Chapter 51: Secret Chamber
The principle of 'New' was simple; it was akin to an engine, with human flesh and blood serving as fuel.
The more flesh and blood provided, the stronger the power 'New' could unleash.
The CCG must have had water in their heads to invent something like this. Frequent use of 'New' wasn't just about getting injured; it could even shorten one's lifespan.
Within the CCG, it wasn't just Yuna using 'New'; Shinohara Yukinori, Kuroiwa Iwao, and others were all using it as well.
This made Su Xiao suspect that the CCG's higher-ups simply didn't care about the investigators' lives.
From the various actions of the CCG leadership, a certain attitude was vaguely revealed: as long as ghouls could be driven away, the lives of investigators didn't matter.
Some high-ranking investigators might have already noticed this, but they didn't give up, because they were fighting for their beliefs.
...
After catching the 'New' thrown by Su Xiao, 'New' attached itself to Yuna's upper body.
"I'll have to recuperate for a while again."
Yuna didn't hesitate to press the switch at the back of her neck, reactivating 'New'.
Three seconds later, Yuna, wielding her scythe, had her strength increased several times over.
"Chop you all to pieces, hahaha~."
Yuna let out a strange laugh, spinning her scythe as she swiftly killed the remaining dozen or so eyeless ghouls.
In less than 30 seconds, the dozen eyeless ghouls were completely slaughtered.
Yuna killed ghouls quickly, but she collapsed even faster. 'New' had already begun to devour her.
"Help, help me~."
The Yuna who had been madly slaughtering ghouls moments ago was now lying on the ground, reaching out to Su Xiao for help.
Supporting himself against the wall, Su Xiao walked over to Yuna and began roughly peeling the 'New' off her body.
"Rip~, rip~."
The sound of tearing clothes came. Although Su Xiao successfully stripped the 'New' from Yuna, she was left as bare as a little white lamb, completely naked.
Blood dripped down her fair skin. Yuna curled up, one arm wrapped around her chest.
"Don't play the curled-up shrimp here. Let's go. There are at least a thousand of those ghouls."
Although Yuna's appearance was tempting, this wasn't the time for such thoughts. Life and death hung in the balance, and danger could come at any moment.
"But~, this is too embarrassing."
Yuna remained curled on the ground, one hand covering her private area, the other across her chest.
"Embarrassment or becoming a corpse. Choose for yourself."
With that, Su Xiao slowly walked forward. He needed to leave District 24 quickly; it was more dangerous than he had imagined.
"W-wait for me."
Forgetting her shame, Yuna struggled to her feet, put away her Quinque, and followed behind Su Xiao.
"Please, whatever you do, don't look back. I'm completely n-naked now. Damn it, how am I supposed to get back to the surface like this?"
Yuna followed Su Xiao with an awkward posture, holding two Quinque cases in front of her.
"Put this on."
Su Xiao took a set of clothes from his storage space and tossed them to Yuna. In just five seconds, Yuna had dressed herself.
"Oh no."
Yuna suddenly stopped, her expression turning grim.
"What is it?"
Su Xiao looked at Yuna.
"The fighting was too intense earlier. I lost my compass."
Getting lost after venturing deep into District 24 was a real possibility, and once lost, the chance of survival was very slim.
"It's fine. We've made marks along the way. Based on my hand-drawn map, we'll find our way out soon."
Su Xiao used Dragon-Slaying Flash to carve a 'one' character on the ground, marking the location of this passage, then took out his hand-drawn map and made a note.
"I wonder how Arima is doing. Compared to you two, I'm really useless."
Yuna lowered her head, following behind Su Xiao.
"Arima won't die."
Yuna looked at Su Xiao in confusion.
"If he could die so easily, I wouldn't have covered his retreat."
Through the original work, Su Xiao didn't know much about Arima Kishou, but after personal contact, he found that Arima Kishou was a very clever guy with many secrets.
"This way."
As Su Xiao passed a corner and was about to continue, he noticed something strange about a nearby wall of flesh.
The flesh walls in other places were all connected, but on the wall in front of him, there was a gap about forty centimeters wide.
