"...What do you mean by 21 billion yen?"
As she spoke these words, Touka Kirishima didn't even notice how much weaker her tone had become. The curse called poverty weighed heavily on her heart, making it hard to breathe.
"Indeed, phrased like that, it must be difficult for you to understand."
Luo Shu interlaced his fingers beneath his chin, smiling as he looked at Yoshimura:
"Ghouls must have their own intelligence network, correct?"
"In that case, you should already be aware of the attack on the Mihana Funeral Parlour."
"The funeral industry conglomerate behind that parlour has provided us with 21 billion yen in political donations, hoping we'll resolve the harm caused by Ghouls."
"Does that make it clearer for you?"
Touka Kirishima was stunned: "So when you said the evaluation method was 21 billion yen... You meant protection money?"
As she said this, Touka quickly glanced at Luo Shu's identification on the counter. She now seriously suspected it was fake.
When did Metropolitan Police Department officers start demanding protection money from Ghouls? And 21 billion yen at that!
Good heavens, she'd never seen that much money in her entire life!
Facing Touka's stunned question, Luo Shu wagged his finger:
"Not protection money, but compensation for the funeral enterprises."
"Additionally, all corpses recently stolen from Mihana Funeral Parlour and across Tokyo must be returned without affecting ordinary citizens. Of course, I'm not completely unreasonable - I won't insist you return the exact same corpses."
"What the hell..." Touka was utterly bewildered.
Compensation aside, returning corpses? That was pure fantasy!
For man-eating Ghouls, stolen corpses had obviously already been digested. To return them would mean robbing Peter to pay Paul. And now this Director said ordinary citizens couldn't be affected.
Meaning they could only provide suicides' corpses... or perhaps... Ghoul corpses.
"You've got to be joking..." Kaya Irimi, standing behind them, bristled at the unreasonable demands: "Why should we pay this money?"
Luo Shu ignored Touka and Kaya's objections, simply smiling at Yoshimura.
Yoshimura remained silent for a moment, then picked up a freshly polished glass and continued cleaning it:
"These aren't terms for us alone, but for the entire Ghoul population, correct?"
Touka and Kaya both froze.
Terms for all Ghouls?
Luo Shu didn't refute Yoshimura's words; he rested his chin on his hands and watched him calmly.
Seeing this, Yoshimura sighed in understanding:
"So this is the evaluation method?"
"No, it's the method to cancel the evaluation." Luo Shu shook his head.
"What else?" Yoshimura pressed.
Luo Shu raised his right hand, extending fingers one by one:
"First: prohibit killing humans to consume corpses. Second: obtaining suicide victims' corpses requires registration and approval - consumption is otherwise forbidden. Third: prohibit luring and killing ordinary humans. Fourth: obey local laws."
Hearing this, Yoshimura burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face.
"Ha ha ha ha..."
"Manager." Touka Kirishima had never seen Yoshimura behave in this manner before and couldn't help but feel concerned.
"I'm fine, Touka."
Yoshimura raised his hand to wipe away tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes, then addressed Luo Shu:
"They can't do it, and I don't have the ability to make them comply either."
Luo Shu understood the situation, but their positions remained fundamentally opposed:
"Then we'll have to proceed with the standard evaluation protocol."
"How does that work?" Yoshimura asked.
"Determine the combat strength of the species' most powerful individual, assess the average capability of the species, and conduct a comprehensive evaluation of overall threat level. After full assessment, if rated B-class or above..."
Luo Shu paused here, his gaze deepening as he looked at Yoshimura before uttering the final word:
"Extermination."
Race Danger Value - this was the United Nations' quantitative assessment system for newly emerged supernatural species.
The scale ranged from the highest S-class to the lowest E-class, with B-class and above designated for extermination.
B-class meant the host nation would commit full resources to eradication. A-class required all human nations on the continent to unite against the threat. S-class mobilised the UN Security Council's permanent members with no holds barred.
By comparison, C-class meant reporting to the UN with specialist monitoring, D-class involved oversight by the regional Security Council members, while E-class only required supervision by the host nation.
Thus, regardless of classification, dangerous species faced either surveillance or annihilation - no third option existed.
"Extermination for B-class danger or above?" Yoshimura immediately understood Luo Shu's unannounced visit after hearing the evaluation criteria.
As an SSS-class Ghoul codenamed Owl, while not necessarily the strongest Ghoul, he ranked among the absolute elite.
The number of Ghouls surpassing his strength likely didn't exceed five.
This clearly satisfied the "species' most powerful individual" criterion in the evaluation.
So if he were weak enough to die by Luo Shu's hand, might the Ghouls escape this fate?
Yoshimura considered this possibility briefly before dismissing it.
He knew the Ghouls' fundamental problem wasn't his personal strength, but their biological need to consume humans.
Unable to taste human food, limited to coffee that provided no nutrition, only human flesh could sustain them, with starvation driving Ghouls to lose rationality and attack humans indiscriminately.
These inherent flaws created absolute opposition between Ghouls and humankind.
Any thorough official evaluation by Luo Shu's organisation would inevitably rate Ghouls at least B-class.
Yoshimura, who understood humanity well, knew they would never tolerate a species that could only survive by eating them.
So... this would be his final contribution.
Yoshimura meticulously polished the glass in his hands.
The already spotless tumbler gleamed crystalline under his careful ministrations.
He set the polished glass down with deliberate care before asking Luo Shu:
"When does the evaluation begin?"
"At any time," Luo Shu replied calmly.
"I see. Then let's proceed."
Yoshimura straightened his collar and stepped out from behind the counter.
"Manager!" Both Kaya Irimi and Touka Kirishima moved to intercept him, but Yoshimura gently waved them off:
"Don't worry. I'll return shortly."
After this reassurance, he paused and addressed Kaya Irimi specifically:
"Kaya, there's a prepared letter in the bedside drawer of my residence. Please mail it to the address written on it later."
That was the letter Yoshimura had written to his daughter Eto Yoshimura. Originally, when he discovered his daughter had become a debut author under the pen name Takatsuki Izumi in this new world, he wanted to reconnect with her.
But now, it seemed the living conditions for Ghouls hadn't improved as much as he'd imagined—in fact, quite the opposite.
Thinking this, Yoshimura glanced at Kisara beside him and sighed inwardly:
'This world might be even more dangerous than the Ghouls' original one...'
"Touka, Kaya, I'm leaving the café to you."
With these words, ignoring the complicated expressions on Touka Kirishima and Kaya Irimi's faces, Yoshimura followed behind Luo Shu and Kisara as they exited the café.