Chapter 99: The Calm Before the Storm

In the temporary branch of District 24.

Su Xiao walked into the bathroom, drenched in sweat, and took a cold shower.

He preliminarily tested his bodily changes; the training intensity that once left him utterly exhausted now only left him slightly breathless.

His stamina rose from 6 to 10—not a two-fifths increase in endurance, but at least a several-fold improvement.

Su Xiao stepped out of the bathroom, towel drying his hair, when a rapid knocking came at the door.

When he opened it, a staff member stood at the threshold, face anxious.

“White Night, Assistant Special, something’s wrong—Yuna Assistant Special just called the branch for help, saying there’s an anomaly underground in District 24.”

“Anomaly? What kind?”

Su Xiao’s expression turned grim; he harbored unease toward District 24, given how deeply it had imprinted on him last time.

“A large number of ghouls have appeared in the underground passage and are now attacking the security gate. White Night Assistant Special, you should go see for yourself.”

Su Xiao grabbed his shirt from the bed and headed for the underground entrance of District 24.

Ten minutes later, Su Xiao arrived at the entrance—the sight before him made him frown.

The entrance was in chaos: temporary tents scattered, bloodstains visible here and there on the ground.

He dipped his finger in some blood—it was still warm, meaning the attack had happened recently.

“White Night, over here.”

Yuna’s weak voice came from beneath the collapsed tent; Su Xiao hurried over.

“Was the gate breached?”

The situation was clear: ghouls had forcibly broken out from beneath District 24, and Yuna had fought desperately.

From the wound piercing Yuna’s chest, it was obvious she had lost.

“I’m probably going to die.”

Yuna’s face was pale; massive blood loss meant she could slip into shock at any moment.

“You’re not dying yet—I brought medical personnel.”

Su Xiao carried Yuna out of the half-collapsed tent; medical staff immediately took over, rushing to treat her wounds.

“White Night, the new recruits… might…”

“Ah, I understand.”

The new recruits were likely all dead.

The medical personnel who came with Su Xiao stabilized Yuna’s wounds and immediately transported her back to the temporary branch—her lungs had been punctured; she needed surgery.

Su Xiao approached the underground entrance; bloodied footprints were visible nearby—the epicenter of the battle.

Yuna could have escaped, but she chose not to; this young girl knew that being an investigator wasn’t a privilege—it was a duty.

Su Xiao entered the underground passage. The metal door lay slanted on the ground, twisted and deformed, covered in large footprints—clearly subjected to intense assault.

Faint footsteps echoed from aboveground; Su Xiao went on alert, Zhanlongshan appearing in his hand.

A furtive figure stepped into the underground entrance; Su Xiao lunged forward.

The figure screamed in fright, raised his pistol, and fired wildly.

“Bang, bang…”

Gunshots rang out far down the tunnel; Zhanlongshan was already pressed against the intruder’s throat.

“Human?”

Su Xiao glanced at the gun in his hand—it was a CCG-exclusive model.

“A-Are you Assistant Special White Night?”

The man holding the gun was a slightly chubby young man, round-faced, clothes caked in dust and blood—upon closer inspection, it was clearly a CCG uniform.

“Tell me what happened here.”

Su Xiao didn’t need to guess the man’s identity—he was one of the surviving new investigators.

On the way here, the temporary branch staff had already briefed Su Xiao on the general situation.

Yuna had taken the new recruits to the outer edge of District 24 for “groundhog hunting,” then they were ambushed by a large number of ghouls; Yuna escaped the underground and called the temporary branch for help.

“Wah~.”

The chubby boy collapsed on the ground, dropped his pistol, and buried his face in his hands, sobbing loudly.

“W-We were attacked… Assistant Special Yuna told us… to run first… wah…”

The boy’s emotions were unstable—he’d clearly suffered severe trauma.

Through the boy’s fragmented account, Su Xiao learned the full story.

After Yuna retreated to the surface, she gathered the new investigators together.

Yuna knew the metal gate, though sturdy, couldn’t withstand continuous ghoul assaults—so she ordered the new recruits to evacuate first, while she stayed behind to hold the entrance; at that moment, Yuna had already accepted death.

A large number of ghouls broke through to the surface, putting the humans in nearby districts at risk.

From an investigator’s standpoint, Yuna’s actions were correct—but one new recruit, overcome by Rexue , insisted on staying to die alongside her; that investigator was the handsome young man who had tried to help Yuna with her wounds earlier.

The handsome young man’s act stirred the emotions of the other new recruits; they stubbornly believed that if they stood united, they could repel the ghouls.

These new recruits had all been top students at the Ghoul Investigator Academy—confident they could eradicate ghouls.

Their actions enraged Yuna.

They weren’t causing trouble already was a miracle; Yuna was certain that as soon as close combat began, these new recruits would break and flee.

Just as Yuna prepared to teach them a harsh lesson—using force to drive them away—the metal gate at the entrance was breached by ghouls.

What followed was simple: under the “help” of countless incompetent allies, Yuna nearly died; the new recruits, before even engaging in melee, fled the moment they saw the ghouls’ ravenous forms.

And that handsome, Rexue young man, the moment he saw the ghouls charging, was the first to run—his flight ignited fear in others, giving them a cowardly excuse.

Look, I wasn’t the first to run—holding that mindset, the new recruits fled, retreating before even fighting.

The handsome young man ran a bit too slowly; he was devoured down to the bone, his skull taken by a psychologically disturbed ghoul—likely to be turned into a “work of art.”

Yuna was defeated while covering her incompetent allies’ escape, holding off ghouls, and outnumbered.

“That bastard Itō insisted everyone stay—we held Yuna Special back.”

The boy sobbed even louder.

“So, are there any survivors among this batch of new investigators? Roughly how many?”

Su Xiao’s question received no answer—the boy sobbed harder.

“Click, click, click…”

Su Xiao gripped the hilt of Zhanlongshan tightly; he had the urge to cut the boy down.

Everyone had been weak once—but those who cried endlessly after misfortune were the most useless.

“Assistant Special White Night, what should I do now?”

The boy looked up at Su Xiao—only to find him already on the phone.

The call connected quickly; the voice on the other end was extremely noisy.

“Yuma, are you aware of what’s happening in District 24?”

“Static~… know… static~…”

Yuma’s signal was terrible; after a moment, it improved slightly—but remained intermittent.

“I’m… not going… hold the entrance… I’ll handle it soon…”

Su Xiao understood Yuma’s general meaning: hold the District 24 entrance, prevent ghouls from breaking through to the surface.

“You’re not… underground, are you?”

Tokyo was tiny; there were few places with bad signal. As the Special Investigator stationed in District 24, Yuma couldn’t have left Tokyo.

That meant Yuma could only be in one place.

“Yes, I’m in the… depths… you handle the surface… the root… I… resolve.”

The call remained choppy—leaving Su Xiao utterly exasperated.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Yuma was likely deep within District 24.

“Understood. One thing to relay: Yuna was also underground—she’s badly injured, but found in time and has been rushed for treatment.”

Yuma fell silent.

“That’s all.”

Su Xiao hung up.

The chubby boy, tear-streaked, stared at Su Xiao with wide-eyed admiration.

“I…”

The boy opened his mouth to speak, but Su Xiao raised a hand to silence him, pressing his finger to the ground.

A faint vibration traveled up his fingertip—large numbers of unknown enemies were running through the underground tunnels, rapidly approaching.

“Here’s your mission: return to the surface, contact CCG Headquarters, and request reinforcements for District 24.”