"Hey, Dr. Kanou, you're really hard to track down."
Inside a luxurious underground laboratory beneath a building in District 6, a sudden voice startled Dr. Kanou Akihiro—who was in the middle of his research. When he turned and saw a mysterious figure squatting by a second-floor railing, he immediately hit the alarm. Moments later, four figures burst out from the other side.
Only when these four appeared did Dr. Kanou relax. "Who are you, and how did you find this place?" he demanded.
"Black-and-white twins—and two cadre members from the Clown Organization. Today, my luck is pretty good," Daniel replied without bothering to answer Dr. Kanou's question further. His eyes were fixed on the figures charging toward him. All four were ghouls. Two of them were unmistakably the black-and-white twins; as for the other two, Daniel recognized them from his memories of Kyudo Nibifuku—they were the SSS-class "Mother of Chaos," Roma, and Shikan.
At this time, it was precisely Kyudo Nibifuku's lull period. By day he served as a CCG investigator, while secretly he had joined the Clown Organization to conspire on his "Dragon Plan." The core of that plan revolved around Kyudo Nibifuku and Dr. Kanou Akihiro—Kaneki Ken becoming a target was merely collateral, since back then Kaneki was with Rize Kamishiro.
"How did you know about this place? Naturally, someone tipped me off. Besides, you must know him, right?" Daniel said, waving his left hand. In an instant, a bird materialized in his left hand.
"Kyudo."
Seeing the head with its eyes tightly closed inside the birdcage, Dr. Kanou gasped in shock. He could hardly believe it—the most important partner of his had just died. With Kyudo Nibifuku gone, the so-called Dragon Plan was, for all intents and purposes, doomed.
The rest of the Clown Organization, though aware of the plan, had joined mostly out of boredom—just to have some fun. For example, the "Mother of Chaos," Roma, who now stood before Daniel, appeared at first glance to be a demure, attractive woman; in reality, however, she was utterly unhinged. Nearly everyone in the Clown Organization had a dark, twisted heart—even seemingly decent individuals like Ibird Riri and Bei were only marginally less deranged than Roma, Kyudo Nibifuku, or the priest, for that matter.
"Kill him."
Just as Daniel was about to rouse Kyudo from inside the birdcage, Dr. Kanou suddenly shouted, and immediately afterward, Shikan bellowed. A tail kagune burst forth, tearing through his body as it sped toward Daniel.
At the same time, both Roma and the black-and-white twins released their kagune to attack Daniel. Whether intentionally or not, the twins' kagune all zeroed in on the head of Kyudo's body contained within the bird in Daniel's left hand.
"Don't be so hasty—I haven't even finished speaking yet!"
Watching all four launch their assault simultaneously, Daniel could only sigh in exasperation. Of course, in the real world no one waits until you've finished talking before they strike. Raising his right hand, he exhaled a blast of icy energy that quickly filled the room, freezing the black-and-white twins, Roma, Shikan, and Dr. Kanou—all five of them—in an instant.
Mindful that communication might still be needed, Daniel only froze their bodies from the neck down rather than immobilizing them completely.
"Truly, she lives up to being an SSS-class 'Mother of Chaos'—well, never mind."
Daniel couldn't help but feel a twinge of irritation as he watched Roma spit out some kagune; the sight was almost painfully grotesque. He was grateful he wasn't an ordinary person—otherwise, even eating later might be affected. Meanwhile, although Shikan was unable to extend his kagune from his mouth, he continued to bellow furiously.
Daniel had no choice but to completely freeze the two of them; almost instantly, the surrounding area fell silent. The black-and-white twins and Dr. Kanou, however, appeared much more pragmatic.
"Would you two care to work for me? I can offer you a chance at revenge—and even let you become human again."
Staring at the black-and-white twins, Daniel laid out his terms bluntly. Their situation had been truly tragic: both originally hailing from a prestigious family and serving as CCG investigators—students of Amon Koutarou and classmates of Suzuya Jishou—they had lost not only their father (who had died under mysterious circumstances) but were also turned into experimental subjects and transformed into one-eyed ghouls by the combined actions of Kyudo Nibifuku and Dr. Kanou.
Dr. Kanou's and Kyudo Nibifuku's aim was simple—to seize the property once controlled by the twins' father. That property wasn't just a matter of appearances; it included the very luxurious laboratory where Daniel now worked, and it fell under his patronage. As anyone in research knows, conducting experiments is tremendously expensive.
