Chapter 44: Ghoul × Human

Su Xiao stood behind a large tree as the female high school student ghoul began disposing of the corpses.

Needless to say, the high school girl’s technique was highly skilled; she first cleaned up the large pools of blood on the ground, then dragged the two corpses across the floor.

“Gulps.”

The sound of swallowing came as the female high school student stared at the human corpse before her, her stomach’s hunger causing her great pain.

“Last time. After this, I’ll never eat raw meat again—I’m not an animal.”

The girl’s hand reached for the corpse, blood smearing her pale skin.

“You plan to eat in front of me?”

Su Xiao stepped out from behind the tree trunk.

For some reason, the female high school student shuddered, retracting her red eye and kakugan, hiding her blood-stained hand behind her back as she frantically wiped it, looking panicked.

“Who are you? How did you get here?”

“CCG, Third-Class Investigator, Bai Ye.”

[Dragon-Slaying Flash] appeared in Su Xiao’s hand, its gleaming blade flashing a cold gleam under the moonlight.

“CCG investigator… so this day has finally come.”

The girl lowered her head, letting her hidden hand drop; blood still stained her palm.

Her kakugan and kakugan reappeared—her kakugan was a tail kagune, emerging from the end of her spine, two thin strands no thicker than fingers.

“Did you see my face? My name is Chiyuki. I’m the one who’ll kill you.”

Chiyuki’s delicate face twisted—this ghoul still retained some humanity, but she was a ghoul.

“This park is your hunting ground, isn’t it? From your previous actions, you lure lecherous men. What about the missing female students?”

Su Xiao’s questions enraged Chiyuki.

“Those sluts sell their bodies for a little money. They’re human—why don’t they just find someone they love and live quietly?”

“That’s right—I envy them. I envy them for being human. Every time, I tear them apart and boil them to eat.”

Most ghouls, having fed on humans for so long, are mentally warped—after all, the difference between humans and ghouls isn’t great.

Su Xiao understood the cause. The ghoul he was looking for was Chiyuki.

“You have ten seconds to say your last words.”

Chiyuki blinked, laughing at Su Xiao.

“You’re just a Third-Class Investigator? You want me to leave last words? With that broken knife in your hand? It can’t even scratch me.”

“What a bizarre last request.”

With that, Su Xiao charged forward, sword raised.

Fighting, screams, cries…

One minute later, the forest fell silent. Chiyuki lay on the ground, drenched in blood, her tail kagune severed, both arms gone.

“It hurts~… So this is what injury feels like. No wonder those prey screamed so loudly.”

Tears clung to Chiyuki’s lashes—she was only an A-to-S-class ghoul, slain by Su Xiao in a few strikes.

“You’re going to kill me?”

Su Xiao remained silent, standing beside Chiyuki as he raised [Dragon-Slaying Flash].

“Is it wrong to live as a ghoul? Hah~… Eating humans really does bring retribution.”

“Not my concern. Just a mission. Goodbye.”

The long blade fell, spraying blood.

【You killed S- class ghoul, Chiyuki.】

【Chiyuki was a common ghoul. You gained 0.5% of the World Source. Total World Source acquired: 5.7%.】

【Your talent ‘Soul Eater’ activated. Permanent +7 Mana. Current Mana: 170.】

【Obtained 40 CCG Contribution Points.】

Although Chiyuki was an S- ghoul, she dropped no chest.

This was unsurprising—Chiyuki’s power gap with Su Xiao was too vast. The World Source gained showed she had negligible impact on the plot.

The Wall Spider dropped a green chest not because he was strong, but because he was tightly tied to the original story.

Su Xiao pulled out his CCG-issued phone, called, explained the situation to the 14th District branch, then hung up.

The rest didn’t need his handling—CCG would send personnel to dispose of Chiyuki’s body. Once her kagune sac was extracted, he’d gain additional contribution points.

Of course, he could keep the kagune sac and spend contribution points to craft it into a Quinque.

A Quinque made from an S- kagune sac would be only a White-tier item, so Su Xiao chose to submit it, gaining 10 contribution points.

Thus, Su Xiao’s contribution points became: Third-Class Investigator (Contribution: 50/50). Promote?

He chose to promote. His rank didn’t change. The Lunhuileyuan gave a prompt.

【Awaiting CCG Headquarters’ response. Estimated time: 3 hours.】

Promotion isn’t automatic—it requires official approval from CCG Headquarters.

With the Lunhuileyuan ’s influence, promotion to Second-Class Investigator was certain.

Without the Lunhuileyuan ’s influence, Su Xiao might have needed years to reach First-Class Investigator.

It had nothing to do with how many ghouls he eliminated—it was about seniority.

Now, with the Lunhuileyuan ’s influence, seniority was discarded. Su Xiao only needed to kill many ghouls.

