Akira Mado, standing beside, looked at Juuzou Suzuya sobbing in Lancer arms with a somewhat complicated mood.
She knew she shouldn't be like this, but she couldn't help but let her mind wander, but remembering what her father had said about Juuzou Suzuya's experience, she couldn't help but sigh again. She really couldn't feel jealous of such a child.
Since she couldn't be jealous, then —
Sensing Akira Mado's somewhat piercing gaze, Lancer shook his head helplessly.
Although Juuzou Suzuya was very cute, and there was a not-so-large but stable 'support group' within the CCG, his heart was completely unmoved. After all, Lancer was also considered 'well-tested', and frankly speaking, Astolfo was a bit cuter than Juuzou...
But right at this moment —
"Suzuya Squad Leader!!"
Accompanied by a cry that could be described as 'wailing', a long-haired man rushed in directly from the entrance. When he saw the Ghoul corpses scattered all over the floor, he first breathed a sigh of relief, and then his eyes widened when he saw Juuzou Suzuya held in Lancer arms.
And Juuzou Suzuya, who was originally sobbing, also let go of Lancer clothes upon hearing the voice of a familiar person.
"Hanbee?"
Perhaps it was because his subordinate had arrived, so Juuzou Suzuya also used his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, attempting to wipe away all the tears. After all, Yukinori Shinohara had specifically instructed him to maintain his authority in front of his subordinates.
It was just that he didn't know that although he worked hard to imitate the every move of Yukinori Shinohara, who was like both a mentor and a father, unlike the tall Yukinori Shinohara who gave a strong sense of security, his earnest imitation gave people a feeling of — gap moe?
This also made all members of Suzuya Squad the backbone of the support group.
At this time, looking at Juuzou Suzuya whose face was still stained with tears, he felt his blood surge even more, wishing he could directly pull Juuzou Suzuya out of Lancer arms. But at least he hadn't completely lost his mind and knew that the two people in front of him were his 'superiors'.
But he wasn't completely helpless.
"Suzuya Squad Leader! We have brought your Quinque! Now the front line is under attack by a suspected SS-rated Ghoul, requesting backup!"
Although he looked like a fragile and powerless girl, as an Associate Special Class Investigator, Juuzou Suzuya knew the seriousness of the matter after hearing Hanbee Abara's words. Naturally, he didn't care about anything else and quickly trotted over to take the briefcase from Hanbee Abara's hands.
"Lancer! Let's go quickly!"
As he spoke, he boldly lifted his skirt and tied two knife holsters to his thighs. These were all prepared in advance.
Lancer naturally remained unmoved by this, but Hanbee Abara's entire face turned red when he saw the white panties Juuzou Suzuya was wearing to hide his identity. Then, as if he realized something, he quickly turned around to shield Juuzou Suzuya behind him and looked at Lancer with vigilant eyes, as if afraid that Lancer was really the legendary 'stud'.
And Lancer calmly chose to ignore the opponent's vigilant gaze and pulled out his Gáe Bolg, looking at Akira Mado standing beside him.
"Let's go support them too."
"Mhm."
Looking at the damp spot on Lancer chest, Akira Mado's expression was slightly subtle, but she was at least able to distinguish the current situation and didn't say much about it, though a thought couldn't help but pop up in her mind.
'That Ghoul named Ryouko Fueguchi seems to be a standard Yamato Nadeshiko, and her daughter is also a somewhat shy girl, and even Juuzou Suzuya looks very cute, but I…'
Recalling her cold appearance and her unfeeling reputation within the CCG, Akira Mado suddenly felt a little lost.
— — — — — —
After putting on their earphones, Lancer and the three of them connected to the CCG's command network, but as soon as they connected to the network, they heard a cry for help.
"This is the Quinx Squad!! We found a suspected S-rated Ghoul 'One-Eye'… Ah~!!"
Along with Tooru Mutsuki's scream, the communication instantly cut off, and Akira Mado, who was originally following behind Lancer, had her face change drastically.
But at this moment —
"I am Lancer, First Class Investigator, Command, can the location of the Quinx Squad be confirmed?"
'Second floor, East corridor of the Auction House.'
"Understood! I will go with First Class Investigator Mado immediately to support."
'We will also notify nearby Investigators to go for support at the same time.'
"Thank you."
