Chapter 24: Explosion
Outside the auction venue, numerous Ghoul Investigators armed with assault rifles waited anxiously.
They had never received such a strange order before. In a mission to expel ghouls, they were only required to guard the exits.
The sounds of fighting occasionally coming from inside the auction hall made these investigators somewhat restless.
Amon Koutarou was equally anxious, pacing back and forth near the back door.
"What exactly is happening inside? First-Class Investigator Bai Ye is far too reckless. No matter how strong he is, he can't take on so many ghouls alone."
A full twenty minutes had passed. The auction hall, which had been filled with screams, had become eerily silent, which made Amon Koutarou's heart sink.
Just as Amon Koutarou was anxiously waiting, Su Xiao's slightly tired voice came through the Bluetooth earpiece.
"Come in. Start cleaning up the auction hall, and prepare to put out the fires."
Put out fires? Amon Koutarou was a bit puzzled, but he still led his men to open the back door of the auction hall.
As the back door swung open, Amon Koutarou led a large group of investigators rushing inside.
The moment he entered the auction hall, Amon Koutarou smelled a heavy stench of blood, and his handsome brows furrowed.
Amon Koutarou quickened his pace, charging into the main hall of the auction venue.
"Bai Ye, First-Class..."
The scene that met his eyes left Amon Koutarou stunned.
A large number of ghoul corpses were piled up haphazardly. Sitting atop the pile of ghoul bodies was a man smoking a cigarette.
This brutal sight made Amon Koutarou instinctively take a step back.
Amon Koutarou had seen many corpses before, but this scene was something he had never witnessed. This kind of sight might only appear on an ancient cold-weapon battlefield.
Just as Amon Koutarou was about to approach Su Xiao, he suddenly felt his foot slip and nearly fell.
Looking down, he saw that the ground was already soaked with a layer of blood.
"What are you standing around for? Start clearing the bodies."
Su Xiao flicked away the cigarette butt in his hand and sheathed the already-cleaned Dragon-Slaying Flash.
"Yes, sir."
Amon Koutarou instinctively straightened his body.
The other investigators were also shocked by the scene before them, but these people had excellent mental fortitude.
They took out many body bags and began cleaning up the corpses.
Su Xiao stretched his slightly sore body. He had tested his limits.
If the number of ghouls exceeded a hundred, he would have some trouble handling them. If it exceeded two hundred, he would undoubtedly die.
Earlier, when the lights in the auction hall went out, he used a night vision device to seize the initiative, giving these ghouls a rude awakening.
Moreover, the two S-class ghouls had failed to unite. If those two S-class ghouls had led the swarm of ghouls to fight Su Xiao together, today's outcome would have been completely different.
Tonight's situation seemed dangerous, but Su Xiao wasn't acting alone without a plan. At the time, all he had to do was give the order, and a large number of ghoul investigators would have rushed in.
He was confident he could hold out for a long time under the siege of a large group of ghouls.
Su Xiao understood his strengths. His strengths were explosive attack power and rich combat experience. In a one-on-one fight, he could unleash formidable combat strength.
But if it were a group battle, his stamina attribute wasn't high enough, resulting in insufficient health points, making his group combat ability slightly weaker.
There was no perfect person in the world. Su Xiao had already developed three attributes in a balanced way. If he also developed his stamina attribute, his progress in becoming stronger would slow down, ultimately causing him to fall behind other contractors.
Su Xiao was a Hunter. He had to be stronger than contractors of the same rank. Otherwise, how could he hunt his targets?
Sitting in a CCG vehicle, Su Xiao looked at the investigators cleaning up the corpses.
It would take some time to clean up the auction hall. He could take this opportunity to rest for a while and recover his health points, which were only at 27%.
He took out a portion of [Golden Fried Rice]. Recovery food was in a static state and needed to be activated before consumption.
He chose to activate the [Golden Fried Rice]. The outer membrane of the [Golden Fried Rice] cracked open and dissipated into the air. The golden fried rice was actually steaming hot.
A strange fragrance wafted over, and Su Xiao couldn't help swallowing. This thing seemed very delicious.
Taking out the chopsticks he had prepared in advance, Su Xiao tried a bite.
The rice grains were wrapped in soft egg, and the grains were slightly firm. Under the egg's coating, the texture was excellent. Thanks to the superb cooking technique, the aroma of the rice and egg blended together perfectly.
After taking one bite, Su Xiao couldn't help taking a second.
