Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 238 - 158: The Cursed One

Chapter 238: Chapter 158: The Cursed One

At the same time, but in different places, Duan Mingyuan and Garoya broke through the concepts of time and space, maintaining a highly synchronized posture, they both clutched their heads and fell down.

The difference was, the little fox at Duan Mingyuan’s side seemed to have foreseen such an outcome, and the moment Duan Mingyuan fell, it had scurried over to the bedside "thump thump thump" and pushed its tail forward to cushion Duan Mingyuan’s head.

"Face reality, Mr. Mingyuan, you said everyone has domains they are not good at,"

Jiuyue consoled Duan Mingyuan, whose spirit had suffered a heavy blow due to the sudden bad news.

Duan Mingyuan wasn’t short of money, for him this felt more like an obsession that lived in his heart, filled with an indomitable spirit.

Some people are simply born with bad financial luck.

On the other side, however, there was no one to soothe Garoya’s wounded soul.

With Blue Star’s information technology, it was absolutely impossible to block the Chamber of Commerce’s website and app, yet when she angrily confronted her subordinates, she found out it was an internal directive from the Chamber of Commerce.

The reason was that they had discovered a pervert in their database who incessantly inquired whether Monsters were interested in shape-shifting into humans during flirtations.

A Monster, unable to bear the harassment, reported the user, and after a backend check, the tech staff were astonished to find that this person had close connections with the "Endangered Species Protection Association" under the aegis of the Sixteen Star Summit. At such a sensitive time, the presence of Summit members on Blue Star was likely concealing some unspeakable secrets.

For safety’s sake, the Chamber of Commerce ordered the app to be blocked; after all, from a financial standpoint, the loss of ten thousand Bei was insignificant.

Garoya’s eyes were bloodshot as she stared at her account balance, overwhelmed by the strong desire to cash in a hundred thousand Bei worth of chips.

Under normal circumstances, the loss of ten thousand Bei wouldn’t even count as one of her meals, and a fluctuation of a hundred thousand Bei in her account wouldn’t merit her extra attention, but now, she couldn’t swallow this insult.

Every Shan Clan person is a gambler born with high self-regard, and they would never allow themselves to lose to those deemed as "fools" and inferiors.

More so considering that both investment failures were caused by utterly baffling circumstances.

The Elixir Pavilion had exploded, and out of nowhere, a pervert from the "Endangered Species Protection Association" appeared; she repeatedly confirmed with her subordinates that the software ban was not directly related to Duan Mingyuan.

After her rationality returned, Garoya finally realized the problem.

This matter seemed unrelated to Duan Mingyuan, yet somehow it was connected to him in every aspect.

In fact, Garoya had found it strange the moment the Elixir Pavilion exploded; she trusted her own judgment. Duan Mingyuan’s first impression was not of a petty thief but of someone who, even if on opposing sides, would fight a fair and square battle.

Gaming against such a person often brought her full of surprises.

And now, she finally realized that the explosion at the Elixir Pavilion might not have been orchestrated by Duan Mingyuan just to target her.

To confirm her suspicion, she visited the infirmary overnight and learned about the circumstances at the time from the gradually awakening Chief Disciple of the Elixir Pavilion.

Duan Mingyuan had come to learn.

After learning about the "Dream-Returning Pill" plan, he tried to replicate it, apparently hoping to make a fortune through similar means, but an accident during the Alchemy process caused the Alchemy Furnace to explode, resulting in the Chief Disciple fainting as well.

At this point, all of Garoya’s speculations were confirmed.

When she was still an ordinary staff member, she had heard that there were people in this world who had been abandoned by the god of trade from the moment they were born, the result being that no matter what investment or entrepreneurship they engaged in, it would eventually end in failure. Even the most certain deals would unexpectedly go awry.

The specific reason was unclear; some speculated it might be the god of trade’s sense of humor.

Just like today.

Within the Shan Clan, these individuals were labeled "cursed."

