My Lethal Bad Luck is Your Death Sentence

I am Riley. I'm known as the walking, breathing, human bad omen.

The kind of person whose bad luck is so potent, a stray dog will trip over its own shadow just passing me on the street.

My best friend, Sadie, who Id been attached to since kindergarten, got sweet-talked into a crypto investment scheme that turned out to be a Pig Butchering compound in Southeast Asia. She called me, crying, begging me to find a way to get her out.

To save her, I walked straight into the lion's den, offering myself up as the next mark.

On my first day at the compound, The Apex, the small-time thug assigned to watch me slipped on a patch of dry concrete and shattered his kneecap. A compound fracture.

The next day, the supervisor tried to force me into the server room to learn how to run the scam. The moment my finger touched the keyboard, the entire network system went dark, the main transformer blew sky-high, and the sky lit up with fire.

On the third day, the sector boss, far from punishing me, decided to reward me. He'd barely dropped his trousers when the rusty ceiling fan above his head broke free and swung down, severing his... well, let's just say it earned him an emergency trip to the med bay.

In three short days, the compound was chaosalarms blaring, walls crumbling, and everyone running around like headless chickens.

A month later, the head of the whole operation called the international police hotline himself. I heard the sobbing on the line.

"Officer, please! I'm begging you, come and get this walking disaster and her friend! We surrender! We confess!"

Inside the main office of The Apex compound.

Viper, the operation's manager, gripped the phone receiver so hard his knuckles were white. His face was etched with sheer terror.

"Hello?! Hello!! Don't hang up! Sir! I'm serious!"

"I am a scam artist! I'm trying to confess! I have two hundred victims locked up here! I'll give you everything!"

"I only have one condition: you need to send a private jetno, send a rocketto take the woman we call Riley, the Plague, off my hands!"

"The faster the better! We'll pay the travel expenses! Double the rate!!"

A voice came through the receiver:

"Sir, impersonating a wanted felon to report a false emergency is a crime."

"And try to make up a more believable story. A scammer offering to buy the victim's ticket? Do you think we're idiots?"

The dial tone hummed.

"Son of a!!!"

Viper slammed the desk phone onto the ground.

Screeeech

A shard of the receiver bounced into a live socket.

A flash of blue light, and the massive fish tank boomed, shattering. Several expensive Asian Arowana fish flopped desperately on the wet floor.

Viper shrieked, scrambling onto the genuine leather sofa to escape the chaos.

"See?"

I took a slow sip of my tea, sitting calmly in the chair across from him.

"I told you. I have the Jinx. A built-in, inverse causality engine. You didn't believe me, and you tried to call the cops on yourselves."

"Now look. Even the authorities think you're insulting their intelligence."

Viper spun around, his eyes shot through with red veins.

In the past three days, I wanted ice water, the ice machine exploded; I needed to use the restroom, the sewage backed up and flooded the cafeteria; I wanted to watch the evening news, the satellite dish fell off the roof and crashed through the finance office.

"Riley..."

Viper gritted his teeth, his hand instinctively reaching for the pistol tucked into his waistband, but he hesitated, then drew it back.

"Fine. You don't want to leave, do you?"

Viper took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Then you won't. Get her! Throw her in the Pit! The lowest level!"

"That sub-level dungeon is nothing but mud and dead men. There is no way you can tear down the compound from there! Lock her up until she rots!!"

The door slammed open.

Rattler, a one-eyed enforcer limping on a crutch, stormed in with a few of his men.

"Viper, she's mine!"

Rattler fixed his one good eye on me.

"This bitch broke my leg! Before she goes to the Pit, I'm collecting some interest!"

He advanced on me, swinging a leather whip embedded with steel barbs.

"Rattler, don't be stupid! Just take her..." Viper tried to warn him.

I sighed, setting down my teacup.

"Rattler, if I were you, I wouldn't swing that whip."

"Shut your damn mouth! I'm going to carve that smug look right off your face!"

Rattler swung his arm in a wide arc, the whip cutting the air as it screamed toward my face.

