บท 30: Family P
After the journey back home, Lia felt tired and exhausted. She didn't wait for Noel to say anything and just opened the door to run to her bed. Only when she felt the familiar soft touch of her bed and blanket, did she feel at ease.
She still hasn't changed and reluctantly got off to take off her cloak and the weapons that emitted the green light signalling their intent to kill immortals. Suddenly, Lia regretted not having taken more of those weapons from the Z mansion.
The edge of the two knives glided across her skin and she decided she could trust Noel to give him one. She also had a sword that was hidden in the in her cloak. She was familiar with both types, so she would let Noel choose which one he preferred.
With that thought, she put the weapons away and fell asleep.
The next morning, Noel already sat at the kitchen table sipping on tea. Since the first night Lia has asked him if he wanted tea, he had to have at least a cup every day.
She raised her eyebrow as she clearly remembered he said he never had drank tea before. For some reason, she felt a sense of accomplishment making him addicted to it. However, her cold face showed no such emotion as she sat opposite to him.
"Mornin," he elegantly put the cup to his lips and Lia felt annoyed all of a sudden. What was he acting dignified for? She had really no idea what kind of person he was.
"You have any other types? Hey, what about your new sensation? How come I've never got to try it?" the Noel on the night who saved her from barging into the palace to follow Elder Z completely disappeared and left this-
Lia looked at him in disdain.
-this annoying jerk with her.
"You could simply go to the store and buy a drink," Lia ate her breakfast.
"Too much work, though bubble tea sounds interesting."
Since the boss of the small store took over the Z brother's business, he invented a new product that swept the immortal world by storm. Well, the so-called bubble tea wasn't a new invention.
It already existed in the mortal world, it was basically taking something that was there and make it several times better.
The immortal world still had a lot to learn from the mortal world which in itself was kind of ridiculous.
They ate the breakfast in peace with no one mentioning any matters relating to the C or P family.
Then they both sat on the sofa without doing anything until Lia couldn't endure anymore. She coldly glared at Noel and said, "When are you going to tell me about your plan?"
"I want milk tea."
"I couldn't care less."
"A milk tea would help my throat that's too itchy to tell you about the plan."
Lia's tongue was ready to be bitten off but she kept her calm. She stood up and walked to the door, "What are you waiting for?"
She even held the door open for him and he smiled when passed by.
A 'Ha!' relentlessly bored into her brain. She swore, the minute this cooperation was over, she would let any corpse have their fun beating the crap out of him.
At the store, the boss welcomed Lia heartedly and gave them the milk tea for free. Noel had a blast taking his sweet time choosing the flavour and topping because it was his first time and he had to properly savour the experience.
Lia really had doubts that he wanted to get rid of the C and P family judging by his carefree attitude. It didn't even seem he had any intention to do so or felt the pressure of time creeping up.
"Can you speed your brain up?"
"What's the hurry? Hm, banana sounds good, strawberry isn't bad either. Oh, what's this taro?"
Even the staff was getting fed up and the boss decided to give him a drink of every flavour and topping possible. The boss wasn't a stingy person, he had too much money and even used it to help those in need.
Finally, both of them left the store, while Lia was drinking her matcha milk tea, Noel had both hands carrying a large bag of bubble tea.
Lia didn't want to be associated with him and walked in the front but halfway back, Noel stopped her and led her to the other side of the outskirts away from her home.
Lia was a bit suspicious but she didn't say anything. What could he do with two bags full of milk tea?
The outskirts here was different from the one in the capital. There was no forest or river circling them, instead, there were small hills.
Noel took the lead and with both bags, he walked up a hill and sat down. It was already getting late and the dawn painted the whole landscape golden and red.
Then he took one drink and sipped on it. Satisfaction spread on his face.
"Here," when Lia sat next to him, Noel pointed into the distance.
Just where the sun went down, it touched the tips of many mountains.
"The mountains are inhabited."
"I know," Lia has gone to there many times to purge ghosts.
"You do?" Noel was slightly surprised but didn't say anything.
In the past before current the Ghost King appointed exorcists, the mountains have been housing vengeful ghosts thus making it hard for people to actually live in there.
