Chapter 4: The Effect of 99 Luck Points

June 10th, 2023

The hooded young man had long legs, and each step he took was farther than an ordinary person’s. He quickly walked past the atrium, stepped onto the escalator, and ascended the stairs, stopping two steps behind the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man seemed to sense something and cautiously glanced back. He saw a young man wearing a hood standing behind him, engrossed in his phone. After observing for a couple of seconds and noticing that the person kept their head down without any unusual behavior, he let his guard down.

The elevator quickly reached the second floor, and faint laughter from upstairs could already be heard. The middle-aged man, as if stimulated by something, suddenly had bloodshot eyes. He struggled to control his trembling right hand and stepped onto the elevator heading to the third floor.

The hooded young man calmly followed, maintaining a distance of two steps and typing on his phone. A person named “Sea King” asked him why it took him so long to buy water.

[Encountered a minor incident, I’ll handle it.] The hooded young man replied.

Sea King: [An incident? What level? Do you need my assistance?]

[A small matter.] After responding, the hooded young man directly put his phone back into his pocket.

They reached the third floor.

The middle-aged man stood at the entrance of the children’s ward, surrounded by colorful decorations and murals on the walls, highlighting the uniqueness of this place. As he watched the children play and frolic, their innocent and radiant smiles, their pure and lively eyes, they were so happy, as if this world was incredibly beautiful.

But this world is so unfair, so dirty and sordid. When you grow up, you will be disappointed. So, let me help you stay forever in this joyful era.

Without any warning, the middle-aged man pulled out a knife hidden in his coat. It was a watermelon knife, about 30 centimeters long, and it emitted a dazzling white light in the sunlight. The adult raised his arm high and rushed towards the children’s ward, like a hungry wolf pouncing on a helpless lamb.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” The middle-aged man roared, but after only taking two steps, his body suddenly froze. A strong hand with distinct knuckles firmly grabbed his right arm.

The middle-aged man turned his head and saw the person gripping him, the young man who had been standing behind him, engrossed in his phone earlier. The young man had a handsome appearance, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. There was no trace of wind and frost on his fair and jade-like face.

Another person relying on his looks to make a living, just because he looks good, he can easily earn money that the middle-aged man could never make in his lifetime by just taking a few photos.

“Die! You deserve to die too!” The middle-aged man turned around and swung the watermelon knife directly at the hooded young man.

The hooded young man’s gaze remained calm. He lightly tapped the wrist of the middle-aged man with his other hand, and the middle-aged man felt a slight numbness in his arm, causing the watermelon knife to slip from his hand. The hooded young man lowered his hand to catch the knife, then turned around and lifted his foot, delivering a fierce kick to the middle-aged man’s chest. The middle-aged man lost control and was thrown out, rolling down the stairs.

The fight between the two happened in an instant. The people around finally realized what had happened, and screams filled the air. They ran and scattered. Parents held their children and retreated into the wards. Some called the police while others blocked the doors.

When Lin Xuan, accompanied by several security guards carrying anti-explosion weapons, rushed over, all they managed to see was the middle-aged man rolling down the stairs.

Lin Xuan was briefly stunned but still pointed at the middle-aged man lying at the entrance of the second-floor elevator and loudly said, “Security, that’s the person.”

The middle-aged man seemed to be injured and struggled several times but failed to get up. He was easily restrained by the hospital’s security guards.

Lin Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and looked up to the third floor. She didn’t know which brave soul had kicked the thug down. She looked around but found that all the patients on the third and second floors had hidden away, leaving the area empty without even a curious onlooker.

Just as Lin Xuan was feeling puzzled, a hooded young man walked past her, carrying a watermelon knife. The young man was tall, passing by Lin Xuan with a height advantage of at least a head.

The hooded young man walked straight to the service counter on one side of the lobby, picked up the bottled water he had previously placed there, and handed over the watermelon knife. “Please give this to the police, thank you.”

After speaking, the young man drank the water while casually walking towards the hospital’s main entrance. His relaxed and leisurely demeanor made it seem as if he had handed over RMB for purchasing water at the service counter, rather than a watermelon knife.

Lin Xuan had some impression of this young man. He had been standing behind Song Ranran at the convenience store earlier. It wasn’t that she deliberately paid attention to him. To be honest, she didn’t even know what the young man looked like until now. But he was just too tall, standing out in the queue, like a corn stalk growing in a rice paddy.