After the communication ended, Lancer looked at Akira Mado beside him.
"Calm down, Akira, panic is meaningless at a time like this. Juuzou, you continue to support the advance troops, we will go support the Quinx Squad."
The first half was addressed to Akira Mado, and the second half was naturally addressed to Juuzou Suzuya. Juuzou Suzuya also nodded in agreement, and the two parties separated at an intersection.
When Lancer and Akira Mado just arrived on the second floor, they noticed something was wrong, because the lights on the east side seemed to have been destroyed. The two exchanged glances and hurried over, but when they arrived, they were stunned by the scene in front of them.
Originally, Lancer and Akira Mado thought that Tooru Mutsuki and the others had found 'One-Eye', or Ken Kaneki, and were attacked, but the situation at the scene was that Ken Kaneki was protecting the unconscious Tooru Mutsuki, as for Ginshi Shirazu and Saiko Yonebayashi, their whereabouts were unknown.
As for the person attacking them — it was Kuki Urie.
"What's going on?"
Although Lancer knew that Ken Kaneki was the 'protagonist', he always felt that the development was a bit strange. Why would he protect Tooru Mutsuki?
"Kuki Urie… he's lost control."
"Lost control?"
"That's right, although the Quinx surgery is not like the 'Half-Ghoul surgery' which forcibly turns people into Half-Ghouls, the massive proliferation of Kagune will still make people irritable, easily angered… I'll explain the rest to you after we go back, you help me control him first!"
Although Lancer was still completely confused and didn't know what had happened, since Akira Mado asked him to help control Kuki Urie, he would do so.
The arrival of Lancer and Akira Mado also affected the battlefield. Ken Kaneki's mood was extremely complicated when he saw Lancer, but he didn't say much, only intending to disengage and leave. After all, the reason he initially decided to come to the auction house was because he learned that Ghouls from Aogiri Tree were involved in this auction, but…
Glancing at 'Torso' who died with his eyes wide open beside him, he sighed helplessly.
Speaking of which, 'Torso' died unjustly. Originally, due to the previous recapture battle of the 11th Ward, Aogiri Tree's forces chose to contract, and even chose to refuse the hiring of the 'Clowns', but when he heard that a female CCG Investigator would be auctioned off at this auction, he became interested and chose to participate.
However, after arriving at the scene and learning that the female Investigator was not Tooru Mutsuki, he was disappointed and prepared to leave. Who knew that the CCG would launch a general attack at this time, and he 'unluckily' encountered Ken Kaneki. Naturally, the two instantly started fighting. In terms of strength, he was much worse than Ken Kaneki and was resolved in almost a few moves. But at this time, Kuki Urie and the others rushed out, attempting to subjugate Ken Kaneki...
Speaking of which, it was their bad luck. Ken Kaneki's subjugation rating was still 'S-rate', a level set more than two years ago. Now he is at least SS-rate. After all, because of his friend Hideyoshi Nagachika, he gave up normal predation and chose 'cannibalism', and with Hideyoshi's help, he could control his half-Kakuja transformation to a certain extent.
It was just that the subsequent situation went out of control. Ken Kaneki wanted to leave with 'Torso', but Kuki Urie and the others blocked Ken Kaneki. And because of his friend, he didn't want to kill Investigators, so he gave way to the members of the Quinx Squad everywhere, but Kuki Urie did not seem to notice this. He simply thought that their strength was actually already close to Ken Kaneki, and they could defeat the opponent if they were just a little stronger…
Desiring to defeat a powerful Ghoul in order to be promoted, he did not notice that the RC cell count in his body was constantly rising, until —
"Click~"
Just like a certain sluice gate being opened, the RC cell count in his body rapidly increased, and the Quinque that had been integrated into his body was instantly strengthened, actually allowing him to directly kill 'Torso' who was originally carried by Ken Kaneki.
And when Tooru Mutsuki attempted to inject the portable RC suppressor fluid into Kuki Urie's body, she was directly knocked away, but at this moment, a reversal occurred.
Tooru Mutsuki, who was almost thrown and crashed into a steel bar, was rescued by Ken Kaneki.
The out-of-control Kuki Urie directly regarded Tooru Mutsuki, who had previously tried to 'attack (inject suppressor fluid)' him, as an enemy, and Ken Kaneki thought that Tooru Mutsuki was helping himself (in reality, she was simply preventing Kuki Urie) and chose to protect her.
