Chapter 69: Give Me Half an Hour, That's Enough
“What do you want?”
The male ghoul lowered his head in resignation, though his gaze remained dangerous.
“If I need you, I’ll come find you.”
Su Xiao turned sideways, signaling for the ghoul family to pass.
The couple was stunned, looking at Su Xiao in confusion. They had assumed he would use some means to control them, like forcing them to take a slow-acting poison.
“Heh~, you’ve lived underground for a long time, haven’t you? The world above now is different from what you imagine.”
Su Xiao had already seen the family’s faces. If they lived above ground, finding them wouldn’t be difficult.
In this era, surveillance cameras were scattered throughout the streets and alleys. With the CCG’s influence, tracking down someone was simple.
The couple said nothing, pressing their daughter close to the wall as they passed by Su Xiao.
The adorable little girl stared at Su Xiao, her eyes seeming to say, “You’re the bad guy.”
Perhaps the couple was still relieved that Su Xiao had let them go so easily.
They weren’t without combat ability, nor were they afraid to fight. But they had a “little burden” with them—one they could never abandon.
Fighting meant danger, and no parent would let their child face that, whether human or ghoul.
Watching the family disappear into the distance, Su Xiao felt no regret. He wasn’t having a sudden bout of kindness—he had long since crushed any trace of that out of himself. Compared to the secrets of District 24, this family’s kagune was worthless.
As for the potential treasure chests from two SS-rank ghouls, Su Xiao wasn’t optimistic.
He seriously suspected that the reason he could get a chest from killing a black market merchant in the One Piece world was because that world’s difficulty far exceeded his rank.
The ghoul world’s difficulty matched his rank closely, so such luck wouldn’t repeat itself.
Su Xiao continued guarding the entrance to District 24, preventing any ghouls from escaping inside.
Constant rumbling and strange noises echoed from within District 24, but fortunately, no ghouls reached the entrance.
An hour later, a screech of brakes sounded outside the entrance, and a large group of investigators rushed in.
Headquarters had acted quickly this time, showing they took the situation in District 24 seriously.
“White Night, Special Class Candidate, what’s the situation now?”
A clean-cut, beardless investigator with small eyes stepped into the entrance, followed by over a dozen others.
Su Xiao recognized the man: Special Class Candidate Investigator, Fueguchi Kousuke.
Right behind Fueguchi was a rookie investigator named Takizawa Seidou, a promising newcomer.
After graduating from the Ghoul Investigator Academy, some top-ranked rookies were assigned to learn from First Class or Special Class Candidate investigators.
There were other investigators behind them, but Su Xiao didn’t recognize them.
“No activity for now. Something major must have happened deep in District 24, but the exact cause is unknown.”
Su Xiao didn’t reveal what he knew—like how Kishou Arima had already ventured deep into District 24, or how the primitive ghouls had taken over the “Central City” there, though he himself didn’t know what that “Central City” looked like.
“Hello, White Night, Special Class Candidate. I’m Second Class Investigator Takizawa Seidou.”
Takizawa looked very green, with a hint of nervousness.
“Hello.”
Su Xiao greeted him briefly before returning his attention to the tunnel.
As for Takizawa Seidou, his impression was that of a well-behaved kid.
But that was just his outward appearance. Su Xiao had once browsed a forum and come across some information about Takizawa.
In the early part of the story, Takizawa was a brave but not particularly strong investigator.
During the CCG’s operation to drive out the manager, Takizawa had his arm bitten off by Noro’s kagune and was captured alive.
After that, Takizawa was forcibly implanted with the manager’s kagune, becoming an artificial one-eyed ghoul, codenamed Owl.
After becoming a ghoul, Takizawa quickly accepted his new identity, and the darkness within him gradually emerged.
This guy ate human heads like “pineapples” and brains like “jam.”
Even among ghouls, Takizawa was an extreme case of perversion.
Moreover, after turning into a ghoul, Takizawa still couldn’t forget Akira Mado.
In summary, Takizawa Seidou constantly wavered between good and evil—brave and decisive when good, horrifying when evil.
The dozen or so investigators set up a defensive line at the entrance, with some even trying to repair the metal door.
But the door was too damaged to fix.
Among them, only Fueguchi had combat ability; the others, in Su Xiao’s view, were unreliable.
One First Class Investigator looked particularly anxious, as if he had a phobia of District 24.
Just then, Su Xiao’s eyes sharpened.
“They’re coming.”
Su Xiao looked up at the dim, narrow tunnel. It was eerily quiet inside.
“What’s wrong, White Night, Special Class Candidate?”
Fueguchi’s tone was calm, as if he never rushed anything.
“Prepare to engage. The enemy count is around two hundred.”
Su Xiao’s intelligence attribute wasn’t low—a solid 12 points.
Intelligence didn’t represent IQ; IQ was influenced by innate factors and upbringing. A fool adding intelligence points wouldn’t help.
Intelligence increased mastery over spells and also determined spell skill strength.
Not only that, intelligence also determined mana points. More importantly, boosting intelligence enhanced perception of the surroundings.
This ability was used by mages to sense surrounding elements and manipulate them.
Su Xiao’s development path was different. Due to his [Absolute Magic Immunity Constitution], he couldn’t sense elements at all, so he took a different approach—using it to perceive nearby enemies.
Mages could do this too, but because of various elemental influences, with the same intelligence attribute, their perception range and sensitivity were far inferior to Su Xiao’s.
The Absolute Magic Immunity Constitution acted like a natural filter, directly ignoring the elements floating in the air, achieving better perception.
From this, it was clear that the skills of the Shadow of Law Destruction weren’t set in stone. As long as one’s thinking was broad enough, they could be deeply developed.
The Shadow of Law Destruction class had only been obtained by seven people, including Su Xiao, so the late-stage development path was up to him.
As for the unlocked skills, they were likely developed by the six stone statues during the class inheritance.
Su Xiao vaguely felt that Azure Steel Shadow might not be the core ability of the Shadow of Law Destruction.
But now wasn’t the time to think about that. Hasty footsteps were already echoing from the tunnel.
Fortunately, Su Xiao had over a dozen investigators by his side to provide covering fire.
“Boss, there are investigators up ahead. What do we do?”
“Fight through. I’d rather face investigators than run into those ‘beasts.’”
A dense mass of ghouls charged forward, filling the tunnel in a vast wave.
Su Xiao let out a long breath. Since entering the ghoul world, he had seen this scene many times and could remain calm.
Su Xiao was composed, but the investigators beside him were anything but.
Takizawa held a cylindrical quinque, shaped like a gun but looking crude.
At that moment, Takizawa stared blankly at the “ghoul army” before him, his body trembling like a sieve.
“White Night, Special Class Candidate, I’ll cover you. You all retreat first.”
Fueguchi gripped a long-handled blade—an SS-rank quinque named Red Tongue, made from Tatara’s brother’s kagune.
Fueguchi showed a look of death, as if ready to hold the rear.
“Mr. Fueguchi, no! You’ll die like that!”
Takizawa, despite shaking violently, still ran behind Fueguchi.
It seemed that for Fueguchi and the others, this scale of ghouls was a disaster-level threat.
Su Xiao unbuttoned the top two buttons of his coat and walked over to Fueguchi.
“Special Class Candidate Fueguchi, if you can support me with ranged weapons, give me half an hour for these ghouls. That’s enough.”
Fueguchi, Takizawa, and the others stared at Su Xiao in shock.