This was the first time Garoya had ever encountered a cursed individual in all her years; they were so rare because misfortune usually led them to poverty before they reached adulthood. Either they died poor, of illness, or of hunger, or they ended up in lower civilizations.

The Shan Clan was always reluctant to admit that these individuals were part of their own people.

Garoya just never expected that even in different planets, in different civilizations, there could also be the existence of cursed individuals.

Would adding a hundred thousand more in chips defy fate and change destiny?

No, as long as a cursed individual was involved, everything was in vain!

Because in this world, there have never been any businesses that are all profit and no loss; the more chips you throw in, the more prominently and bizarrely misfortune will manifest itself.

If things were to continue, it’s likely that the next occurrences would be disasters like hail, torrential rain, or typhoons.

Garoya’s thoughts thus extinguished, she had heard that the misfortune of the obstructed could even affect those around them, that once targeted by them, misfortune would befall upon these people as well.

Therefore, no matter if she put forth ten thousand, a million, or even ten million in chips, it would all ultimately end in failure.

To stay away from the cursed, for to come into contact with them would only bring misfortune.

Never try to do business with them.

All discussions about the cursed would always end with these two lines.

Garoya, who had always thought highly of herself, witnessed the terror of the cursed and finally lowered her proud head, deciding to close this evaluation with a loss of ten thousand Bei.

An excellent investor, when knowing that something is impossible to do, must learn to cut losses in time, which is the most fundamental difference between them and incurable gamblers.

Then, it was time to handle the aftermath.

A loss of ten thousand Bei meant that the Blue Star civilization would receive the highest level of evaluation, which would directly determine the Chamber of Commerce’s attitude toward Blue Star.

The evaluation itself represented a gamble; a negative ten thousand meant she had lost the game, indicating that this planet was a civilization capable of bargaining head-on with the Chamber of Commerce at the business table.

It’s just that...

Garoya always felt that she lost somewhat begrudgingly.

This was not a fair and square gamble, but one messed up by an unlucky pest!

She recorded this event in her report and no longer wanted anything to do with Duan Mingyuan; she didn’t want her smooth-sailing life to take a nosedive after encountering the cursed.

After reporting her experiences on Blue Star to the Chamber of Commerce, Garoya sent a message directly to Duan Mingyuan.

Now that the evaluation had ended, she had no reason to stay on Blue Star any longer.

Of course, so both sides could maintain face, she didn’t bring up the matter of the cursed to Duan Mingyuan but claimed that there was a problem with the department she managed, and she had to return immediately to the Chamber of Commerce’s flagship, thereby concluding this evaluation with the victory of Yunhai Academy and Blue Star.

Garoya also sent the Summit’s beacon to Duan Mingyuan, completing her final duty as the Chamber of Commerce’s representative on Blue Star.

"Yay, we’ve been rated as the highest-level civilization!"

In the bedroom, Jiuyue looked at the message from Garoya and celebrated.

However, what should have been joyous news failed to bring any happiness to Duan Mingyuan.

He lay in bed, gazing at the words on his phone’s screen, plunged into a profound darkness.

The aura of negativity and ill omen made Jiuyue wonder if perhaps Mr. Mingyuan also possessed the bloodline of a disaster-bringing fox.

It’s just that a disaster-bringing fox causes misfortune to others, whereas Mr. Mingyuan brings misfortune upon himself.

"Mr. Mingyuan, this is a good thing. Aren’t you happy?"

...

Her response was still a prolonged silence, leaving Jiuyue no way to lighten the mood.

"Alright then, Mr. Mingyuan."

Affected by the negative atmosphere, Jiuyue caressed Duan Mingyuan’s forehead with sympathy, accepting Garoya as a top-tier investor.

Perhaps, this was the nose of an expert—identifying the presence of a super unlucky person on the first day and terminating the evaluation, not even meeting him again and escaping back to the Chamber of Commerce’s flagship overnight.

Mr. Mingyuan had achieved yet another new accomplishment.

"Now, you’ve even scared away the universe’s top investment expert."