What was Juzo Suzuya planning to do by looking for Kureo Mado?
Most people would probably be confused, after all, Juzo Suzuya looked like an overly energetic brat, while Kureo Mado was one of the most eccentric people in the entire CCG. No matter how you looked at it, these two people didn't seem to have anything in common, but Lancer happened to know some things, such as Juzo Suzuya's 'other side'. Based on this, he could probably guess what he was planning to do by looking for Kureo Mado. It was probably to 'learn'.
But just as Lancer was about to speak, a voice interrupted the two of them.
"Ahem~! Suzuya, although you've participated in an internship, an operation is no small matter, and the enemy's strength is much stronger, so you must be careful. As for First Class Mado, we can talk about that after this incident is over."
Undoubtedly, besides Lancer, there were others present who knew something about Juzo Suzuya, but unlike Lancer, Shinohara didn't plan to let Kureo Mado get in touch with him.
Of course, this didn't mean Shinohara disliked Kureo Mado, it was just that he felt that if the two of them got in touch too early, it might cause some bad changes. Kureo Mado was good in every way, except that his personality was a bit fanatical. He was afraid that Juzo Suzuya would become even more strange.
"Yes~!"
But compared to everyone's complicated feelings, Juzo Suzuya himself seemed indifferent. Sitting cross-legged on the seat, he not only swayed his head but also hummed a strange tune. Instead of going to exterminate a ghoul's nest, it was more like a primary school student going on a spring outing.
The atmosphere in the car was eased a lot by Juzo Suzuya's strange behavior. Even many older investigators showed a knowing smile, as if they saw their juniors at home, but then they clenched the quinques in their hands again.
Yeah! Isn't the reason they work so hard to protect their families?
Without Juzo Suzuya even noticing, the morale in the car increased in a small area.
But when the car stopped, the atmosphere on the scene began to become solemn. Through night vision binoculars, they could see many armed ghouls on the windows of the target supermarket, ready to go, and the investigators below were the same. Although neither side had opened fire, the smell of 'war' was coming.
After getting out of the car, Lancer looked at the building in the distance without saying a word. This made Koutarou Amon, who was a little nervous, sweat even more. After all, in his impression, although Lancer strength was not stronger than his, for some reason, he was always calmer than him when faced with a 'sudden incident'. Could it be that even he couldn't help but feel a little nervous this time?
"Lancer, are you nervous too? Relax~"
"Amon? It's fine, I'm not nervous, I'm just thinking about some issues."
"It's fine~ It's fine, I get it. This is just a mission like before. By the way, Lancer, why don't we go to the pub after we're done..."
"Slap~!"
Before Koutarou Amon could finish his sentence, Lancer covered his mouth.
"Are you an idiot? Setting up a FLAG like this before a big battle?"
Lancer couldn't possibly tell the other party that he was wondering 'why the system hadn't issued a mission', right? Not to mention that this was his biggest secret, second only to 'being from another world', even if he said it, the other party would probably be confused, right?
But what Lancer didn't expect was that this guy Amon actually started setting up flags. Was this guy trying to be cute?
But just as the two were interacting, a 'familiar' sound of footsteps made the two of them turn their heads -
"Mr. Mado!!" x 2
The two's voices were a little different from before, but this couldn't be blamed on them. After all, the feeling Kureo Mado gave off at this time was really a far cry from usual.
The previously somewhat large trench coat had disappeared, replaced by a protective suit similar to everyone else's. And perhaps because there was no jacket to cover him, he looked much more muscular. Of course, the bigger reason was the expression on his face.
On weekdays, Kureo Mado either had an inscrutable faint smile, a serious face, or even a funny face.
But what about now?
His expression was very 'ordinary', so ordinary that it was similar to other investigators, with a hint of tension in his seriousness. This uncharacteristic feeling made the two of them feel very unaccustomed.
"Stop messing around. You two are members of the assault team. If you encounter cadres from Aogiri Tree later, you two need to solve them. Now, calm your hearts down first."
"Yes!"
Looking at Kureo Mado gradually receding back, both Lancer and Koutarou Amon breathed a sigh of relief. Then they looked at each other and laughed, but after laughing, the two of them raised their fists together.
"Let's see who exterminates more ghouls today?"
"No problem, I wonder if I'll have a chance to get a badge too?"
Normally, before an attack, the attacking side would shout, because this might be able to damage the enemy's morale, but this obviously didn't apply between ghouls and investigators, because it could be said that both sides would fight to the death.
When facing investigators, no ghoul would choose to surrender, because surrendering was meaningless. The same was true for investigators. So after Itsuki Marude gave the 'attack' command, the fierce sound of gunfire completely awakened this strangely quiet area.
In the harsh sound of gunfire, bullets flew everywhere, but the result was not satisfactory.
"What's going on? Several of us have already been injured and sent to the medical team, but why hasn't the building's firepower changed at all? What about the intel? What about the investigation I told you to do?!"
In war, the existence of 'intel' can often determine the outcome of a war. So even though Itsuki Marude knew that they couldn't find too much ghoul information, he still didn't give up on having his subordinates collect intel.
"Based on the enemy's weapons and the equipment we observed, our enemies might be 'ghoul mercenaries'."
"Tsk~! The scum of the scum!!"
If 'ghouls' were man-eating monsters in the eyes of humans, then these 'ghoul mercenaries' were a bunch of real scum.
Their killing was neither for survival nor for enjoyment, it was simply because they accepted 'employment', and as long as they accepted employment, they would do anything, without any bottom line.
"Special Class Marude, should we let the assault team..."
"No need! They're just a bunch of scum. The assault team's mission is to break through the defenses. If they can't even deal with this kind of enemy, how can they deal with those stronger ghouls?!"
As he spoke, he left the command vehicle and picked up a wounded soldier's gun.
"Bang~!"
The first shot missed.
Itsuki Marude wasn't surprised at all, after all, this shot was just to get a feel for the gun -
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Three consecutive shots, three ghouls were directly headshot. Then he didn't even look at the results and directly turned around and threw the gun to a teammate next to him.
"Kill them all!!"
"Yes!!"
The commander personally took action, and as soon as he did, he killed three enemies. Suddenly, the CCG's morale was greatly boosted, and Itsuki Marude nodded in satisfaction.
As a Special Class, and one who had served for many years, he could be said to have experienced the most difficult time for the CCG. At that time, they didn't have quinques, only special bullets made of RC cells. It could be said that every investigator who survived that era was a sharpshooter, after all, if your enemy wasn't hit in a vital spot, they would be fine, but if you were approached, you would basically be dead. For them, there was only one chance!