Chapter 176: Contagious Bad Luck

　　Lu Fei was very surprised and carefully observed the dirty old man.

　　The clothes were filthy and tattered, barely recognizable in their original color. His figure was gaunt, his skin dark and rough, and he emitted a pungent odor.

　　Even the beggars on the roadside looked better than him.

　　The way he slurped his noodles was truly unbearable to watch.

　　Is this Jia Banxian?

　　He had thought that the last person his grandfather saw before disappearing would be a reclusive master.

　　He never expected it to be someone like this.

　　Could Sister Hong have brought just anyone to make a quick buck?

　　Lu Fei glanced back at Sister Hong, who shrugged and gave him a helpless smile.

　　"Sister Hong isn't that foolish. If she were to find someone to pretend, she'd at least find someone decent."

　　Lu Fei walked to the table and cautiously started to ask questions.

　　"Hello, are you Master Jia?"

　　"Indeed, it's this half-immortal!"

　　The old man nodded indistinctly while chewing on his noodles.

　　"Young Lu, have a seat first. Whatever the matter, it can wait until this half-immortal finishes his meal."

　　Lu Fei sat down across from him.

　　Looking around, the teahouse was indeed empty today, with only the two of them as customers.

　　Could this old man really be some kind of jinx, bringing bad luck to others?

　　Lu Fei was half-convinced. He had heard of people with bad fates who were naturally more unlucky, but he had never seen anyone capable of passing that bad luck to others.

　　Three minutes later.

　　Master Jia finally finished his noodles, not only drinking all the soup but also licking the bowl clean.

　　"Comfortable! After three months, I, Half-Immortal, have finally had a full meal again!" He burped, his thin, weathered face showing an expression of satisfaction.

　　"Senior Jia, are you done eating?" Lu Fei frowned slightly, restraining his temper.

　　"I'm full, but my mouth is a bit dry." Half-Immortal Jia waved his dirty old hand at Sister Hong and called out familiarly, "Red Lotus, bring another pot of good tea."

　　"My rule here is to pay first before serving tea." Sister Hong made no effort to hide her disdain, speaking with obvious irritation.

　　"I don't have any money, but young Master Lu does, doesn't he?" Half-Immortal Jia chuckled, "He has something to ask me, so would he be stingy with a little money for tea?"

　　"Sister Hong, serve the tea, and bring a few more plates of pastries," Lu Fei nodded at Sister Hong.

　　Compared to the clues about Grandpa, this small amount of money for tea is nothing.

　　Sister Hong glared at Half-Immortal Jia and had the tea and pastries brought over.

　　"Young Master Lu, you're much more capable than your grandpa." Half-Immortal Jia sipped his tea contentedly, looking at Lu Fei with a smile.

　　"I know what you want to ask, and I can tell you. Three years ago, I had tea with your grandpa at this very table, and he wasn't as generous as you are."

　　"Really?" Then I thank you, Senior! Lu Fei was quite surprised that the old man was so straightforward.

　　"Hold on, I have a condition." Jia Banxian said calmly.

　　"Please go on, Senior."

　　Upon hearing his condition, Lu Fei felt a bit more at ease.

　　What he feared most was kind-heartedness from a stranger without any reason.

　　"If I say it, it won't work anymore." Jia Banxian gave a mysterious smile and slipped a greasy piece of paper to Lu Fei, "Read it when you get home, otherwise this matter won't succeed."

　　After that, he refused to say anything more.

　　He finished his tea, stuffed several small snacks into the pockets of his dirty clothes, and stood up.

　　"I need to find another place to hide. If I don't leave, Red Lotus's glare will kill me!"

　　With that, he smiled at Sister Hong and left the Sanwei Teahouse, swaying as he went.

　　"Thank goodness, that jinx is finally gone."

　　Sister Hong immediately grabbed a basin and started splashing pomelo leaf water everywhere.

　　"You lot, wipe this table down thoroughly several times. Throw away any bowls and plates he used—toss them as far as possible! Also, mop the floors where he walked multiple times."

　　Lu Fei was dumbfounded.

　　"Sister Hong, are you being too dramatic?"

　　"Young Master Lu, not at all! This old man has a strong aura of bad luck; whoever gets close to him will suffer misfortune."

　　"Anyone I sent to find him, if they watched him for more than ten minutes, either tripped and broke a bone on flat ground or got hit in the head by a falling flowerpot from above."

　　"Out of the nine people I sent, eight were injured, and one person was fine, but their house caught fire and burned down."

　　Sister Hong looked at Lu Fei cautiously, not as warmly as usual, refraining from holding his hand.

　　"Is it that serious?" Lu Fei exclaimed, "Who exactly is he?"

　　"He was just an ordinary charlatan; he wasn't like this three years ago. I wonder if he's gotten into something."

　　Sister Hong frowned and sprinkled the pomelo leaf water on Lu Fei.

　　"Young Boss Lu, I found him for you anyway. I was keeping time for you just now. You sat with him for about twenty minutes. Be careful on your way back; don't have any accidents."

　　"With Sister Hong's reminder, I will definitely be careful."

　　Lu Fei paid the remaining balance and, after some thought, decided not to mention the Yin Talisman.

　　He felt that the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

　　He resisted the urge to look at the greasy piece of paper and left to hail a taxi.

　　Usually, there are plenty of taxis at this street corner, making it easy to get one, but today, after waiting for more than ten minutes, no car appeared.

　　"Have I really run into bad luck?"

　　Lu Fei, half-doubting, walked two streets over, found a bus stop, and took the bus home.

　　But before the bus had even gone one stop, it came to a rumbling halt.

　　"Sorry, everyone, the bus is broken! Please switch to another one," the driver said, waving at the crowd after checking the vehicle.

　　"Really?"

　　Lu Fei got off the bus with a sigh, scanned a shared bicycle on the street, and rode it carefully for a while; the bike was fine.

　　However, when he was turning a corner, a car that ran a red light came speeding towards him.

　　"Oh no!"

　　Lu Fei abandoned the bike and ran.

　　Bang!

　　A loud noise erupted from behind, and the force of the impact made the hem of his clothes flap violently.

　　The car crashed heavily into the roadside wall, with the shared bicycle crumpled in between, deformed.

　　If it weren't for Lu Fei's quick reaction and timely abandonment of the car, he might have been the one who got crushed.

　　The pedestrians let out gasps of shock, and the street corner was in complete chaos due to the accident.

　　"This is too bizarre! I only sat next to Mr. Jia for twenty minutes."

　　Lu Fei broke out in a cold sweat all over his back.

　　He quickly took out three ghost-repelling talismans and stuck them on various parts of his body, and also held a lightning-struck jujube wood stick in his hand.

　　Lightning is the nemesis of all dark and evil forces, perhaps it might have an effect on this bizarre streak of bad luck as well.

　　Holding the lightning-struck wood, he cautiously looked left and right, walked through several intersections, hailed another taxi, and finally returned to the pawnshop safely.

　　"Boss, what happened? You're covered in sweat?"

　　Seeing that Lu Fei's face looked unwell, Hu Zi hurried to get some water.

　　"Nothing, just ran into a bit of a traffic accident on the way." Lu Fei didn't have time to explain, he drank a couple of sips of water to calm himself down, and then unfolded the note given by Mr. Jia.

　　"At midnight tonight, meet at the mass grave in the northern part of the city."

　　Lu Fei furrowed his brows deeply.

　　The northern part of the city is so large, where exactly is the mass grave?