11th District, Bronze Tree Base.
A heartrending scream echoed through the old building.
On the first floor of the building, many Contractors were gathered. The previous scream was from the original protagonist, Kaneki Ken.
These Contractors, to increase their own power and allow the plot to continue normally, cooperated with Kirishima Ayato to capture Kaneki Ken for the Bronze Tree.
They were different from Su Xiao, who didn’t care whether the plot continued or not. As long as he could complete his mission, even without the plot’s guidance, he didn’t mind the slightly increased difficulty.
Being strong yourself is the hard truth. Over-relying on the plot will lead to trouble sooner or later when the plot collapses.
"Is this~ really okay, Fire Blast?"
The one speaking was Han Yu, who felt chills down his spine from the sound of the agonizing screams.
Han Yu silently wondered in his heart, what exactly Kaneki Ken had gone through to let out such screams.
"It should be fine. Originally, it was Gecko torturing Kaneki Ken. Now it’s the Human Demon Nico. Their methods of torture are almost identical."
Those screams made even Fire Blast a little uneasy.
"Tell me, tell me, tell me! What’s one thousand minus seven?"
A sickeningly extreme shout came from above the many Contractors.
"Kaneki Ken, won’t die, right?"
Fire Blast swallowed hard.
"Probably~ not, after all, he’s the protagonist."
Fire Blast and Han Yu fell silent.
Behind the many Contractors stood a little girl, Xi Luoluo, who had previously made a trade with Su Xiao.
The place where Xi Luoluo now stood, and the attitude of the Contractors ignoring her, indicated her very low status in Han Yu’s Adventure Group.
"Any recent moves from that pervert in the CCG camp?"
Fire Blast asked casually, but Han Yu was startled upon hearing it.
As Han Yu spoke, he discreetly passed a piece of information to Fire Blast using branding.
’That guy has cleared all the ghouls in District 14.’
Fire Blast’s body stiffened, and he felt waves of shock. Clearing a district of ghouls, what kind of concept was that?
Fire Blast understood Han Yu’s intent that the fewer Contractors who knew this information, the better it would be for maintaining their camp’s morale.
Han Yu and Fire Blast both controlled one thing: keeping as much information away from their team of Contractors as possible.
Being ahead in information could solidify their leadership, allowing them to reap more benefits.
People are inherently selfish, and furthermore, Han Yu and Fire Blast formed a Temporary Adventure Group, not a permanent one.
Exploiting Contractors within a Temporary Adventure Group is almost an unspoken agreement among leaders.
The Contractors being exploited are actually aware, but they have no choice. Without joining the Temporary Adventure Group, they have little confidence in surviving the Derivative World.
"The confrontation mission hasn’t started yet. How’s the progress on your main quest? I’ve already completed over 50% on my side."
Fire Blast changed the topic.
"So-so. Finding ghoul investigators is too hard. Scattered investigators are too few. My people have completed about 40% on average.
After today, there are 12 more days of mission time, and the plot of the 11th District is about to start. That’s an excellent opportunity."
Han Yu sighed. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
Su Xiao’s mission is to drive out the ghouls, while Han Yu and his team aim to kill investigators.
Of course, compared to driving away ghouls, they needed to kill far fewer investigators—each only needed to kill five.
If the number of investigators they needed to kill were the same as the ghouls, even killing all the investigators in Tokyo might not fulfill their mission, as there are too few investigators.
Xi Luoluo felt incredibly frustrated as she listened to their discussion.
She had paid, but Han Yu wasn’t concerned about her mission progress at all.
Up until now, Xi Luoluo’s kill count was still zero, and Han Yu’s original words were, "Don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities later."
But Xi Luoluo keenly sensed that Han Yu might be planning to evade his responsibilities.
Although she had paid and signed a contract with Han Yu, if she encountered someone with bad intentions, that contract couldn’t guarantee her life.
The contract only stipulated that Han Yu should help her complete the mission and try his best to protect her.
The "try his best" leaves plenty of room for loopholes.
As soon as Xi Luoluo dies, the contract becomes void, and Han Yu would only lose some Paradise coins, which is within an acceptable range.
