Chapter 109

Su Xiao and Arima Kishou entered the underground tunnel and began searching for ghouls.

Strangely enough, when Su Xiao didn't want to encounter ghouls, they often appeared before him, but now, not a single one could be seen.

After searching for five minutes, Su Xiao smelled a faint scent of blood.

Arima Kishou nodded to signal, and the two walked slowly toward the corner ahead. They hadn't gone far before they heard the sound of gnawing.

"Crunch, crunch~."

A ghoul weighing at least three hundred pounds was lying on a corpse, devouring it greedily. This was an ordinary ghoul.

The strength of this "Three-Hundred-Pounder" was not high, likely between B-rank and A-rank.

"Arima, this one is good. Lots of meat."

Arima Kishou nodded.

"But we need to find a sturdy rope."

The Three-Hundred-Pounder was startled by their conversation and looked at them blankly. In its hand, it was clutching a severed leg, already gnawed into a bloody mess, revealing white, ghastly bones.

"White... Reaper."

After seeing Su Xiao and Arima Kishou clearly, the Three-Hundred-Pounder was so terrified it slumped to the ground, shaking like a sieve.

If the Three-Hundred-Pounder threw away the severed leg in its hand and wiped the blood from its face, it would surely look pitiful. Unfortunately, in its current state, it looked like a perverted serial killer who cannibalized the corpses of its victims after murdering them.

Arima Kishou and Su Xiao rushed forward. Neither used their weapons; they wanted it alive.

"Help!"

The Three-Hundred-Pounder let out a high-decibel scream.

Su Xiao kicked the Three-Hundred-Pounder in its large belly, sending it rolling several times. Arima Kishou stepped forward and struck the back of the Three-Hundred-Pounder's neck hard.

The Three-Hundred-Pounder's body went limp. With Su Xiao and Arima Kishou working together, even without weapons, the Three-Hundred-Pounder had no room to resist.

The bait was secured, and the two carried the Three-Hundred-Pounder toward the Central City.

As for why they were carrying it, it was because this guy weighed more than three hundred pounds, and it was uncertain when it might wake up; carrying it alone was risky.

In the center of the underground city, there was a vertical shaft over ten meters in diameter. The shaft was bottomless, pitch-black inside, as if leading to the center of the earth.

The inner walls of the shaft were made of steel, covered in green moss, smooth and damp.

On the moss of the shaft walls, dense handprints and footprints were clearly visible; those primitive ones must have climbed up from here.

On both sides of the shaft opening were two semicircular covers. The covers were very thick; if closed, they could seal the shaft opening tightly.

At this moment, the covers were wide open. On one of the covers, which was over ten centimeters thick, there was a jagged, irregular hole, and bloodstains could still be seen on it.

The primitive ones had broken a hole in the cover, then rushed out of the shaft and opened the covers completely.

Logically, the primitive ones lacked such intelligence, but when Su Xiao last ventured deep into the 24th Ward, he saw a primitive one that looked like a leader; that guy had intelligence and could command the others.

At this moment, Su Xiao was hiding near the shaft opening, with some primitive ones wandering around.

"That guy Arima is too slow."

No sooner had he spoken than an explosion was heard in the distance.

"Boom!"

A burst of fire shot into the sky, accompanied by billowing thick smoke.

The primitive ones in the Central City all looked toward the explosion point and roared as they ran toward it.

Ten seconds later, Su Xiao emerged from his hiding spot and ran quickly toward the edge of the shaft.

He attempted to lift one of the covers to close it.

"Clack-clack."

The sharp sound of metal grinding rang out, and Su Xiao's face flushed red.

"Arima Kishou, screw your sister, this thing weighs at least eight or nine hundred pounds."

Relying on his 15 points of Strength, Su Xiao roared and lifted the cover, pushing with all his might.

"Clack-clack... Boom."

One side of the semicircular cover closed, and Su Xiao was already drenched in sweat.

Glancing at the cover on the other side, Su Xiao cursed under his breath; he should have been the one to "lure" the primitive ones.

"Clack-clack."

The other cover was lifted by Su Xiao. Fortunately, the covers were connected to the edge of the shaft by thick bearings, otherwise, with his strength, he might not have been able to lift this metal cover.

"Boom."

Both sides of the cover were closed, and the one-meter-wide hole on the surface of the covers was particularly conspicuous.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Su Xiao ran back to his previous hiding spot and dragged the Three-Hundred-Pounder out, a rope still in his hand.

Tying the Three-Hundred-Pounder tightly, Su Xiao kicked it into the hole in the cover like he was fishing, and tied one end of the rope to the cover.

