At the edge of Area 14, the location is excellent, with beautiful scenery, making it a good place to live. However, the rampant presence of ghouls has caused many humans to move away, leading to a gradual decline in the area.
Inside an unfinished building, hundreds of ghouls have gathered. They share information, sell "food," or look for mates.
"Have you heard? The auction house and the shared feeding area were wiped out by the CCG. Those guys are really asking for it."
"Of course I've heard. All the ghouls in Area 14 know that a madman has been sent to the CCG branch here. I think his name is something like Bai."
"His name is Bai Ye. A friend of mine mentioned him. He used to hang around the shared feeding area and saw that guy in person..."
A student-looking ghoul stopped mid-sentence as several prominent ghouls gathered around him.
"Come on, don’t leave us hanging. What does this Bai Ye look like? We need to know so we can avoid him."
The student ghoul, with his hands in his pockets, looked at the others with a half-smile.
"Ugh, I'm starving. The CCG's crackdown has been getting tougher, and I haven't eaten in half a month."
A few ghouls exchanged glances, understanding what the student meant.
"Tian Chuan, don’t you have some 'rations' left? Share some with him."
"Why should I? I need my 'rations' for emergencies. As for what that madman Bai Ye looks like, I’m not interested."
The gossip-loving ghouls glared at the student.
"Come on, are you going to tell us or not?"
"I also have a habit of sharing."
The student ghoul was young and a bit timid, showing signs of fear. But giving in like this felt a bit embarrassing.
"I'm telling you, I'm not saying this because I'm scared. We're all ghouls here, and it's tough to survive."
The ghouls around him shared a knowing smile; they weren’t really brave either; they were just trying to scare the student.
"Honma, we understand your feelings. Hurry up and tell us."
The student cleared his throat and began to share the information he had, while the other ghouls listened intently.
...
In the tall grass around the unfinished building, a large group of figures slowly approached.
"Team One to the left, Team Two to the right, Team Three will charge from the front, and Team Four will block the large exit at the back."
Su Xiao crouched in the grass, moving closer to the unfinished building.
There were many ghouls to deal with this time. According to the thermal scanner, there were at least 240 ghouls inside the building, maybe even more.
If he rushed in alone, he would definitely be outmatched, but with the support of other investigators, things would be different.
He would lead the charge while the investigators provided cover, and after a bloody battle, they could wipe out all the ghouls here.
"Team One is ready."
"Team Two is ready."
"Team Three is ready."
"Team Four has reached the designated position."
The Dragon Slayer appeared in Su Xiao's hand as he lightly pressed the button on his Bluetooth earpiece.
"Action."
With Su Xiao's command, Teams One, Two, and Three raised their grenade launchers at the same time.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Dozens of canisters, similar to tear gas grenades, were fired into the unfinished building.
At first, Su Xiao wanted to bombard the ghouls directly with grenades, but strangely, the CCG's armory didn’t provide a large supply of grenades.
The armory claimed that grenades couldn't effectively harm ghouls and might affect the nearby civilians.
This left Su Xiao puzzled and somewhat suspicious of the CCG. They were executing a purge in the suburbs, so how could it affect civilians?
Maybe the CCG headquarters was concerned about some extreme investigators, fearing they might use mass destruction weapons in crowded areas?
It wasn't impossible, but that reasoning felt a bit weak.
Su Xiao didn’t want to dig deeper into this; his priority was to complete the main mission.
Investigating the CCG too deeply could anger the higher-ups, making things difficult for him and possibly causing him to fail his main mission.
"Crash, crash..."
There were continuous muffled sounds coming from the unfinished building as a white mist spread.
This white mist was not tear gas but CRc gas.
When CRc gas reaches a certain concentration, it greatly affects ghouls, lowering the activity of their Rc cells, causing their kagune to shrink and preventing them from releasing it.
The timing was right; Su Xiao charged toward the unfinished building, followed by dozens of investigators.
The sounds of gunfire, weapon clashes, and screams erupted inside the building.
The battle escalated quickly.
"C, the CCG is here! Run!"
The ghouls went into chaos, unable to release their kagune due to the sudden appearance of CRc gas.
However, the unfinished building wasn’t sealed, and the CRc gas was quickly dissipating.
Su Xiao led the charge at the front, slashing with his long knife. Several ghouls fell, creating a bloody path while the investigators defended behind him.
With their cover, Su Xiao felt much more at ease in the melee, and ghouls continued to fall under his blade.
...
Two hours later, Su Xiao sat on the ground, covered in blood.
He tore a piece of cloth from a nearby ghoul's body and began cleaning the Dragon Slayer.
This battle lasted a full two hours and was exceptionally brutal. The ghouls tried to escape but were stopped by Su Xiao's people outside.
By that time, the CRc gas had been blown away by the wind, and the ghouls went completely insane, fighting desperately.
Throwing away the bloody cloth, Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon Slayer.
Looking around, he saw a large number of ghoul corpses, but not a single treasure chest.
Maybe that flash of light from before used up all his luck.
After killing all these ghouls, Su Xiao earned 367 points of CCG contribution value.
His mission completion status changed to: [First-Class Investigator, Contribution 1264/2000.]
Although they had driven away over 200 ghouls, not all of them were killed by him; a large portion was taken down by other investigators, so he only received a small amount of contribution value.
As he got closer to completing his main mission, Su Xiao had an idea. If that idea came to fruition, he could gain a lot of free time to act.
"Xiao, report the casualty situation."
The death of Shin'ya Wuzhu had a significant impact on Shin'ya Xiao.
However, due to today’s mission, Shin'ya Xiao decided not to take a leave. She was strong-willed and stubborn.
"We deployed 128 people, with 78 lightly injured, 15 seriously injured, and 23 dead. There are 12 left with only minor injuries."
After reporting, Shin'ya Xiao stood still; she had also sustained a minor injury.
Hearing this casualty report, Su Xiao wasn’t surprised.
Driving away ghouls was no simple task; it required lives to fill the gap. Losing only 23 people was considered a great victory.
Without Su Xiao leading the charge, the death toll could have easily exceeded half.
It sounded exaggerated, but that was the truth.
"Gather the team. Send the deceased to headquarters, and take the seriously and lightly injured to the hospital.
How many people are still able to fight?"
Su Xiao was preparing to clear the next ghoul gathering point, and time was running short.
"About fifty more can still fight."
"Specific numbers."
In the midst of the killing and fighting, Su Xiao had developed a unique aura.
"Fifty-three people."
Shin'ya Xiao instinctively straightened her posture.
"Fifty-three? Not enough. Contact Shinohara and let him know we’re short on manpower."
Shinohara Yukiki had previously discussed with Su Xiao about clearing Area 14. The maximum casualties he could accept were under a hundred. If the death toll exceeded that, he would forcibly stop the plan to clear Area 14.
To drive away a large number of ghouls, there would definitely be casualties on their side. A fight without deaths only exists in heroic tales; Su Xiao wasn’t that naive, and neither was Shinohara. They both knew the reality.
Those who kill must be prepared to be killed.
(End of Chapter)