Chapter 78: Benefits During Battle
Pressing the detonator button, the metal pipes on the manhole cover rapidly turned red, like branding irons heated to glowing.
Boom. Boom….
Several explosions followed in succession. The power of these unknown explosives was astonishing, and even Su Xiao’s position was affected.
A fragment of the shattered manhole cover whistled past over Su Xiao’s head, forcing him to quickly duck down.
After the explosion, a wave of heat surged over him, and a pungent acidic smell spread through the air. As the flames receded, Su Xiao looked toward the blast point.
The sealed manhole cover was gone, the vertical shaft blasted into a funnel shape, with broken, charred corpses scattered all around.
These Primitives were not weak. Even if Su Xiao and Arima Kishou joined forces, they wouldn’t be a match for this many Primitives.
But now they were all charred corpses, because they lacked intelligence.
The two jumped down from the rooftop and approached the blasted-open vertical shaft.
As soon as he stepped into the explosion zone, Su Xiao felt a burning heat through the soles of his shoes. Looking down, he saw that the soles had partially melted, and the ground soil had been vitrified into glass by the high temperature.
“Quickly destroy this shaft entrance. Something will come up soon.”
Urged by Arima Kishou, Su Xiao took out two metal pipes and tossed them into the shaft.
“One, two, three.”
After silently counting to three, Su Xiao pressed the detonator.
Thud.
A muffled sound came from underground, the ground beneath his feet trembled, and the vertical shaft was completely destroyed.
Something unexpected happened to Su Xiao—the Reincarnation Paradise gave a prompt.
[You have destroyed the ‘Diackman’ tribe’s exit. Obtained 5% World Source. Total World Source obtained: 29.3%.]
Destroying this shaft actually gave him 5% World Source? This made Su Xiao’s jaw drop.
There must be a secret down there. That ‘Diackman’ tribe—was it the tribe of the Primitives?
Too few clues; it was still unclear.
After destroying the so-called ‘Diackman’ tribe’s exit, Su Xiao’s faction mission was completed.
[Faction Mission: Reinforcements] (Completed)
Difficulty Level: Lv.5
Mission Brief: Go deep into District 24 to reinforce Special Class Investigator: Arima Kishou, and assist Arima Kishou in driving away the Primitives.
Mission Info: CCG faction mission will not be counted in the clearance evaluation.
Mission Time Limit: 2 natural days.
Mission Reward: 15,000 Faction Contribution Points.
Failure Penalty: CCG official rank reduced by one level, demoted to Senior Investigator.
…
Accept/Decline [Faction Mission: Reinforcements].
Choosing to complete it, 15,000 Faction Contribution Points were obtained. Su Xiao checked his current Faction Contribution Points.
[Provisional Special Class Investigator: Contribution Points 21,370/130,000.]
After exchanging for [Human Body Gene Enhancement Fluid] earlier, he still had some Contribution Points left. Adding the reward from this mission and the thousands of Primitives he had blown up—
Blowing up Primitives gave CCG Contribution Points, but since the bombs weren’t Su Xiao’s, the amount gained was very small.
Seeing over 20,000 Contribution Points, Su Xiao felt a secret delight.
These more than 20,000 points were enough for him to exchange items at the District 24 branch.
Having completed Main Mission (2) and obtained enough Contribution Points, Su Xiao suddenly realized that he could soon break free from CCG’s constraints.
Once he exchanged for those two items in District 24, he would consider completing Main Mission (2) to see what Main Mission (3) was and whether it was still closely tied to CCG.
Su Xiao’s situation was becoming increasingly dangerous. CCG kept assigning dangerous missions, which made him alert. It was time to consider leaving CCG. This ‘human’ organization was becoming more and more suspicious.
All the Primitives were blown up, and the shaft was collapsed. The crisis in the central city was resolved. It was time to return to the surface. Su Xiao needed to go to the District 24 temporary branch to exchange items as soon as possible.
Calling out Akira Mado and Juuzou from the hiding spot, the four gathered and headed toward the exit of the central city. No one wanted to stay long in this underground city with poor air circulation.
No one spoke along the way. Akira Mado’s expression was unnatural. She felt she had learned things she shouldn’t have known—the Primitives and the underground city shattered her worldview.
Just as Su Xiao and the others were about to enter the underground passage, several figures walked toward them.
Su Xiao’s group was returning to the surface, while the others were entering the central city. The two parties met head-on.
The group emerging from the passage were Ghouls, and they were not weak.
Eto, Tatara, Noro, and Ayato Kirishima.
It was the Aogiri Tree members, also four in number.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, facing off from a distance of over ten meters.
“Juuzou, you deal with the one in the red mask.”
Su Xiao assigned Juuzou the little angel to fight Tatara. Although Juuzou was only a Second Class Investigator, after putting on ‘New,’ he could handle Tatara without issue. Even if he couldn’t kill him stalling was no problem.
“Arima, I’ll take the one wrapped in bandages. You handle the others. No problem?”
Su Xiao had his eyes on Eto. During the previous battle, she had wounded him and escaped—basically, she had acted tough and then run. This time, he wouldn’t let her get away.
“I’ll go after that one. You take the rest.”
Arima Kishou actually walked straight toward Eto.
“I’m not good at group battles. You should know that.”
Having said that, Su Xiao quickly charged at Eto.
Arima Kishou frowned, as if wanting to stop Su Xiao, but Su Xiao had already reached Eto, so he couldn’t intervene.
Helplessly, Arima Kishou could only head toward Noro and Ayato Kirishima.
Akira Mado stood still, looking at Su Xiao’s back with a somewhat resentful gaze. Su Xiao hadn’t told her who to fight.
On the battlefield, her role was to look pretty—Miss Akira Mado, the young lady~.
Scanning the entire area, Akira Mado first ruled out Tatara and Noro; both were powerful Ghouls on record, and she was no match for them.
Finally, Akira Mado looked at Ayato Kirishima.
Ayato Kirishima didn’t care about Akira Mado’s gaze. The CCG’s famous White Reaper was charging at him. Even with Noro joining him, Ayato Kirishima still felt uneasy.
When Ghouls and Investigators met, there was no possibility of negotiation. Life and death were trivial—if you didn’t accept it, you fought!
Regardless of the others’ battles, as Su Xiao charged at Eto, Eto looked somewhat helpless.
Ayato Kirishima was still nearby, and she hesitated about whether to reveal her true identity.
Watching Su Xiao rush at her with his blade, Eto sighed and turned to run into the passage behind her.
The timing wasn’t right; she couldn’t expose her identity yet.
Su Xiao followed closely behind. The two entered the passage, one fleeing and one chasing. After a few minutes of pursuit, Eto stopped. They faced off in a spacious open area—Eto’s chosen battlefield, as the open space was more suitable for her Kakuja form to fight.
Eto had grown up in District 24 and knew it like the back of her hand.
“Not running anymore?”
Su Xiao slowly approached Eto, activating Azure Steel Shadow. Sparks surged along the surface of Dragon-Slaying Flash, emitting a faint blue glow.
“What bad luck, running into you of all people.”
Eto’s voice was ethereal. She loosened some bandages, faintly revealing pale skin, and even two spots of pink on her chest.
Eto wasn’t trying to seduce Su Xiao; she was about to transform into her Kakuja form, and the bandages were in the way.
Kicking off the ground, Su Xiao closed the distance to Eto in a few steps, his blade slicing through the air toward her neck.
The Rc cells surged beneath the bandages. Before Dragon-Slaying Flash could land, Eto was already encased in her Kakuja shell.
The battle erupted instantly.