Tricked 032: The Third Round

It wasn’t until the end of April that Jiang Yan finally received notification about the third round.

Not long ago, she had finally received the eighty thousand yuan transferred by the Supernatural Administration Bureau. Jiang Yan had used the money to buy quite a few books, and also subscribed to memberships for all the major video websites, binge-watching all the highly rated horror movies from the past decade.

On the morning of May 1st, Jiang Yan packed her luggage early and left her neighborhood.

The bus was waiting outside.

Last episode, Zhao Chong had been eliminated. The notification said that a new member would join today. Jiang Yan glanced around casually after boarding; aside from the driver and Jiang Yuqing, only one other contestant was sitting in the last row, in the corner.

This contestant was dressed simply in a black hoodie, faded to grey and white. She wrapped herself up tightly in a thin blanket, the wide brim of her hat hiding most of her face, only her pointy chin visible.

That was probably the new member.

Jiang Yan slowly looked away and walked a few steps forward. For some reason, as she got closer, that person kept retreating, seemingly trying to distance herself.

Jiang Yan noticed this and took a few steps further back.

The girl’s dodging became even more obvious, practically trying to shove herself into the seat back.

So Jiang Yan moved even closer.

When she was just three steps away from the girl, Jiang Yan’s legs suddenly went weak. She squinted almost imperceptibly and steadied herself by grabbing the armrest.

After a moment, Jiang Yan looked at the girl. “What’s your name?”

The girl didn’t answer. She pushed her hat up a little, revealing a small, beautiful face that was bafflingly dirty.

Her eyes were full of shock, as if Jiang Yan’s approach was some kind of miracle.

“You, how could you possibly…”

Jiang Yan raised her eyebrow.

The girl suddenly realized that her behavior was rude and shrank her shoulders, muttering, “Yu Renwan… My name is Yu Renwan.”

Jiang Yan nodded. She glanced at the mud on the girl’s pant legs and knees, then at the vegetable leaf stuck on her head. Yu Renwan noticed Jiang Yan’s gaze, reached up, and touched the withered, rotten vegetable leaf.

Her face instantly turned bright red.

“I—I was afraid of being late, knocked over a trash can while running… Sorry, I really did shower before I came…”

Her voice got quieter.

Jiang Yan made an acknowledging sound and said nothing more, sitting in the seat in front of her.

Yu Renwan stared intently at the back in front of her. After a long moment, she let out a small breath. The shock in her eyes was now excitement. She bent down, pulled open her very shabby canvas bag, and took out a gold birdcage.

“Xiao Wa, do you think I might…”

Inside the cage, the crow, wearing a red bow tie, leaned close to the girl’s ear and cawed twice. The excitement in her eyes gradually dimmed. She mumbled, unwilling, “Maybe it could happen.”

Jiang Yan listened to the crow behind her, her expression growing faintly amused.

Twenty minutes later, the bus stopped in front of a villa complex.

Shen Huanhuan and Shen Xiaoxiao got on in turn. As soon as Shen Xiaoxiao was steady on her feet, she scanned the bus, then grinned and ran noisily to Jiang Yan.

“Jiang Yan-jie, I brought you breakfast! Shrimp dumplings, siu mai, and millet porridge!”

Shen Huanhuan followed behind, worried: “Don’t run on the bus, you can just walk—”

Bang!

Just as she finished, Shen Xiaoxiao managed to perform a face-plant in front of everyone.

She flopped to the floor like jelly, watching helplessly as the millet porridge arched high then crashed down, splattering everywhere in a parabola.

“………”

Shen Huanhuan hurried over, but before she could do anything, the bus slammed on the brakes. Shen Huanhuan, caught off guard, smashed her head into the handrail due to inertia. She stumbled back and sat down, dazed.

“How did this happen?” Shen Xiaoxiao slowly got up, her face full of despair. “That was millet porridge I made myself, fragrant millet porridge.”

Seeing her sister sitting on the floor too, she whined as she helped Shen Huanhuan up.

“So unlucky, today is so unlucky, wuwuwu.”