Even so, reaching First-Class Investigator wouldn’t be easy.

CCG investigators had six ranks, from lowest to highest: Third-Class, Second-Class, First-Class, Upper-Class, Provisional Special-Class, and Special-Class.

Third-Class was the weakest. Special-Class was the strongest.

When Su Xiao returned to the 14th District branch, Shinohara Yukki approached him voluntarily.

“That’s how it went. The ghoul has been eliminated. Are there other ghouls to eliminate?”

Su Xiao described the events to Shinohara Yukki, who nodded.

“I’ve already reported your solo elimination of an S- ghoul to Headquarters. If nothing goes wrong, you’ll be promoted to Second-Class Investigator by special merit—your ability is wasted as a Third-Class.”

“No, even Second-Class is beneath you—but without sufficient merit, Headquarters won’t promote you.”

Su Xiao said nothing. He only wanted to find the next ghoul.

Currently, all other Contractees except him were assigned to the Ghoul faction—meaning the target he needed to hunt, Contractee #12470, was also in the Ghoul faction.

Judging from the two sub-tasks of Main Quest (1.2), Main Quest (3) will likely be a confrontation-type task—otherwise, there’d be no need for two factions or a balance mechanism.

“If that’s the case, Senior Investigator Shinohara, please give me more ghoul locations.”

Completing Main Quest (2) early would bring significant advantages.

“Hmm, that’s a good idea—but you need rest. It’s already 10 PM.”

“Besides, tomorrow morning, I have a favor to ask you—or rather, Mr. Shinohara has something to ask of you.”

Su Xiao was puzzled but didn’t press further. After bidding farewell to Shinohara Yukki, he went to the dormitory assigned to him by the 14th District CCG branch—on the 16th floor.

11th District, Ota Ward.

As the stronghold of the Bronze Tree, the 11th District had become nearly a human no-go zone.

The Bronze Tree repeatedly attacked the 11th District CCG branch, reducing human presence there to near zero. Only scattered civilians lived near the branch, living in constant fear.

These civilians didn’t choose to live here—they were trapped. The ghouls of the 11th District held them captive as emergency “food supplies.” Only powerful investigators could enter or leave freely.

The ghouls here relied on “imported” human meat—proof of how dangerous the 11th District was.

At this moment, in a half-built building on the outskirts of the 11th District, over twenty humans gathered.

These twenty-odd people weren’t a unified group—they formed three factions, varying in size. These were the Contractees of the Ghoul faction.

“Hanyu, stop talking nonsense. The balance mechanism exists only because CCG is currently stronger than the Bronze Tree. Don’t go inventing some absurdly overpowered Contractee as your imaginary enemy.”

A young man with fiery red hair and a volatile temper sneered at Hanyu.

Hanyu sneered, shaking his head. If the man weren’t a Fire Mage, he wouldn’t have bothered approaching him for an alliance.

“Huo Bao, don’t think I came to you for an alliance so you can act arrogant.”

Hanyu tapped his staff on the ground. A thin layer of ice spread from his feet—he was also a Mage, but an Ice Mage. His damage output was weak, but his control was strong.

“If we weren’t on the same side, I’d kill you right now.”

Huo Bao gripped his short staff, heat radiating outward as sparks swirled around his body.

Huo Bao’s aura made Hanyu’s face change.

“This feeling… have you found a staff attuned to your element?”

Hanyu stared at the short staff in Huo Bao’s hand.

The staff looked crude—like a burning stick—with a thumbnail-sized red crystal embedded at its tip. Inside the red crystal, flame seemed to burn.

Huo Bao looked smug, glancing contemptuously at Hanyu’s staff.

“This treasure cost me 14,000 Park Coins—my total earnings from two worlds, plus the cost of bringing others along.”

Huo Bao’s face twisted in pain—but beneath it, excitement gleamed.

“Lucky bastard.”

Hanyu’s eyes burned with envy.

He shook his head, then pulled a small camera from his storage space and tossed it to Huo Bao.

Huo Bao caught it, fiddled with it briefly, then his expression turned grim.

Inside the camera: footage of Su Xiao instantly killing the Wall Spider and dominating Rize.

Though hot-tempered, Huo Bao wasn’t foolish—otherwise, he couldn’t have gathered a temporary raid team of ten.

“Alliance, Hanyu. We must cooperate in this side world—or we’ll all be killed by that monster. S-class ghoul slaughtered? Damn it—how did this kind of monster enter the ghoul world? He’s at least Level 7.”

I'll show my sincerity first—with an important piece of intelligence: the third stage of the main quest is a confrontation task; I bought this info for 400 Paradise Coins.

Han Yu sighed in relief; if they allied with the Fiery Alliance, they might still have a chance.

PS: (Since readers are asking for a group, here it is: 534789565—everyone in the group is a 'pure' 'good kid'~.)