I didn't move. I counted to "Three."

Snap!

The tip of the whip hooked onto the massive crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The hanging bracket instantly snapped.

CRASH!!

The chandelier plummeted, smashing directly onto Rattler's head.

Rattler didn't even manage a cry. He was instantly buried under a mountain of broken glass and twisted metal. His exposed legs twitched twice, then went still.

The office went silent.

The lackeys stood frozen, mouths agape.

Viper remained perched on the sofa, his face a ghostly white.

"Get..."

He pointed a frantic finger at the doorway.

"Get her out of here... get her out now!! She is a goddamn monster!!"

"Don't touch her! Use the riot poles! Keep your distance!!"

A chaotic struggle ensued.

A squad in padded riot gear pushed me out of the office using two-meter-long poles.

As I was being prodded away, I gave a small wave to Viper.

"Oh, and... remember to fix the fish tank. That exposed wiring is a fire hazard."

"GET OUT!!!"

Viper's roar echoed behind me, followed by another muffled CRASH.

The Pit was located on the third sub-level.

The iron door groaned open, and a wave of putrid stench washed over me.

"Get in, you little freak!"

A guard shoved me with a pole into the pitch-black, fetid water and quickly slammed the door shut.

Splash!

The dirty water rose past my knees.

I found my footing, and from the darkest corner, I heard a faint whimper.

"Riley...?"

The voice was hauntingly familiar.

I whipped my head around, using the dim hallway light filtering through the bars to make out the figure huddled in the corner.

It was Sadie.

Sadie, who was pathologically obsessed with her appearance, was huddled in the muck.

She was covered in bruises, her face so swollen I barely recognized her, and she was desperately clutching half a piece of moldy bread.

The fury inside me spiked to a boiling point.

"Sadie!"

My throat choked up. I rushed over and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Why are you so stupid!" Sadie sobbed hysterically into my shoulder. "I told you to call the police! Why did you come here? They'll kill you!"

"I did call," I said, stroking her back. "But the police said a cross-border raid takes time. I was afraid you wouldn't last that long, so I came to check in."

"What good is checking in! This is a death wish!" Sadie cried harder.

"It's okay," I wiped the mud from her face. "I have my little... thing. Remember?"

Sadie paused, the memory of all the bizarre, unbelievable incidents that had surrounded me since childhood flashing through her mind.

Like in middle school, when the teacher made me go on stage to read a poem, and the moment I opened my mouth, the entire stage collapsed.

Or in high school, when I tried to sneak into a sketchy internet cafe for an all-nighter, but before I could even open the door, the police raided and shut the place down.

"But... this is different. They have guns..." Sadie pointed desperately at the guards outside the iron bars.

We weren't the only ones in the Pit.

There was a man with a broken leg, Ben, who was tricked into construction work.

And a young college student with glasses, Trevor, locked up for failing to meet his coding quota.

They watched me with dull, vacant eyes.

"Save your breath, newbie," Ben leaned against the wall, his voice a hoarse whisper. "Once you're in the Pit, you're just waiting to die. See those wires up there? If they feel like it, they'll turn on the juice, and we all become grilled fish."

I looked up at the few frayed wires dangling precariously above the water. I sighed and spoke to Ben with complete sincerity. "Try not to be too pessimistic, man. In my experience, if they try to electrocute us, the transformer will most likely explode first, or the guard flipping the switch will be the one who gets shocked. The people who try to hurt me usually end up leaving faster."

Ben stared at me like I was a complete lunatic.

The words had barely left my mouth.

The iron door above the Pit was pulled open.

A drunken guard, reeking of stale booze, unzipped his fly, ready to relieve himself down below.

"Here you go, you little pigs! Drink the General's holy water! Hahahahaha!"

Ben and Trevor swallowed their rage, bowing their heads in humiliation.

Sadie screamed, burrowing herself deeper into my arms.

I frowned, a knot of pure disgust tightening in my stomach as I looked at the guard.

The next second, a piercing scream sliced through the night.

