1:00 PM.
Inside Anteiku, whose door bore a "Closed Today" sign.
"Where's the manager?"
Touka Kirishima sat at the counter, somewhat distracted as she asked.
"Sorting documents at his residence."
The reply came from a handsome silver-haired staff member.
This was Renji Yomo, Touka Kirishima's uncle and an employee at Anteiku.
"Is the manager really planning to hand over those documents?"
The speaker was a brown-haired, large-nosed male staff member with a businessman's haircut - Enji Koma.
As he wiped down the café tables, he continued:
"From what you've said, those documents are meant to be given to the authorities to exterminate Ghouls, right?"
"I may not be the brightest, but having us voluntarily submit intelligence to eliminate ourselves... that sounds rather unreliable, doesn't it?"
Enji Koma's face was full of concern as he spoke.
"After we submit the information and the Ghouls are eliminated, will the rest of us truly be safe?"
"Who knows about such things?"
Touka Kirishima crushed the glass beside her hand with a squeeze.
With a crack, she stared at her completely unharmed palm and said:
"If I don't do as that monster says, both the manager and all of us will be killed."
"Touka..." Renji Yomo gazed worriedly at Touka Kirishima, whose face still bore traces of fear.
Though he didn't know what his niece and Kaya Irimi had encountered after chasing after the manager, it was clear that in Touka Kirishima's eyes, the enemy was a monster that even the entire Anteiku couldn't oppose.
If Touka Kirishima's opinion alone wasn't convincing enough, then Yoshimura, who was currently organising the documents, and Kaya Irimi, assisting him, were proof enough of the enemy's strength.
They had thought crossing over to another world would lead to a better life, but instead, they'd stepped into a pit, hadn't they?
Renji Yomo sighed softly and shook his head at Enji Koma, who wore a look of concern.
"Sigh." Enji Koma sighed, picking up a cloth to wipe the already spotless table again.
The atmosphere in the shop grew stiff.
Fifteen minutes later.
The shop door opened with the chime of a bell.
"Sorry, we're closed today."
Touka Kirishima reflexively called out, only to hear a male voice that seemed etched into her DNA:
"Get me a coconut latte, half sugar."
Hearing that voice, Touka Kirishima's face froze.
Her body stiffened, unmoving on the barstool.
Yet the tap... tap... of footsteps echoed incessantly in her ears.
Soon, the adjacent stool was pulled out.
A figure sat down beside Touka Kirishima and addressed Renji Yomo, whose expression had turned grave behind the counter:
"Can you make that latte?"
"...Yes."
After a brief silence, Renji Yomo nodded.
From Touka Kirishima's rigid posture, he understood—this man was the one.
The one who had instantly defeated Touka and Irimi, who had toyed with the manager in battle... was this man?
As he gathered ingredients for the coconut latte, Renji Yomo studied Luo Shu as calmly as possible.
His face was youthful, around 18 years old. Though handsome, his eyes lacked depth, unlike someone who had weathered storms.
His hands bore no calluses, suggesting no expertise in combat or firearms.
Could someone like this truly be a powerhouse even the manager couldn't handle?
As Renji Yomo puzzled over this, Luo Shu propped his chin on one hand and asked:
"Where's Yoshimura?"
"I barely managed to convince Kisara to stay home by promising a celebratory dinner tonight. If his intel isn't ready, I'll be in trouble."
At Luo Shu's words, Touka Kirishima remained motionless.
Then, Enji Koma answered from his seat nearby:
"The manager is sorting documents at his residence. Kaya's assisting him. They've been at it for nearly two hours—please wait a little longer."
Hearing Enji Koma's words, Luo Shu tilted his head slightly and glanced at the man with an ostentatious hairstyle yet an exceptionally honest face.
"SS-rated Ghoul, Devil Ape?"
"...That's me." Enji Koma was completely caught off guard that Luo Shu would know of him, causing a slight delay in his response.
"Oh~~" Luo Shu drew out his tone before turning to Renji Yomo and asking, "Then you must be SS-rated Ghoul, Black Dog Renji Yomo?"
Renji Yomo gave a slight nod and placed a freshly brewed coconut latte in front of Luo Shu:
"Please enjoy."
Luo Shu picked up the coconut latte, took a small sip, and savoured the sweet coconut flavour before saying:
"Are you the only Ghouls at Anteiku right now?"
Renji Yomo rinsed the latte-making tools and explained:
"Including the manager and Kaya, there are five of us. The rest are Ghouls under our protection, but they're involved in other businesses."
Luo Shu nodded at this and then remarked, "The whitelist can't be too extensive."
Renji Yomo paused at these words but said nothing.
Nearby, Touka Kirishima's mood grew even heavier upon hearing this.
If the whitelist couldn't be too large, did that mean the number of Ghouls who would die couldn't be too small?
