CCG 20th Ward Branch
At this moment, there were three First Class Investigators and more than ten Second Class Investigators sitting in the conference room. If you were to add the more than one hundred Third Class Investigators on standby at home or elsewhere, these were the total normal CCG forces in the 20th ward.
At this moment, the more than ten people in the conference room were all silently either resting with their eyes closed or playing with their disposable cups. In short, everyone except Kureo Mado, who was sitting at the head, was behaving a bit unnaturally. Even Koutarou Amon, who had always been his partner, sat up straight and was acting very strange.
How could he not be strange? He had accompanied the other person to a meeting at the CCG headquarters today, and ever since the meeting ended, the other person had been acting very unhappy, which made the usually serious Koutarou Amon become nervous reflexively.
"Click~!"
"Sorry, I'm late!"
"It's alright, Mido and Tanaka haven't arrived yet. Sit down and wait for them."
"Yes!"
Lancer, who received Kureo Mado order, sat at the end of the conference table. The others looked at Lancer with various expressions. Although they knew that Kureo Mado thought highly of Lancer, the thought that Kureo Mado only nodded when they arrived made the expressions of the other two First Class Investigators a bit subtle. After all, no matter how good Lancer 'talent' was, in their opinion, he was still not as good as them, at least not yet.
As for showing Kureo Mado a bad face? They didn't have the guts.
Although his title was the same as theirs, 'First Class Investigator,' his actual strength had definitely reached the 'Associate Special Class Investigator' level. This wasn't just because of his age and seniority, but also because he had captured the 'Corpse Scavenger.' Both his strength and qualifications were crushing those present. As for why he never got promoted and stayed on the front line? Most people were also aware of the reason, so their displeasure could only be vented on Lancer, who was the object of their anger.
But thankfully, the last two Second Class Investigators didn't make everyone wait for long. They arrived one after another within a few minutes after Lancer did.
"Everyone."
As soon as Kureo Mado spoke, everyone subconsciously sat up straight, but he didn't get to the point right away. Instead, he stood up directly.
"Moment of silence!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, but then they all stood up, placed a hand over their hearts, and bowed their heads.
Although Kureo Mado didn't explicitly say what had happened, this was a 'rule' of the CCG. Before a meeting, if the information mentioned in the meeting had cost the life of one or more investigators, then no matter the identity of the attendees, they had to observe a moment of silence to show their respect for the fallen.
For ghouls, even investigators holding a 'quinque' are still incredibly fragile. It can be said that even the strongest investigator in the CCG cannot guarantee that they can always defeat ghouls unless ghouls are completely exterminated. In that case, they would inevitably sacrifice their lives on the battlefield against ghouls one day.
Doing this was both to show respect for the fallen and to warn themselves to be 120% vigilant for every mission!
After a few dozen seconds, Kureo Mado finally put his hand down. As he sat down, he passed several reports to everyone one by one.
"This time, our 'targets' are two people: 'Jason' and the 'Binge Eater'."
Kureo Mado words made everyone subconsciously sit up straight, and Lancer, in particular, couldn't help but clench his fists.
Although he had been mentally prepared before, now that he finally had a definite answer, everything was about to begin!
"'Jason' I don't think I need to repeat. This person is a powerful ghoul who has been entrenched in the 20th ward. We have sacrificed several excellent investigators in battles with him. This time, our goal is to completely eradicate him! As for the 'Binge Eater,' I think everyone should have heard of her notorious reputation. Normally, a ghoul only needs to eat once a month, but the 'Binge Eater' is different. She generally eats 2-3 times a week. Based on this information, we suspect she is a 'patient with abnormal appetite,' so her danger and destructiveness even far exceed 'Jason'! This time, the mission of our 20th ward branch is to completely hunt them down!! For humanity!!"
Kureo Mado strange personality and distorted expression made him difficult to approach, but at this moment, his murderous voice infected everyone present. Everyone roared the same thing without hesitation.
"For humanity!!"
Looking at everyone's bright eyes, Kureo Mado nodded with satisfaction and then continued to assign missions.
"This time, the enemies are different from before, so we need to divide the work. First, I and Koutarou Amon, two 'First Class Investigators,' will form a mobile unit to be responsible for patrolling and supporting the entire 20th ward. Then, First Class Investigator Takeda will lead four Second Class Investigators and 60 Third Class Investigators as the main force, mainly responsible for frontal combat. Then, the other Second Class Investigators will be in teams of two, paired with 6 Third Class Investigators, to be responsible for patrolling and guarding various areas..."
As he spoke, he looked at Lancer, who was the only one without a mission.
Normally, investigators would team up with an investigator of a higher rank. However, Lancer initial identity was a 'trainee investigator,' which was similar to a handyman, but now he usually serves as a firefighter, rushing to various battlefields in the 20th ward. He doesn't have a fixed partner, so this time...
"Second Class Investigator Lancer!"
"Here!"
"This time, your mission is to serve as a 'bait'! As the fastest-promoted investigator in the 20th ward, you can be said to be 'notorious' among ghouls. According to our investigation, it seems that some ghouls already want to attack you, so I hope you can serve as the 'bait' to try and lure out the ghouls hiding in the shadows! This way, we will have a chance to find 'Jason' or the 'Binge Eater'! How about it?"
There was no doubt that the mission Kureo Mado gave Lancer was the most dangerous. After all, normally, ghouls wouldn't openly attack ghoul investigators for no reason, but what Lancer had done could already be considered a provocation. If he appeared in some sparsely populated areas, he would inevitably be attacked by ghouls. This was the most dangerous and most important mission!
"Please leave it to me! I will hunt down those man-eating monsters!"
Lancer knew that Kureo Mado giving him this dangerous mission was a form of 'taking care of' him. After all, even without this mission, he was already a thorn in the side of ghouls because of his reputation. Although this time was dangerous, since it was under the big context of 'hunting 'Jason' and the 'Binge Eater,'' his safety was also somewhat guaranteed, so he accepted the mission without hesitation!
If he couldn't even handle a situation like this, then he would eventually die at the hands of a ghoul!