Amano Hiro leaned back against the sofa, drinking the instant coffee Rize had brewed, thinking about the next course of action.
No Special Class had participated in this auction operation. He did not know what the Washuu were thinking.
This operation could still be considered a failure for the CCG. After so many consecutive failures, the CCG's morale should have already dropped to rock bottom.
They probably would not make any major moves in the short term. As for the rats of the Washuu family, no one knew where they had hidden themselves.
If he wanted to find members of the Washuu Clan now, he could only go through Arima Kishou.
But he could not contact him casually. The Washuu were extremely cautious at the moment.
If they began to suspect Arima Kishou, it would become even more troublesome to find them.
As for Furuta Nimura, no one knew where he had run off to either. Finding him would not be easy.
If it came down to it, he could attack Cochlea again and lure Arima Kishou out.
As for Furuta Nimura, he already had some ideas, but there was no rush.
The members of the V organization also had to be dealt with. V organization. V organization. Right.
Amano Hiro called toward the kitchen, "Rize."
Rize leaned her head out from the kitchen. "Hiro, what is it?"
"Sunlit Garden is not located in the same place as the Washuu Clan headquarters, right?"
If Sunlit Garden was not in the same location as the Washuu Clan's base,
then he would eliminate Sunlit Garden first and cut off the Washuu family's claws.
The Washuu Clan's primary combat strength relied on the V organization.
Without the V organization, the Washuu would be like a tiger with its teeth pulled.
Although they were all ghouls, their combat ability was far inferior to wild ghouls who fought outside regularly.
These high ranking Washuu had extremely limited combat experience.
"No. Sunlit Garden is in a separate location."
Sunlit Garden was a branch organization of the Washuu Clan, specifically cultivating half humans, hybrids of humans and ghouls, as warriors.
Its members underwent strict combat training and became the core of the V organization, serving the Washuu Clan.
In simple terms, the Washuu Clan was the family, and Sunlit Garden was the special combat institution established by that family,
like an organization and its subordinate department, rather than the same physical location.
Since they were not in the same place, that made things easier. However, he could not lower his guard.
Having been blown up twice, Amano Hiro still had some psychological shadow from it.
He could not act recklessly. He needed to investigate first and eliminate any possible traps before entering.
If he were blown up again this time, he would stop caring about everything.
He would take Rize and leave far away, and whatever happened afterward would no longer concern him.
If necessary, he would simply take Rize back to his home country. After all, they no longer needed to eat humans,
and they could fully control their RC cells. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded.
Hm. No, that would not work. His current identity was problematic. He would need a visa.
And a green card would not be easy to obtain. Traveling would be fine, but permanent residence would be difficult.
Most importantly, they were ghouls. They had no identification documents. In plain terms, they were undocumented.
Amano Hiro was immersed in this fantasy when Rize's voice interrupted him. "Chicken soup is here."
Rize carried out a large clay pot. Normally such a scalding pot would require thick heat resistant gloves,
but for a ghoul, this temperature was nothing.
"Tada. How is it?" Rize lifted the lid and set it aside, presenting her masterpiece.
Amano Hiro looked over. "This is chicken soup?"
"Yes. Chicken soup." Rize smiled brightly at him.
"Where is the chicken?"
Amano Hiro held the ladle and stirred back and forth. He did not see a single piece resembling chicken. It was filled with long strip like unidentified objects.
"There. That is chicken."
Rize used her slender finger to point at a piece of chicken the size of a walnut.
Amano Hiro's mouth twitched. Rize seemed addicted to making nourishing tonic soup.
Fine. Fine. She wasn't even pretending anymore.
But that worked out well. After a big battle, some proper exercise was quite nice as a way to relax.
...
A sleepless night.
When he woke the next day, it was already afternoon. He glanced at the time. Three o'clock.
Looking at Rize still asleep, he did not disturb her and quietly got out of bed.
Amano Hiro planned to visit Aogiri Tree's base first and discuss eliminating Sunlit Garden and future plans with Eto.
He went downstairs, hailed a taxi, gave the driver a location near the abandoned factory, then sat in the back seat and closed his eyes to rest.
After an unknown amount of time, the driver's voice woke him. "Sir, we are here."
Amano Hiro paid him, stepped out, stretched, and walked toward the abandoned factory.
The further he walked, the more something felt off. There was an indescribable sense of incongruity.
Amano Hiro frowned, slightly slowed his pace, heightened his perception to the maximum, and slowly entered the factory.
He was about to reach the broken elevator area, yet there was still no movement and no presence detected.
What was going on. Something was wrong. Normally, by now, someone would have come to greet him. Yet there was no movement at all.
Had this base been discovered. Was the reason no Special Class participated in the auction because they were clearing out this base instead.
He took out his phone, hesitated slightly, then called Eto. "Beep. Beep."
"Hello. Hiro? This is the first time you have called me. What is it?"
The call connected within seconds. Eto's cheerful voice came through.
"I am at the entrance of the base. Why is no one coming to receive me?"
Hearing Eto's light tone, Amano Hiro let out a breath of relief. He had already prepared himself for the possibility of a CCG member answering.
"Hm? That is impossible. I am right at the entrance. I do not see you, Hiro."
Eto sounded puzzled. She was currently strolling in the woods outside the base.
Suddenly she thought of a possibility. "Ah. Hiro, did you not see the message I sent?"
"What message?" He switched the call to speaker while scrolling through his messages.
Amano Hiro fell silent.
He saw the message sent last night with the new address and location marker. At that time, he had been in the middle of intense activity with Rize and had not checked it. Today it had been buried under other junk messages.
An inexplicable anger rose within him, making his face feel slightly hot.
Without another word, he hung up.
Eto looked at her phone after the sudden disconnect and chuckled. "Hehe. I did not expect Hiro to have such a cute side."
Amano Hiro took two deep breaths to calm himself, preparing to take off on the spot and head straight to Rushima.
Woof. Woof. Woof.
He glanced sideways. At some point, a dog had wandered into the abandoned factory and was now barking at him.
As if questioning why he had trespassed into its territory.
The scene made Amano Hiro's vision darken further. He moved at the fastest speed he had used since transmigrating.
In a flash, he appeared beside the dog.
Under the dog's terrified gaze, he kicked it straight into the bushes.
Then he spread his wings and shot into the sky.
It was only long after Amano Hiro had left that the dog limped out of the bushes.