Chapter 84: The Troubles of a Lone Wanderer
Su Xiao pressed down on Takatsuki Sen, passing through the crowd of numerous investigators at the entrance.
“Who’s that woman? She looks a bit familiar.”
“Now that you mention it, she does seem familiar to me too.”
“Isn’t that Takatsuki Sen? The very famous author. Why would she appear in District 24, personally escorted by Special Class Arima and Quasi-Special Class Bai Ye? Could it be...”
The investigators murmured among themselves. For now, Takatsuki Sen’s identity could not be revealed.
If these investigators knew who Takatsuki Sen really was, they would swarm forward and try to tear her apart limb by limb.
The blood feud between the Aogiri Tree and the CCG ran deep. Among the hundreds of investigators present, most had some grudge against Takatsuki Sen.
Takatsuki Sen, who had been very composed earlier, now couldn’t help but feel tense. She was like a tiger walking through a pack of wolves. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she said:
“Arima, is that plan of yours really reliable?”
Su Xiao’s heart jolted.
“Less talk, unless you want to die. If these people find out who you are, neither Arima nor I can hold them back.”
The three quickened their pace, soon passing through the crowd, returning to the surface, and arriving at a barren patch of land. All three breathed a sigh of relief.
Arima Kishou took out his phone to contact CCG headquarters.
“Director, the mission is complete. The original species has been ‘driven’ back underground. However, that well was destroyed. The situation was ‘critical’ at the time, so I had no choice but to blow it up...”
Arima Kishou reported the ‘details’ of the mission to Washuu Kiyoshi, most of which were true.
“Yes, no problem. There’s one more thing. Quasi-Special Class Bai Ye and I encountered the small owl of the Yoshimura family underground. We captured her alive.”
The voice on the phone noticeably rose. Su Xiao vaguely heard words like “must be kept alive,” “send to Cochlea,” and “you’ll be responsible for this.”
“Understood. To be safe, I’ll have Quasi-Special Class Bai Ye escort her together.”
Washuu Kiyoshi on the phone seemed somewhat hesitant. After saying something to Arima Kishou, Arima turned to glance at Su Xiao.
“That guy isn’t very obedient, no? No, we’re not together now. If it’s just borrowing his combat strength, that’s fine. He hasn’t shown any disloyalty yet. Deep in District 24, he’s been cooperating with my actions. For now, he’s a usable pawn.”
Needless to say, Su Xiao was definitely the ‘that guy’ Arima Kishou referred to. After being extorted by Su Xiao, Washuu Kiyoshi clearly harbored some resistance toward him.
“Understood, Director. I’ll handle it now. We expect to have the small owl delivered to Cochlea within a day.”
Arima Kishou hung up the phone and said to Su Xiao and the other:
“Things are going smoothly. The CCG’s intention is to imprison Takatsuki Sen in ‘Cochlea,’ the ghoul detention center, just as we anticipated.”
‘Cochlea,’ the ghoul detention center, was a ghoul prison located in District 23, housing many dangerous ghouls.
Those ghouls were formidable in strength, but they weren’t members of the V Organization. The V Organization likely thought killing them would be a waste, so they locked them up in the ghoul prison.
The ghouls imprisoned in ‘Cochlea’ were living in hell. The CCG used them for brutal experiments. The reason Yamori became so twisted was that he had been tortured by an investigator in ‘Cochlea,’ and under the accumulated torment, that personality emerged.
“That damn place.”
Takatsuki Sen scoffed lightly, apparently familiar with ‘Cochlea.’
“Let’s head back to the temporary base first. I have some things to take care of.”
The three found a car. Su Xiao took the driver’s seat. After Arima Kishou and the other got in, he skillfully started the engine, shifted gears, released the clutch, and floored the accelerator.
Tires kicked up mud and grass clippings as the car shot forward with a wild surge.
Three minutes later, Su Xiao and the others arrived at the entrance of the temporary base.
