Chapter 40: Paradise, Are You F***ing Kidding Me
The coffee shop fell into silence.
Touka Kirishima, Kousan Yoshimura, Nishiki Nishio, and others were all inside the coffee shop.
"Apologies, my employee has recently experienced something sorrowful, and her emotions are a bit unstable."
Kousan Yoshimura, the manager, stepped forward and made a gesture of invitation.
"This guy is…"
Touka Kirishima murmured, looking at Su Xiao with a frightened expression.
Touka Kirishima was considered a half-protagonist in the original work, a ghoul.
The ghouls in the Anteiku district were different from other ghouls; they generally didn't hunt humans, only consuming the corpses of those who had committed suicide.
Tucking her light blue short hair behind her ear, Touka Kirishima hesitated for a moment before finally stepping forward to act as a waitress.
In the Anteiku coffee shop, whether it was the manager or the waitstaff, they were all ghouls.
This was a coffee shop that gathered many ghouls.
Manager Kousan Yoshimura was a formidable figure, an SSS-rank ghoul.
In his youth, the manager had committed too many killings, and in his old age, he came to Ward 20 and opened this coffee shop.
His goal was to have ghouls and humans coexist peacefully; they wouldn't actively hunt humans, they just wanted to survive.
Su Xiao sat at the counter, while Juuzou Suzuya curiously looked around.
"Customer, what would you like?"
The manager's white hair was neatly combed, he wore a waiter's uniform, and his expression was gentle, like an old gentleman.
Strangely, the manager's eyes seemed to be constantly closed; perhaps because his eyes were too small?
"Since I'm at a coffee shop, I'll have a cup of coffee. I've heard your shop's coffee is 'quite good.'"
Su Xiao wasn't there to fight; he was just there to gather information.
He didn't see Ken Kaneki inside the coffee shop. There were two possibilities: first, Kaneki wasn't there, or second, he had been captured by Aogiri Tree. Su Xiao leaned toward the latter.
"Please wait a moment, customer."
The manager busied himself. He recognized Su Xiao, so he personally attended to this major troublemaker.
Touka Kirishima handed over a napkin, placed it on the counter in front of Su Xiao, bowed slightly, and tried to leave.
"Wait."
Being suddenly called out by Su Xiao, Touka Kirishima's body stiffened.
"What, what is it, customer?"
Touka Kirishima lowered her head, pretending to be shy, not daring to look at Su Xiao.
"You should have an older brother or a younger brother, right?"
After Su Xiao said this, Touka Kirishima felt a chill rise from the soles of her feet, rushing straight to her brain.
"How could that be? I don't have a brother."
From the moment Su Xiao entered, Touka Kirishima had looked like she was scared to death. Su Xiao was just casually testing her.
"Customer, your coffee is ready."
The manager handed over a cup of coffee, indicating for Su Xiao to take his time.
"Touka, go prepare tomorrow's ingredients."
Touka Kirishima felt as if she had received a pardon, quickly walking toward the back room.
The unique aroma of coffee wafted over. Su Xiao wasn't in the habit of drinking coffee, but upon smelling this rich fragrance, he couldn't help but pick up the cup and take a sip.
The coffee entered his mouth, and Su Xiao raised an eyebrow.
"Delicious."
A smile appeared on the manager's face.
"Thank you for the compliment."
The manager picked up a cup of coffee, walked out from behind the counter, and sat down next to Su Xiao.
"Customer, you don't drink coffee often, do you? Coffee should be savored slowly, otherwise it affects the taste. It's like life—though bitter, you can still taste other flavors within that bitterness."
"I don't have a habit of drinking coffee. I just have a 'friend' working here, so I came to check it out. Unfortunately, he's not here today."
Su Xiao continued drinking his coffee.
"A friend?"
The manager looked at Su Xiao with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, a 'friend.' His name is Ken Kaneki. I wonder if the manager can contact him. We haven't seen each other 'in a long time.'"
