Chapter 40: Family P 11
It was either return or proceed and Lia chose to proceed. This option had many different ways to go about. If Lia paired up with Third P she couldn't use her power. So, it was best to let Noel go with him.
Third P might be out of his mind at the moment but she believed Noel could take care of things on his end.
The other reason was that Lia felt First P knew something and she needed to find out what it was. Lia called out to her corpses and waited for them. She didn't want to use the corpses in the laboratory.
If Second P and First P were dead, it'd benefit Elder P but he also had to be wary of the murderers. He would suspect his other two siblings but he couldn't act quickly as he still needed to consider the purpose of this facility.
The goal for Lia and Noel was to completely get rid of the P family and destroy the facility. They calculated the plan would take at least a month to set into motion but never anticipated that matters escalated to this point so quickly.
Once they killed the two eldest brothers, then how would things go from there on? That was the biggest problem to be considered with this spontaneous decision.
It meant they couldn't stop here. She had to lure Elder P out and find out the truth before getting rid of the other members and stopping the facility. As for the staff, Lia stopped on the stairs and saw the corpses following her, only the future knew.
If everything went as she hoped, she had taken her revenge against the P family and drove a wedge through Min's plans. Then she could move on to the C and G family and after that, it was Min's turn.
The fourth floor was quiet and surrounded by eerie darkness. Compared to the ground floor, it was pitch black. The corpses were only mindlessly obeying her instructions and she was afraid they couldn't see and bump into stuff, creating loud noises that would give them away, so she ordered them to stand at the door.
Third P mentioned that each of the members lived on their floors in a special area hidden from the normal eye. Was illusion magic used? When Lia worked, she was familiar with the floor and there wasn't a space she didn't touch. The layouts of the floors were the same yet Lia didn't find a clue where this special place could be hidden.
The laboratory could be ruled out immediately as no one would even want to be, much less live, close to there. The open office left no room, so the only possible solution was the office.
In fact, whenever Lia went to work, Third P was either already there or appeared but she had never seen him take the stairs to work.
She walked to the office and opened the door. It was a pitch-black as the rest of the floor. She had no intentions of searching around to hopefully find a hidden door. Instead, she knocked on the table several times. Each time, a bit louder.
This loud sound was then accompanied by her calm and steady voice.
"First P? First P?"
A few seconds later there was a bang and out of the wall came a dishevelled looking male. His drowsy eyes instantly cleared up when he saw Lia. He turned on the dim light and stopped.
"You…" he seemed to remember her.
"First P," Lia greeted him.
"What do you want?"
"Please take a seat. You just woke up."
"Ha!" first P spat out as he seated himself. He closed his eyes and rested shortly. He wasn't the type to function properly after waking up.
"Now say," First P was angry and his patience was thin.
"Are you not going to offer me tea?"
"Tea? What the hell do you want tea at this unholy hour for?" First P was overcome with rage and his bulging veins made him look more dramatic than there was a need for.
Lia had the habit to drink tea whenever she was in a predicament. It helped her calm down and kept her aloof and superior appearance in other people's eyes. As if nothing could bother or faze her.
"My apologies," Lia gracefully smiled at First P. Her choppy bangs fell over her glasses and made it hard to see her face.
First P leaned forward and impatiently said," What you want?"
"First P, where have you been tonight?"
"Interrogation? You think you can interrogate me like this?"
"Then have you seen Third P?"
"That brat? Wait, he disappeared or what? You work for him?"
"I do work for him," Lia watched First P and concluded that he had nothing to do with Third P's abrupt mania.
"Then First P, this afternoon you have mentioned the K family to me."
"You think you're in any position to-"
"First P," Lia's calm voice cut him off. It was neither gentle nor cold but enough to make First P quiet down.
"Isn't it a given that the K family's mention is sort of a taboo? Why would you compare me with that daughter of theirs?"
For a while it was silent. He sat up straight and gave Lia a look over.
"Did I say that?" first P suddenly grinned and was amused.