"AH!! It's stuck!! It's stuck!!!"

The guard's hand jerked, and the liquor bottle he was holding smashed onto his toe.

He slipped on the wet floor and fell headfirst into the Pit.

Plop!

He landed right next to the drooping electric wires.

The water splashed the wires, creating a shower of blue sparks.

"Er-er-er-er..."

The guard thrashed and convulsed wildly in the water, his eyes rolling back.

Luckily, he landed far enough away that by the time the current reached us, we only felt a slight, buzzing tingle.

Sadie and I were completely unharmed.

The guard, however, started foaming at the mouth in seconds, passing out cold. His face was submerged in the sewage, bubbling faintly.

The Pit went utterly silent.

Ben's jaw dropped, nearly dislocating.

Trevor adjusted his bent glasses, pointing a trembling finger at me. "Th-that... was you too?"

I shrugged, a look of innocence on my face. "He just wasn't careful. See? Bad intent meets bad karma. That's just how the universe works."

The unconscious guard in the water, while satisfying, also spelled serious trouble.

Not long after, the changing shift noticed something was wrong and the alarm instantly blared.

"Escape! An attempted escape!!"

The piercing siren echoed throughout the compound.

The iron door was brutally kicked open.

A dozen powerful flashlights blinded us.

This time, it wasn't just thugs.

The crowd parted, and a middle-aged man in a traditional Chinese-style jacket, spinning two iron walnuts in his hand, strolled in.

Behind him were Viper and a company of heavily armed mercenaries.

This was the compound's true power, the actual behind-the-scenes boss: Silas Blackwood.

Silas looked at the guard floating in the water, then at me, and grinned.

"Interesting."

His voice was gravelly.

"Pull the body out. As for the others, take them all to the main yard."

We were herded to the main courtyard.

It was late at night, but the compound was lit up like a football stadium.

Hundreds of "marks" were violently woken up and forced to stand around the perimeter to witness the execution.

Silas sat on a massive armchair, idly toying with a golden Desert Eagle handgun.

"I am a man who believes in fate the most, and yet, I believe in fate the least."

Silas pointed the muzzle of the gun at me.

"I hear you're the Walking Calamity? The jinx who killed several of my best men?"

I stood in the cold wind, shielding the trembling Sadie behind me, meeting his gaze directly.

"Mr. Blackwood, some things are better left believed than dismissed."

"Hahahahaha!"

Silas roared with laughter, then instantly dropped his expression, his face darkening.

"Go to hell with your bad luck! In this world, I am God! I am fate!"

He made a sharp gesture.

Two mercenaries rushed forward and grabbed Sadie.

"Let go of me! Riley! Help me!!" Sadie struggled wildly.

"Stop!" I tried to lunge forward, but two gun barrels were instantly pressed against my temples.

Silas grabbed a fistful of Sadie's hair, pressing the muzzle of the Desert Eagle against her temple.

"Riley, is it?"

Silas grinned viciously, his finger resting on the trigger.

"You think you're such a jinx? Come on! Jinx me now! Let's see whose luck runs out fasteryour bad mojo, or my bullet!"

Sadie's face was white, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

"Riley... don't worry about me... run..."

Watching this, I clenched my fists.

"Silas."

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm.

"I'm a jinx, not a monster. The debt is between you and me. You want to kill someone? Kill me. Let her go."

"You don't get to bargain with me!"

Silas roared, "Get on your knees!!"

BANG!

He fired a shot into the air.

"Kneel! Or the next bullet blows her brains out!"

Sadie shook her head frantically, her eyes full of pleading. "No... Riley, have some backbone... don't kneel for this scum..."

"Beat her!"

Silas gave the command.

A mercenary next to him slammed the butt of his rifle into Sadie's back.

Pugh!

Sadie gasped, spitting out a mouthful of blood, collapsing limply to the ground.

"Sadie!!"

My eyes burned with fury.

"I'll kneel!"

I ground my teeth, bending my knees.

If it meant saving Sadie's life, my pride was meaningless.

But.

