Chapter 86: Collaborators
After killing Huishen Shenmu, Su Xiao immediately completed the main mission (2), and a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[You have completed Main Mission (2): Senior Investigator, obtaining 1 Attribute Point and 1500 Paradise Coins.]
[Main Mission (3) has been activated.]
Main Mission (3): Final Battle.
Difficulty Level: Lv.4
Mission Brief: Engage in a decisive battle with the Ghoul faction, eliminating over half of the Ghoul faction's contractors.
Mission Info: Eliminate the weak, the strong survive; Reincarnation Paradise does not cultivate contractors without potential.
Mission Time Limit: 5 natural days.
Mission Reward: Return Qualification.
Mission Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
Main Mission (3) was extremely brutal, requiring the elimination of half of the enemy's contractors within five days, or else death was unavoidable.
This was a elimination mechanism. Main Mission (1) familiarized contractors with the derivative world, Main Mission (2) assessed their combat capabilities and granted rewards, while Main Mission (3) was a survival-of-the-fittest selection, where only the strong could survive.
The notifications from Reincarnation Paradise were not over yet. Su Xiao killing Huishen Shenmu had been exposed under surveillance cameras, and the CCG headquarters would soon know.
[Warning: Because the Hunter has killed a high-ranking member of the CCG, you have been expelled from the CCG. All CCG Contribution Points have been cleared.]
[Warning: The CCG will dispatch Investigators or Ghouls to retaliate against you. Please proceed with caution.]
The notifications ended. Su Xiao was not surprised to be expelled from the CCG. He looked at Arima Kishou.
"Are the two we need to find both here?"
Arima Kishou shook his head.
"Not sure. One of them should be here. The other's situation is special; whether we can find him is still unknown."
After Takatsuki Sen regained her freedom, her Kakuja shell emerged.
"I'll hold off the Investigators. Leave the rest to you."
Takatsuki Sen stood still, waiting for the approaching Investigators.
"Bai Ye, find a Ghoul named Donato Porpora. Ghouls usually call him the Priest."
Su Xiao nodded in acknowledgment and split up with Arima Kishou to check the cells holding Ghouls. Alarms were blaring all around, and the staff in the monitoring room were in chaos—their director had been killed by an active Associate Special Class Investigator.
Donato Porpora, a Russian Ghoul, once ran a Catholic orphanage. Rated SS-level, most people called him the Priest.
In CCG records, the Priest was an SS-level Ghoul, but that wasn't true. His real strength was SSS-level; even against the Manager, the outcome would be fifty-fifty.
The Priest had eaten the children from the Catholic orphanage but hadn't gathered Ghouls or attacked the CCG, so he was judged as SS-level.
The Priest was once the adoptive father of Amon Koutarou, but after his identity was exposed, he was "defeated" and imprisoned in the Ghoul Detention Center.
Find the Priest and rescue him. Arima Kishou had an agreement with the Priest, so he wasn't worried about the Priest not cooperating.
Su Xiao began searching cell by cell through the observation ports on the doors.
The Ghouls inside the cells, upon seeing Su Xiao, turned their heads numbly, their eyes dull and lifeless, clearly having been tortured frequently.
These Ghouls were at least S-level, but in the detention center, they had become lab rats.
When he reached the fifth cell, Su Xiao saw an old man with graying hair and deep wrinkles on his face. Judging by his appearance, he was Russian.
"Donato Porpora?"
The old man sitting on the bed with his head lowered opened his eyes and looked up at Su Xiao.
"You are?"
"Answer me: are you Donato Porpora?"
The old man in the cell smiled, deepening the wrinkles on his face.
"It's me. Are you here to rescue me, or to kill me?"
Confirming that the person in the cell was the Priest himself, Su Xiao called over Arima Kishou, who was not far away. Arima Kishou hurried over and glanced at the Priest through the cell's observation port.
"That's him."