Was he the one who stopped the thug? Did he do it intentionally or was it a coincidence?

“Xuan’er, did they catch the bad guy?” Song Ranran asked while holding the steamed buns she had bought from the convenience store.

“They caught him,” Lin Xuan pointed upstairs, where the security guards were tying up the middle-aged man with a rope, preparing to hand him over to the police later.

“That’s good. Did anyone get hurt?” Song Ranran asked with concern.

“No, someone intervened beforehand,” Lin Xuan replied.

“Who? Who’s so capable?” Song Ranran inquired.

“The person who just left.”

“You mean… Chen Chu?” Song Ranran turned around and glanced, but the tall figure of the hooded young man had just disappeared from the hospital entrance.

“Do you know him?” This time, Lin Xuan was surprised.

“He’s our senior.”

“He’s also from our school?” Lin Xuan was even more astonished.

“Chen Chu is a graduate student from our school’s Physics Department, but he didn’t do his undergraduate studies at our school. He went to Cangshan University in the north of the city and came to our school for his graduate studies. He rarely comes to class, it’s said that he doesn’t even show up at the school more than three times in a semester, so he doesn’t leave much of an impression at the school,” Song Ranran explained.

“Can he graduate by attending class so infrequently?”

“He has good grades. He even published a paper in an international journal last year. That’s when I found out about him. At that time, I wanted to interview him, so I called him several times, but he refused and even blocked me directly,” Song Ranran recalled, getting annoyed. “In the end, I had to settle for interviewing a senior from the Mathematics Department who had also won a prize for his paper.”

“What’s wrong with the Mathematics Department? Their papers don’t hold up to the value of Chen Chu’s papers?” Lin Xuan asked.

“It’s not about that.”

“Then what do you regret?”

“It was a profile interview, and it required photos. The senior from the Mathematics Department, although talented, was already bald at such a young age, and his appearance was nowhere near as good as Chen Chu’s. Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not that I’m shallow, but most people are shallow nowadays,” Song Ranran, who studied journalism, had a deep understanding of this.

“Song Ranran, until my hair grows out, you’re not allowed to mention the words ‘bald head’ in front of me, got it?” Lin Xuan threatened, placing her hands on her hips.

“Hehe… I’m sorry, I won’t bring it up again, hahaha… Let’s eat, the buns have gone cold.” Song Ranran finally remembered the buns she was holding and handed one to Lin Xuan.

Just as Lin Xuan took a bite, they heard the sound of police sirens outside the door. A few uniformed police officers rushed in and took over the middle-aged man from the security guard. After they took him away, they went to the nurse’s station and took the watermelon knife.

“Who was the person who stopped the criminal in uniform?” Lin Xuan overheard the police asking the nurse.

“He’s a tall young man, I don’t know his name, but he’s handsome. He left the knife here before going up. We didn’t know what he was up to at first, but after a while, he came back for the knife and asked us to give it to the police. That’s when we realized he was there to save someone,” the nurse replied with excitement in her eyes.

“Yes, yes!” Another nurse nodded vigorously, equally excited.

“Where is he now?” the police asked.

“He left. He put down the knife and left,” the nurse said.

“He’s impressive and good-looking,” the police couldn’t help but praise.

“Yes, yes, yes!” The nurse blushed with excitement.

He deliberately went to stop the criminal? But how did Chen Chu know there was a thug in the hospital? Lin Xuan puzzled for a moment and then remembered that he might have overheard her conversation with Song Ranran at the convenience store entrance. Chen Chu was standing behind Song Ranran in line at that time, so he must have been right at the convenience store entrance.

Come to think of it, he did seem quite handsome.

“Should we go and tell the police that the person was Chen Chu?” Song Ranran asked Lin Xuan in a low voice.

“Let’s not.” Lin Xuan pondered for a moment and shook her head. “He left before the police arrived, so he definitely doesn’t want to be known. We’re not familiar with him either, so let’s not get involved.”

“That makes sense.”

Afterward, the police asked Lin Xuan a few questions, mainly about how she noticed the situation. Lin Xuan simply said that she accidentally caught a glimpse of the middle-aged man hiding a knife in his arms and noticed him following a child. Feeling uneasy, she went to find the security guard.

