinary college student. It seemed impossible that she could know about dark magic.

If she had known, she would have acted much sooner, not waiting until our junior year.

There was only one explanation.

She must have met someone recently who understood dark magic.

That person saw my good luck and decided to exploit it for her.

Linda and I rarely interacted with people outside our campus. How could this have happened?

Suddenly, a vivid memory flashed through my mind.