“It’s fine, just bad timing.” Shen Huanhuan rubbed her forehead, which was turning red and throbbing.

Shen Xiaoxiao blew a few puffs on her sister’s head, then pitifully looked at Jiang Yan.

Thanks to her fall, Jiang Yan’s clean face was now dotted with a few drops of porridge.

“Sorry, Jiang Yan-jie, let me wipe it for you wuwuwu—”

Jiang Yan refused Shen Xiaoxiao’s help and used a wet wipe to clean her face.

Yu Renwan watched the chaos in the bus, the previous joy in her eyes now gone. She slowly raised her hand to cover her face.

The crow in the cage soothingly cawed a couple of times.

Jiang Yuqing sighed, looking pained.

“Yu Renwan, introduce yourself to everyone.”

The girl, curled up in the last row to minimize her presence, stood up carefully when she heard her name.

“Hi, I’m Yu Renwan… I’ll pay for everyone’s breakfast…”

When the twins heard the name, they showed rare synchronicity for a second.

“Yu… Renwan?”

The livestream chat was stunned.

【Damn, I thought this birdcage looked like Yu Renwan’s, turns out it really is her??】

【They really dared to invite her, do they still want this show to continue…】

【Hmm? I just searched her up. Yu Renwan ranks 170, just below Lin Xinjiu; she’s the second highest ranked here?】

【Newbie upstairs.】

【Let me introduce, Yu Renwan, Supernatural Administration Bureau’s strongest causality-defying weapon. Whoever sees her starts getting unlucky, sudden bad luck out of nowhere.】

【Is she like a luck vampire, absorbs other people’s luck, and everyone else gets unlucky except her?】

【No, she herself is even more unlucky—chokes on water, gets hit riding bikes, and flower pots fall on her just by walking.】

【………..】

【…What’s the point of that kind of constitution?】

Yu Renwan herself didn’t know what the point of her constitution was. She finished introducing herself, feeling the atmosphere suddenly solidify around her, and her nose started to tingle.

Just then, a round of applause broke out from the front.

Shen Xiaoxiao clapped: “Oh my god, I’ve wanted to meet you for so long! To make it this far with your constitution is amazing!”

“Can I sleep with you tonight??”

Shen Huanhuan held back a laugh and stopped her sister.

She picked up the dropped dumplings and siu mai. Since they were wrapped in bags, nothing got dirty.

“Did you eat breakfast?” she asked Yu Renwan.

Yu Renwan hadn’t eaten, but instinctively refused: “Don’t talk to me, you guys have breakfast.”

Shen Huanhuan glanced at her a few times, handed her a bag of shrimp dumplings, and then sat next to Jiang Yan.

She’d brought extra breakfast, enough to share with Jiang Yan.

Shen Huanhuan unzipped her backpack, fetched a warm bag of walnut milk, and stuffed it into Jiang Yan’s hand. “Have this with your food, don’t choke.”

Last night, she had texted Jiang Yan that she’d bring breakfast, so she could sleep in a little.

Jiang Yan thanked her and ate slowly.

“Xiaoxiao made the millet porridge herself, even if she spilled it,” Shen Huanhuan said quietly, seeing Jiang Yan enjoying her meal, “why not praise her? She also made the filling for the siu mai.”

At that, Jiang Yan turned and found Shen Xiaoxiao watching her eat with sparkling eyes.

“Tasty, right? Isn’t it really tasty?”

Shen Xiaoxiao swayed bashfully.

“Very good, especially this siu mai,” Jiang Yan praised sincerely, “salty with extra salt, chewy and with a lasting aftertaste.”

Shen Xiaoxiao puffed up her chest: “I made it!”

Jiang Yan nodded perfunctorily, swallowing the oversalted siu mai.

After she finished everything, Jiang Yan coughed into her hand.

She became curious: “Did you eat this siu mai?”

Shen Huanhuan nodded: “Ate quite a few, Xiaoxiao rarely cooks.”

Jiang Yan was speechless.

Just then, the bus slowed and stopped as Lin Xinjiu boarded.

