Chapter 7 — The Eldest Sister from the Underworld

The entire mansion was pitch black, its floor-to-ceiling windows sealed tightly with heavy, blackout curtains. Common household furnishings like sofas and televisions were entirely absent, replaced instead by countless boxing gloves and heavy fitness equipment. The closets contained nothing but medical gauze and surgical tape. More than a home, this place resembled a grueling training ground. I stood alone in the middle of the living room, looking around while a deep, suffocating vexation welled up inside my chest.

Even in the underworld, my humble abode at least boasted two fake sunflowers, but you...

I turned my head to meet the guilty, evasive gaze of Guang. I let out a heavy sigh and left the rest unsaid. Back in the day, his physical coordination and combat skills had been utterly dismal. He must have poured an unimaginable amount of sweat and agony into his training to reach his current level in just three years.

Enough of this. Let us move on to the next one.

I suggested visiting Rui. The refined and handsome man lowered his head, a guilty flush creeping up his neck. Splendid. At least Guang had a makeshift gym, but Rui practically did not have a home at all. He lived year-round in the laboratory building tucked away behind the hospital. When I pushed open the door, his crisp white lab coat hung right by the entrance, accompanied by a grueling schedule packed with surgical procedures. Seven days a week, three major operations a day. The small resting room held only a narrow cot and a folding desk. Lying open on the bed was a copy of Clinical Traumatology, its pages worn and nearly falling apart from relentless reading. I let out a cold laugh.

If you keep this up, it will not even take a few years before you can genuinely come join me in the netherworld.

Rui, do you have such a burning desire to die?

The third, the fourth... Yet each subsequent person managed to infuriate me more than the last. Wei's villa was kept impeccably neat, the sofa entirely free of even a speck of dust. However, inside the bedside table in his bedroom, I discovered five separate medicine bottles. White bottles with blue labels, every single one containing prescription drugs. There were sleeping pills, stomach medication, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety pills as well. Ming had similarly turned his law office into his home. Opposite his oversized desk hung a massive white board, completely covered in photocopies of the case files from the trial that had cost me my life. Timelines, involved parties, lawyers' letters, court judgments—everything was pinned there meticulously. I stood in silence for a long moment, unable to utter a word. I walked slowly toward the white board, sinking deep into the abyss of memory.

Back then, I had led these eight kids through the mud, enduring countless hardships and weathering numerous storms before our business finally began to flourish. But in doing so, we had stepped on the toes of powerful local syndicates. We were framed, dragged into a web of lawsuits, and hauled before a court. At that time, Ming had already built a modest reputation for himself and volunteered to act as my defense attorney. But he lost the case. We were slapped with an astronomical financial penalty. I stared intently at the bottom right corner of the judgment decree, where those lingering images from the past remained painfully clear. When Ming signed his name on the documents, his hand had trembled uncontrollably.

Wei had always considered himself the eldest among the eight siblings, insisting on bearing the crushing burden entirely on his own shoulders. He threw himself recklessly into relentless social engagements, fighting tooth and nail until he finally secured a massive business contract. If that partnership had gone smoothly, we undoubtedly could have staged a miraculous comeback. But the local factions had no intention of letting us off so easily. They dispatched thugs to ambush Wei in a narrow, alleyway. By the time I sprinted to the scene, Wei had already been beaten so severely he could no longer stand. Under the dim, warm glow of the streetlamp, I caught the sudden, terrifying flash of cold steel. Someone had drawn a blade. Without a second thought, without even a fraction of a second to weigh the consequences, I lunged forward and threw myself directly in front of Wei.

The assailants had intended to finish us all. When the initial blade missed its vital mark, the attacker plunged it into me repeatedly, over and over again. Guang had fought desperately to pull them away, but his physical skills back then were so utterly pathetic that he was easily slammed to the ground. I could only feel the agonizing sensation of my internal organs being torn apart, my body growing colder and heavier by the second. Through a hazy blur of consciousness, I heard Wei's heart-wrenching screams, followed by Ming's frantic, desperate roars.

You are a doctor! Hurry up and save Sister Hang!

Rui had fumbled clumsily, trying to wrap layer after layer of gauze around my bleeding wounds. But the blood flowed too fiercely, instantly soaking through the bandages and dyeing everyone's clothes in a gruesome crimson. I never woke up again. It seemed this tragedy had forever remained an unhealable scar buried deep within their hearts.

Amidst the heavy silence, Wei cautiously called out my name from behind.

Sister Hang...

I turned my head to look. They were all standing just outside the doorway, their long shadows stretching across the floor, their eyes bloodshot and swollen. I drew in a deep breath and deliberately forced a gentle, reassuring smile upon my lips.

Back then, when the King of Hell granted me a brief return to the mortal realm, there was actually something I had desperately wanted to tell all of you.

All eight of them instantly raised their heads in unison.

What was it?

That single tragedy had become their eternal knot, an anchor of endless grief. Yet, paradoxically, they had become my own eternal knot as well. They always asked me whether life in the underworld was treating me well. But how were they truly living in the mortal world? In truth, I had always known. It was utterly miserable. Down in the netherworld, I could hear their restless souls calling out to me, could hear them weeping bitter tears before my memorial tablet.

I am so sorry, Sister Hang. It was all because I was not knowledgeable enough back then. If I had only won that lawsuit, would you never have had to die?

Sister Hang, I have finally become an exceptional doctor today, and I save countless patients. But why on earth was I powerless to save you when you needed it most?