The café fell into silence. Inside were characters like Donka from Fog Island, Goshin from the Fang Village, and Nishio Kin.
“Sorry, my employee has been through something sad recently and is a bit unstable emotionally,” said Goshin, the café manager, as he stepped forward and gestured for them to sit.
“Who is this guy…?” Donka whispered, looking at Su Xiao with concern.
Donka was somewhat of a main character in the original story and was a ghoul. The ghouls in the safe zone were different from others; they usually didn’t hunt humans but only fed on the bodies of those who committed suicide.
With her light blue short hair tied up, Donka hesitated for a moment but eventually stepped forward to act as a waitress. In this café, both the manager and the waitstaff were ghouls. It was a place where many ghouls gathered.
Goshin, the manager, was a tough character and an SSS-ranked ghoul. In his youth, he had committed many killings, but when he grew older, he moved to District 20 and opened this café. His goal was to create a place where ghouls and humans could coexist peacefully, where they wouldn’t actively hunt humans but just wanted to survive.
Su Xiao sat at the bar, while Shizuo stood beside him, curiously looking around.
“What can I get for you?” the manager asked, his white hair neatly combed, wearing a uniform, and his expression warm like an old gentleman. Strangely, it seemed like his eyes were always closed, maybe because they were too small?
“Since I’m here at the café, I’ll have a cup of coffee. I’ve heard that your coffee is ‘quite good’,” Su Xiao replied. He wasn’t there to fight; he just wanted to gather information. He didn’t see Kaneki Ken in the café, which meant two things: either he wasn’t there, or he had been taken by the Bronze Tree. Su Xiao leaned toward the latter.
“Please wait a moment,” Goshin said, recognizing Su Xiao and personally attending to him.
Donka handed a towel to Su Xiao and placed it on the bar in front of him, slightly bowing before trying to leave.
“Wait a minute.”
Donka froze when Su Xiao suddenly called out to her.
“W-what is it, customer?” she stammered, looking down, pretending to be shy and not daring to meet his gaze.
“You should have a brother or sister, right?” Su Xiao said. As soon as he spoke, Donka felt a chill rise from her feet to her brain.
“How could that be? I don’t have a brother!” she replied. Since Su Xiao entered, Donka had been looking extremely nervous, and he was just casually poking at her.
“Your coffee is ready, customer,” Goshin said, handing Su Xiao a cup of coffee, signaling him to enjoy.
“Donka, go prepare the ingredients for tomorrow,” Goshin instructed. Donka looked relieved and quickly walked into the back room.
The unique aroma of coffee wafted through the air. Su Xiao didn’t usually drink coffee, but when he caught a whiff of the rich scent, he couldn’t help but take a sip.
As the coffee entered his mouth, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow.
“It’s good,” he said, and a smile appeared on Goshin’s face.
“Thank you for the compliment,” Goshin replied, taking a cup of coffee and sitting next to Su Xiao.
“You don’t drink coffee often, do you? Coffee should be savored slowly; otherwise, it affects the taste, just like life. It may be bitter, but you can still find other flavors within that bitterness.”
“I don’t have a habit of drinking coffee. I just have a ‘friend’ who works here, so I came to check it out, but unfortunately, he’s not here today,” Su Xiao said as he continued sipping his coffee.
“Friend?” Goshin looked at him with curiosity.
“Yes, ‘friend.’ His name is Kaneki Ken. I wonder if you could contact him; we haven’t seen each other for a ‘long time’,” Su Xiao said, putting down his coffee cup and looking meaningfully at Goshin.
“Oh, it’s Kaneki. He recently went on a trip and asked me for leave. What a pity,” Goshin replied. Su Xiao now felt pretty sure something had happened to Kaneki.
“Is that so? Well, if that’s the case, then forget it.” Su Xiao finished his coffee in one gulp.
“Shizuo, let’s go.” Su Xiao seemed relaxed, but he was actually sensing the surroundings. The eyes looking at him showed that they recognized his identity.
Su Xiao pretended to take out money.
“No need, this cup is on me,” Goshin said, standing up with a calm expression.
Even though he hadn’t interacted with Goshin for long, Su Xiao noticed that Goshin was different from most ghouls he had met. There was none of that craziness or perversion. He felt more like an old wise man, with a wrinkled face occasionally showing helplessness toward the world.
“Thank you,” Su Xiao said, looking at Goshin.
“Customer, if you get the chance, please come back to the ‘Safe Zone’ for coffee. Even at night, it’s fine; the environment is very safe here,” Goshin’s words carried multiple meanings. He was inviting Su Xiao, showing goodwill, while also subtly conveying that District 20 is different from District 14, where the ghouls here are peaceful and won’t harm humans. He was also asking Su Xiao not to take any crazy actions to cleanse District 20.
Goshin probably already knew that Su Xiao had discovered something.
Cleansing a district of ghouls was a terrifying thing for them. Goshin was wary of Su Xiao’s title as the Black Reaper.
“Perhaps we will meet again in the near future,” Su Xiao said, smiling at Goshin, a hint of red flashing in his eyes.
Throwing his jacket over his arm, Su Xiao walked out of the café. Goshin sat back down, sighed, and Donka came out from the back room.
“Is this guy the new Black Reaper? He must be a lunatic…” Donka looked worried. She feared that Su Xiao would cleanse District 20, which would force the Safe Zone to relocate.
“What a terrifying guy,” Nishio Kin, an A-ranked ghoul, felt even more afraid of Su Xiao, his legs trembling a bit. Su Xiao had killed more A-ranked ghouls than Nishio had ever seen.
“Pure humans can be this strong too. If I’m not mistaken, he’s here to find Kaneki…” After Goshin spoke, the café fell silent.
On the way back to the CCG branch, Shizuo was in high spirits.
“Hey, hey, I had a strange feeling in that café just now,” he said.
Shizuo’s instincts were sharp; besides the two of them, everyone else was a ghoul.
“Who knows?” Su Xiao lit a cigarette as they walked down the night street.
Shizuo ran to Su Xiao’s left side, but for some reason, he ran to the right side again.
“Brother Bai Ye, how can I become strong like you?”
“Opportunities, hard work, and not being afraid of death,” Su Xiao replied.
Shizuo nodded, somewhat understanding.
Five minutes later, the two returned to the CCG branch.
After Su Xiao returned to his temporary residence, he took a shower and lay on the bed with his bare upper body.
A blood-red card appeared in his hand. He prepared to activate the 'Scarlet Card' dropped by the Queen to see if he could gain something useful.
He might head to District 24 tomorrow, so gaining some combat power or supplies would be great.
[Do you want to use the Scarlet Card?]
Choosing to use it, the 'Scarlet Card' gradually dissolved into a light red liquid, floating in mid-air.
The light red liquid suddenly began to spin rapidly, forming a vortex in front of Su Xiao. One end of the vortex was just big enough for a hand to fit in, so he reached in.
After some groping, he felt something with a unique texture.
A smile appeared on Su Xiao’s face; it seemed he had found a piece of equipment, something called ‘Great Chieftain.’ His luck was still pretty good.
Pulling his hand out of the blood-red vortex, a notification from the Reincarnation Paradise came through.
Upon receiving the notification, the smile on Su Xiao’s face faded, and he stood there in a daze. After a while, he cursed under his breath.
The notification from Reincarnation Paradise was:
[You randomly drew ‘Silk Bra’.]
By the way, it seems this week’s recommendation votes might break ten thousand. Brothers, let’s storm it; I’ve never had a week with more than ten thousand recommendation votes.
(End of Chapter)