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.

That had to be it!

I remembered an incident not long before the eyebrow-cutting episode. Linda had taken me to the food street outside our school, saying her cousin was visiting and wanted to have barbecue with us.

Linda's so-called cousin had an unkempt beard, a sinister glint in his eyes, and a prominent scar across his face. He didn’t seem like a trustworthy person at all.

During our meal, I could feel his gaze on me, darting back and forth, making me so uneasy I could hardly breathe. I worried he might have some unsavory intentions toward me.

Fortunately, he did nothing inappropriate and left shortly after dinner.

At the time, I dismissed my discomfort as paranoia, thinking I was being too judgmental. But now, it was clear that this encounter was connected to the strange events happening to me!

I stayed awake all night, finally dozing off just before dawn.

Sherwood’s voice woke me. “Wake up, we’re almost arriving.”

"Okay."

Groggy, I sat up, grabbed a bottle of water from my bag, and took a few sips to wake up. Then, I gathered my things and followed Sherwood off the train.

I had a meeting with my client at 2 p.m. Initially, we planned to review the contract in the morning, but there wasn’t time now. Instead, we took a taxi straight to the plastic surgery hospital in the city center.

The scar at the corner of my eye was fresh and shallow, so the plastic surgeon recommended laser scar removal for quick results.

After the preparations, the procedure only took an hour, and the scar was completely gone.

Gazing at the smooth skin where the scar had been, I felt a wave of relief. I turned to Sherwood and whispered, “Is this okay?”

"Yes."

Sherwood nodded approvingly, “This should end your streak of bad luck. Your afternoon negotiations should go smoothly.”

Really?

Could it be that simple?

It turned out Sherwood was right.

In the afternoon, I arrived at my client's office as scheduled. I presented the remedial measures for the issues in our previous project, expecting some pushback. To my surprise, they agreed without hesitation.

If I completed this project successfully, I would be promoted to a full-time position!

But first, I needed to deal with Linda and the person behind her, reclaiming the good luck that was rightfully mine.

Linda had moved out of our dorm after she started dating her wealthy boyfriend and rarely came back unless it was necessary.

I was trying to figure out how to lure her back when I opened the dorm door and found her sitting in a chair, angrily muttering to herself with a fierce expression.

Seeing her filled me with the urge to slap her for all the harm she had caused.

But I needed to find the mastermind behind her actions, so I forced myself to stay calm. I bit my lip and smiled as if nothing was wrong.

“You’re such a busy person. What brings you back today?”

Linda, not even bothering to turn her head, snorted.

“My instructor’s stupid experiments are driving me crazy. I made a mistake with the data and got chewed out.”

Linda’s academic performance had always been mediocre. Even though she managed to continue her studies into graduate school, she frequently made mistakes. This wasn’t the first time.