Although Lancer physical fitness was far superior to that of a normal person after his training, the 'Fatigue All Attributes -3' data in his status bar also showed that he was not in a good state. After all, he had been up all night, either training or writing reports. Any person would feel tired. What he didn't expect was that he just habitually went to the Anteiku coffee shop to order a cup of coffee to refresh himself, but he encountered a group of ghoul bosses staring at him. He immediately felt that he was in a bad situation.
'Could it be that that strange rumor has already spread here?'
It wasn't the first time Lancer had come to the shop for coffee. He believed that the people present wouldn't show killing intent just because he was an investigator. Although it disappeared in an instant, he was sure that it was not an illusion! Then the only explanation was that the rumors from the branch had spread here.
'No! I absolutely cannot die here! I have to at least try to save myself!'
'What should I do? What should I do when I'm being stared at with killing intent because I'm an investigator who suddenly came in?'
Almost at the same time Lancer was looking for a 'glimmer of hope,' the people at the Anteiku coffee shop also had incredibly awkward expressions.
Lancer 'investigator' identity did make them very unhappy, but to hide their identities, it was naturally impossible to kill him in the shop. So how should they get past this?
"Cough cough~ Sorry, because the shop has been running a financial deficit recently, we discussed it during the morning meeting..."
Should it be said that he was worthy of being a crafty old dog who had been in the business for decades? When everyone in the shop was in an awkward situation, he gave a 'normal' answer.
"Is that so? Cough cough~ I hope this shop doesn't close because of that reason. After all, I'm quite fond of the hand-brewed coffee here."
Seeing the 'I see' expression on Lancer face, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
'That's great. We finally got past it. The other party didn't suspect that we were ghouls (but they actually already knew).'
'That's great. It looks like they don't know that I took the Fueguchi mother and daughter away (but they actually already knew).'
In the end, after Lancer nervously finished a cup of coffee, he left under the pretext of 'moving.' However, when he left, he didn't notice that everyone in the shop's eyes lit up.
There was no doubt that Lancer choice to move was a great opportunity for them.
Infiltrating a CCG staff dorm might cause some trouble, but if it was just an ordinary residential building, then it wouldn't be a big problem.
On the other side, Lancer had originally planned to rent a 'house,' after all, he had been curious about the 'houses' in anime for a long time. But unfortunately, he had never been to Japan before. Now that he had money, he naturally wanted to rent one to satisfy his curiosity, but unfortunately, he gave up in the end.
It wasn't that a CCG investigator's salary was too low to afford it. In fact, a house was cheaper than an apartment, but the problem was that there were no houses near the branch.
Lancer was indeed curious, but at the same time, he didn't want to get into trouble.
Generally speaking, no ghoul would casually wander around the CCG branch. After all, powerful ghouls generally wouldn't come to the 20th ward. The ones here were either 'retired' and didn't want to cause trouble or were weak ghouls who didn't have the qualifications to go to other regions.
In the end, Lancer chose the 20th floor of a tall building next to the branch.
However, the only thing that was more troublesome was that Lancer seemed to have aroused a lot of people's curiosity when he moved in with the Fueguchi mother and daughter.
The relationship between the Fueguchi mother and daughter was obvious at a glance, but Lancer age was somewhere in the middle; he was neither Ryōko Fueguchi's husband nor her son.
Speaking of which, Lancer had to thank the increasingly thin neighborhood relationships in the city. Although many people were curious, they didn't ask.
"I have something to deal with, so I'm going out. I personally recommend that you two don't leave here. The explosives in the 'collar' around your necks are enough to turn everything next to it into dust, and the GPS inside you can show your location. Once the branch thinks you are a threat, it will be detonated immediately."
"We know."
Ignoring Hinami Fueguchi's angry face behind Ryōko Fueguchi, Lancer locked the door and left.
As he said, his most important matter at the moment was to find leads on the 'Tsukiyama' family. The reason why he got involved in the Fueguchi family matter was simply because he didn't want his 'benefactor' to raise a death flag.
As for the Fueguchi mother and daughter? Wasn't he afraid that they would be rescued?
The answer was—no, he wasn't! Or rather, he hoped that someone could rescue them.
Lancer got involved in this matter for Kureo Mado life. He had originally planned to do it himself but couldn't bring himself to swing his weapon because of the look in Ryōko Fueguchi's eyes. In the end, the current awkward situation occurred.
He couldn't bear to kill them, and he couldn't let them go. If someone really came to rescue them, Lancer might be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
He temporarily put the troublesome matter aside and focused all his attention on the 'real business' in front of him.
That the 'Tsukiyama family' were ghouls was his guess, but it was basically a sure thing. After all, Shuu Tsukiyama himself was a ghoul, and he even held a 'banquet' in his own villa. So the only thing he needed to do was to follow the other party, but Lancer, who had already been fooled by Rize Kamishiro once, knew that he couldn't be so reckless.
The last time he was discovered while following someone, he survived because of his system's ability, but if he was discovered this time, there was an eighty percent chance he would die. After all, even if the Tsukiyama family didn't have an SS-rated ghoul, he didn't think he could survive being surrounded by dozens or hundreds of ghouls.
'This is so troublesome...'
Just as Lancer was walking in circles near Kamii University with this thought, his eyes lit up because he saw an unexpected but also expected person—Ken Kaneki.
The reason Lancer was here was just a matter of instinct, but on second thought, why would his body bring him here? It was simple, because in his impression, the only time Shuu Tsukiyama's exact location was known and he could also be there without being suspected was at this 'Kamii University.'
Thinking of the 'lead,' a smile unconsciously appeared on his face, but what he didn't know was that on the other side, because he smiled and greeted him, Kaneki's entire body froze like a frog being stared at by a snake. Fortunately, he eventually recalled Touka Kirishima 'guidance' and gave Lancer a very 'strange' smile before walking towards the school with his bag.
'Please don't be discovered! Please don't be discovered! Please don't be discovered... (but they actually already knew)'