However, there were still some immortals who didn't want to give up their mountain lives. Now, the mountains were gradually more inhabited by those that moved back there.
When Lia has been purging there, she came across several empty villages and now that exorcists apart from her existed, it wasn't hard to figure out that people were living there again.
It was a sad sight, seeing everything abandoned and people giving up on the life they wanted but now Lia has also experienced it. Those people going back to the mountains found empty houses but they could spread the warmth once again.
However, if Lia went home then nothing but abandoned and empty ruins would await her. But in the end, she knew she couldn't blame anyone but herself. She has been stupidly and foolishly chasing after someone.
She was incredibly naïve and stubborn, it even pained her to think about it.
She gripped the empty plastic cup before putting it down next to her. She wanted to get rid of those feelings and thoughts.
"What about them?" she asked Noel who seemed to have been caught looking at her.
He played it off naturally and answered, "That's where we gonna be for maybe weeks?"
For a moment, Lia didn't understand but she quickly caught on, "One of the families?"
Noel nodded, "The P family. I've done some research and apparently, Elder P has bought a whole village there and has built a facility."
"Why?" Lia never thought that Elder P would make such a move.
"I wonder but the facility is now finished and I've done some work, played my fingers and we both will be working there as staff."
"What? That is your plan?"
"Hear me out. Elder P and the whole P family will be staying there."
"Why?" Lia couldn't understand what Elder P's intentions were.
"He wants to get rid of his relatives."
This news completely broke everything Lia knew, "Why would he do that? Then all we have to do is to wait and let him kill his family before we kill him?"
"It's not that easy," Noel stared into the distance and even Lia didn't think it would be this simple.
"He might want to kill them or just dump them there."
"If he wants to dump them there, what use would it be? The mountains here aren't far from the capital. If he wants to dump them somewhere wouldn't the Neverland or Mistand be better choices?"
Neverland and Mistand were both considered the outskirts of the immortal world, a place that was similar to an outlaw place.
"That's why we going there to find out," Noel was already on his fourth drink.
"If Elder P wants to kill his family then he would have a way to kill them," Lia thought.
"Yep," Noel slurped, "he might use ghosts."
"Ghosts? How? He doesn't have any powers."
"The Ghost King might have given him some, also, you haven't asked the purpose of the facility," Noel gave her a weird smile.
"Then what kind of facility is it?"
"A ghost facility."
Lia remained calm but those words blew her mind. A ghost facility?
"What if you can artificially create ghosts?"
Lia's eyes widened. Elder P wanted to create ghosts? Only to get rid of his family?
No, something wasn't right here.
"Mi- The Ghost King!" Lia had a bad premonition.
"Yep, it might be his idea."
"Why? What does it have to do with Elder P and his desire to get rid of his family?"
"What if there's an internal feud in the P family? The Ghost King gave Elder P the mission to create this facility but his own family is sabotaging him."
"So he suggested to have something similar to a competition? Who is the one to successfully complete the task can compete with him for the position of the Elder?"
"Bingo. Elder Z has many siblings," Noel went for his sixth drink, "He might use this opportunity to get rid of all his siblings to put them in their place or kill them. Either way, it's all based on speculations. It'd be beneficial if they actually get on each others' throats."
"Your goal is not only to eliminate the P family but also the facility."
"Yep."
"And the C family is for the same purpose? Because if P disappears, the Ghost King could appoint the C family but if the C family also perishes, the Ghost King has no one to turn to anymore because there's no one left in the pro faction."
"Yep:"
"No, wait," Lia narrowed her eyes, "the G family."
"They'll be taken care of."
"What do you mean?"
"We don't have to worry about them."
Lia fell silent. It was obvious that Noel had outside help. There was no way he could have found out so much and plan beforehand. And the informant he mentioned also existed.
Noel had allies, so much was clear. Then if they took care of the G family, Lia didn't have to waste her energy with them. So, after the P and C family, she could straight go for Min and take her revenge?
She looked at Noel's profile and an absurd thought crept up. The hidden families. Could he be one of them or affiliated with them?
However, she shut her mouth and didn't ask. It was not her business to prey. As long as she could get her revenge then everything was fine.
As the sun went down both of them were drowned in the last rays of light as if the journey before them would be nothing but dark.
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