Ever since he received the order, Lancer had never been to the Anteiku cafe again. After all, he didn't want to get the people in that cafe involved. But what he didn't expect was that this actually aroused Koutarou Amon suspicion.
"Lancer, are you not going to the 'Anteiku cafe' today? When I went to the store yesterday, the little girl who often brings us coffee there even asked me why you haven't been there for the past few days."
As soon as Koutarou Amon mentioned the 'Anteiku cafe,' Lancer became extremely vigilant. After all, if that place were to be exposed, it would not only trigger a large-scale hunting campaign but also, as expected, he would also be 'investigated.' Although he had not had any substantial contact with the people there, there was no doubt that he would be in a lot of trouble, at least for a while.
"You know my 'mission,' right? In the past few days, I have been attacked by ghouls in a planned manner more than three times. If I were to go there, wouldn't I bring trouble to the cafe?"
Lancer, who was trying his best to maintain a calm expression, even let his gaze wander a bit while speaking so that Koutarou Amon wouldn't discover his 'flaw.' However, what Lancer didn't know was that his 'abnormal' behavior made Koutarou Amon smile knowingly and show an expression of 'I knew I was right.' Then, Koutarou Amon patted Lancer shoulder with a smile.
"Lancer, don't worry. The areas we are responsible for are sparsely populated, and that place is not on your route, so don't worry. The employees, especially that employee, are definitely not a problem!"
"Oh... thank you."
Although he didn't know why Koutarou Amon said that, Lancer, who felt the other person's good intentions, still nodded with a smile.
After Koutarou Amon left, Lancer continued his 'work' for the day.
His job now was to act as a 'CCG investigator patrolling alone.'
There was no doubt that unless ghouls were stupid, they should have noticed something was wrong after failing to attack him three times in a row and Lancer was still patrolling.
But even so, Lancer still believed that there would be no shortage of attacks in the future. After all, this time, in order to catch more 'ghouls' to find information on 'Binge Eater' and 'Jason,' the so-called 'trap' was full of temptation.
The other investigators stationed nearby needed several minutes to rush to Lancer side in order not to be discovered, or even if they were, they could still attract other ghouls. So this was an 'open conspiracy'!
You want to attack the rising star of the CCG investigators to strike a blow to the morale of the 20th ward CCG branch. Then we will give you this opportunity, but the cost is the lives of the attackers!
...
"It's been two consecutive days without an attacker. Could it be that the ghouls have given up?"
In front of the vending machine in the CCG 20th ward branch office, a Second Class Investigator in his thirties took a sip of oolong tea and couldn't help but glance at the young man standing next to him.
Without even asking, it was clear that the young man was Lancer. After all, there was no other young man who would require him to speak so carefully.
Indeed, Lancer and he were both Second Class Investigators, but even with the same title, their status was a world apart.
As long as one graduates from a ghoul investigator training institution under the CCG, one can at least become a Third Class Investigator, and as long as one can survive, it is possible to eventually become a Second Class Investigator. But that's all. This is the limit for ordinary people.
But for some 'geniuses,' this is just a starting point.
Someone like Koutarou Amon, who graduated with the top overall evaluation of his class, became a 'First Class Investigator' upon graduation. And with the talent Lancer has shown, as long as nothing unexpected happens, he will inevitably become a First Class or even an Associate Special Class Investigator in the future. So, this man in his thirties couldn't help but be careful with his tone when talking to Lancer.
But unfortunately, Lancer, who was holding a can of coffee, was a bit lost in thought at the moment.
'Instant coffee and freshly ground coffee really are quite different.'
That's right, a certain person who had finally managed to not be on high alert in the branch office was thinking about things unrelated to 'business' at the moment. But thankfully, although his imagination was a bit wild, his ears were good. When he heard the person next to him complaining in a low voice, he shook his head.
"It's not that simple."
"?"
"We've tricked those ghouls so many times, and they were still relentless before. Now that they've suddenly fallen silent, I feel like this is the calm before the storm."
That's right, recently, they had hunted and arrested nearly forty ghouls in the 20th ward, which was almost the same as Lancer achievement in over a month. But the ghouls that attacked him were just ordinary ghouls, not even a single S-rank one. Lancer didn't believe that 'Jason' didn't have S-rank ghouls under him. The only explanation was that the other party was secretly plotting something.
But there was good news. According to the confessions of the arrested ghouls, although 'Jason' and the 'Binge Eater' were both ghouls, 'Jason' felt unhappy because the 'Binge Eater' intruded into his hunting ground, so he was looking for trouble with her.
This was good news for the CCG investigators, after all, when two tigers fight, one will surely be injured. But Lancer didn't expect that 'the unexpected' still happened.
He was patrolling the street as usual, but he didn't expect to encounter an 'unexpected' person.
Her purple long hair, curvaceous figure, and black dress made the other party full of charm. For women with some common sense, it was absolutely not the time to come to a sparsely populated alley late at night, after all, there were existences in this world that were more terrifying than thugs ———————— ghouls.
But this person in front of him was an exception, because for her, both human thugs and ghouls were her prey!
Rize Kamishiro!
It was precisely because he had encountered an unexpected person that Lancer couldn't help but stop, but perhaps his 'strange' action aroused the attention of several other teams.
"Second Class Investigator Lancer? What's wrong with you? The GPS shows that you haven't moved for almost a minute."
The call from his colleague in his earpiece brought Lancer thoughts back to reality.
This world was running, and he was not the protagonist of this world, so it was impossible for everything to go as he wished. What was so strange about encountering an unexpected person in an unexpected place?
Whoosh~
After taking a deep breath, he pressed the call button on his earpiece.
"Sorry, I just found a woman walking alone. Since I don't know her identity, I was observing her for a moment."
"A woman walking alone? Could it be a ghoul?"
"I'm not sure. I'm planning to go and talk to her."
"Please be careful, Second Class Investigator Lancer. The support team is nearby."
"I will be careful, Second Class Investigator Tanaka."
After hanging up the call, he subconsciously gripped the box in his hand, but in the end, he took a step forward with his right foot.
"Miss..."