17 Family Z 4

"What do you want?" Second clenched his teeth.

He couldn't believe it but now that he was face to face with this rotten corpse, he clearly saw it was his elder brother. This wicked woman was definitely something else.

"Is that how a reunion ought to be? He missed you so much, eagerly wanting to see you and now I did my best to bring you guys together and this is how you thank me?"

Lia was amused at how the brothers struggled.

"What the fuck do you want?" Second tried to wriggle himself free but it was impossible with the grip of this undead.

"I already said, hand over your business to me," Lia tied them up.

Second and Third looked at each other. Third nodded.

"Fine! Fine!" Second complied, "do what you want!"

"Afterwards I make you pay, is what you think, no?" Lia left the cellar and came back with a small emblem.

"Then I need your approval," in the immortal world signatures were handed over with an approval which would manifest itself in any material.

For business, there was an individual emblem. The one Lia held was from the boss.

After the brothers transferred their business to Lia, she nodded in agreement.

"Now let us out."

"You've to wait a bit. Your younger brother can't miss out on the fun.

"Fuck! What the hell do you really want?"

"It's sweet and bitter just like the new flavour."

"What?" Second was lost.

Third had more brains, "Revenge?"

"Yes," Lia didn't say anything else, "So, where's your brother?"

No one said anything. It was silent. The air felt suffocating and the brothers knew they were in trouble. They had to do something.

"No answer?" Lia turned to leave.

"Wait! He's at home," Second bit the bullet.

"I see," Lia narrowed her eyes, "if he's at home, then there's no need for you anymore."

"Wha-?"

Lia commanded First and soon, in the blink of an eye, the brothers were eaten by their elder one, however, their deaths brought her no joy instead a nauseating feeling crept up.

"Stop."

The corpse stopped.

Lia examined their corpses. Immortals weren't actually immortal. After a long time, they would die naturally. This was usually between the age of 15 000 and 20 000 but Lia obviously couldn't wait for them to perish on their own.

She left the cellar and started to worry about her next steps.

The next day, she gave the emblem back to the boss. Even though the brothers' business was under her name, she gave full rights to the boss. She would occasionally ask him for some money if she needed.

However, if the boss was able to successfully take over the business or make it go bankrupt was none of her business.

When the prim and proper assistant of the brothers heard this, he was quite surprised. The brothers were definitely not people who would easily relinquish what meant everything to them. Their greed would never allow it.

He was even more suspicious when he asked Lia about their whereabouts and she replied with not knowing.

He wasn't particularly fond or loyal to his bosses but they did after all give him a job when he was at his lowest and pulled him out of his slump. His abilities and results were vital to the brothers so they didn't fire or laid him off.

He never had a chance to repay them and now was the time. He had a good intuition and his quick fingers and smooth mouth made it easy for him to strive in business.

He investigated a little and found out that their older brother also disappeared. What was more suspicious was that the description of the woman last seen with him was identical to that of Lia.

He also found out where she lived and was alarmed that a woman like her would live in such a place. However, whenever he tried to get close to the house, he could see that there was another male in there.

Eventually, he gave up and decided to inform the Z family of their sons' situation. The younger brother also found the disappearance strange and told him he would relay those words to his father, Elder Z.

The prim and proper man thought he had done his job and retired.

The fourth son, compared to his brothers, didn't seem like he had any aspirations, thus it felt like he didn't fit with his family. In truth, he always eagerly left home to pursue something but in the end, came back and stayed at home for some period before running out to explore again.

His phases lasted for a hundred years or so before he loitered at home for another hundred years. He recently came back after his impulse to become a fisherman. The fourth brother wasn't a necessary power-hungry person, but he was quite intelligent and knew how to use people well.

The moment he was told his brothers disappeared, he knew something wasn't right and when he heard of the description of the woman, he instantly could picture who it was but the thought was quite absurd.

The K family has been eliminated and their daughter was sealed in the abyss. How would she be able to leave? Furthermore, she was constantly being tortured. That was why, the fourth brother, named 'Fourth' hesitated about telling his parents.

When he entered the studies of his father, his mother was sitting there and watched herself in the mirror, in her hair was a golden hairpin.

"Mother," Fourth greeted Madam Z who could pass as his younger sister.

"What do you want? Your father will soon arrive for important matters," Madam Z didn't leave her own mirror image.

Fourth just quietly sighed and said, "I also have an important matter to discuss regarding my bothers and us."

***

After Lia stored the corpses and checked them, she went up to the living room to see Noel lingering around on the sofa.

"Saw someone recently snooping around your house."

"You mean you?" Lia didn't leave out any opportunity to stab at Noel and question his stay.

"I was being nice and you feed me to the dogs," Noel shrugged his shoulders and shoved some apple slices in his mouth.

"What did they look like?"

"Can't remember, male I guess."

Lia didn't waste any more breath with him and put that concerning fact in the back of her mind. Noel saw she didn't answer and switched the topic,

"What are you gonna do now?"

Lia stopped and looked at him. She still wasn't sure how much she could tell and reveal to him. His constant disappearing was also quite strange and he never told where he went or did either.

"Deal with the Z family," however she still let him know as he didn't seem to bring her any harm or stop what she was planning. It was just his existence that was annoying her.

"Well, I'll leave you to that," Noel got up and headed to the door.

"You're leaving again?" Lia became suspicious.

"What? Gonna miss me?" he smirked and lingered at the door.

A vein popped on Lia's forehead, "Screw off."

He sighed and then the door shut.

She looked out of the window with a complicated expression. The rage that was still ever so fiercely burning inside of her made her tremble slightly, daily, every single second.