Painful, but not breaking the bank; otherwise, Han Yu wouldn’t have signed the contract.
Under normal circumstances, Han Yu wouldn’t act this way, but the presence of Su Xiao put tremendous pressure on him.
Han Yu no longer cared about Xi Luoluo’s Paradise coins, and as for her life and death, he cared even less.
With a formidable enemy outside, the Contractors harbored ulterior motives. Even Han Yu and Fire Blast, who were allied, might be plotting against each other.
District 20, CCG Branch.
After receiving orders from headquarters, Su Xiao made his way to the CCG Branch in the 20th District. The two districts weren’t far apart; District 14 was right next to District 20, and it was a short drive there.
Standing in front of the branch building, Su Xiao stretched lazily.
Being under the pressure of a main quest earlier, he had been tense, but now that he could complete the main quest at any time, he felt relaxed.
It was five in the afternoon, the sunlight gentle, and the surroundings turned a warm, light yellow.
The sky was ablaze with fiery clouds stretching across, while some elderly were having tea or chatting in the nearby park.
"It’s a great day for training."
Ever since entering the Ghoul world, Su Xiao had been in high-intensity battles.
If he was learning combat skills in Reincarnation Paradise, now it was practice.
Through the bloody practice, Su Xiao felt that his sword technique had slightly improved, and the feeling of weaponry becoming an extension of his body, as Geng Si Lang had mentioned, was becoming more apparent.
A white silhouette quickly approached. Su Xiao instinctively wanted to draw Dragon Slash but saw a familiar face.
Su Xiao chuckled slightly. He had a good impression of Shuuzou Suzuya since they had fought together and shared some camaraderie.
Friendships forged in battle far exceed others.
"Mister Bai Ye~, what are you doing here?"
"I’m here to find someone, and you don’t need to call me Mister Bai Ye, Bai Ye will do."
Though he was looking for someone, Su Xiao wasn’t exactly sure who.
"I got lost earlier. This is the 20th District branch, right? I’ve been looking for it all afternoon.
Bai Ye fir—, Bai Ye~, do you know where the meeting room in the 20th District branch is?"
Su Xiao nodded and led Shuuzou Suzuya into the branch. He had been to the District 20 CCG Branch before.
As soon as he walked into the meeting room, Su Xiao felt something was off. Wherever he passed, people would look at him as if they were seeing some rare creature. Some female investigators even discreetly took out their phones to snap photos~.
At that moment, in the meeting room of the District 20 Branch.
Special Investigator Marutei was conducting a meeting inside the meeting room.
There were dozens of investigators sitting, including two other Special Investigators and three Quasi-Special Investigators, with even more First-Class Investigators.
This kind of gathering was rarely seen in CCG history.
Although Marutei was a Special Investigator, he generally didn’t participate in battles. His commanding abilities were far superior to his combat abilities.
Whenever CCG had major combat missions, they were commanded by Marutei on-site.
Marutei was the battlefield commander of CCG, especially proficient in large-scale wars.
In Marutei’s enthusiastic speech, the morale of everyone in the meeting was raised.
"This is a war between humans and ghouls, so temporarily entrust your lives to me.
By the way, this is an order, and you have no right to refuse!
Hereby, I announce that the 11th District ’Special Countermeasures Class’ is officially dep—."
At that moment in Marutei’s speech, which had reached a semi-roar, he was about to shout the final sentence, which was the summary of his long speech, a combat declaration he had pondered for two days to inspire those in attendance.
Pre-war mobilization is a crucial part.
The conference room door was suddenly pushed open, startling some investigators.
"Sorry~, I am Shuuzou Suzuya, under Mr. Shinohara. I got lost, which is why I’m late."
Shuuzou Suzuya extended both hands in front of him, making the door-opening maneuver loud.
At this point, Su Xiao was right behind Shuuzou Suzuya, just at the right angle to see Marutei, who had appeared in a video before, with a completely stunned expression.
The conference room fell into a deathly silence; it seemed that Angel Tokaji had caused a bit of trouble.