Su Xiao set down his coffee cup, looking meaningfully at the manager.
"So it's Kaneki. He recently went on a trip and asked for leave beforehand. What a shame."
Su Xiao was now basically certain that something had happened to Ken Kaneki.
"Is that so? Well, if that's the case, forget it."
Su Xiao downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp.
"Suzuya, let's go."
Su Xiao appeared relaxed, but he was actually sensing his surroundings. The pairs of eyes inadvertently looking at him indicated that these guys recognized who he was.
Su Xiao made a move as if to pay.
"No need, this cup is on me."
The manager stood up, his expression very calm.
Although he hadn't interacted with the manager for long, Su Xiao noticed that the manager was different from most ghouls he had met. He didn't have that crazy, twisted feeling.
He was more like an aged wise man, his wrinkled face occasionally revealing a helplessness toward the world.
"Well then, thank you."
Su Xiao and the manager stood facing each other.
"Customer, if you have the chance, please come to 'Anteiku' for coffee again. Even at night is fine; the surroundings are very safe."
The manager's words carried multiple meanings.
It was both an invitation to Su Xiao, showing goodwill, and a subtle message that Ward 20 was different from Ward 14—the ghouls here were peaceful and wouldn't harm humans.
At the same time, he was asking Su Xiao not to make any crazy moves to purge Ward 20.
The manager might have already known that Su Xiao had discovered something.
Purging a district of ghouls was a terrifying thing for ghouls.
The manager also feared Su Xiao's reputation as the Black Reaper.
"Perhaps we'll meet again in the near future."
Su Xiao smiled at the manager, a red glint flashing in his eyes.
Draping his jacket over his arm, Su Xiao walked out of the coffee shop.
The manager sat back down in his seat and sighed. Touka Kirishima came out from the back room.
"Is this guy the newly appeared Black Reaper? He's definitely a madman…"
Touka showed a worried expression. She was also afraid that Su Xiao would purge Ward 20, which would force Anteiku to relocate.
"What a terrifying guy."
Nishiki Nishio was only an A-rank ghoul, so he was even more afraid of Su Xiao. His legs were a bit weak.
The number of A-rank ghouls Su Xiao had killed was more than Nishiki had ever seen.
"A pure human can be this strong? If I'm not mistaken, he came looking for Kaneki…"
After the manager spoke, the coffee shop fell into silence.
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On the way back to the CCG branch, Juuzou Suzuya was very cheerful.
"Ah, ah, in that coffee shop just now, I had a strange feeling."
Juuzou Suzuya's intuition was very sharp. Besides the two of them, everyone else there was a ghoul.
"Who knows."
Walking down the night street, Su Xiao lit a cigarette.
Juuzou Suzuya ran to Su Xiao's left, but for some reason, he then ran to Su Xiao's right.
"Bai Ye, how do you get so strong?"
"Opportunity, hard training, and not fearing death."
Juuzou Suzuya nodded as if he understood.
Five minutes later, the two returned to the CCG branch.
After returning to his temporary quarters, Su Xiao took a shower and lay on the bed, bare-chested.
A blood-red card appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He was about to open the 'Scarlet Card' dropped by the Queen, to see if he could gain anything useful.
He might be heading to Ward 24 tomorrow, so if he could increase his combat power or supplies, that would be a good thing.
He chose to use it. The 'Scarlet Card' gradually dissolved, turning into a mass of light red liquid that floated in midair.
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 reach in. He reached his hand inside.
After some groping, he touched an object that felt smooth and somewhat soft.
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's lips. It seemed he had touched a piece of equipment. Forget about 'Big Chief' bad luck; his luck was pretty good.
He pulled his hand out of the blood-red vortex, and a notification from Reincarnation Paradise came through.
Upon receiving the notification from Reincarnation Paradise, the smile on Su Xiao's face faded. He stood there stunned, and after a long while, he cursed under his breath, "What the f*ck."
The notification from Reincarnation Paradise was:
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