Entering the temporary base, Su Xiao headed straight for the logistics department. The skinny old man with small round sunglasses was still lazily sitting behind the window.
“Huh? Quasi-Special Class Bai Ye is back again. What a big customer. Here to purchase goods this time too?”
Su Xiao nodded, and the exchange list appeared.
He now had a full 21,370 contribution points, enough to exchange for the two items he had his eye on.
After exchanging for these two items, CCG contribution points would mean little to him. Or rather, he would soon be unable to earn any more CCG contribution points, so he needed to spend them quickly.
[Crushing Spirit (Premium)]
Exchange Condition: 13,000 CCG Contribution Points, Quasi-Special Class Investigator Rank.
[Type C Field Injector]
Exchange Condition: 8,000 CCG Contribution Points, Quasi-Special Class Investigator Rank.
...
The total of the two was 21,000 CCG Contribution Points. His contribution was just enough, so he decisively exchanged for them.
[You have obtained ‘Crushing Spirit (Premium)’ and ‘Type C Field Injector’.]
[Crushing Spirit (Premium)]
Origin: Tokyo Ghoul.
Quality: Green.
Attack Power: 6~20. (Attack power is a comprehensive calculation of destructive force, firearm power, and weapon performance.)
Category: Quinque (Large Handgun).
Magazine Capacity: 6. (Quinque-type firearms automatically reload bullets; cooldown time 2 minutes.)
Durability: 35/35.
Equipment Requirements: Strength 12 points, Agility 10 points.
Equipment Effect: Stare Shot (Active). Upon activation, must stare at the enemy for 5 seconds while holding the gun. During this time, movement speed is reduced by 50%. After 5 seconds, a rapid shot is fired at the stared enemy, expending all six bullets in the chamber in an extremely short time.
Tip: After activating Stare Shot, the enemy is locked on, and the fired bullets are homing projectiles.
Tip: Using Stare Shot consumes 50 Mana Points.
Tip: Stare Shot (Active) cooldown time is 24 hours.
Rating: 30 (Note: Green equipment ratings range from 1 to 30. Equipment with a rating of 30 will be marked ‘Premium’ and have a special attribute attached.)
Description: My marksmanship is terrible, but I can stare at you. Once I set my sights on you, there’s only one outcome: death. Unless... there’s a large obstacle in front of you.
Price: 3,800 Paradise Coins.
...
A dark red and silver revolver appeared in Su Xiao’s hand. The barrel was about thirty centimeters long, and the entire gun gave off a sense of weight. Engraved on the barrel was a line of small text: ‘Justice won’t speak for itself.’
This top-tier green-quality firearm gave Su Xiao a means of ranged attack.
His blade techniques were sharp, no doubt, but he still needed some ranged attack capability. After all, he was roaming the Reincarnation Paradise alone. The main use of [Crushing Spirit] was its attached skill: Stare Shot.
Guaranteed hit, and six shots in rapid succession—this allowed Su Xiao, who wasn’t proficient with firearms, to use it effectively.
Looking at the various attributes of [Crushing Spirit], Su Xiao couldn’t help but sigh. If only this were a blade-type weapon.
Putting away [Crushing Spirit], Su Xiao looked at the [Type C Field Injector] in his hand.
This item was a one-time recovery consumable, and also the first green-quality recovery item he had seen.
The attribute of restoring 30% of health made this injector extremely precious.
[Type C Field Injector] had a silver-white casing, was compact in size, and easy to use—a lifesaving remedy.
With this item, Su Xiao could save his life in a desperate situation.
Carefully stowing away [Type C Field Injector], Su Xiao felt a bit more at ease. He had achieved his first goal: using his Quasi-Special Class Investigator status to reap benefits.
Now, as long as he completed the mission, he could return to the Reincarnation Paradise.
Su Xiao had already thought of a method that would surely complete the main mission, so he set the main mission aside for now.
All he needed to do now was complete the hidden mission and the hunt mission, and this derivative world would come to an end.