People are scared in America, my uncle is Dante

Suren didn't shake hands, but simply nodded slightly: "Let's get straight to the point. How do you plan to handle this matter?"

Faced with such a forceful and direct question, Steve looked troubled.

In hospitals, these kinds of family members are often the most difficult to deal with.

He had expected the other party to feign politeness and say a few words before stating their purpose, but to his surprise, the other party ignored all of that and went straight to the point.

However, he knew he was in the wrong, and since the compensation offered by the other party was indeed generous, he was prepared to compromise.

Steve opened his mouth, ready to compromise: "We know why this happened..."

"So you're that murderer's backer?!"

His wife, Anne, suddenly shouted, interrupting him.

"My son is dead! Killed by that little bitch!"

Annie's features scrunched up, her hands gripping the table.

The roar instantly drew the attention of the other customers in the store.

Suren remained calm and ignored her words.

He looked at Steve, who was sitting opposite him, looking restless, and said:

"Mr. Steve, I'm here to resolve the issue, not to get into this argument."

Steve nodded apologetically. He was about to reach out to pull Annie when, contrary to his usual behavior, Annie suddenly yelled:

"I don't want your stinking money, I only have one request!"

Annie's bloodshot eyes were fixed on Suren, a barely perceptible greed in them.

"You, and that girl named Carrie, must come home with me!"

She continued, panting, "You must stand at my son's funeral and bow your heads to him in remorse! If you obediently come back with me and apologize, I will go to the police station and drop all charges!"

Suren remained seated, quietly watching her.

Didn't they say the other party was insisting on the compensation amount? Why have they suddenly changed their tune?

However, something unusual must be going on.

The other party smelled of a demon and made this strange request.

It's hard not to think about human sacrifice and resurrection rituals.

He looked at Steve and asked, "Is this what you're demanding right now?"

Steve opened his mouth in astonishment, completely unprepared for his wife to make such a request.

But then he thought that his wife might have just been being unreasonable because she was overwhelmed with grief.

Now that they have received a large sum of compensation, it seems reasonable for them to demand that the murderer apologize at their son's funeral.

He nodded and said to Suren, "Yes, just as my wife said, an apology is all it takes to put this matter at hand."

An apology is acceptable.

Suren looked at Steve, "However, that girl was severely traumatized by what happened. She's depressed and a bit afraid to go out now."

"At this funeral, I will apologize to your children on her behalf."

He wanted to see what kind of trouble this family was up to.

If there are any problems, we can solve them together to avoid leaving any future troubles.

Seeing that Su Lun agreed, Anne immediately told him the time and place of the funeral, fearing that he might change his mind.

The other party's eagerness only deepened Suren's suspicions.

……

Steve's family home is a three-story, retro-style villa nestled deep in a quiet woodland.

The car was parked on the side of the road, and Suren got out.

A woody fragrance filled the air, and a bookstore was built on a large tree in front of the villa.

His attention, however, was drawn to a group of people under the tree—

Several men and women in suits stood in the shade under the tree.

They didn't speak or make any movements; they just stared at him with stiff smiles.

"Cultists?"

Suren narrowed his eyes slightly.

He straightened his clothes and walked towards the villa.

I rang the doorbell, and Steve opened the door.

After just one day apart, the man looked even more exhausted, his hair was disheveled, and his beard was unkempt.

"Annie is upstairs preparing... Please come in."

Steve forced a smile.

The curtains inside were drawn tightly, making the room very dark.

Various miniature models were displayed on the table, including hospital beds and the building itself.

But strangely, the heads of all the miniature figures representing the characters had been cut off at the root.

"despair."

A strange clicking sound suddenly rang out from above the living room.

The sound wasn't loud, but it sounded particularly eerie in the gloomy room.

Suren looked up at the sound, but there was no one above him, only a hanging lamp.

"Did you hear that?"

Suren looked at Steve.

Steve froze: "That was the sound my youngest daughter, Charlie, loved to make."

"Ever since she passed away, this noise has been inexplicably coming from the house these past few days."

"Anne said that Charlie came back to see her."

He closed his eyes in anguish and shook his head. "She's insane. Please leave as soon as you've apologized."

Suren suddenly turned her head and looked at the second floor.

There, Anne was already standing on the railing, looking down at him.

Unlike her hysterical state in the coffee shop before, today her face was expressionless, and her hands hung naturally at her sides.

"Mr. Suren, since you've come to apologize, please come up to the attic."

Anne spoke calmly, and as she finished, her figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Suren remained unfazed and went up to the second floor.

The second-floor corridor was pitch black, like a gaping maw of an abyss waiting to devour anything alive.

In the middle of the corridor, a folding ladder hangs down from an opening in the ceiling.

Suren looked up.

Candlelight flickered in the attic, and several shadows swayed on the attic ceiling.

His knees were slightly bent, and his muscles were taut.

"Bang!"

Suren jumped up and leaped into the attic through the opening.

The attic space wasn't small, and it was filled with lit candles.

Annie, who was just standing in the hallway, is now floating in mid-air in the attic.

A piano string was wrapped around her hands and was sawing back and forth against her neck, causing bright red blood to cascade down her clothes like a waterfall.

Even so, Anne seemed oblivious to the pain, her eyes fixed intently on Suren.

Her lips parted, revealing a ferocious smile.

Meanwhile, from the blind spots around the attic, a dozen naked men and women slowly emerged.

Their skin was deathly pale, and each of them wore the same smile as Annie, holding a dagger in their hand.

Suren looked down at his feet and saw that he was standing in a magic circle drawn with blood, which was emitting a faint red light.

"I see."

He understood perfectly.

These people really wanted to summon a demon, and now it seems they've chosen me as their sacrifice.

"Kill him!"

The naked cultists growled, raised their daggers, and lunged at Suren.

Suren's eyes turned cold. He gripped Alastor with one hand, channeling magic into the sword and unleashing a simple horizontal sweep.

"Pfft—"

As the lightning flashed, all the cultists rushing towards him froze in place, their charging postures frozen in place.

The next second, a line of blood appeared on their bodies, and the upper bodies of more than a dozen people slid off in unison, spurting out blood that extinguished most of the surrounding candles.

Seemingly sensing that the ritual was being disrupted, the magic circle beneath Suren's feet suddenly erupted with a blinding red light.

A chilling malice appeared out of nowhere and drifted toward Annie, who was suspended in mid-air.

Anne stopped sawing at the neck.