In District 11, at the Bronze Tree base.
“Ah~!!”
A chilling scream echoed through the old building.
On the first floor, many contractors were gathered. The scream just now belonged to the original protagonist, Kaneki Ken. These contractors, wanting to strengthen their side and keep the story going, teamed up with Ayato Kirishima to capture Kaneki Ken and bring him to the Bronze Tree. Unlike Su Xiao, who didn’t care about the storyline as long as he could complete his tasks, these contractors were focused on maintaining the plot.
Su Xiao believed that being strong was the most important thing. Relying too much on the storyline was risky; if it fell apart, trouble would follow.
“Is this really okay, Hibana?”
The one speaking was Han Yu, who felt a chill run down his spine from the screams. He wondered what could have happened to Kaneki Ken to make him scream like that.
“It should be fine. In the original story, the gecko tortured Kaneki Ken, and now it’s changed to the half-human, half-monster Nico. The way this guy tortures people is almost the same as the gecko.”
Even Hibana felt a bit uneasy listening to those screams.
“Tell me, tell me, tell me! What’s one thousand minus seven?”
A sickly high-pitched shout came from above the contractors.
“Kaneki Ken, he won’t die, right?”
Hibana swallowed hard.
“Probably not. After all, he’s the protagonist.”
Hibana and Han Yu fell silent.
Behind the crowd of contractors stood a little girl, Xi Luo Luo, who had previously made a deal with Su Xiao. Given her position and the way the contractors around her ignored her, it seemed she had a low status in Han Yu’s adventure group.
“Has that pervert from the CCG camp made any moves recently?”
Hibana casually asked, but Han Yu was startled.
“No, nothing unusual.”
As Han Yu spoke, he secretly sent a message to Hibana using a mark.
“That guy has wiped out all the ghouls in District 14.”
Hibana stiffened, waves of shock rising in his heart. Wiping out all the ghouls in a district? What kind of concept was that?
Hibana understood Han Yu’s intention; the fewer contractors who knew about this news, the better. It would dampen their morale.
Both Han Yu and Hibana were careful to keep their contractors as uninformed as possible. Having an information advantage could solidify their leader's position, allowing them to gain more benefits.
People are selfish, and since Han Yu and Hibana had formed a temporary adventure group, they weren’t bound by any permanent ties. Exploiting the contractors in a temporary group was something all group leaders understood.
The contractors being exploited were aware of it too, but they had no choice. Without joining a temporary adventure group, they had no guarantee of surviving in the derived world.
“The counter-mission hasn’t started yet. How’s your main mission going? I’ve completed over 50% here.”
Hibana changed the subject.
“Not great. It’s hard to find ghoul investigators; there are too few scattered around. My people have probably completed about 40%. After today, there are still 12 days left for the mission, and the storyline in District 11 is about to start. That’s a great opportunity.”
Han Yu sighed.
Su Xiao’s task was to drive away the ghouls, while Han Yu and the others had to kill the investigators.
Of course, they needed to kill far fewer investigators than Su Xiao had to drive away ghouls. Each of them only needed to kill five investigators.
If they had to kill as many investigators as ghouls, even wiping out all the investigators in Tokyo wouldn’t guarantee mission completion, since the investigators were too few.
Xi Luo Luo, hearing their discussion, felt increasingly frustrated.
She had already paid, but Han Yu didn’t seem to care about her task completion.
As of now, her kill count was still zero. Han Yu’s exact words were not to rush, as there would be plenty of opportunities later.
However, Xi Luo Luo sensed that Han Yu might be trying to back out.
Even though she had paid and signed a contract with Han Yu, if she encountered someone with bad intentions, that contract wouldn’t protect her life.
The contract only stated that Han Yu would help her complete her mission and try to protect her.
The “try” left a lot of room for interpretation.
As long as Xi Luo Luo died, the contract would become void. Han Yu would only lose some paradise coins, which was an acceptable loss.
It would hurt, but it wouldn’t be devastating; otherwise, Han Yu wouldn’t have signed the contract.
In normal circumstances, Han Yu wouldn’t act this way, but the presence of Su Xiao put immense pressure on him.
Han Yu no longer cared about Xi Luo Luo’s paradise coins, and her life was even less important to him.
With strong enemies outside and contractors with their own agendas, even Han Yu and Hibana, who had formed an alliance, were likely calculating against each other.
In District 20, at the CCG branch.
After receiving a directive from headquarters, Su Xiao headed to the CCG branch in District 20. The two districts weren’t far apart; District 14 was right next to District 20, and he could reach it quickly by car.
Standing in front of the branch building, Su Xiao stretched.
He had been under pressure from the main mission, but now he could complete it at any time, which made him feel a bit more relaxed.
It was five in the afternoon, and the sunlight was soft, casting a warm light around.
The sunset painted the sky with fiery clouds, and in the park next to the branch, some elderly people were sipping tea or chatting.
“What a great day for exercise.”
Since entering the ghoul world, Su Xiao had been engaged in intense battles.
If he was learning combat skills in the reincarnation paradise, now was the time to put them into practice.
After practical experience through blood and iron, Su Xiao felt his sword skills had improved a bit. The feeling that Yoshimura had described of turning a weapon into an extension of one’s body became more apparent.
“Mr. Bai Ye~~.”
A white figure quickly approached, and Su Xiao instinctively reached for his sword, but then he saw a familiar face.
“Shizuo.”
Su Xiao chuckled lightly. He had a good impression of Shizuo, having fought alongside him and built some camaraderie.
Friendships formed in battle were stronger than others.
“Mr. Bai Ye~, what are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for someone. And you don’t need to call me Mr. Bai Ye; just call me Bai Ye.”
Though he was looking for someone, Su Xiao wasn’t sure who exactly.
“I got lost earlier. This is the District 20 branch, right? I’ve been looking for it all afternoon. Bai Ye~, do you know where the meeting room is?”
Su Xiao nodded and led Shizuo into the branch. He had been to the CCG branch in District 20 before.
As soon as they entered the meeting room, Su Xiao felt something was off. Everyone turned to look at him as if he were some rare creature, and some female investigators even discreetly took out their phones to take pictures.
At that moment, in the meeting room of the District 20 branch,
Special Investigator Maruhandai was hosting a meeting.
Dozens of investigators were seated in the room. Not counting Maruhandai, there were two special investigators, three quasi-special investigators, and even more upper-level investigators.
Such a gathering was rare in the CCG.
Although Maruhandai was a special investigator, he typically didn’t participate in battles. His command skills far surpassed his combat abilities.
Only during large-scale combat missions did Maruhandai take command on-site.
He was the battlefield commander of the CCG, especially skilled in large-scale battles.
As Maruhandai spoke passionately, the morale of everyone in the room was lifted.
“This is a war between humans and ghouls, so temporarily entrust your lives to me.
By the way, this is an order; you have no right to refuse!
I hereby announce that the ‘Special Response Team’ in District 11 is officially…”
Maruhandai’s voice had reached a near shout as he prepared to deliver the final line, summarizing his lengthy speech, which he had contemplated for two days as a battle declaration to inspire those present.
Pre-battle motivation was extremely important.
“Bang!”
The door to the meeting room was pushed open without warning, startling some investigators.
“Sorry~, I’m Shizuo from Mr. Shinohara’s team. I got lost and arrived late.”
Shizuo stretched his arms out in front of him, explaining the loud entrance.
At that moment, Su Xiao was right behind Shizuo, and from his angle, he could see Maruhandai, whom he had seen in a video before, wearing a stunned expression.
The meeting room fell into a dead silence; it seemed Shizuo had caused some trouble.
(End of Chapter)