The police praised Lin Xuan and then left.

“Oh!” Back in the sixth-floor ward, Lin Xuan suddenly felt regretful.

“What’s wrong?” Song Ranran looked over.

“The driver who hit me fled the scene. I should have asked the police if they caught him.” Lin Xuan regretted.

“The hospital and the university are not in the same district, so the police here may not know.” Song Ranran said.

“That’s true. Forget it, let’s go buy a cellphone first.” Lin Xuan took out her clothes to change, but when she unfolded them, she discovered that they were all tattered. Especially on the side, there was a 20 cm-long tear. It was no longer a piece of clothing but more like a rag.

“Oh my god, did I scrape them on the ground during the car accident yesterday?” Song Ranran didn’t witness her friend’s accident firsthand and thought it wasn’t too serious. But now, seeing Lin Xuan’s clothes in such a sorry state, she began to grasp the severity of the accident.

“Do you have a lot of injuries on your body?” Song Ranran reached out to pull at Lin Xuan’s hospital gown.

“No, no, it hurts,” Lin Xuan quickly stopped Song Ranran from pulling her clothes. “The injuries are not serious, just some scraped skin.”

After Lin Xuan woke up, besides a slight headache, she didn’t feel anything unusual on her body. It seemed that her injuries had already been repaired by the system.

“Never mind, just wear the hospital gown. You can bring me clothes tomorrow,” Lin Xuan decided not to change her clothes.

“That’s too troublesome. We can buy some clothes when we go to buy a cellphone later,” Song Ranran suggested.

“Do you think I have money to buy clothes?” Lin Xuan said miserably.

“I’ll buy them for you.”

“Remember, you’re not allowed to give me things when I can’t return the favor.” Lin Xuan reminded her. Because of her relationship with Song Wei, Lin Xuan and Song Ranran had a clear division in this regard.

“Okay, okay, I’ll bring them for you tomorrow. Let’s go, let’s go buy the cellphone first.” The two girls held hands and left the hospital, heading to the nearest shopping mall. After careful consideration, they bought the cheapest phone from a certain brand, costing 520 yuan, exceeding Lin Xuan’s budget by 20 yuan.

Just after buying the phone, Song Wei called to say that he would come and pick up his sister to take her home. The news about the incident at the hospital had made its way to him quickly.

Ten minutes later, Song Wei’s car stopped at the entrance of the shopping mall.

“Xuan’er, come up too. I’ll take you back to the hospital first.” The hospital wasn’t far from the mall, but it would still take over ten minutes to walk.

Song Wei didn’t say anything; he just silently looked at Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan conscientiously said, “No, I want to wander around a bit longer and go back later.”

“Alright then.” Song Ranran nodded and rolled up the car window to prevent the cold air from coming in.

“Every time I meet you, nothing good happens.” As he passed by Lin Xuan, Song Wei muttered coldly.

Did she really have so much bad luck every time?

Lin Xuan stood still in a daze for a while before finally speaking to the system, “System, when did my bad luck start?”

“Your luck value significantly decreased six months ago,” the system replied.

“Then… does the bad luck affect the people around me?”

“Luck value has a very complex calculation method. In addition to the initial value at birth, it can also change based on a person’s behavior patterns, character, knowledge, and even the social environment. So it’s hard to define whether bad luck can be contagious.”

“So, it’s because of me that Ranran encountered this today?” With her luck value of -99, she was extremely prone to danger, and Song Ranran came to the hospital because of her. If it wasn’t for her, Song Ranran should have been on vacation in the outskirts at this time.

“It can only be said that her behavior has influenced her current luck value,” the system replied.

“So, it really is because of me,” Lin Xuan sighed and whispered.

“Host, you’re overthinking. With your luck value at -99, you’re the most dangerous one wherever you are. How could you bring danger to others? Just like the situation at the hospital earlier, if you hadn’t gone to call the security guard and instead followed the assailant to the children’s ward, he wouldn’t have attacked the children. He would have targeted you first,” the system explained.

“…” It sounded a lot like a legendary game skill used to tank bosses, what was it called again?

But somehow, it felt a little comforting.

Author’s Note:

Lin Xuan: Just tell me, how many more chapters can I survive?

Crab: How could I bear to let you die? I’ve already arranged a bodyguard for you.