Su Xiao attached a piece of plastic explosive to the door, stepped back a distance, and detonated it—this was provided by Arima Kishou.
"Boom."
The cell door was blown open with a large hole, metal fragments scattering everywhere, carrying a whistling wind.
The Priest walked out of the cell with a smile, looking like a kind old man.
Su Xiao didn't think so. This guy was probably an old fox, smiling on the surface while scheming inside.
"Since you've come to rescue me, it means you've believed the information I provided and verified it."
The Priest was calm and composed, wearing a long-sleeved garment with his hands bound together. Seeing this, Arima Kishou used "Narukami" to cut open the Priest's sleeves.
"Verified. I went deep into that place once and almost died."
The first target was rescued. Once the second person was saved, Su Xiao and the others would retreat.
"I've been injected with Rc cell suppressant, so I can only rely on you for fighting. Arima, haven't you introduced me to your friend? He's our collaborator too, right?"
The Priest sized up Su Xiao, seemingly guessing his origins.
"Bai Ye, former Associate Special Class. His strength is reliable."
The Priest smiled and nodded at Su Xiao, not underestimating him just because he was an Associate Special Class.
"Let's go find the next collaborator."
Arima Kishou led the Priest to continue checking the cells, but Su Xiao stood still.
"I have something to handle. If I'm not back in ten minutes, don't wait for me."
With that, Su Xiao quickly ran upstairs.
Su Xiao was going to retrieve something that rightfully belonged to him—that unknown-grade Quinque.
"Hurry up. This place is safe for about half an hour, but headquarters will send people soon."
Arima Kishou called out to Su Xiao's back and then continued searching for the collaborator.
Su Xiao was currently on the tenth underground floor. Earlier, Huishen Shenmu had mentioned that the Quinque was in the laboratory on the seventh underground floor.
Three minutes later, Su Xiao arrived at the seventh underground floor. There were no cells here; instead, he saw many experimental personnel in white lab coats.
These personnel stood behind a glass door, looking at Su Xiao with some fear. They had apparently received the notice that Su Xiao had defected from the CCG.
Su Xiao pressed his hand against the glass door. It was very sturdy, even stronger than bulletproof glass.
"This guy isn't going to break in, is he?"
"Impossible. That glass is fused with Quinque steel and other materials, tougher than Quinque steel itself."
"What is he doing?"
Dozens of experimental personnel murmured among themselves. One with a bowl-cut hairstyle and black hair covering his eyes quietly retreated behind the others. He was Jigyoku Kouki, the maker of Su Xiao's Quinque.
After sensing the strength of the glass door, Su Xiao gripped the hilt of Dragon-Slaying Flash with one hand and pressed the other against the blade's back, using the tip to carve a shallow circular groove into the glass door with full force.
After carving the circular groove, Su Xiao took a deep breath, lunged forward, and slammed into the glass door.
"Clang."
A millstone-sized hole was smashed out. The experimental personnel were all dumbfounded.
"Mr. Bai Ye, please calm down. This is your Quinque."
Jigyoku Kouki was clever, holding a long rectangular box in his arms as he stepped forward.
Su Xiao took the box, checked it to confirm it was correct, ignored the experimental personnel, and quickly ran toward the tenth floor.
The newly acquired Quinque—Su Xiao only gave it a rough glance. It was a long sword, green quality, made from the Manager's kakuhou. He hadn't looked at the detailed information yet and would examine it after leaving the Ghoul Detention Center.
Although this sword was slightly better than Dragon-Slashing Flash, he wouldn't switch blades immediately. Issues like the sword's length, weight, balance, and sharpness all needed adaptation.
A sword couldn't be used just by obtaining it; it required a short period of adjustment, otherwise, mistakes in combat were highly likely.
Su Xiao had agreed to return within ten minutes with Arima Kishou, but he actually only took seven minutes.
When he returned to the tenth floor, he found that only Takatsuki Sen was left fighting the Investigators. Arima Kishou and the Priest were nowhere to be seen.