Chapter 38: Shizo, You’re in Trouble
District 11, Bronze Tree Stronghold.
“Ah~!!”
A miserable scream echoed through the entire old building.
On the first floor of the building, many contractors gathered. The previous scream came from the original protagonist, Ken Kaneki.
To increase their own strength and ensure the plot continued normally, these contractors cooperated with Shuuta Ao to capture Kaneki and bring him to the Bronze Tree.
Unlike Su Xiao, they didn’t care about whether the plot continued—only about completing their tasks. Even without the guidance of the plot, making the tasks slightly harder to complete, Su Xiao didn’t care.
Self-strength is the true principle. Over-reliance on the plot will eventually lead to trouble when it collapses.
“Like this... is it really okay, Huobao?”
The speaker was Hanyu. The series of miserable screams sent chills down Hanyu’s spine.
Hanyu secretly wondered what Kaneki had experienced to make such screams.
“It should be fine. In the original, Yamori tortured Kaneki. Now it’s that freak Nicole. This guy’s torture methods are almost the same as Yamori’s.”
Even Huobao felt a bit uneasy hearing those screams.
“Tell me, tell me, tell me! What is one thousand minus seven?”
A sickly, frantic shout came from above the contractors.
“Kaneki... he won’t die, right?”
Huobao swallowed hard.
“Probably... not. He’s the protagonist after all.”
Huobao and Hanyu fell silent.
Behind the crowd of contractors stood a little girl—it was Xiluo Luo, the one who had traded with Su Xiao, dressed like a Konata.
Judging by Xiluo Luo’s position and the indifferent attitude of the contractors around her, her status in the Hanyu Adventure Group seemed low.
“That freak from the CCG faction... any recent moves?”
Huobao asked casually, but Hanyu was startled.
“No activity.”
As Hanyu spoke, he secretly sent a line of text to Huobao through his mark.
‘That guy wiped out all the ghouls in District 14.’
Huobao’s body stiffened, and shock surged in his heart. Wiping out all the ghouls in a district—what did that mean?
Huobao understood Hanyu’s intention. The fewer other contractors knew about this information, the better, as it would dampen their faction’s morale.
Both Hanyu and Huobao controlled one thing: keeping the contractors in their teams as uninformed as possible.
Having an information advantage could solidify their leadership positions and allow them to reap more benefits.
People are selfish, especially since Hanyu and Huobao had formed a temporary adventure group, not a permanent one.
Exploiting the contractors in a temporary group was an unspoken rule among all leaders.
The exploited contractors knew this too, but they had no choice. Without joining a temporary group, they couldn’t be sure they’d survive the derivative world.
“The confrontation mission hasn’t started yet. How’s your main mission going? I’m over 50% done.”
Huobao changed the subject.
“So-so. Ghoul investigators are too hard to find. There are too few scattered investigators. My people are probably around 40% done.
After today, there are 12 days left. The District 11 plot is about to start—that’s a perfect opportunity.”
Hanyu sighed.
Su Xiao’s mission was to expel ghouls, while Hanyu’s group had to kill investigators.
Of course, compared to expelling ghouls, they needed to kill far fewer investigators—only five per person.
If the number of investigators to kill matched the number of ghouls, even killing every investigator in Tokyo wouldn’t guarantee mission completion. Investigators were too scarce.
Xiluo Luo, hearing their discussion, felt increasingly frustrated.
She had already paid, but Hanyu didn’t care about her mission progress at all.
So far, Xiluo Luo’s kill count was still zero. Hanyu’s exact words were, “Don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities later.”
But Xiluo Luo keenly sensed that Hanyu might renege on the deal.
Although she had paid and signed a contract with Hanyu, if she encountered someone with ill intentions, that contract wouldn’t be a lifesaver.
The contract only stipulated that Hanyu would help her complete the mission and try to protect her.
That “try” left a huge loophole.
If Xiluo Luo died, the contract would become void. Hanyu would only lose some Paradise Coins, and the amount was within an acceptable range.
It would sting, but not cripple him. Otherwise, Hanyu wouldn’t have signed the contract.
Under normal circumstances, Hanyu wouldn’t do this. But Su Xiao’s existence put immense pressure on him.
Hanyu no longer cared about Xiluo Luo’s Paradise Coins, let alone her life or death.
With a powerful enemy outside, the contractors each harbored their own schemes. Even the allied Hanyu and Huobao were likely plotting against each other.
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District 20, CCG Branch.
After receiving the transfer order from headquarters, Su Xiao headed to the CCG branch in District 20. The two districts were close—District 14 bordered District 20, so it was a quick drive.
Standing in front of the branch building, Su Xiao stretched.
He had been under pressure from the main mission, always tense. Now that he could complete it anytime, he felt a bit relieved.
It was five in the afternoon. The sunlight was soft, and the surroundings turned a warm, light yellow.
The fiery clouds on the horizon stretched together. In the park next to the branch, some elderly people were drinking tea or chatting.
“What great weather for training.”
Since entering the ghoul world, Su Xiao had been engaged in high-intensity combat.
If he was learning combat techniques in the Reincarnation Paradise, now he was putting them into practice.
After the iron-and-blood practice, Su Xiao felt his swordsmanship had slightly improved. The feeling that Koushirou had described—the weapon becoming an extension of the body—was becoming more apparent.
“Mr. Bai Ye~~.”
A white figure quickly approached. Su Xiao instinctively reached for the Dragon-Slaying Flash but recognized a familiar face.
“Shizo.”
Su Xiao chuckled lightly. He had a good impression of Shizo. They had fought together before, forming a bond.
Friendships forged in battle surpassed all others.
“Mr. Bai Ye~, why are you here?”
“Looking for someone. And you don’t need to call me Mr. Bai Ye—just Bai Ye is fine.”
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 searching all afternoon.
Mr. Bai—Bai Ye—do you know where the meeting room in the District 20 branch is?”
Su Xiao nodded and led Shizo into the branch. He had been to the District 20 CCG branch before.
As soon as he entered the meeting room, Su Xiao felt something was off. Wherever he passed, people stared at him as if he were some rare creature. Some female investigators even secretly pulled out their phones to take pictures~.
At that moment, in the District 20 branch’s meeting room.
Special Investigator Marude was presiding over a meeting.
Dozens of investigators were in the room. Besides Marude, there were two other Special Investigators, three Associate Special Investigators, and even more Senior Investigators.
Such a lineup was rare in the CCG.
Although Marude was a Special Investigator, he usually didn’t participate in combat. His command skills far exceeded his combat abilities.
Only when the CCG had large-scale combat missions did Marude take charge on-site.
Marude was the CCG’s battlefield commander, especially skilled in large-scale operations.
With Marude’s passionate tone, the morale of those in the meeting was ignited.
“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!
Hereby, I declare the District 11 ‘Special Countermeasure Squad’ officially dis...”
Marude’s speech had reached a near-shout. He was about to deliver the final line, the summary of his long speech—a battle declaration he had pondered for two days to inspire everyone present.
Pre-battle mobilization was extremely important.
“Bang!”
The meeting room door was pushed open without warning, startling some investigators.
“Sorry~, I’m Shizo, under Mr. Shinohara. I got lost and ended up late.”
Shizo held his hands out in front of him. No wonder the door opened so loudly.
At that moment, Su Xiao was right behind Shizo. From his angle, he could see Marude, whom he had seen in a video before, wearing an expression like he had just eaten something foul.
The meeting room fell into dead silence. Little angel Shizo seemed to have caused trouble.
PS: (Please help with the recommendation votes. It’s a waste not to use them for the day. How about giving them to Feiwen?)