Lia's lips instantly turned down. This was extremely displeasing.
"The truth's you came here asking about the K family, right?" his smug told Lia he saw through her, "What connection do you have with them?"
Lia recovered her small smile and simply said, "I'm curious."
She ordered her corpses to slowly make their way over. She hoped they wouldn't make any unnecessary noises. The office was the only light source. If her corpses blindly charged to it like moths to flames, there would be trouble.
She felt a headache coming but kept her cool as First P's voice pulled her back to reality.
"About what?"
"How do you know the K family? Have you met them personally?"
"Not shying away? What makes you think I tell you?"
There was no harm straight out asking First P. He already knew her intentions and she didn't plan on beating around the bush. The atmosphere turned heavier as First P stood up and approached the door. Lia sat on the chair without moving but she immediately told the corpses to stop.
First P's words rang behind her, "Not saying anything?"
A second later he came back and held a small piece of wood in his hand.
"Do you plan on telling me?"
First P rolled the wood in his hand and with a sudden, abrupt action threw it at Lia.
She caught it right before it hit her face. She viewed the small rectangle wooden piece and her face turned ugly.
The black thick word 'Fool' stung Lia's eyes and she squeezed the piece in her hand until her knuckles turned white.
He was having fun toying with her.
"Surely, Family P isn't innocent in the matter of Family's K's death."
First P finished his cackle, "Nothing to do with me. Was my younger brother- Oh no, I meant Elder P's decision."
First P sneered, "Heard he had quite the fun with… y'know," his eyes maliciously swept over Lia's body.
The wooden piece was crushed by Lia's hand and blood trickled on her white trousers.
How could she not understand what he was hinting on? It was as clear as the sky on a bright sunny day, yet it was night now. Pure and full of malicious intent.
"Madam K?"
"Mhm," First P clapped his hands, "You get on quickly, don't you? My- Elder P didn't hide the fact, even boasted. I mean, Madam K was quite desired. The others, if I recall, also enjoyed it."
Lia exhaled and smiled sweetly, "I see. Then what is your relationship with the K family?"
"It's fun to see people who want something not getting it," First P licked his lips and drew circles in the air.
"How childish of the eldest brother."
These words made First P abruptly stop. Lia struck a nerve. It seemed like the P family had a lot of problems and an abundance of tiny egos with inferiority complexes.
"Did I… perhaps hit your pride?" Lia smiled again and silently laughed to mock him.
Another vein bulged on First P's forehead. He slammed his hands on the table and threatened, "Aren't you overly confident? You beg me for an-"
"Come in," Lia felt her corpses arriving in front of the door. If First P refused to say anything then she had no use for him.
The moment First P's eyes fell onto the corpses, his face instantly paled and he could even make a white sheet of paper jealous.
"G-Get away from me," First P fell off the chair and landed on the ground. He tried to crawl but the corpses cornered him.
"Isn't this power-" one of the corpses held him up by the neck.
"Stop!" Lia shouted. He knew something. He knew something about her power.
"Tell me what do you want to say?" the corpse's hand was still around First P whose feet hung above the round.
The corpse stopped applying pressure but First P still coughed and his eyes flickered to Lia.
Then he started to laugh mockingly, "You… want to know?"
"I-I tell you," First P rang for air, "Why has everyone forgotten?"
"Say what?"
"The K family," First P's smile contorted into a wide grin, "I saw them but-"
He held up his trembling hand and showed her the middle finger, "It's too gold to see people want something and never get it!"
"Truly childish," Lia was incredibly angry before she ordered his neck to be snapped.
The loud crunch noise pulled on her impatience and in disdain she stared at First P's corpse. Even until death, he refused to tell her. If only her power could make corpses retain their basic abilities, if she could truly use necromancy to inquire their spirits. If only.
There were so many things she didn't know of yet she-
SHRIEK.
Lia whipped around and the door to the office went open. Lai stared at the person before her but she acted too late as the person already spirited away.