42: Chapter 42 The Underworld Princess's "Return Gift"

"Director Zhao."

Xu Mo walked up to Zhao Guobang, skipping the superficial pleasantries and getting straight to the point: "Your trump cards are shown. Now it's time to discuss your sincerity."

Zhao Guobang took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart.

After all, he was the top leader, and his emotional control quickly kicked in: "Instructor Xu, rest assured. The special appointment red document will be issued within half an hour, and resources will be sufficient. The Special Operations Bureau handles matters without delay."

"Straightforward."

Xu Mo nodded, then shifted the topic, pushing up the glasses on his nose: "But I have a question. As a 'priority protected target,' why is there no movement from Pei Duo's side? From last night until now, every message I sent shows a red exclamation mark."

Hearing this, Zhao Guobang showed an extremely strange wry smile. He gestured to the technician behind him: "It's not that we don't want to contact her; we genuinely can't get in. Take a look for yourself."

The giant screen on the wall lit up, playing a segment of night-vision surveillance footage.

The picture was eerie green, showing several fully armed agents moving upwards along the old corridor. However, as soon as one of them stepped onto the third floor—which was the floor where the Pei family lived—something bizarre happened.

The image in the lens suddenly distorted, like snow screen interference from a strong magnetic field. Immediately after, these agents began frantically "spinning in circles" around the corner of the third floor.

They were clearly trying desperately to rush upward, but when the camera shifted, they were still treading water in the same spot. Someone roared at the empty air, while others shrank into the corner, trembling, as if they had witnessed something that drained all their sanity.

"A ghost maze?" Xu Mo's brow twitched.

"Worse than that," Zhao Guobang pointed at the screen. "We were in the command vehicle, watching these elites spin around like headless flies for three hours. Only when dawn broke and the roosters crowed were they carried out foaming at the mouth. They are still being sedated."

Before Xu Mo could process it, Zhao Guobang clicked on another audio file: "This is what the Technical Department recorded when they tried to forcibly tap into the Pei family's landline. Be prepared."

His fingertip tapped lightly.

Against the background noise capable of driving a normal person insane, the faint sounds of the wails of ten thousand ghosts from the abyss could be heard, along with a whisper that was vague but carried supreme pressure:

"Get lost."

Just one word.

Even through the recording, Xu Mo felt his heart being squeezed hard by a cold, large hand, his breath momentarily stopping.

That was a warning from the Eighteenth Layer of Hell.

"Did you hear that?" Zhao Guobang turned off the audio, his expression also grim. "The monitoring officer wearing headphones bled from all seven orifices on the spot and is currently lying in the psychiatric ward of the Military Region General Hospital. The doctor said he has severe PTSD."

He spread his hands helplessly: "Instructor Xu, it's not that we aren't trying. The Pei residence now is a 'Mythical Forbidden Zone.' Never mind protecting them; our people don't even qualify to knock on the door to deliver a package."

Xu Mo fell silent.

The underworld emissary token in his arms radiated a gentle warmth. He suddenly understood—the contingency left behind by the Underworld Son of Heaven was even more overbearing than they had imagined.

Mundane protection? That Sovereign didn't care for it at all.

"I understand," Xu Mo put away his phone, his gaze firm. "I will handle Pei Duo's side. Some doors still need to be knocked on by 'our own people.'"

...Time rewound twenty-four hours.

In the small but cozy living room of the Pei family home, the air was still filled with the aroma of braised pork.

Pei Duo, having survived the ordeal, was tightly embraced by her mother. Father Pei sat to the side, wiping away tears while offering incense to the memorial tablet of their deceased son, muttering, "Son, bless us."

The s-rank instance was a life-or-death struggle. Returning home and seeing the familiar faces of her elderly parents, the tension in Pei Duo's nerves finally completely relaxed.

"Mom, let go, let go! I'm really fine! Look at my face, hasn't it gotten rounder?" Pei Duo smiled, wiping her mother's tears. "Brother is doing well over there..."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The warm atmosphere didn't last ten minutes before a series of extremely violent door-pounding sounds shattered the tranquility.

The anti-theft door was shaking loudly, dust raining down.

"Who is it? Making such a racket!" Father Pei frowned, getting up to open the door.

Pei Duo's heart skipped a beat, and she grabbed her father's arm: "Dad, don't rush, check the peephole first."

The training from the s-rank instance kept her vigilant against any sudden situation.

She walked to the door and looked out through the peephole. The smile on her face instantly turned cold.

There were no vengeful spirits or monsters outside the door.

