Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

Inside the dorm, An Ning focused her spiritual power, observing every piece of furniture in the room.

’Kidnapped? Impossible.’

Then what on earth could have made Lin Cuihua leave the house without a word?

RING RING RING—

The urgent ringing shattered An Ning’s concentration. She walked into the room, her eyes narrowing. ’Lin Cuihua has been in here.’

Lin Cuihua would never enter An Ning’s room without permission. She picked up the incessantly ringing phone, her voice cool yet calm.

”Hello?”

”Is this An Ning? This is her phone, right?”

”Yes. Who is this?”

”This is the police department. You need to come down here right away!”

The speaker’s tone was a mix of questioning and undeniable arrogance. Most people would have been stunned by that tone, especially with the mention of the police department.

”Which police department? What’s your name? What’s your badge number?”

In response to her three questions, the person on the other end let out a cold snort without a moment’s hesitation and yelled even more forcefully, ”You don’t have the right to ask questions! Just get down here! Don’t you know you’ve broken the law? Now, hurry up.”

An Ning’s eyes grew cold, her tone turning to ice.

”Piss off!”

”What the hell? Such arrogance! The police department tells you to come, and you refuse? Let me tell you... you’re coming to pick up your mother’s funeral urn!”

BEEP BEEP BEEP—

The caller hung up.

An Ning stared at the phone in her hand. The very air around her seemed to compress, ready to explode.

She was certain it was a scammer, but they had mentioned Lin Cuihua. Was it a coincidence, or did they actually know her mother’s whereabouts?

Unfortunately, An Ning had no way to call the number back.

The thought of a phone with caller ID flashed through her mind.

She put the phone down, preparing to go ask someone at the door, but before she could take a single step, the phone rang again.

An Ning had a strong feeling that this was the scammer calling again.

She let it ring twice before picking up. She changed her tone, shouting into the receiver as if in a temper, ”Hello? Who is it?!”

”Hello, An Ning. This is the East City Street Police Department. We called you just now, but it seems there was a misunderstanding in our communication. I’d like to apologize.”

’Definitely a scammer, and a skilled one at that.’

”What do you want? And where’s that person from before? Put her on the phone! What kind of coward curses someone out and then hangs up? Tell her to come here and say it to my face!”

”A coward hiding in her shell, putting on such airs. People with mouths that foul are the most likely to die without heirs and be abandoned by all. As an experienced professional, you ought to know that, right?”

”So many disasters are caused by a careless tongue, aren’t they? You tell that woman that from the moment she cursed my mother, I’ve already lit three sticks of incense for her. The Hell of Tongue-Ripping is waiting. Tell her not to be scared when her time comes—after all, she’ll feel right at home.”

An Ning kept talking, not giving the scammer on the other end a chance to get a word in. Not only was he unable to speak, but the female scammer who had made the first call was standing beside him, stomping her feet in rage.

However, her accomplice held her back and clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. This was a big fish on the line.

The woman who had cursed Lin Cuihua shot a vicious glare and spat on the ground, absolutely fuming.

This was her usual tactic. Whenever she sensed her target wasn’t taking the bait, she would curse their family, hang up immediately, and leave them fuming, unable to even cuss her out in return.

She got a huge thrill out of it every time, even more than when she successfully scammed someone out of money. It made her feel superior, as if she were above everyone else, holding a sense of control over their lives.

But An Ning’s verbal assault gave the woman a taste of her own medicine—the frustrating, suffocating feeling of being berated without being able to talk back. In a huff, she slammed a hand against the wall.

”AHHH—HISS—”

The woman let out a shriek, and the people by the door immediately dragged her out of the room.

The older scammer, who was still on the phone with An Ning, glanced back and saw a black iron nail piercing right through the woman’s palm.

The nail had emerged at some point from the mottled, dilapidated wall, and she had slammed her hand right onto it.

Meanwhile, An Ning was still talking on the phone, her tirade still focused on the female scammer.

”As the old saying goes, give them a taste of their own medicine. When you curse someone, those words stick with you.”

”Say it once or twice, and nothing will happen. But say it enough, and those words form an unpredictable energy field. That energy won’t seek out the person you cursed, because they have no direct connection to you. So, this Feng Shui will reverse course and act upon the speaker instead.”

”Nothing happens at first. But once it starts, it becomes unstoppable.”

”I hear that bad luck... can be fatal.”

An Ning delivered those last few words with a chilling, deathly finality.

That sense of death, combined with the sight of the woman’s blood-soaked palm and her eyes bulging from suppressed pain, made the old scammer shift uncomfortably.

”Miss, please, stop for a moment. I called you with good intentions.”

On the other end of the line, An Ning had, at some point, pulled up a chair for herself. The phone was on speaker. On the desk in front of her lay a Compass, a few Copper Coins, a turtle shell, and a pen and paper.

She silently shook and cast the Copper Coins several times. Consulting the Compass, she scribbled and drew on the paper, calculating something.

At the same time, her spiritual power merged perfectly with the Feng Shui knowledge her teacher had taught her, and she began her search for the missing person.

An Ning kept talking for two reasons. First, she was genuinely furious. Whether or not a stranger’s words could actually harm Lin Cuihua, An Ning refused to listen to them.

So, she used a more terrifying method: turning the curse into reality and sending it right back.

Second, she needed to stall for time.

As she cast the last of the Copper Coins, the location on her paper finally became clear. At that same moment, the old scammer on the other end revealed his true purpose.

”Lin Cuihua is your mother, right? Listen, she got into a fight and pushed someone into the river. Now, you have a chance to settle this privately. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

”What?”

An Ning shrieked, her voice filled with worry and fear. Her incessant tirade finally stopped. The old scammer on the other end smirked, his earlier unease slowly fading.

”What happened to my mom? Where is she?”

”I’m telling you, don’t you dare touch my mom! I have money! Settling this privately is no problem. I’ll go get the money right now!”

”Wait, no—how much money?”

The incoherence in her voice made the man on the other end relax even more. But while An Ning sounded panicked, her hands were moving with incredible speed and precision. Not only was she quick, but she also didn’t make a single sound.

Once her backpack was packed, An Ning stood by the phone, listening to the man speak.

”How much? Two hundred thousand?”

HUFF—HUFF—HUFF—

An Ning’s ragged breathing betrayed her anxiety.

”That’s too much! I don’t have that kind of money!”

”Wait, how is my mom? You still haven’t told me! Is she hurt?”

The scammer on the other end continued his silver-tongued pitch, and An Ning acted as if she were gradually falling for it, promising to do her best to raise the money.

”Then you’d better hurry. The clock is ticking.”

CLICK!

The line went dead.