Chapter 5: Cursed with a Curse Bug

Words : 1782 Updated : Aug 14th, 2025

The room fell silent in an instant as Robert Dixon hacked and spit out a writhing red curse bug onto the floor. Everyone in the Dixon family froze, as if they had forgotten how to breathe. Only Huxley Dixon reacted, rushing to the bedside, his eyes flooded with panic and dread. "Grandpa! What's wrong with you?" Huxley's voice trembled. He leaned in to check the old man's breathing, but Ramon Hahn caught his wrist, stopping him. "Don't get too close." Ramon's gaze stayed steady, fixed on the red curse bug still squirming on the floor. His tone carried a cool authority that brooked no argument. Overawed by his presence, Huxley stepped back, confusion and fear etched on his face. "Ramon Hahn, what… what is this? How could something like that be inside my grandpa?" Ramon gave a soft snort, his expression unreadable. "What you're seeing isn't a common insect. It's a curse bug. And not just any one. It's the Frost Fire Curse Bug-the darkest kind of adult-and-small curse bugs. To save him, we have to find the adult curse bug and destroy it; only then can we wipe out the small curse bugs in his body." Huxley's face paled, though his voice still held a hard edge. "What do we do now? How do we find the adult curse bug?" The weight of his words hung heavily in the room. Everyone had heard of curse bugs and feared them. For someone to plant one in the old man meant nothing short of a death sentence. Ramon scanned the room, taking in the panic on every face before speaking, calm but grave. "We need to locate and kill the adult curse bug-only then will the small ones in him be wiped out. If the adult curse bug remains, there's no curing him." Huxley's jaw tightened. "Someone is trying to kill my grandfather. I will find out who it is and never let them get away with it." No sooner had he spoken than Robert Dixon was seized by a violent coughing fit, dark blood bubbling from his mouth. As the black blood spilled, a flicker of consciousness returned to him. He murmured faintly, "Cold… so cold…" Huxley bent closer to listen and saw, with a jolt, a frosty white mist spilling from the old man's mouth. Alarmed servants hurried in with thick quilts and piled them on him. No matter how many layers they added, he shivered uncontrollably. His lips turned blue, and frost gathered on his eyebrows. The sight only deepened the family's unease. Kane Dixon, standing off to the side, sneered in a mocking, snide tone. "Huxley, weren't you the one swearing this miracle worker could fix Grandpa? Look at him. You still trust him?" Nathaniel Dixon chimed in, his voice a mix of scorn and anxiety. "We can't keep going along with this. If you ask me, call Wilson and have him take a look before it's too late." Confronted so bluntly, Ramon's expression cooled. He let out a short, contemptuous laugh. "If Huxley hadn't asked me, I wouldn't have bothered. If you don't trust me, I'm out." Hearing that, Huxley panicked and stepped in front of him. "Please, don't go. I already said if Ramon Hahn can't help my grandpa, I'll leave the family. It's not time to give up. What's the rush?" His resolve was unshakable. Approval flickered in Ramon's eyes, and his tone softened. Nathaniel and the others exchanged uneasy looks, conflicted. Ramon reined in his temper and warned in a low voice, "What goes around comes around. Watch what you say and do." He then took out a clear vial and scooped up the curse bug the old man had spit out. Within moments, the red bug shed its outer skin in the bottle, its hue shifting to an icy blue as frost crept over the glass. Ramon's brows furrowed. Noticing the change, he took out silver needles and swiftly drove them into several of Robert's acupuncture points. Some started forward to stop him, but when they saw the eerie transformation in the vial, their protests died, replaced by a stunned silence. Half a minute after the needles were inserted, the frost on Robert's brows began to melt, beads of water dripping down. In the vial, the curse bug seemed to thaw as well, its color turning blush pink, as if caught between ice and fire. Nathaniel and the others blanched and instinctively stepped back, their earlier sarcasm replaced by fear. Who could have guessed that such a small, unremarkable thing could bring the old man to the brink, and that Ramon could wrest it under control? Watching the bug in the vial, Ramon said quietly, "You don't take the Frost Fire Curse Bug lightly." Huxley let out a breath and pressed, "What exactly is going on?" Ramon explained, "What's in him is the small curse bug. It's controlled by an adult curse bug outside. The small one feeds on a person's life force and delivers it to the adult. When threatened, it flips between frost and fire to protect itself. The small curse bug can't be killed directly inside the body; it must be driven out. We have to find the adult immediately, or your grandfather won't last." Huxley's face darkened with anger. "Grandpa barely leaves the house. How could he end up with a thing like this? The adult curse bug has to be here in the room. Whoever planted it is among us." His gaze sharpened. "No one leaves. Everyone cooperates until we find the culprit." With Huxley laying down the law, no one dared move. The air in the room grew heavy, like a storm front, and every eye settled on Ramon. Ramon said nothing more. His gaze traveled calmly from face to face. He knew the closer the adult and small curse bugs were to each other, the stronger the effect. Judging by Robert's symptoms, the adult curse bug had to be in this room, which meant the person who set it was still here. He watched them without giving anything away, careful not to spook the culprit. Then his eyes landed on a servant in the corner. The man hunched in the shadows, looking suspicious, trying to inch away. Ramon had sharp eyes. He spotted a bright red mark on the back of the man's hand, as if scalded. Something clicked. At last, the true culprit had revealed himself.

Chapter 5: Cursed with a Curse Bug

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