Although Kyudo Nibifuku was a member of the Kaku Clan, he wasn't given free rein to access funds—after all, as an illegitimate child, he wasn't entitled to a vast fortune, and even if he were, suddenly spending huge sums would only arouse suspicion.
As for the Clown Organization, while its members were not personally short on money, their individual fortunes were limited. Money allocated to research would be like a drop in the bucket. In the ghoul world, unless one belonged to a long-established, wealthy family, most ghouls were not well off and had to work.
"This can't be! Ghouls are not supposed to be able to become human."
Before the twins could respond, Dr. Kanou shouted loudly. Under normal circumstances, a ghoul's transformation is irreversible—just like with Kaneki; even if you removed his Rize-derived organs and replaced them with those of a normal human, there would be no reverting him back.
"You can't do it. You're nothing but a waste. Soon, you'll see exactly how I manage to do it."
Daniel was supremely confident in his method of turning ghouls into humans. Not only did he wield the Surgical Fruit—a tremendously powerful weapon—but even if his technological approach were to fail, he possessed a mysterious, esoteric method to achieve it. The only drawback was that such mysterious abilities couldn't be widely distributed.
"Unbelievable—you've already finished it so easily."
In a dim, vast underground plaza, amidst a chaotic sea of corpses scattered in every direction, two figures stood silently in the center: General Arima, dressed in a white suit, and Takatsuki Izumi, bandaged and wearing a white mask.
"Up until now, neither Xiu Changji nor Xiu Zongtai has appeared. They've probably already fallen into someone's hands," General Arima remarked.
"That person who promised to expose their identities…"
"Other than him, do you think anyone else would dare?"
At these words, both men fell silent. They well understood the power of the Kaku Clan—so overwhelming that even if such a formidable group were to collapse in a single day, it would leave one with an almost surreal feeling.
If Daniel were here, he'd surely say they were overthinking things. Ghouls and humans are fundamentally different. When a ghoul's identity remains concealed, it might pass; but once exposed in a human-dominated world, they'd become public enemy number one.
In fact, Daniel's aim was merely to expose the Kaku Clan and force them to become the prime targets of the CCG investigators. He never anticipated that after losing their leader, General Arima would team up with Takatsuki Izumi to wipe out the remaining members of the V Organization.
"If this doesn't solve the problem between ghouls and humans, then the 'One-Eyed King' plan must go on."
"Mm."
After a brief exchange, General Arima and Takatsuki Izumi decided to continue with their original One-Eyed King plan to exterminate the Kaku Clan. Although that prospect was cause for celebration, for them it did nothing to address the fundamental issue. The sole purpose behind the collaboration between the CCG's strongest special-class investigator and the leader of the Bronze Tree faction—the One-Eyed Owl—was to achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and ghouls.
While Kyudo Nibifuku was preparing to use Kaneki Ken to further his Dragon Plan, General Arima and Takatsuki Izumi also incorporated Kaneki into the One-Eyed King plan.
"I'll keep in touch with him to see what his true goal is. By the way, help me track down any sign of Dr. Kanou's whereabouts, too."
"Sure."
"Seriously? That's your objective? It's ridiculous—does everyone want to emulate Obito's descent into darkness?"
After gleaning from Dr. Kanou's memories the true purpose behind his Dragon Plan, Daniel felt a surge of exasperation. Everything he had done was driven by a multitude of reasons—the most important being the advancement of medicine.
The tremendous potential of RC cells, if properly harnessed, could indeed cure many conditions currently deemed terminal. But that was only in an ideal scenario. Despite decades of research by Dr. Kanou, his work had only managed to produce one-eyed ghouls. In this respect, he was, frankly, no better than some CCG researcher.
Recently, the CCG had even introduced investigators—Cookins—capable of using kagune while still subsisting on human food. Although these agents still couldn't use RC cells to save lives, it was a significant breakthrough. With further development, it might eventually solve the fundamental problem of ghouls. Of course, exactly how many years that would take was anyone's guess, given the unpredictable pace of technological progress.
"So, Cookins actually work like this—RC cells can autonomously reshape themselves. That's definitely worth a thorough study."
Having obtained all of Dr. Kanou's research materials on ghouls, Daniel no longer needed to make another trip to the CCG. He had originally intended to go there to get information on Cookin manufacturing, but it turned out that everything was already here.
Dr. Kanou had once been a CCG researcher, but because of unethical human experiments, he was expelled from the organization. Later, he was found and funded by Kyudo Nibifuku.