But she tried to be calm and indifferent, she tried to suppress the intense feelings. She was afraid that once they take over her, she couldn't control herself anymore.

She was trying very hard to pretend to live a normal life but every once in a while the images of her dead family, her own torture appeared before her and clouded her consciousness.

That was why she had mixed feelings regarding Noel. On one hand, his presence helped her to remind that she wasn't in the abyss anymore and to get herself together. On the other, it made her feel vulnerable.

She didn't come back to integrate herself into a new life and definitely didn't want to have any social contact. She felt if she really became friends with him, she would blurt out all of her feelings and worst of all, maybe even the wrath inside of her would be extinguished.

But it couldn't. It could never be quelled.

For as long as she lived she would enact her justice. That was why once this was over be it Noel or anyone else- no one could dare enter her life. She would also never trust them.

Everyone she trusted in the past, the elders, Min and even the L family, Leo, Elder L, they all betrayed her. Those who stood idle by, pretending not to see, not to witness, those that craved power and might, none of them could leave unscattered.

Another burning flame lit up in her chest and her eyes darkened deeply. She only came to it when she felt a warm liquid rolling down her fingertips. She dug her own nails deep into her skin until she drew blood. She took a few deep breaths and recollected herself.

She couldn't wait any longer. It had to be tonight. Tonight when the Z family would perish.

It was a good thing Noel left. She didn't have to worry about him finding anything out.

Her power of controlling the corpses and the fact they could even kill ghosts and immortals had to be hidden, under no circumstances could anyone figure it out.

She was by no means cunning nor could cleverly devise a plan. If she was honest with herself, luck played a big role in the previous murders of the brothers. Maybe it was heaven begging for her forgiveness, although to the mortals, they were heaven.

And what heaven these immortals were. Greedy, cunning and power-hungry. Lia sneered.

She planned to have Elder Z's own sons kill him as a way to humiliate him and make him feel despair.

However, she had no elaborate plan, all she could do was to dive into the action and hope for the best. It was indeed reckless and stupid but there was no time to waste on a plan that might not even work.

Lia didn't have much information on the families despite belonging to one since she was constantly pining after Min. She had no allies to rely on and could only base everything on the limited information available to her.4

Despite being stuck for 10 000 years in the abyss, she was still lonely and only surrounded by corpses and ghosts. She lost track of time and even her memories started to fade after a while.

She desperately held onto her urge for revenge but she was like a newborn baby thrust into a new world with only a few familiar faces and related background information on hand.

She was powerless, so how could she even hope to come up with anything grand? She lightly slapped her cheek and stopped thinking about it. She went to the cellar, infused the corpses with her soul and made them put on cloaks.

It was late afternoon when she set out with three mysterious cloaked people behind her and it was evening when she arrived in the capital. The distance from the city she now lived in, to the capital wasn't too far but also not too close. It would take a total of four to five hours to walk.

However, after a while, it came to her to let one of her corpses carry her as they ran to the capital. Since Lia used her soul to command them, it didn't tire her out.

Once in the capital, she scurried along the streets with the corpses following her. There were still a lot of people but Lia grew up in the capital and knew all the hidden alley and shortcuts. It wasn't long before she stood in the area where the Z family's mansion was located in.

A large part of the land was dedicated to the mansion. It was surrounded by high walls and a large gate, like most of the families' residences.

Lia walked in front of the gate and two guards stopped her. She smiled sheepishly, "I would like to see Elder Z."

She lowered her head as if she was embarrassed and twirled her hair. It seemed like she was a young maiden coaxed by Elder Z. If such rumour went out, Family Z would have a bad scandal. The guards instantly refused.

Lia continued to keep her hand down and act embarrassed but her lips curled upwards.

"Then... it's a shame," however she didn't move.

One of the guards became impatient, "Leave now."

"If I can't get in myself... then will you come with me?" Lia held her head up and her small smile froze the blood in the guards' veins. All her previous embarrassment melted away and her true face showed through.

They held up their weapons. There was a faint green glow emitting from it.

"That," Lia touched their spears with the smile still on her face, "what is that?"

"Have you not heard?" the guards threw her hand off their weapons, "The Z family has the right to sentence people to death."

Anger flared up within Lia, her gaze was sharper than the edge of the steel of the spear, "Sentence? You mean kill them as they please?"

The guards gulped. Lia's cold smile disappeared and she showed a frightened expression, "That's scary, then you have to accompany me even more!"

The guards thought she either had a loose screw or some mental problems as her emotional changes and mood swings were too severe, but they also saw that she was really good at changing her face.

"Come out," Lia's voice turned deeper and her penetrating gaze was back. The guards fluctuated between feeling fear and relief. They didn't have it easy.

Around the walls were several trees and bushes. Out of the bush behind Lia, three cloaked people came out.

However, what drew the guards were not only their cloaks covering them but the way they unnaturally staggered as if they were puppets manipulated by strings.

Fear rose in them and they felt if they didn't kill the woman in front of them, they would regret it.

But before their spears could reach her, they were already bitten to death by the cloaked people. Lia hummed in approval and infused two soul pieces into the dead guards.

The more corpses she had, the better it would be for her. She commanded them to open the gate and skipped through.

However, the moment she stepped onto the grounds of the Z family, a nauseating feeling overcame her and her eyes slightly turned dark. She heard a faint voice, "You've come,"

but couldn't make out who it was.

She staggered back and reached for her corpses but all of a sudden, a flash appeared and she found herself at home.

It was a bright summer day and her parents sat in the garden and waved at her. Min was beside them and gently smiled at her.

Her heart thumped and she instantly leapt into his arms without questioning anything.