Lin Xinjiu intended to take the last row, but after tripping and falling just like Shen Xiaoxiao, he abandoned the idea.

“S-Sorry…”

Yu Renwan focused on a crack in the floor.

Lin Xinjiu climbed up awkwardly, stared intently at Yu Renwan for a few seconds, his face twitching, then said nothing and sat in the front row, scowling.

After Cheng Guang boarded, Shen Huanhuan went to sit with her sister.

Cheng Guang seemed to know the new guest was Yu Renwan. After being hit on the head by a backpack from the rack, he winced, greeted Yu Renwan, and sat next to Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan watched Cheng Guang from the side.

She got to the point: “You know Yu Renwan?”

“Not personally, just know of her,” Cheng Guang rubbed the sore spot, grinning in pain, “my shifu told me before I got on that Yu Renwan was on this episode, told me to protect my head, but I still let my shifu down.”

Jiang Yan: “Tell me about her.”

That was what Cheng Guang had meant to do anyway. He massaged his head and spoke softly:

“Yu Renwan, 19, currently ranked 170 on the Bureau’s leaderboard, fluctuates sometimes—230, 260, things like that—but always within the top 300. Though Lin Xinjiu is ranked higher, that’s because his style gets him tons of fans, making his rank inflated. Yu Renwan isn’t like that; her ranking comes from ability…”

Cheng Guang hesitated, then quietly added, “Ability at being unlucky.”

Maybe it was because he was gossiping, but Cheng Guang’s voice got lower and lower, as if afraid Yu Renwan would hear him:

“Yu Renwan’s constitution is extremely special. No one knows why she’s so unlucky. When she gets unlucky, it’s totally random. Like, she once got hoisted into the air by a stray kite line during a mission; if a passerby hadn’t rescued her, she’d be dead.”

“A kite line?”

Cheng Guang was speechless too: “Yeah, just half a month ago. She was on a city park mission, and midway through this huge eagle kite blew in from the sky, right to her, somehow got her clothes tangled up, and inexplicably hoisted her into the air. Her feet were off the ground, skimming along for minutes.”

Jiang Yan: “So why’s her ranking high?”

Cheng Guang: “Partially because of her constitution.”

“Like I said: she makes everyone around her unlucky, including mission targets,” Cheng Guang explained. “Let me give an example.”

“Once she was on a mission, maybe a few months ago?” Cheng Guang recalled. “She’d been unlucky for ages. It was torture. Finally, towards the end, she needed to find a notebook that recorded all the murderer’s killings for the ghost’s obsession to be resolved.”

“She searched the murderer’s house all night and couldn’t find the notebook. Exhausted and thirsty, she went for some bottled water, and wouldn’t you know it, the bottle was spiked with sleeping pills…”

“So Yu Renwan ended up asleep on the killer’s floor for hours. The next afternoon, she woke up and walked straight into the returning killer. He locked the door and grabbed a knife, intent on murder.”

“And—guess what happened?”

Cheng Guang suddenly trailed off, quizzing Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan: “…Out with it, or shut up.”

Cheng Guang gave a nervous chuckle and continued, “When the killer grabbed Yu Renwan’s hair, he tripped on a table, the notebook he’d hidden fell precisely on her feet, and he accidentally slit his own throat.”

“Blood sprayed everywhere, even covering the camera lens.”

“So Yu Renwan is the type who… even without thinking, can complete missions with pure bad luck.”

“Yu Renwan’s family made her withdrawn and insecure. On missions, she’s always solo because her odds of encountering supernatural events are way above average, so she’s timid and jumpy. Uh… there are people in the Bureau who say her rank is inflated, but I don’t think so.”

Cheng Guang couldn’t help but sigh: “Clearing missions by bad luck is still clearing missions! Success is success!”

Jiang Yan fell silent.

A moment later, as if she’d found something interesting, her lips curled up:

“So what’s she good at?”

“Cursing people,” Cheng Guang said, “one hundred percent success. She can make any target unlucky for a whole day and drop clues nonstop.”

