At the border of the 14th district.
The location here was excellent, the scenery was beautiful, it should have been an excellent area to live in.
The proliferation of ghouls had caused a lot of people in this area to move away, and gradually, the houses turned to ruin.
Inside a building, hundreds of ghouls had gathered here to share information, to sell 'food', or to find a spouse.
"Have you heard, the auction house and the mutual eating district have been annihilated by CCG! Those guys are really begging for revenge."
"How could you not hear about the new crazy guy of the 14th CCG branch. Every ghoul must've heard of him by now, Bya-something-or-another…"
"He is called Byakuya, or so I was told. A friend of mine used to stay in the mutual eating district and saw the guy with his own eyes…"
A ghoul appearing as a student said but stopped talking.
The surrounding ghouls were gathering their attention on him.
"Talk about it, don't just stop! What does that Byakuya look like? If we see him in the future, we must hide."
The ghoul that looked like a student put his hands on his waist and looked at other ghouls with a teasing smile.
"Ugh, I'm starving. The CCG has become more and more threatening. I've been going hungry for half a month now."
A few surrounding ghouls looked at each other and understood the meaning of this 'student' ghoul.
"Tagawa, don't you still have some 'dried food'? Give him some."
"Why me, my 'dried food' is for an emergency. As for that madman, Byakuya, I don't wanna know."
The surrounding ghouls started to gossip and looked at the 'student' ghoul with unkind expressions.
"You, will you tell us or not."
"Tell us or you're gonna be a snack, kiddo!"
The student ghoul was relatively young, he was somewhat timid and afraid of being cannibalized.
But it would be a bit of a shame to just give in like this.
"I will tell you, but I am not telling you because I'm afraid! We're all ghouls, it's not easy for us to survive."
A few of the surrounding ghouls looked at each other and smiled. They didn't dare to really fight here, they just wanted to scare the 'student' ghoul.
"Yes, yes, we understand. Tell us quickly."
The young ghoul coughed and began to narrate the information he knew, while the surrounding ghouls listened attentively.
...
In the waist high grass surrounding the building, several large figures were slowly approaching.
"Team one, take the left flank. Team two, right flank. Team three is responsible for the frontal assault. Team four will block the exit at the back of the building."
Su Xiao crouched in the grass and began to stealthily approach the building.
The number of ghouls present this time was huge. After using a heat detector, the number of ghouls in the building was estimated to be at least 240.
If he were to rush in alone, he won't be their opponent at all, but with the cooperation of other Investigators, things were different.
He would take the lead while other Investigators covered him. The battle would be bloody, but they should be able to kill all ghouls present.
"Team one, ready."
"Team two is ready."
"Team three is ready."
"Team four, we're in position."
Dragon Flash appeared in Su Xiao's hand, and he tapped on the Bluetooth headset.
"Go."
At Su Xiao's order, the Investigators of the Teams one, two and three raised their grenade launchers.
"Thump, thump, thump, thump…"
Dozens of canisters of tear gas grenades were shot into the derelict building.
At first, Su Xiao just wanted to use high-explosive grenades to just directly bomb the ghouls until nothing moved. But strangely, CCG's weapon warehouse did not provide them with this many explosive grenades.
According to the logistics expert managing the warehouse, grenades could not effectively kill ghouls and may affect innocent bystanders.
Su Xiao doubt that statement somewhat, but he had a skeptical attitude towards CCG in general. They were fighting in a place without any civilians, so which innocent people were there to hurt?
It might also be possible that CCG headquarters was afraid of possible ruthless Investigators, were they afraid that Investigators would use weapons of mass destruction in downtown areas?
It was not impossible, but seemed somewhat unreasonable.
Su Xiao did not want to look into it though. His priority was to complete the main task.
An in-depth investigation into CCG may provoke some higher-ups in the CCG, and right now, the situation would not be easy to deal with, he could even fail the main mission.