Through Dr. Kanou's research on ghouls, Daniel saved a tremendous amount of time and dispelled many of his earlier doubts—for instance, why humans wielding Cookins could fight ghouls, and why Kaneki's attempted suicide by stabbing himself with a knife never succeeded.
Ghouls are classified by rank. Kaneki—who had acquired Rize Kamishiro's organs and kagune—was, from the outset, of a much higher rank than ordinary ghouls.
"Impossible—how did you manage that?"
Staring at the black-and-white twins who had reverted to a human state, Dr. Kanou was utterly dumbfounded. He immediately blurted out a question about the secret behind their transformation.
"That's something you don't need to know—they've been entrusted to your care."
When Dr. Kanou inquired further, Daniel had no interest in explaining. In truth, the black-and-white twins were not entirely human anymore; strictly speaking, like the Cookins later fielded by the CCG, they could still utilize kagune, but their RC cell count was kept below 1,000. This wasn't merely a product of technology—it was the result of combining the Surgical Fruit with the Philosopher's Stone.
After all, for the twins to survive, they needed to eat. Even though Daniel understood that, he did not want to witness them resorting to desperate measures right before his eyes. And so, the current situation prevailed.
It wasn't that Daniel couldn't completely restore them; rather, he believed that retaining their power was preferable until he could truly develop a method to turn an ordinary ghoul into a human. Otherwise, when facing an enemy, the tragedy of the original story might be repeated.
In fact, strictly speaking, through his research with the Surgical Fruit, Daniel had already managed to convert ordinary ghouls into humans—but the cost was prohibitively high, so he abandoned that approach. He wanted the benefits to be available to all ghouls, not reserved only for a privileged few.
His method involved using nanomachines—implanting them into the body to target RC cells. These nanomachines could lower and even transplant RC cells, but they had to remain in the body indefinitely, making them impractical for most.
"Finally, it's done."
Staring at the red reagent before him, Daniel smiled and nodded. After countless sleepless nights of research and experiments on subjects such as Kyudo Nibifuku and Shikan, he had finally developed a drug that enabled ghouls to subsist on human food. Of course, the effect was temporary—it lasted for five days.
Even though the effect lasted only five days, the drug could be administered repeatedly. If greedy capitalists got involved, even if a superior drug were developed, they'd likely keep it under wraps—because money talks. With so many ghouls in the world, simply selling this drug could create a world-class billionaire.
This breakthrough came from Daniel's real-time observations using the Surgical Fruit to watch how ghouls like Kyudo Nibifuku consumed food—distinguishing between food meant for ghouls and food for humans, and tracking the movement of cells within their bodies to develop his method.
"I've been so wrapped up in my research that I completely forgot about Izumi-sensei. But I suppose she's too busy for me these days."
Although Daniel had been immersed in his studies, he was not cut off from the outside world; he was well aware of the ongoing conflict between the CCG and the Bronze Tree.
After the CCG's explosive revelation that the Kaku Clan were ghouls, the fallout was enormous. Fortunately, General Arima intervened to stabilize the situation.
At the same time, Daniel had learned about the outcome of Dr. Makoto Arima's case. This time, he hadn't died—instead, after his battle with Xiu Changji, he was severely injured, having lost an arm and a leg, and was now lying in a hospital. For Dr. Arima, this outcome might not be so bad after all.
There was no denying that the combat power of the Kaku Clan was extraordinarily high. Whether it was the chairman, the CCG director, or Kyudo Nibifuku himself, their strength exceeded that of any SSS-class ghoul. Even if General Arima tried to win in a one-on-one confrontation, victory would be extremely difficult. No wonder that even with General Arima teaming up with Izumi-sensei, they never managed to expose the truth outright.
If it weren't for Daniel directly forcing Kyudo Nibifuku and Xiu Changji to retreat and regroup the V Organization, the outcome might have been very different.
Yet what surprised Daniel even more was that not all members of the Kaku Clan were ghouls—some were normal humans.
"Half-human? Or were they betrayed?"
Through his research, Daniel discovered why the Kaku Clan was almost entirely composed of ghouls. Under normal circumstances, the Kaku Clan did include some half-humans—like Kyudo Nibifuku, who originally was half-human. But because the lifespan of a half-human is far shorter than that of a full human, they opt to undergo transformation into ghouls to overcome that disadvantage.
For a normal human, the failure rate of becoming a ghoul is extremely high—but for a half-human, due to their inherent physiology, the transformation almost never fails.
(End of Chapter)
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