This golden fried rice was incredibly delicious. It was no wonder it was a product from the Food Wars world; it was so good it was criminal.
Su Xiao suddenly had an idea: should he go to the Food Wars world and kidnap a chef?
He shook his head with a wry smile. The effort and reward weren't proportional. Improving his strength was more important. With strong power, why worry about not being able to enjoy delicious food?
Unconsciously, he finished the golden fried rice in his hand, not a single grain left, and still felt a bit unsatisfied.
After gulping down a bottle of mineral water, Su Xiao leaned back in his seat contentedly. After a battle, having a full meal—what could be more blissful than this?
A warm feeling spread through his stomach, and his health points gradually recovered.
As his health points recovered, the wounds on Su Xiao's body began to heal quickly.
"What's that smell? It's so fragrant."
Suzuya Juuzou ran over, his nose twitching.
"Juuzou, get in the car. We're heading back to the branch."
Although Suzuya Juuzou had a strange personality, he was still relatively obedient to orders.
"Were you eating something? Can you share some with me?"
Suzuya Juuzou poked his head out from between the seats, smiling brightly at Su Xiao.
"Tomorrow, I'll treat you all to a big meal."
In the future, he would still need these people to follow him in purging District 14. Appropriately winning people over was necessary.
He had expelled many ghouls, and according to CCG regulations, expelling ghouls earned a considerable bonus.
This was quite reasonable. Ghoul investigators had a high-risk job, and their salaries were enviably high.
After sending Suzuya Juuzou away, Su Xiao began to summarize the gains and losses of this battle.
This battle had earned him a total of 372 contribution points. His contribution points had become [First-Class Investigator, Contribution 897/2000]. He still needed 1,103 contribution points to complete the mission.
He had obtained one green treasure chest. Although he had killed over a hundred ghouls, no white treasure chests had dropped.
This made him wonder if he had a tendency toward being "African," meaning bad luck.
Throughout his chest-opening journey, aside from specific items, it seemed he hadn't gotten anything too good.
Dragon-Slaying Flash (White) was essentially stolen, not obtained from opening a chest.
Soul Crystal (Small) was also obtained because the gap between him and the monster was too large.
Wraith's Howl (Green) was opened from the Gecko's chest. It was worth noting that Gecko was a major character driving the plot, and killing him had earned quite a bit of "World Source."
Even so, he only got a green ring with a rating of 21.
"This..."
Su Xiao sighed. He suddenly realized he had the potential to be a "Chief."
Fortunately, he wasn't extremely unlucky. At most, his luck was average.
With a wry smile, Su Xiao stopped thinking about these matters.
The bodies in the auction hall were cleaned up by 1 a.m. After the CCG investigators assembled, the convoy began returning to the branch.
This was undoubtedly a glorious victory. With zero casualties on their side, they had annihilated the enemy.
Many investigators had smiles on their faces, and their gazes toward Su Xiao were filled with awe.
The convoy drove through the midnight streets. The streets were empty, and under the dim yellow streetlights, it was exceptionally quiet.
Su Xiao, who was leaning back in the passenger seat, suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of dread, as if he were standing on the edge of a bottomless abyss, and his body was tilting forward.
Danger was approaching from below!
Without hesitation, Su Xiao pulled open the car door and jumped out directly, rolling once on the asphalt road to stabilize himself.
Another figure jumped out of the car with Su Xiao—it was the clever white-haired Suzuya Juuzou.
"Boom!"
The vehicle Su Xiao was riding in suddenly exploded. The car was blasted into the air, tumbling several times before coming to a stop.
A huge crater appeared on the road. The explosive wasn't hidden under the car but underground.
Flames shot into the sky, and a strange burnt smell mixed with the stench of gunpowder wafted over.
Su Xiao immediately identified it as the smell of burning polyisobutylene. Someone had buried C4 plastic explosives on the path he was traveling.
A contractor was ambushing him, but thinking that mere bombs could kill him was far too naive.
Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in his hand, and Su Xiao warily scanned his surroundings.
He had rested in the car for over an hour, recovering 80% of his stamina. After eating recovery food three times, his health points were fully restored.
Su Xiao had long suspected that a contractor might attack him; he just didn't know the exact timing.
When his health points were very low, he hadn't hesitated to eat expensive recovery food, just to be prepared.
Now it seemed his actions were very correct. Otherwise, in his previous state, he would have been as good as dead.