But the person standing there was more nauseating than any vengeful spirit.

A middle-aged man in a loose suit, his face greasy, stood at the entrance, a cigarette clamped between his fingers, exhaling clouds of smoke directly at the anti-theft door.

Behind him were five or six men and women crowded together, holding tripods and with fill lights blazing, their eyes glowing green, desperate to shove the camera lens right into the peephole.

"Family members! Did you see that! This is the old home of the 'Underworld Son of Heaven'! I am his biological uncle! Come on, Big Brother Rank One, send a rocket, and I'll take you inside right now to soak up some immortal aura!"

The man outside the door, spitting wildly, was Pei Duo's biological uncle, Pei Dongsheng.

"Pei Dongsheng?" Father Pei heard the voice and trembled with rage, "That beast! He still has the nerve to show up?!"

Two years ago, Pei Fei had just gone missing in an instance and was declared dead.

It was this so-called "biological uncle" who brought a group of thugs to their door the very next day. He wasn't there to offer comfort, but to force the elderly couple, who hadn't recovered from the grief of losing their son, to hand over Pei Fei's inheritance.

"Big Brother, Pei Fei was a short-lived ghost anyway. Dying in a D-rank instance makes him trash! Giving this money to you is a waste; you might as well let me invest it, and my son will take care of you in your old age!"

Pei Duo could never forget the greedy look on Pei Dongsheng's face as he tried to seize the family assets.

In the end, it was Father Pei, his eyes red, who fetched a kitchen knife and forcibly drove him out.

For the past two years, Pei Dongsheng had been making sarcastic remarks in the family group chat, saying the Pei family's ancestral tomb had bad feng shui, produced a short-lived ghost, and even avoided them during the New Year.

Now?

Seeing the global live broadcast, learning that Pei Fei had become the Underworld Son of Heaven and Pei Duo had cleared the s-rank instance, this wretch smelled opportunity and came running.

"Open the door! Big Brother! It's Dongsheng! Look at what you've done. Can there be any overnight grudges between family members!"

Seeing that they were pretending to be dead inside, Pei Dongsheng's eyes darted around, and he put on an act, dropping to his knees with a 'thud' at the door.

"Oh dear! Big Brother! You're trying to force me to death!"

While howling dramatically, he wiped non-existent tears while facing the camera: "Does anyone understand! My nephew has made it big, but these parents are so heartless! I just wanted to beg for a peace talisman to pray for my wife's health, and they won't even let me in!"

"I heard that girl Pei Duo got a treasure from the gods in that instance, something that can bring the dead back to life! They intend to hoard it all! They are too selfish! They aren't leaving any way out for us poor relatives!"

This black-and-white-reversing performance instantly sent the live stream's popularity skyrocketing. Those unscrupulous self-media bloggers' eyes lit up, and the headlines they wrote were more sensational than the last:

[Shocking! Underworld Son of Heaven's Relatives Refuse to Save Anyone?]

[Exclusive Reveal: Does the Pei Family Hoard the Elixir of Life?]

[Family Feud: Biological Uncle Kneels Begging for Medicine, Rejected at the Door!]

Uninformed netizens were led astray, and the bullet comments were filled with moral blackmail:

"That's disgusting, isn't it? Not even saving their own relatives?"

"Is this the quality of the family of a deity? I'm unfollowing and becoming a hater!"

"Hand over the medicine! Why should only your family hoard it? This is selfish!"

Although there were rational fans arguing back, they were quickly silenced by the bloggers' ban and mute package.

The malice of public opinion was suffocating, even through the anti-theft door.

Outside the door was a carnival of moral blackmail; inside was a father clutching his chest in anger and a mother silently wiping away tears.

Pei Duo stood still, looking at Pei Dongsheng's twisted, greedy face on the surveillance monitor, and at the eyes of those internet celebrities watching like they were observing monkeys in a show.

She suddenly stopped being angry.

In the s-rank instance, she had seen man-eating ghosts and skin-peeling monsters. But now she realized that some people, wearing human skin, had hearts dirtier than the s-rank vengeful spirits.

"Dad, Mom, don't be angry; if you get sick, Brother will be heartbroken."

Pei Duo gently helped her father sit down and poured a glass of water for her mother. Her voice was frighteningly calm, and a cold sneer even curled at the corner of her mouth:

"Since Second Uncle wants to see the 'deity' so badly, and wants a 'reward' so much, then... we should grant him his wish."

"If I don't fulfill such a wish that comes right to the doorstep, wouldn't it make me, the Eldest Princess, seem too petty?"