In the temporary branch of the 24th District.
Su Xiao walked into the bathroom and took a shower.
He initially tested the changes in his body. The training intensity that used to exhaust him now only made him slightly tired.
His stamina increased from 6 to 10 points, and his endurance improved several times.
Su Xiao walked out of the bathroom while drying his hair, and a hurried knock came at the door.
After opening the door, a staff member with an anxious expression stood there.
"Special Agent Bai Ye, something’s wrong. Yuna just requested help from the branch, saying there’s an abnormal change in the underground of the 24th District."
"Abnormal change? What’s going on?"
Su Xiao’s expression became serious. He feared the 24th District somewhat, as his last deep foray into it left him with a profound impression.
"A large number of ghouls have appeared in the underground tunnel and are now attacking the security door. Special Agent Bai Ye, you should go and have a look yourself."
Su Xiao grabbed his coat and headed for the underground entrance of the 24th District.
Ten minutes later, Su Xiao arrived at the entrance. The sight before him made his brow furrow tightly.
The entrance was in disarray, with temporary tents scattered everywhere, and occasional bloodstains could be seen on the ground.
He touched some fresh blood with his fingers; it was warm, indicating the attack happened not long ago.
Yuna’s weak voice came from within a collapsed tent, and Su Xiao quickly stepped forward.
"Was the door broken through?"
The situation was clear. Ghouls had forcefully broken through from the 24th District underground, and Yuna fought desperately.
Judging from Yuna’s pierced chest, she failed.
"I might not make it."
Yuna was pale, and the heavy blood loss made her susceptible to shock at any moment.
"You won’t die just yet. I brought medical personnel."
Carrying Yuna out of the semi-collapsed tent, medical personnel took over immediately to handle her wounds urgently.
"Bai Ye, the rookies might..."
The rookies were likely all gone.
The medical personnel who came with Su Xiao urgently treated Yuna’s wounds and quickly took her back to the temporary branch. Her lungs were pierced and required surgery.
Su Xiao arrived at the underground entrance, where bloody footprints could be seen nearby; this was the battleground.
Yuna could have escaped earlier, but she chose not to. This young girl understood that being an Investigator was not a privilege, but a responsibility.
Su Xiao walked into the underground entrance, where the metal door lay slanted on the ground, twisted and deformed, with footmarks on it, suggesting it endured heavy attacks.
Faint footsteps came from the ground direction, making Su Xiao vigilant, and Dragon Slash appeared in his hand.
A sneaky figure entered the underground entrance. Su Xiao rushed forward in a few steps.
The person screamed in shock at Su Xiao, raised a gun, and fired randomly.
The gunshots echoed far in the underground tunnel, and Dragon Slash was poised on the person’s neck.
Su Xiao glanced at the gun in the person’s hand; it was a unique firearm from the CCG.
"Are you Special Agent Bai Ye?"
The person holding the gun was a slightly chubby young man with a round face, whose clothes were covered in dirt and blood, revealing the CCG uniform upon closer inspection.
"Tell me what happened here."
Su Xiao didn’t need to guess the person’s identity—one of the surviving rookie investigators.
On the way here, the temporary branch’s staff had already briefed Su Xiao on the situation.
Yuna took the rookies to the outskirts of the 24th District for ’Whack-A-Mole’, and then they encountered an attack by a large number of ghouls. Yuna escaped from the underground of the 24th District and called for aid from the temporary branch.
The little fatty collapsed on the ground, dropped the handgun, covered his face with his hands, and burst into tears.
"We... we got attacked, Yuna instructed us to leave first, woo..."
The little fatty was emotionally unstable, evidently traumatized.
Through the little fatty’s fragmented account, Su Xiao understood the full story. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹⟡𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⟡𝙣𝙚𝙩
After Yuna returned to the surface, she gathered the rookie investigators.
Yuna knew that although the metal door at the entrance was sturdy, it couldn’t withstand the ghouls’ relentless attacks, so she told the rookie investigators to retreat first, while she stood alone at the entrance to fight. At that time, Yuna was prepared to lay down her life.
A large number of ghouls broke through to the surface, putting humans near the 24th District at risk.
From an investigator’s perspective, Yuna’s actions were correct. However, a rookie investigator suddenly got overly passionate and insisted on living and dying with Yuna. That investigator was the handsome young man who previously attempted to aid Yuna with her injury.
This action by the handsome young man stirred other rookie investigators’ emotions, leading them to stubbornly believe that as long as they helped each other, they could resist the ghouls.
These rookies, being top students at the Ghoul Investigator Academy, were confident in expelling ghouls.
The actions of these rookie investigators infuriated Yuna.
They were lucky not to be a burden, and Yuna was certain that once melee combat started, these rookies would immediately fall apart.
Just as Yuna was about to reprimand the rookie investigators and roughly drive them away, the metal door at the entrance was breached by the ghouls.
From then on, the situation was simple. With a lot of help from her pig teammates, Yuna almost died fighting. The rookie investigators fled before the melee combat began; as soon as they saw the ghouls’ predatory appearance, they quickly escaped.
The handsome passionate young man was the first to run upon seeing the ghouls. His escape sparked fear in others, providing a cowardly excuse.
Look, I wasn’t the first to run, they thought. With this mentality, the rookie investigators fled even before the fight started—without even engaging.
The handsome young man was too slow in fleeing and was devoured by the ghouls, leaving only bones. A ghoul with psychological issues even took his skull, likely to make it into a ’craft’.
Yuna was defeated while covering for her pig teammates’ escape, defending against the ghouls, and facing a numerical disadvantage.
"That bastard Ito insisted everyone stay, we dragged down Special Investigator Yuna."
After that, the little fatty cried even more loudly.
"So, are there any surviving rookie investigators in your batch? Roughly how many?"
Su Xiao’s question received no answer; the little fatty continued crying uncontrollably.
Su Xiao tightly gripped the handle of Dragon Slash, with an impulse to take down this little fatty.
Everyone has been weak at some point, but those who cry persistently when faced with misfortune are the most incompetent.
"Special Agent Bai Ye, what should I do now?"
The little fatty looked up at Su Xiao with tear-streaked eyes, only to find Su Xiao was on the phone.
The call was quickly connected, and the other side was very noisy.
"Arima, are you aware of what’s happening in the 24th District?"
The signal on Arima Kishou’s side was terrible. After a while, it improved slightly but was still intermittent.
"Now... guard the entrance, and... I’ll handle it soon..."
Su Xiao understood Arima Kishou’s general meaning: to guard the entrance of the 24th District and prevent ghouls from breaking out onto the surface.
"You wouldn’t happen to be~, underground, would you?"
The 24th District isn’t large, and there are few places with poor signal. Arima Kishou, as the Special Investigator guarding the 24th District, could not have left it.
With that in mind, Arima Kishou could only be in one place.
"Yes, I’m in the ground..., above you come..., root... I’ll solve."
The call continued to cut in and out, frustrating Su Xiao greatly.
If his guess is correct, Arima Kishou might be deep in the 24th District.
"Understood. I have something to convey to you: Yuna was also underground earlier, and she’s heavily injured, but, noticing it in time, she’s been sent for critical care."
Arima Kishou fell silent.
After speaking, Su Xiao hung up.
The tear-streaked little fatty looked at Su Xiao with eyes full of admiration.
The little fatty was about to speak when Su Xiao gestured for him to remain silent. He placed a finger on the ground.
A faint tremor transmitted to his fingertips. A large group of unknown enemies was running in the underground tunnel, approaching quickly.
"I have a task for you. Return to the surface and contact the CCG headquarters to send more personnel to the 24th District."