I looked up, staring intently at Silas, my eyes icy cold.

"Silas, I truly did not want to kneel."

"This bow is too heavy for you to bear."

"It'll take years off your life."

My knees slammed hard onto the rough ground.

In that moment.

It felt like a shackle snapping.

"Hahahahaha! Look, everyone! The Jinx is kneeling!"

Silas roared with laughter. "What causality engine, what walking calamity? When faced with my gun, you're all just dogs on a leash!"

The surrounding mercenaries and thugs joined in the mocking laughter.

"Silas, now that I've knelt, can we discuss..." I fought back the nausea in my throat, ready to negotiate her release.

"Who told you you could speak?"

Silas's face twisted in rage. He lifted his foot, and his military boot drove hard into my shoulder.

Thump!

I was knocked off balance, sent sprawling onto the ground, my cheek scraping painfully against the rough dirt.

Before I could get back up, the military boot was planted squarely on the side of my face.

"You want to save her? Fine."

Silas looked down at me, the dirt from his sole grinding against my skin.

"The kneeling was for my fallen men. Now, I want you to kowtow."

"Make it loud! You knock your head, and I'll consider letting your little friend suffer a little less."

"Don't! Riley! Don't listen to him! He's an animal! He won't let us go!" Sadie's voice was raw with crying, but two burly men held her down, unable to move.

I was prone on the ground, my mouth full of the metallic tang of blood and the earthy stench of mud.

But I looked at Sadie, bruised and bleeding nearby.

Even knowing he was lying, I couldn't risk the chance that he wasn't.

"Fine."

I pushed up with my hands, slowly lifting my torso, then slammed my head down hard.

Dong!

One.

"Oh, that wasn't loud enough! Didn't you eat breakfast?" Silas mocked, digging a finger into his ear.

DONG!!

Two.

A sharp pain exploded in my forehead. Blood traced a line down my brow bone, obscuring one eye.

My vision was smeared red.

"Hahahahaha! Keep going! Don't stop! You don't stop until I tell you to!"

Silas laughed hysterically. He turned, waving to his men behind him. "What are you idiots waiting for? Take out your phones and record this! Send it to the outside world! Let those clueless marks see what happens when you cross me!"

I mechanically repeated the motion of slamming my head down.

Until

"Alright, this is boring."

Silas suddenly kicked my ribs.

I heard a distinct crack. The shattering pain made me instantly curl into a fetal position.

"I'm tired of playing."

Silas accepted a cigar, took a long drag, and then flicked the smoldering ash directly onto the back of my hand.

Sizzzz

The smell of burning flesh hit the air.

But I still didn't make a sound, only staring intensely at him.

That look made Silas deeply uncomfortable.

"Damn, that gaze is bad luck." Silas swore, his murderous intent fully ignited. "I thought about keeping you around for a bit, but it looks like you genuinely want to die."

He waved his hand.

"Bring the oil drums."

"Since this bitch's head is so hard, let's light them up like lanterns. Give the others a show and warm things up."

Sadie had stopped crying. She closed her eyes in despair, seeming to accept her fate.

Several mercenaries leered as they dragged over cans of gasoline.

I struggled to prop myself up on one elbow, my breathing ragged with blood. The blood from my forehead ran into my mouth.

But I smiled.

"Silas..."

My voice was a raw croak.

"I just knocked my head nine times."

"Nine, the number of closure. I paid the cosmic debt."

"Now, it's yours to settle."

Silas froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "Still talking nonsense when you're about to die! Pour the gas! Pour it all!!"

Two mercenaries lifted the drums. WHOOSH!

The acrid gasoline drenched me from head to toe, stinging my cuts.

At the same time, to prevent any final resistance, dozens of mercenaries raised their guns.

"Send them off!"

Silas grinned, clicking his lighter.

In that fraction of a second, with the lighter already ignited and flying toward us

My lips curled slightly.

"See you in hell, you piece of trash."

The lighter in Silas's hand traced an arc in the air, falling towards our gasoline-soaked bodies.