Using return statement instead of return response in serverless functions

Support
1

In the docs for caching, the following example is given. Why is just a return statement being used and what is being returned? I understand the return ends the function execution at that point where it’s used, but wouldn’t it be better to use something like

if (!cacheTag)
  return new Response({ status: 401 })

I don’t know what is even being returned since the serverless function execution is essentially being switched off.

// purge a cache tag passed by query parameter
// applies to a specific Deploy Preview of a specific subdomain

import { purgeCache } from "@netlify/functions";

export default async (req: Request) => {
  const url = new URL(req.url);
  const cacheTag = url.searchParams.get("tag");
  if (!cacheTag) {
    return;
//  ^^^^^^ why is a status not being returned as well?
  }
  const deployAlias = "deploy-preview-11";
  const domain = "early-access.company.com";

  console.log("Purging tag: ", cacheTag);

  await purgeCache({
    tags: [cacheTag],
    deployAlias,
    domain,
  });

  return new Response("Purged!", { status: 202 })
};
2

Empty return in a function returns HTTP 204 status code which means no content. You can choose to serve a different status code if you want to.