"Hiss, hiss…"
There sound of the gas escaping the canisters was audible even from outside the building, and a white mist spread quickly.
This white mist was actually not tear gas, but CRC gas.
When the CRC gas reached a specific concentration, it would cause a significant impact on ghouls. The activity of Rc cells in ghouls' bodies would be lowered, Kakuhou will shrink and ghouls would be unable to release their Kagune.
[E/N: Again, Kakuhou = Organ containing the Rc cells in ghoul's bodies.]
It was time. Su Xiao ran into the building, dozens of Investigators right behind him.
Intensive gunshots, weapon collisions, and screams rang in succession from the building.
The battle started straight away.
"C, CCG is coming, run away!"
The ghouls were nervous and bumped into another while the CRC gas prevented them from releasing their Kagune.
But the building was not enclosed, so the CRC gas was rapidly dissipating.
Su Xiao held his sword and slashed incessantly. Several ghouls fell one after another, Su Xiao's attacks allowing him to push forward, while the Investigators defended the sides.
With the cover of these people, Su Xiao was obviously able to keep his calm even in this group fight. More and more ghouls fell to his blade.
….
Two hours later, Su Xiao sat on the floor, which was completely covered in blood.
Ripping a piece of cloth from a ghoul, he began to clean Dragon Flash.
The battle lasted for two hours and was extremely fierce. During this period, the ghouls attempted to escape, but they were stopped by Su Xiao's people, who were assigned to block any escapees.
At that time, the CRC gas had already diffused, and the ghouls, utterly crazy from fear and anger, began to fight back.
After throwing away the cloth, which was now full of blood, Su Xiao put away his Dragons Flash.
Looking around, he noticed that while there were a lot of ghoul's bodies lying in front of him, there were no treasure chests.
Perhaps his luck had been used up when the previous chest flashed.
Su Xiao received a total of 367 contribution points from killing these ghouls.
His task completion rate had reached [Rank 1 Investigator, contribution points: 1264/2000.]
Although more than 200 ghouls were killed this time, not all of them were killed by him, a large part of them were killed by other Investigators. He could only get a small contribution for them.
Su Xiao thought that he would only be able to get a bit of free time was when he got closer to reaching the main task.
"Akira, report the casualties."
The death of Mado Kureo had a significant influence on Mado Akira.
But because of today's mission, Mado Akira had choose to not take time off, she was too stubborn for that.
"128 people came to this mission. 78 are slightly injured, 15 are seriously injured. 23 are dead. The remaining 12 have only scratches."
She was standing in place after giving the report, and she was slightly injured.
Su Xiao was not surprised to hear the casualty numbers.
Killing ghouls was not a simple matter. Sacrificing humans' lives was necessary. Only 23 people had died. It could be said that it was firmly their victory.
If Su Xiao hadn't led the battle, the death rate would most likely exceed 50%.
It sounded like an exaggerated, but this was the truth.
"Send the bodies to the headquarters. As for the injured, send them to the hospital.
How many people are in fighting condition?"
Su Xiao was ready to clear the next ghouls' gathering point, as there was not much time.
"About 50 people can continue to fight."
"Give me the specific number."
When killing and fighting, Su Xiao had a unique momentum.
"Fifty-three."
Mado Akira straightened her body subconsciously.
"Fifty-three… It's not enough. Contact Shinohara Yukinori, and tell him that we don't have enough people."
Shinohara Yukinori and Su Xiao had talked about this beforehand. Shinohara Yukinori could accept casualties when clearing the 14th, but only if they were kept to less than 100. Exceeding this number, Shinohara Yukinori would forcibly stop the plan to clear the 14th district.
To expel a lot of ghouls at once, some people would definitely die. A battle without any deaths existed only in stories and fairytales. Neither Su Xiao, nor Shinohara Yukinori were this naive. The both of them were very clear about one thing:
Anyone who wants to kill has to be prepared to be killed himself.