“You… what did you say…”
Haley and the others felt as if the words Su Fan had just spoken made the temperature in the entire antique shop drop by several degrees.
“Did I hear that correctly?”
The chubby guy asked, dumbfounded.
Paige suddenly shivered all over.
So, when he said Lucas had a deathly look about him earlier, this is what he meant!
“The order of death isn’t based on the order of the tarot reading?!”
Haley suddenly remembered a critical, fatal detail.
“Of course not. Didn’t I say it? The evil spirit isn’t particularly powerful,” Su Fan explained leisurely, even taking the time to brew a cup of tea in front of everyone. “If you encountered a truly fierce and malicious one, it could come for your life even in broad daylight.”
Freddy and the Grim Reaper were classic examples of that.
“But Madeline went out with him! It shouldn’t have happened like this,” Paige asked, panicked.
“‘He will be crazy in love, needs to be careful about the path he takes…'” Haley murmured, dazed. “It was because he was seeing Madeline home that he ended up walking the night path alone, and was killed by the evil spirit from the tarot cards…”
Hearing this, Grant felt he had grasped the key point. “So does that mean, if we just stick together, we won’t come to harm?”
“If the curse were that easy to shake off, why would you even come to me? You could just stay on the main street during the day and go to parties at night,” Su Fan scoffed derisively. “Right now, the only way to save your lives is to bring that tarot deck to me.”
“You… aren’t you worried about the evil spirit attaching itself to you?”
“Sir, perhaps we should discuss this properly…” Paige hesitated somewhat.
She had just lost a friend’s life because of the tarot cards and didn’t want to drag more people into this.
Su Fan couldn’t be bothered with further argument. He raised his hand.
The laptop still on the table automatically closed itself and flew neatly back into the chubby guy’s backpack.
Witnessing this, everyone was utterly stunned, beyond words.
Especially Grant, whose expression could only be described as utterly flabbergasted.
“…Now I understand why my dad insisted I find him…” the chubby guy said, as if in a dream, his face blank.
“Any more questions now?” Su Fan asked.
This time, everyone shook their heads in unison.
“Then go back and get the cards.”
Having said that, Su Fan prepared to send them on their way.
“What if we encounter something strange on our way back?” Haley, reacting the fastest, thought of this unavoidable detail.
“If you want to protect your lives, there’s the smart way, and there’s the fool’s way. Which do you choose?”
“What’s the smart way?” the chubby guy followed up.
“That would be interpreting your individual tarot fortunes and using that to avoid the evil spirit’s pursuit.”
“We’ll take the fool’s method,” Haley said without hesitation, directly choosing the second option.
Su Fan pulled out a talisman from under the counter.
“This kind of talisman can ward off evil and avert danger. Keep it on your person, and it can save your life at a critical moment.”
Upon hearing this, their eyes immediately lit up.
Haley immediately reached out to take it, but saw Su Fan instead hold out his own hand, palm up.
She subconsciously thought the other person wanted to shake her hand, but Su Fan slapped her away in disgust.
“Not willing to use your brains, and you don’t even know you have to pay?”
Haley was somewhat embarrassed. “How much for the talisman?”
“Ten thousand.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand US dollars. No haggling.”
The talismans were originally supposed to be five thousand dollars each, but Su Fan wasn’t particularly fond of these ignorant, arrogant youngsters.
So he jacked up the price on the spot.
“You might as well just rob…” The chubby guy started to complain, but Grant beside him covered his mouth.
“We’ll buy them. One each.”
“What about Madeline? She went home. Do we need to get one for her?”
“Get it… Even if she might not want it, an extra talisman is an extra layer of security.”
The group pulled out their credit cards, and Su Fan produced a POS machine.
The renovation wasn’t just about upgrading the interior and exterior; he had procured all the supporting equipment too.
Thanks to his efforts, the shop was now a far cry from what it used to be!
Old Man Su, your antique shop back in the day wasn’t big enough, and certainly not strong enough!
Making it prosperous and great rests on me.
Haley was the first to step up and swipe her card, then turned away feeling a bit strange.
Was it her imagination, or did the shop owner’s face seem to hold a hint of pride when he pulled out that POS machine?
Was it because of the huge sum of sixty thousand dollars he’d just made?
She couldn’t figure it out.
It was a straightforward exchange: money for goods.
Soon, everyone had carefully tucked their talismans into their personal storage and left the shop.
—————————
Noon the next day.
Inside a vacant university activity room, Haley and the others had gathered once again.
Only this time, the original group of seven was missing one more person.
“Lucas’s body was found in the off-limits train storage area of the subway station,” Haley said, her tone heavy. “The tarot card’s curse came true. The evil spirit led him to the wrong place.”
The group sat in a circle. Paige was comforting Madeline, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Just as their relationship was starting to progress, they were suddenly separated by death. The sudden psychological blow, coupled with learning she was under a death curse, had left Madeline looking haggard and her spirit somewhat broken.
“The tarot deck wasn’t taken by anyone. It’s in my bag right now. We just need to take it to the shop owner, and the curse should be lifted…” Haley continued.
“He told you all this?” Madeline asked, turning her head to look around at everyone. “And you believe what he says?”
“This isn’t about belief anymore. It’s a fact staring us in the face,” the chubby guy said, not knowing how else to explain it. The magical scene they had witnessed didn’t allow for any doubt. “Anyway, that shop owner is the real deal. Trusting him can’t be wrong.”
As he spoke, Paxton held out a talisman to her. “We all chipped in to get this for you. It offers protection. Keep it safe.”
Madeline stared blankly at the yellow talisman for a long time without taking it, then suddenly spoke in a low voice. “Do you think… all of this could be a trick orchestrated by that shop owner?”
“What if he secretly placed the curse on the cards when you entered, then used it to kill one of us?”
Hearing this, Haley looked at her friend, incredulous. “How is that possible? We’d never met him before. What reason would he have to harm us?”
Madeline showed no sign of stopping. “Matters of the tarot should be handled by those related to the divination. That shop owner doesn’t understand astrology or the occult, does he…?” She scanned the talismans visible on their chests. “You bought these talisms, didn’t you? They must have cost a lot… Maybe that’s his goal?”
“Not only can he extort money from us, but he can also carry out his evil plan to kill people…” Her voice grew more intense. “If he really wanted to save people, why didn’t he save Lucas too?!”
As the words kept pouring out, Madeline’s expression grew increasingly venomous.
Haley, Paige, and the others stared at her dumbfounded, feeling for the first time that their longtime friend seemed like a stranger.
“Enough!” The one who cut Madeline off was Grant.
His face was filled with anger. “Madeline, I know you’re deeply affected by his death, but you shouldn’t lose your basic sense of right and wrong.”
“Don’t you think you’re being overly paranoid? Accusing someone without a shred of evidence, based purely on your own suspicions.” His voice was firm. “I don’t remember the Madeline I knew being this… vile.”
“Heh, who can really say for sure…” But Madeline clearly wasn’t swayed by his reprimand, holding fast to her own dark thoughts.