That wasn't all; Su Xiao took off the backpack on his back. The backpack was heavy; Arima Kishou had just given it to him.

He took several silver metal pipes from the backpack. The metal pipes were over ten centimeters long, the thickness of a fist, with an adsorption device at one end.

Attaching the silver metal pipes to the cover, Su Xiao's task was complete. He left the cover quickly and arrived at a nearby high point.

Upon reaching the high point, Su Xiao discovered that Arima Kishou was already waiting for him; this was the meeting point they had agreed upon beforehand.

"You previously said that the cover was made of a special alloy and each side only weighed three hundred pounds, but that thing weighs at least eight hundred pounds, or even more."

Su Xiao stared at Arima Kishou with piercing eyes, which made Arima Kishou somewhat surprised.

"Not over three hundred pounds? The intelligence the headquarters gave me..."

Having said this, Arima Kishou fell silent.

Su Xiao was also silent. He vaguely guessed something. Perhaps... the CCG had already begun to abandon Arima Kishou? But with such powerful combat strength, would the CCG really let him die in this mission?

"It seems you aren't doing so well among the CCG high-ups. In your current state, you couldn't lift those two covers; that thing conservatively weighs eight hundred pounds. Sending me here might be a safeguard measure—if you fail, I step in..."

Arima Kishou chuckled. For some reason, Su Xiao felt that Arima Kishou's emotions were becoming richer, unlike his previous poker-faced appearance.

"My time is running out."

Arima Kishou said something cryptic, as if tacitly accepting that the CCG might be planning to abandon him.

"Bai Ye, you killed a ghoul named Kaneki Ken before, right? The one who only revealed one eye, the white-haired ghoul."

"Yes, during the battle in the 11th Ward against Aogiri Tree."

"Is that so? After this mission ends, I can tell you a secret. You help me do one thing; we can discuss the specifics later."

Arima Kishou's current words and actions made one wonder if he was planning to betray the CCG.

"No need to rush to refuse. I noticed before that you are different from other investigators; you are not loyal to the CCG. Although I don't know your goal, we can cooperate. I will pay you a reward."

Su Xiao's eyes lit up. Some astonishing secrets might soon be revealed to him. The more secretive the matter, the more World Source he could obtain. He was very interested in the secret Arima Kishou mentioned.

"Let's talk about it after we return to the surface. It's too early to say these things now."

Su Xiao wasn't blinded by the benefits; whether Arima Kishou was trustworthy remained to be verified.

After the explosion, the primitive ones in the Central City all gathered near the explosion point. Finding nothing there, the numerous primitive ones gradually dispersed.

The Central City had become their territory, and they were patrolling it.

"Did you hit him too hard? Why hasn't that Three-Hundred-Pounder woken up yet?"

Su Xiao looked at the closed cover with some helplessness.

"It should be soon. The target has too much fat, making it difficult to gauge the force."

The two lay in wait at the high point near the shaft, waiting for the Three-Hundred-Pounder inside to wake up.

Half an hour later, faint cries for help came from within the shaft.

"Is anyone there? Help!"

"Which bastard investigator hung me here? It's so dark, help~~."

The shouting grew louder. The primitive ones in the Central City heard the cries, their ears pricking up. This sound suddenly appearing in the shaft seemed to touch the primitive ones' reverse scales, and they swarmed over like a tide.

"Are you sure these primitive ones won't enter that well? I feel like these 'beasts' have been completely enraged and will go and tear the Three-Hundred-Pounder apart."

"I'm sure. The primitive ones won't enter the well; I've tested it before."

Since Arima Kishou said so, Su Xiao didn't press further.

"Someone come!! Help!!"

"White Reaper, I ************."

After the initial fear passed, the Three-Hundred-Pounder began swearing profusely. This was undoubtedly a good thing; hundreds and thousands of primitive ones were being lured over.

"Big Brother, I'll call you Big Brother, just kill me, this is too painful."

The Three-Hundred-Pounder began to beg for mercy.

A primitive one crawled onto the cover, its head cautiously approaching the hole in the cover, not daring to cross the line. Upon discovering the Three-Hundred-Pounder, it let out a roar.

"Roar."

"Roar. Roar..."

Roars continued to come. A large group of primitive ones paced anxiously on the cover, wanting to kill the Three-Hundred-Pounder but not daring to enter the shaft, as if fearing something.

The timing was ripe. Su Xiao took out a detonator.

The metal pipes he had attached to the cover earlier were bombs. Since he was carrying the bombs, the detonator had to be in his hands.

PS: (Please vote. The mosquito is about to go live. The number of recommendations recently has made the mosquito a bit panicked. Give me some confidence.)