Looking at those street punks, Ihei Byakuya slightly shook his head.
He was a ghoul investigator, not a police officer. He neither had the obligation nor the interest to deal with those fools.
After that, Byakuya returned to Eto's side and asked with concern, "Are you okay? Were you scared?"
"No."
Yoshimura Eto shook her head.
"That strange person just now was the ghoul called [Pumpkin Head], right?"
Yoshimura Eto asked.
"That's right, it was that one."
Ihei Byakuya nodded.
"It's a pity you didn't catch her and let her get away."
Yoshimura Eto said.
"It's not that bad. Catching a ghoul is already more difficult than defeating one, and letting [Pumpkin Head] escape might not necessarily be a bad thing..."
Ihei Byakuya said calmly.
More specifically, for example, if [Pumpkin Head] wanted revenge, then she would definitely bring other ghouls to seek revenge on him, and that way he could obtain more system points.
And even if [Pumpkin Head] did not want revenge and only wanted to escape, she would still not be able to get out of Byakuya's grasp.
So either way, he was not at a loss.
"Is that so?"
Because Ihei Byakuya did not explain it clearly, Yoshimura Eto did not quite understand, but she did not really care about that [Pumpkin Head] anyway.
Whether she lived or died in the end had nothing to do with her.
...
Uruka Minami, covered in wounds, returned home.
She finally could not hold on any longer and collapsed onto the sofa.
She had already noticed the abnormality in her body. Her Kakuhou had suffered damage to a certain extent, so her body's regeneration was also restricted, and the regeneration speed had become very slow.
Every ghoul's fatal weakness was the Kakuhou in their body, because it was the organ that stored Rc cells.
Once the Kakuhou was damaged, one's overall abilities would be severely weakened.
Although it was a fatal weakness, it was not something that could be targeted easily, because the kagune released from the Kakuhou was precisely the best means for a ghoul to protect the Kakuhou.
Often, one still needed the strength to directly confront a ghoul head-on. If one's strength was too weak, even deliberately attacking the ghoul's Kakuhou would be futile.
"Hiss... huff..."
Uruka Minami lay on the sofa in pain, with blood still flowing from the corner of her mouth.
Because her regeneration ability was restricted, the inside of Uruka Minami's body was still in complete disorder.
Ghouls naturally had pain sensation just like humans, so it was also extremely uncomfortable for her.
"This is really bad... I didn't expect him to be such an extraordinary ghoul investigator..."
Uruka Minami gave a self-mocking smile. Her pair of crimson Kakugan had still not faded.
Because her Kakuhou was damaged and her body was in chaos, for a short time she could not even properly control her own Kakugan.
Although it was not severe enough to be fatal, once the Kakuhou was injured it was very difficult to fully recover, and it would take quite a long time for it to heal naturally.
Unless she consumed human flesh to accelerate the self-healing process. But then again, she was now not only seriously injured but also being watched by a ghoul investigator. In her current state, even trying to prey on humans was very difficult...
...
The next day.
In order not to arouse Ihei Byakuya's suspicion, Uruka Minami still came to school as usual.
At the very least, Ihei-san probably still did not know that last night's [Pumpkin Head] was her.
After a night had passed, Uruka Minami had already dealt with the wounds and bloodstains on her body.
Although her physical condition was still terrible, at least nothing abnormal could be seen on the surface.
For the time being, she would avoid acting in the identity of [Pumpkin Head] and wait until the injury to her Kakuhou recovered...
"Good morning, Ihei-san."
Uruka Minami still greeted Ihei Byakuya with a smile, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Good morning."
Ihei Byakuya responded as usual.
He did not show any sign of suspecting Uruka Minami.
Byakuya could actually tell that although Uruka Minami appeared normal on the surface, she was in fact forcing herself to endure.
In fact, these injuries were not the most troublesome part. The most troublesome issue was that Uruka Minami had not eaten for quite some time.
She had intended to prey on those street punks yesterday, but was stopped by Ihei Byakuya. In a few more days, she would probably fall into a state of hunger.
"Hunger" was extremely terrifying for ghouls...
...
As expected.
After only a few days, Uruka Minami's condition began to become abnormal.
She often lost focus during class and looked listless.
At the end of one class, before leaving, the teacher could not help but show concern and said, "Minami-san, are you feeling unwell? Do you want to take leave and go get yourself checked?"
"I do feel a bit unwell, but it's nothing serious. I'll be fine."
Uruka Minami forced out an awkward smile.
Ihei Byakuya watched all of this with an expressionless face.
However, when Uruka Minami was about to lie down on her desk to rest, Byakuya still spoke to check on her, "Minami-san, are you sick? Is it really okay?"
"It's fine. I'll be better in a few days."
Uruka Minami replied while forcing herself to endure.
In reality, the main reason she had become like this was not the injuries inflicted by Byakuya a few days ago, but the fact that she had gone too long without eating...
Ghouls could usually go at most about one month without eating, and if they went too long without food they would fall into a state of "hunger."
Humans would gradually become deranged when starving, and extreme hunger could even lead them to do extreme things, such as eating their own children...
And ghouls in such a state would only be more extreme than humans, because they possessed great power. As long as they did not care about the consequences, ordinary humans were nothing more than lambs to be slaughtered in their eyes.
When facing death by starvation, which ghoul would still consider the consequences?
Many ghouls were unwilling to eat people at first, because their thinking was the same as humans. But later, almost without exception, they could not endure the pain of "hunger" and were forced to eat human flesh.
Once it happened, it would happen countless times after that, becoming completely uncontrollable...
Moreover, ghouls in a "hunger" state seemed to suffer even more than humans and also became more deranged. For example, Kaneki Ken when he had just been turned into a half-ghoul could not resist the temptation of human flesh at all.
Even though he was originally human, no matter how much he resisted, it was useless.
So at this moment, Uruka Minami not only had to endure the pain of "hunger," but also had to force herself to endure the temptation of the scent of human flesh filling the entire classroom. To her, this place was practically hell...
...
After finally enduring until school was over, Uruka Minami picked up her schoolbag and only wanted to leave the school as quickly as possible, then find an opportunity to prey on humans.
Otherwise, she felt that by tomorrow she would no longer be able to restrain her predatory urges, and would go berserk directly in the classroom and attack her classmates.
This was something she absolutely did not want to do...