“But honestly, I never see her curse people on stream. She just fights her way through with her own constitution!”

Jiang Yan nodded, asking nothing further.

Seeing Jiang Yan no longer speaking, Cheng Guang mumbled speculations about Yu Renwan’s constitution, but Jiang Yan wasn’t curious.

Because she knew.

It was Yu Renwan’s racial ability.

A thousand years ago, crows had been auspicious omens, but with shifting times, especially in the past century, crows had become seen as bad luck due to their scavenging habits. Over the last millennium, Yao with crow bodies had their racial ability switch from bringing luck to spreading misfortune.

While well-practiced Yao could mask their innate bad luck with demonic power, Yu Renwan could never manage it.

Because only one of her parents was Yao.

She was born human and would always be human—incapable of cultivating demonic power, unable to suppress the inherited racial trait.

Jiang Yan’s thoughts were interrupted by Cheng Guang.

He had been scrolling on his phone, but suddenly looked up and tentatively called out, “Shijie.”

“What is it?” asked Jiang Yan.

“Do you remember Chen Xici in the Bureau lobby last time?”

Jiang Yan frowned: “My memory isn’t that bad.”

Cheng Guang sighed: “She’s gone missing.”

“The Bureau put out a notice just now. They found a farewell letter in her home and, using her ID, tracked her flight. Three days ago, she left Jiangcheng, heading to Cangnan in search of Fukuhai.”

“Zuo Tunan has died. That she survived this long was already a miracle, why take another risk…”

Jiang Yan closed her eyes.

“Everyone has their own fate.”

*

This time, the bus ride was exceptionally long—it took nearly ten hours to reach the destination.

An old, run-down, yet bustling market.

Jiang Yuqing briefed them: “Welcome to Changxia City.”

“This mission may be thorny. For years, energy disruption phenomena have occurred intermittently in the old factory here. Every investigation turned up nothing, but recently, it happened again. Two elderly people died in the building two weeks ago.”

“This is the first time deaths have occurred during a disruption here. The Bureau isn’t sure if there’s a connection, so you are being sent to investigate, with hopes you’ll find something.”

After everyone nodded, Jiang Yuqing added, “The Bureau has hired a local guide for you. She’s waiting outside the bus. You can follow her around the market today to buy necessities, as this mission may last a while.”

“Accommodation is already arranged. After shopping, the guide will take you there.”

Jiang Yan turned to the window. Not far from the bus, a girl in her twenties stood, her skin sun-darkened to a reddish brown, eyeing the bus a bit nervously.

Jiang Yan looked away as Jiang Yuqing concluded, “Changxia City isn’t very safe. Lots of punks and troublemakers around, so stay alert during the mission.”

With that, Jiang Yan pressed her live-streaming earring and got off behind the twins.

As she picked up her suitcase, there was a loud crash behind her.

The sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

Jiang Yan turned around and saw Yu Renwan face down on the ground.

Her face was on the pavement, legs still trailing on the bus steps. The birdcage had rolled several meters away, with the crow lying inside serenely, its expression as if impervious to fortune or disgrace.

Shen Huanhuan wanted to help, but was turned away.

Yu Renwan pushed herself up on her elbows and used her sleeve to wipe dust from her face, slowly getting up.

“You guys go ahead, I’ll follow behind.”

Hat brim shading her face, she stood five meters away from the group, looking as lifeless as a sun-dried fish.

The guide looked a little baffled, but introduced herself: “I’m Sun Niu. I’ll show you around.”

This time, Lin Xinjiu didn’t storm off with a bad attitude. He stood with his arms crossed, snorting as if to say he, too, needed to shop for essentials.

Sun Niu’s gaze swept over the twins in sunglasses, masks, and baseball hats, then to Yu Renwan, wrapped up like a witch. She thought these people were too weird—so weird she was regretting taking this job.

Shen Xiaoxiao urged, “Sun-jiejie?”

Sun Niu quickly responded, soothed by Shen Xiaoxiao’s sweet voice. Thinking of the extra-high fee, she led everyone into the market.