The final result became the strange scene Lancer and the others saw when they arrived.
The Investigator under the CCG turned into the 'BOSS'
The Ghoul wanted by the CCG was protecting the CCG Investigator
"Tooru! Do you still have 'suppressor fluid' there?"
It was precisely because of the uncertainty of the 'Quinx Plan' that everyone was equipped with RC suppressor fluid just in case, but normally they would only carry one bottle. At this time, Akira Mado had already seen the fragments of the bottle beside Tooru Mutsuki, which was why she asked more.
"Yes! I brought several spare bottles."
Although Tooru Mutsuki was still unable to use the 'Quinque' inside her body for some reason, unlike her three eccentric companions, she was a little shy but very serious at work. Although she didn't need it herself, she still brought four bottles just in case, and she didn't expect them to be useful at this moment.
Akira Mado, who took the RC suppressor fluid from Tooru Mutsuki, also breathed a sigh of relief at this time…
"Lancer! Help me pin him down!"
"No problem!"
Brushing aside Kuki Urie's right arm that was thrusting towards him with a spear, Lancer slammed the butt of the spear fiercely onto the opponent's lower abdomen. Then, taking advantage of his body bending forward, he circled behind him, gripping both ends of the long spear with both hands to forcibly restrain his arms.
Unable to swing his arms, Kuki Urie could only try to kick Lancer behind him, unfortunately…
"Slap~!"
Kicked on the inside of his knee, he directly knelt on the ground, while Akira Mado on the other side directly injected the RC suppressor fluid into his neck.
As the light blue liquid was slowly injected, Kuki Urie, who was originally roaring loudly, finally quieted down.
"Slap~!"
As the Quinque was retracted into his body, Kuki Urie's continuously struggling body slowly softened until he finally fell to the ground. But even so, the atmosphere at the scene still didn't ease up at all, because a Ghoul was still standing between Lancer and Akira Mado.
When he saw Lancer gripping the long spear and pointing it at him again, Ken Kaneki's expression was extremely complicated. After all, he was pointed at by Lancer like this back then, and then his false daily life was pierced.
He originally tried to continue maintaining his original life, but because he was discovered by Lancer, or rather, he voluntarily chose to expose himself in order to conceal Touka Kirishima's Ghoul identity, and was finally severely injured.
Although it was precisely because of this that he confirmed his friend's feelings, and with the other party's encouragement, he made up his mind to abandon his former life and go search for the person who turned him into a Half-Ghoul, because he finally realized that false peace was meaningless, and only when he recovered his original human body could he truly regain his peaceful daily life.
But Lancer mood was also somewhat complicated.
He learned some things about Ken Kaneki from the Manager and Touka Kirishima, such as making up his mind to leave Anteiku, and never preying on humans but choosing cannibalism.
Lancer still respects the other party. Although he is not a Ghoul and cannot understand the madness dominated by appetite, for the other party to be able to achieve this, should it be said that he truly deserves to be the original 'protagonist'?
However, from a certain perspective, this can also be considered a change brought about by Lancer. In the original worldline, Ken Kaneki thought he had personally eaten his friend and finally completely fell into hysteria and completed his black transformation, but now, due to the support of his childhood friend who had been with him for 20 years, he did not completely fall into black transformation.
Lancer would like to pull the other party into his 'plan' as well. After all, based on his understanding of the other party, he should want to return to a normal person's life, and there is a basis for cooperation between the two parties, but…
Glancing at Tooru Mutsuki on the side, Lancer also knew that this matter could not be discussed now, as Tooru Mutsuki herself was an uncertain factor, and Lancer simply did not know or understand the other party.
So —
Looking at the long spear thrusting towards him, Ken Kaneki was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected Lancer to directly attack him.
'Indeed, he hates Ghouls, just like the rumors say…'
After sighing inwardly, he also dodged and simultaneously crashed towards the glass panel on the side. It was clear that he intended to retreat. In his opinion, his growth over the past two years should have surpassed Lancer, but he had no intention of seeking revenge on the other party. But what he didn't expect was that just as he jumped out, a figure immediately followed suit and jumped down.
After glancing at Lancer, Ken Kaneki turned and ran.