Chapter 1242

"I..."

Facing the right hand Li Ang extended, Prince Andrei, who appeared to be a seven or eight-year-old boy, couldn't help but show a timid expression. He subconsciously took half a step back, then shook his head desperately and said:

"I'm not going! They definitely won't forgive me!"

"Of course not, that goes without saying!"

Upon hearing this, Li Ang kept his hand extended and retorted speechlessly:

"You should take a good look at what kind of shit you've done all these years. Who on earth would be able to forgive you?

Honestly, if I were your father, the regret I'd be left with in the 【City of Regret】 wouldn't be the misunderstanding between us, but why I didn't just... um... why I had to give birth to you. They'd have to be crazy to forgive you, wouldn't they?"

"..."

No... do you actually want to persuade him to surrender or not?

Originally expecting comfort from Li Ang, hoping to hear something like "parents never blame their children," he instead received a violent, double-strength dose of verbal abuse that pierced his heart. Prince Andrei's already fractured mentality was instantly shattered by a flying kick, and he shook his head frantically with fear in his eyes:

"No! I don't want to go to the Dead Realm! And I don't want to go to any City of Regret. They won't forgive me, so I..."

"Smack!"

With a sudden horizontal swing of his extended hand, Li Ang slapped the young prince hard across the face. While wiping the paint off his hand, he said irritably to the stunned Prince Andrei:

"Stop the damn drama, okay? Nobody has a responsibility to forgive you in the first place. I'm suggesting you apologize not to make your parents feel better, but so you can feel a little better yourself, damn it!"

"I..."

"You, just like the image you've painted, are nothing but a giant, oversized baby!"

Looking at the young prince covering his face, Li Ang curled his lip:

"The sign of a person reaching adulthood isn't height or a beard, but breaking free from the protection of parents, starting to take responsibility on one's own, and facing and accepting the mistakes one has made.

Even though you are older than me, you've been protected too well. You've basically never experienced any storms, and your mental state is entirely that of an underage child."

"I... I'm not..."

"Smack!"

"Don't argue."

After backhanding him on the other side, Li Ang, finally feeling satisfied, looked down at the flustered young prince, extended his right hand again, and said word by word:

"If you really think you aren't, then grab my hand and prove it to me!"

"I... I'm afraid to go..."

After being slapped hard twice in a row, Prince Andrei's mental age seemed to have returned to the eight years old of his "body." He turned his head away, not daring to look Li Ang in the eye, and said in a low voice with tears in his eyes:

"I still want to see them one last time, but... but they must be very, very angry. If they see me..."

"Smack!"

"Why are you still hitting me?"

"Sorry, it's a habit."

After wiping the paint off on his clothes, Li Ang stared at Prince Andrei and asked in return:

"So even if they don't forgive you, how much worse could the situation get than it is now?

You're already dead anyway. Even if they're furious, they can't kill you again. At most, they'll hit you a few times and scold you a bit. But you, after more than a decade, can see them with your own eyes again, talk to them, and perhaps even be held in their arms once more.

You were able to risk being pulverized by the Cleanup Bureau just to see the fake parents you painted, so now that you only need to be scolded or hit a couple of times to see your real parents, what else is there to hesitate about?"

"..." That's right... compared to seeing them again, what else do I have to hesitate about?

After hearing Li Ang's question, Prince Andrei bit his lower lip, tremblingly raised his eight-year-old child's hand, and tentatively reached toward Li Ang's palm.

However, even though he had made the decision, that small arm still felt as heavy as if it were dragging a mountain. He tried to lift it several times but couldn't reach the height of Li Ang's palm, only able to wave it feebly underneath.

"You... you lower your hand a bit..."

After trying several times and failing to lift his hand, the eight-year-old Prince Andrei couldn't help but lament:

"You're too tall, put your hand down a little, I can't reach it..."

"You can reach it."

After glancing at the young prince's trembling arm, Li Ang, whose eyes had been full of disdain and whose voice had been cold throughout, softened his tone for the first time and reminded him gently:

"Andrei, no one can help you on the path you are about to take. What you need to grab isn't my hand, but your own conviction.

Only if your conviction to see your family again is firm enough will you be able to cross the 【Road of No Return】, walk all the way to the 【City of Regret】, apologize to your parents, and make up for the mistakes you once made... Finally, Andrei, if you can grab my hand, then you are no longer a child."

Am I no longer a child...

Hearing Li Ang's words, the eight-year-old Prince Andrei raised his head, looked at the hand that remained steady above him, and then, through the gaps between his fingers, looked at that calm face no longer filled with contempt. He couldn't help but pout his lips, and with tears in his eyes, he asked softly:

"So... the ones you want to save aren't just Fei Liya and the others, but even me?"

"I'm not saving you."

Li Ang shook his head and said:

"I'm just telling you that besides this dead end, there is actually another path to take. As for whether you want to walk it, that is for you to decide;

Besides, you aren't being saved by anyone. You are simply no longer blindly choosing to escape, but learning to act like an adult, summoning the courage to face your own mistakes."

Escape... face...

After hearing Li Ang's words, Prince Andrei's uncontrollably shaking hand finally stabilized. He reached upward silently, rested his hand on that warm and firm palm, and was then held tightly by it.

"Very good."

After grabbing that small palm of an eight-year-old child painted in oil, Li Ang's face showed a hint of approval for the first time, and he then fiercely kowtowed in his heart to 【Trustworthy Older Brother】.

After Prince Andrei "regressed" to an eight-year-old state, his bronze-level "Good Brother" badge had exerted an unimaginably super-god effect. If it weren't for this thing holding the line, something truly major might have happened this time.

There are no trash badges, only treasures that haven't found their use yet!

Reminding himself once again to never ignore the effectiveness of any badge, Li Ang, who had been running the gold-level 【Performance Master】 the whole time, held Prince Andrei's much steadier hand and asked gently:

"I'll ask one last time, are you ready?"

"Mm..."

Looking at Li Ang, who clearly had already let go of his defense against his soul yet hadn't taken the opportunity to subdue him, but instead gently asked if he was ready, Prince Andrei nodded gratefully, his eyes firm:

"I'm ready! No matter what greets me, I want to see them one more time!"

"Good."

Having received a definitive answer, Li Ang utilized the authority of the Three-Headed Dog God to connect to the 【Gate of the Dead】 leading to the Dead Realm, then grabbed Prince Andrei's soul and pulled hard.

"Let's go!"

After pulling Prince Andrei's soul out of "Kroke Under the Sunset" in one go, Li Ang opened the passage to the 【Gate of the Dead】 while kindly instructing him:

"Once you get over there, remember not to mention that you know me. If someone notices something is wrong and asks why you have my aura on you, just say I'm the one who killed you and that you and I are irreconcilable enemies."

"Okay... ah?"

What the hell? Didn't you say you had connections over there and many acquaintances?

(End of Chapter)