It was now five in the afternoon, already a bit dim. The market stalls were starting to shout offers, lowering prices.

Sun Niu was diligent in her work. She did what every guide does: introducing the history of the market.

“This place used to belong to Changxia District Mattress Factory, about twenty years back.”

She pointed to the wide area around them: “These warehouses once stored mattresses. The factory closed, the warehouses were demolished, and workers lost their income, so they set up stalls here. The local government said ‘fine, just collect some fees’, and turned it into a market.”

“The house you’re renting is two hundred meters outside the market. Used to house factory employees, it’s an old factory building that hasn’t been torn down after all these years. Not many stayed, just some elderly holdouts.”

Everyone nodded.

The market sold everything: pots and pans, succulents, vegetables, fruit, even T-shirts for twenty or thirty yuan—anything you could want.

People ended up carrying plenty, except Yu Renwan.

She stopped for half a minute at a fruit stand, but the two other shoppers started arguing right in front of her. Innocent bystander that she was, Yu Renwan took an apple to the face and now had blood streaming from both nostrils.

She plugged her nose with tissues as she walked, drooping in dejection, her nearly 1.7-meter height shrunken from constant hunched posture.

Shen Xiaoxiao whispered, “That level of bad luck is outrageous.”

Shen Huanhuan sympathized: “She’s been hurt so many times today already.”

But since Yu Renwan was very resistant to anyone approaching her, the twins didn’t try to help.

By seven, it was fully dark.

Sun Niu had finished showing everyone the stalls. With her as a local, no vendors took advantage—everyone bought at rock-bottom prices.

She herded them outside the market: “All done? If so, let’s head to the old factory.”

Between the market and the old factory was a narrow alley. At the entrance, a stall was set up, several elderly folks sitting around, chatting and laughing.

As they passed, Jiang Yan glanced at the stall.

It sold mattresses—several piled on the ground, outer plastic covers a bit muddy, but the mattresses were new and clean. An old man who rode a tricycle was cheerfully patting them.

Jiang Yan subconsciously slowed down, listening in on the conversation.

“This is the famous Furu Donghai brand magnetic mat?” the old man sighed. “Hard place to find, I searched everywhere!”

The onlookers fanned themselves. “No need for a prime location—always sold out, only for the lucky.”

The old man was loving it. “Is it really that good? Feels pretty bouncy.”

“Of course! Best sleep ever. We’re all here promoting for free!”

A woman gestured to her face. “Look, my wife says my age spots got lighter after using this—only took a month! Any more and I’ll have better skin than my daughter.”

“Same here. My hands and feet used to be cold in bed. After using this mattress, it’s warm, and my health is better. Even my daughter says I look younger!”

“You think that’s something? I used to cough every night, the hospital thought it was lung cancer—quacks, just nibbling at my pension! Guess what, my son got me this magnetic mat, and the coughing stopped. I slept all night, healthy as can be, no hospital bills!”

The old man had intended to buy; now he was hooked, face wrinkled in a big grin: “I’ll take one! At my age, health and longevity are a blessing to the family—how much is it?”

The elderly promoter held up four fingers.

“Four thousand?” the man gasped.

The elder shook his head with a grin: “Four hundred milliliters.”

“Donate blood, get a free mattress! The owner is a philanthropist, mattresses are free!”

“We’re too old to donate—let your kids do it and just bring their blood certificate!”

The old man marvelled: “Such a Bodhisattva’s heart.”

Unconsciously, Jiang Yan had dropped to the end of the group. Shen Huanhuan exited the alley and, seeing Jiang Yan hadn’t followed, called to her quickly.

“Coming.”

Before leaving the alley, Jiang Yan glanced once more at the stall.

There was a loudspeaker, repeating an ad with lots of static.

[Furu Donghai brand magnetic mat, aiming to make all seniors young again, relive their youth.]

“Zzz—”

[Choose Furu Donghai, choose youth.]

After this line, the woman’s voice was drowned in static.

After a while, the ad blared again:

[Youth can return, aging can be cured—let us treat your disease called aging.]