The gap was pitch black inside. Su Xiao took out a high-intensity flashlight and shone it inside.
The gap in the flesh wall was narrower on the outside and wider on the inside. From his position, he could vaguely see some dusty items inside.
Yuna leaned in to look.
"Is this~, a secret chamber?"
"Probably."
Su Xiao put away Dragon-Slaying Flash and sidled into the gap in the flesh wall.
"What's inside? I have claustrophobia. Can I not go in?"
Yuna, who had been merciless in killing ghouls earlier, now showed a look of fear.
"Those eyeless ghouls could appear at any moment. If you want to fight them again, you can stay outside. But in your current state, you'd most likely become a snack."
As Su Xiao spoke, he had already squeezed deep into the gap, and the space around him opened up.
Using the flashlight, Su Xiao observed the situation inside the secret chamber.
A musty smell filled the room, which was cluttered with various unknown objects.
Some items resembled wooden tables, others looked like boxes. Everything was covered in thick dust, making their shapes hard to discern.
This place looked somewhat like a laboratory, and a very old one at that. There were no electronic devices; a dusty scale in the corner testified to the room's antiquity.
"I hate cramped places."
Yuna sidled into the secret chamber, shaking the dust off her head.
Su Xiao had entered this secret chamber out of necessity. His condition was very poor, and he needed a temporary rest.
There was no sense of danger here, or he would never have entered.
He told Yuna to place the Quinque cases in the gap of the flesh wall, to prevent the wall from suddenly closing.
Even if the Quinque cases couldn't stop the gap from closing, they would buy time to escape. Those things were very hard, especially the case for 'New', which was made of a special alloy.
"Is this~, a laboratory?"
"Probably, and it's been here for quite a while."
Su Xiao walked over to a wooden table and wiped off the dust.
"Cough, cough, cough~."
Dust flew, and Su Xiao coughed dryly.
"Smack~."
A glass vessel fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.
Su Xiao instinctively stepped back, observing the broken glass on the ground.
The glass vessel had shattered. From the fragments, he could identify it as a beaker, with a yellowish inner wall and some suspicious black spots.
"District 24 has a place like this? I've never seen it before."
Yuna looked around curiously.
After confirming the secret chamber was safe, Su Xiao leaned against the wall, took out a roll of bandages, and began dressing his wounds.
Yuna wasn't seriously injured, just superficial wounds. She was currently experiencing weakness from using 'New' and would recover after resting for a while.
Su Xiao, however, was heavily injured. The consecutive battles had left him severely exhausted. Earlier, a primitive ghoul had bitten off chunks of his flesh, and finally, 'New' had mauled him badly.
"Let's rest for a few hours, then we'll move on."
Su Xiao took out some food and fresh water, ate a little to regain his strength, and gestured for Yuna to eat as well.
Taking out a [Salt Rice Ball], Su Xiao ate it in two bites. This item could restore 10% of his health, speeding up his injury recovery.
As for the higher-grade [Golden Fried Rice], Su Xiao didn't use it.
He still had one serving of [Golden Fried Rice] left, his best restorative food, making it quite precious now.
Yuna sat across from Su Xiao, replenishing her food and water. She had lost all her supplies.
After eating the [Salt Rice Ball], Su Xiao felt his injuries improve somewhat.
Activating his imprint with his mind, Su Xiao checked his current CCG contribution points. The primitive ghoul he had killed earlier had earned him a large number of points.
He had just killed over a hundred eyeless ghouls; he wondered if he had gained any contribution points from them.
[Senior Investigator, Current Contribution Points: 7723/10000.]
Su Xiao's eyes narrowed. He had gained over 5000 CCG contribution points in a short time within District 24.
There was definitely a huge secret here, closely related to the CCG.
If he could explore this secret now...
Su Xiao weighed his options. If he explored the secrets of District 24 now, he might end up in conflict with the CCG, but there would also be enormous gains.
Now wasn't the time, though. Even if he had to fall out with them, it would have to wait until after he exchanged for that bottle of blue-quality potion.