Chapter 107: The Well

After running at full speed for ten minutes, Su Xiao stopped.

Behind him, there was utter silence—the Blood Eye had not followed, which was undoubtedly good news, but the reinforcement squad had dwindled from twenty-seven to just three.

Su Xiao, Shinomiya Akira, and Suzuya Kuuya.

Su Xiao leaned against the wall, gasping for breath; beside him, Shinomiya Akira lay collapsed, occasionally vomiting sour fluid—this girl had run herself to exhaustion.

“What the hell was that? A ghoul? Do such terrifying ghouls really exist in this world? Even the One-Eyed Owl would be swallowed whole by it.”

Shinomiya Akira’s golden hair was tangled and plastered to her face with sweat, her chest heaving violently, as if she’d just been thoroughly fucked.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Kuuya leaned against the wall, coughing uncontrollably, as if he were trying to cough out his lungs.

“Clack.”

Su Xiao lit a cigarette and sat back against the fleshy wall.

“Now I finally understand why Koma that bastard ran away.”

Exhaling a plume of smoke, Su Xiao smiled—this near-death sensation was too exhilarating; just moments ago, when the Blood Eye devoured a man, he’d barely escaped having his head bitten off.

Beside him, Shinomiya Akira was speechless. Was this really a normal reaction? Her gaze shifted to Kuuya.

Kuuya’s upturned smirk made Shinomiya Akira question reality—was she the abnormal one, or were her two teammates?

After resting a while, Su Xiao rose and led Shinomiya Akira and Kuuya forward.

The CCG headquarters had sent thirty reinforcements, but only three had actual combat strength: Su Xiao, Suzuya Kuuya, and Kuroiwa Iwa.

Now Kuroiwa Iwa was dead, leaving only Su Xiao and Suzuya Kuuya.

Such a death rate was exactly what Su Xiao had anticipated—the appearance of the Blood Eye had merely accelerated the slaughter.

After more than an hour of walking, the three reached a dead end.

Su Xiao pulled out a mini-computer to check: Koma Takaaki was now very close—no more than half an hour’s distance away.

He had penetrated deep into District 24. Tokyo wasn’t large, and now he stood at the center of Tokyo’s underground.

“Akira, can you still tell which way to go?”

Shinomiya Akira was now acting as a living map—this girl had an extraordinary memory and had memorized nearly every route they’d passed, even without marking the corridors, she could tell if they’d been there before.

“Probably this one. Or maybe this one.”

Shinomiya Akira bit a pen between her lips, frowning deeply.

“You pick.”

Su Xiao would no longer lead—they’d learned their lesson the last time they ventured into District 24.

“Then this one.”

After Shinomiya Akira chose the path, the three continued forward; Su Xiao soon noticed the corridor was growing narrower.

In other parts of District 24, the narrowest corridors were still about two meters wide and at least four meters high.

But this corridor was now only one meter wide and two meters high, with darkness ahead—only a powerful flashlight could illuminate it.

Anyone timid would never dare enter such a passage after descending dozens of meters underground.

Su Xiao and Kuuya remained calm; Shinomiya Akira, walking between them, grew tense.

After advancing dozens of meters, a faint light appeared ahead—not sunlight, but artificial illumination.

Su Xiao reached the end of the corridor, and the sight before him made his pupils contract sharply.

“Shiroya Jun, what the hell is this? Are you kidding me!”

Shinomiya Akira leaned forward to look—and her expression froze.

“Now I understand why there are so many ghouls in District 24. This is an underground city for ghouls,” Shinomiya Akira whispered.

Before Su Xiao’s eyes stretched a vast city.

A layer of earth beneath had been hollowed out, forming a massive underground metropolis.

The buildings were dilapidated, mostly metallic, standing unevenly within the subterranean space.

Su Xiao’s position was one of dozens of entrances to the underground city; looking down, he was over ten meters above the city’s ground level.

Dozens of entrances dotted the area, like dozens of holes drilled into a metal plate, which had then been erected before the underground city.

“This place is insane. If something like this exists, ghouls can never be eradicated.”

As Shinomiya Akira gazed at the underground city, Su Xiao yanked her back into the corridor and signaled silence.

Closer inspection revealed primitive ghouls moving between the buildings—not just primitives, but eyeless ghouls as well.

These two types of ghouls patrolled the underground city like guards.

That was why ordinary ghouls in District 24 had fled desperately, with no will to fight—they were refugees, their homes overrun.

In the underground city, Su Xiao could faintly make out the corpses of ordinary ghouls—mostly elderly and children, few adults.

Ghouls had emotions too. If most of the dead were the young and old, the primitive ghouls’ assault must have been sudden and brutal.

The mystery of District 24 was slowly unraveling. Su Xiao now understood:

Primitive ghouls and ordinary ghouls were enemies—or rather, primitive ghouls had no reason, attacking all life except their own kind.

The eyeless ghouls and the primitives likely shared a common origin; they showed no aggression toward each other. Su Xiao even saw them feeding together on a single corpse.

A mindless “beast” sharing food meant their bond was far deeper than mere coincidence.

“What’s that over there?”

Shinomiya Akira pointed to the top of a steel building, where a figure lay prone.

Su Xiao squinted—white hair, disheveled white combat gear, a Kyoukai box caked in blood—it was Koma Takaaki.

After hours of penetrating District 24 and nearly all reinforcements dead, Su Xiao had finally found his target.

Koma Takaaki’s condition was poor—he showed no obvious wounds, but was trapped atop the roof.

Su Xiao pulled a wrench from his storage space—the reward for unlocking the Crimson Card of the Queen.

He lowered his stance, stepped forward, and hurled the wrench far away.

“Clang.”

The wrench struck a distant metal structure, startling several primitive and eyeless ghouls, who sprinted toward the sound.

Koma Takaaki, lying atop the roof, lifted his head toward the noise.

Instantly, he turned his gaze toward Su Xiao’s position.

Beasts only reacted to the direction of sound; humans instinctively searched for the source.

Their eyes met. Su Xiao gestured for Koma Takaaki to come near the corridor.

Koma Takaaki shook his head, pointed to the center of the underground city, then pointed to Su Xiao.

“What does Special Class Koma mean?”

Shinomiya Akira didn’t understand, but Su Xiao did—they’d shared life and death, and some things needed no words.

“You two stay here. If danger comes, flee first.”

With that, Su Xiao climbed out of the corridor, descending via the dozens of entrance holes.

His movements were silent, effortless; soon he reached the bottom and leapt onto the roof of a steel building.

Su Xiao crouched on the roof, surrounded by several primitive ghouls.

Like a nimble monkey, he crouched and leapt across the steel rooftops, utterly silent.

Nearly ten minutes later, Su Xiao arrived at Koma Takaaki’s rooftop without incident.

“Give me food and fresh water—I’m about to collapse from thirst.”

After Su Xiao handed over food and water, Koma Takaaki devoured the food in a few bites and gulped down an entire bottle of water.

“What’s the situation now?”

Koma Takaaki scanned the surroundings and spoke softly.

“We need to lure these ‘Primitives’ to the city center, then drive them into the ‘Well,’ and seal the Well’s entrance.”

“Well?”

Su Xiao stared at Koma Takaaki in shock. What the hell was this “Well”?