Otherworldly Affairs Office

As the car slowly drove away from Jiayuan District, finally out of the public's sight, Xia Yu, who was tightly holding the little girl, finally let out a sigh of relief. Just as she released her grip and rolled up her sleeve to see what was wrong with her painful arm, the little girl twisted in her arms, struggling to turn over, trying to climb to the backseat to desperately get at Song Mingyuan again.

Seeing this, Xia Yu hurriedly reached out and held her again. In the struggle, the little girl punched Hu Wenjun, who was driving the car, in the face. He wasn't angry, though; he pulled the car over to the side of the road, stepped on the brake, and turned to look at the little girl, about the age of his daughter. He adjusted his tilted police hat and kindly asked, "How old are you, and what's your name?"

The little girl, once again held by Xia Yu, just stared with fiery eyes, angrily looking at Hu Wenjun, refusing to say a word.

Hu Wenjun nodded towards Xia Yu and said, "Don't use your self-healing ability by activating your internal source just yet." With that, he reached out to press down the little girl and grab Xia Yu's arm, rolling up her sleeve. Pei Yan, who was sitting in the rear seat of the police armored car, leaned forward to look. Xia Yu's entire left arm looked like it had been burned, a large patch of red; in some places, the repeated self-healing had peeled the skin, making one's scalp tingle just to see it.

He lowered his head again and lifted Song Mingyuan's trouser leg. Sure enough, he had lost his self-healing ability as well, and his burns looked even more severe. But how was this possible? Their clothes were intact; how could it be burns?

Before he could figure it out, Hu Wenjun's voice came from the front row: "The one who harmed your family is the person in the back seat. We understand your hatred for him, but what does that have to do with the big sister behind you? Look at the injury she received from you! We went all out to save you and your family; we shouldn't end up being hurt by you."

Pei Yan turned his head back to see that Hu Wenjun had changed from his usual stern demeanor in front of him, kindly looking at the little girl and gently persuading her. The little girl looked down at Xia Yu's injured arm, then up again at the beads of sweat on her forehead, yet she still smiled brightly at her.

The restlessness finally calmed down, no longer struggling. She lowered her head, biting her lips as tears dripped onto her small hands, sobbing, "But why did you stop me and protect him? Why not kill him? Why! Why!"

Hearing this, everyone in the car looked at each other, sighing in unison. Hu Wenjun looked up at the car's roof, silent for a while, then lowered his head and reached out to tidy the little girl's disheveled hair, skillfully tying it back up, as he said, "This is an adult matter you don't understand yet. This bad person still has other cases that we need to clear up before we can deal with him. But I guarantee you, once everything is cleared, he will face the punishment he deserves, more painful than you can imagine! Okay?"

The little girl leaned in Xia Yu's arms, staring into Hu Wenjun's eyes, and asked each word clearly, "Will he die? I want you to tell me he will die."

Under the girl's knife-sharp gaze, Hu Wenjun turned and restarted the car, not daring to meet her eyes. He could tell her Song Mingyuan wouldn't die but would live in a fate a hundred times worse than death. But what did that mean to a girl who had just lost her grandfather? She just wanted a life for a life, nothing more.

But as for lying to her, Hu Wenjun found that no words would come out.

The girl, who had just calmed down, became agitated again when she didn't get an answer and loudly questioned, "Why won't you tell me! Why don't you dare to guarantee!"

"It's not up to you to say he will die just because...!" Hu Wenjun placed a hand on the steering wheel, pausing to think of what to say when a voice came from the back seat.

"I promise you, he will die. He definitely will! A life for a life, debts must be paid; he will die!"

Hearing this, Hu Wenjun glanced at the rearview mirror, and the little girl turned to look at the man who said it—a man with a cigar in his mouth, revealing a fearsome mechanical left eye!

"Who are you!" The little girl, undeterred, stared at Pei Yan and asked.

Pei Yan didn't say much, just yanked off the black hood over Song Mingyuan's head, seized his hair, forcing him to lift his head, then exhaled a mouthful of smoke at him. With the hand holding the cigar, he pointed at him and then at himself, saying to the little girl, "Remember, my name is Pei Yan, and I am the one who personally caught him! I promise you he will die! Are you reassured now? Do you want to tell me your name now?"

"My name is Lei Yunzhu, thank you." Having received the promise, Lei Yunzhu tiredly leaned against Xia Yu's shoulder, glaring fiercely at Song Mingyuan. But the ferocity didn't last long; the sudden change, emotional upheaval, and the transformation in her body left this teenage girl physically exhausted. Before long, she was sobbing softly, drifting off to sleep in Xia Yu's arms.

After Song Mingyuan saw the little girl fall asleep, he leaned his head against the armored car wall, looked at Pei Yan, and coldly mocked, "Why bother lying to a little girl, you won't kill me! I still have value to you!" From Hu Wenjun's earlier stance, he had already guessed roughly his fate.

"You're full of crap!" Pei Yan didn't waste words with him, pulling his head down and smashing it backward, causing his skull to slam into the car wall with a dull thud. Song Mingyuan's head sagged powerlessly afterward.

"Oh dear, this third-tier city is just a third-tier city, huh!! The roads are quite bumpy!" Wang Wenze said, taking the black hood from Pei Yan and putting it back over Song Mingyuan's head.

"Yeah! It's pretty bumpy! Why do they install speed bumps in this dump of a place!" Hu Wenjun, sitting in the driver's seat, turned the steering wheel into an alleyway, cursing under his breath.

Not long after, everyone reappeared at the investigation hall, encountering staff who had been waiting there. Watching Xia Yu holding the drowsy Lei Yunzhu with Elder Lin getting on the elevator, Pei Yan rubbed his shoulder, stopping Hu Wenjun from going to report the mission, and asked, "Captain Hu, what will happen to that little girl?"

"She probably awakened abilities suddenly due to emotional agitation, but the child is too young to be recruited into the bureau. I guess they'll examine her, leave a record, then seal her abilities and erase her memory, sending her back to live a normal life with her family." Hu Wenjun, when intercepted, glanced at the closed elevator door with a sigh.

Then he looked at Pei Yan with deep meaning, saying, "You should learn from others about what will become of Song Mingyuan, so why promise the girl?"

"To deceive her, you guys didn't want to tell this lie, but I don't care; I don't feel guilty about it. Whether she remembers it in the future or what path she takes, at her age, she should know that a life for a life is justice, even if it's a lie!" Pei Yan said, though his mind was making other plans; he looked at Song Mingyuan being taken away by the Secret Prison, curling his fingers.

"Ah! Justice!" Hu Wenjun sighed, patted Pei Yan's arm, and said no more, turning to go upstairs.