While others were coming to kill, she could only sit helplessly by the side. Once again, Touka Kirishima felt her own powerlessness.
After finishing half the coconut latte, the shop door opened once more.
This time, it was Yoshimura and Kaya Irimi in work uniforms who entered.
"You're already here?"
Yoshimura, holding a laptop, glanced at Luo Shu seated at the counter, showed a brief moment of surprise, then walked straight over.
"Quite efficient, I see." Luo Shu turned around, leaning back against the counter, and extended his hand towards Yoshimura. "Hand it over."
Yoshimura calmly passed the laptop to him and said:
"Most of the content in these materials is based on my personal investigations and understanding. If there are any inaccuracies, I can only apologise."
"No matter. I never expected to get comprehensive data from you in the first place."
Luo Shu opened the laptop. Perhaps because Yoshimura had been hastily inputting data earlier, the device hadn't been shut down, allowing immediate access.
Inserting his own USB drive, Luo Shu clicked on the desktop folder labelled 'Ghoul Data' and began speed-reading through the contents.
Yoshimura's collected data was extensive.
It covered the original ghoul organisations that existed across Tokyo's 23 wards, their possible areas of activity after the crossing, the identities of their leaders, and their distinguishing characteristics.
While the materials didn't pinpoint specific Ghouls or identities, they at least contained physical descriptions and personal strength assessments.
Among all these Ghoul groups, Aogiri Tree and V stood out as the most thoroughly documented factions.
Most crucially, within Aogiri Tree, a cadre named Eto had been placed on the whitelist by Yoshimura—the only one from Aogiri Tree to receive this designation.
The remaining whitelist entries were mostly weaker Ghouls, clearly those under Yoshimura's protection, whom he deemed harmless.
As the information filled his vision, Luo Shu felt the Mysticism Encyclopaedia's corresponding search capabilities strengthen significantly.
This development caused the corners of Luo Shu's mouth to curl upwards slightly.
The Mysticism Encyclopaedia originated from the Authority of Knowledge that Luo Shu extracted from the Demon God Vassago.
Its ability was to obtain desired intelligence from the world through divination, information deduction and similar methods.
Though formidable, this power had its flaws.
Namely, the more comprehensive Luo Shu's understanding of the target was, the more accurate the answers provided by the Mysticism Encyclopaedia would be.
The relationship between these two factors wasn't one of equivalence, but rather operated on a principle of leverage.
For instance, if Luo Shu's knowledge about Touka Kirishima was at 10, he could search for information at 100 through the Mysticism Encyclopaedia.
Thus, the more Luo Shu understood about Touka Kirishima, the more information the Mysticism Encyclopaedia could reveal - even surpassing Touka's own self-awareness.
'The more one knows, the more powerful one becomes.'
This was Luo Shu's impression of the Authority of Knowledge.
Therefore, from the very beginning, the Ghoul research materials in Yoshimura's possession were, in Luo Shu's eyes, merely data amplifiers.
He could absolutely use these materials as a foundation, leveraging the power of the Mysticism Encyclopaedia to uncover far more information than what he currently possessed.
For example, the total number of Ghouls, the residences of high-risk Ghouls, their abilities and weaknesses, the criminal activities of various Ghoul organisations – these were details Yoshimura couldn't ascertain, but Luo Shu could.
At the very least, Luo Shu, who possessed the Mysticism Encyclopaedia formed from the Authority of Knowledge, could.
After scanning through the materials, Luo Shu tapped his index finger on the keyless area of his laptop and narrowed his eyes:
"The intel on the V Organisation is rather sparse... After working as their cleaner for so long, you still don't know much about them?"
"Though it's embarrassing to admit, that's indeed the case."
Yoshimura sighed. Regarding the V Organisation – that omnipotent group lurking among Ghouls – his own understanding was fragmentary at best.
Perhaps his daughter, Eto Yoshimura, knew more, but since Yoshimura had entrusted her to others in her childhood to protect her, their current relationship wasn't much different from that of strangers.
"The V Organisation members I'm aware of have all vanished without a trace. While I've obtained some eyewitness accounts from other Ghouls, I truly lack detailed information."
At this point, Yoshimura gave a bitter laugh:
"I don't even know what they're doing now in this world they've crossed into."
"They're all busy taking exams."
Yoshimura froze, looking up at Luo Shu, who was rapidly typing and editing documents.
"Exams? Why would they—"
"Do you think the V Organisation members are fools?"
Luo Shu stopped typing and raised his head, looking at Yoshimura with disdain:
"Unlike you lot who've never set foot in a school, the V Organisation members understand perfectly well the value of education."
Here, Luo Shu scoffed, his tone laced with amusement:
"Kishou Arima has already been admitted to the police academy. Yakumo Oomori is preparing for the Tokyo University entrance exams. Yoshitoki Washuu is courting a politician's daughter. And then there's the rest who've already enlisted in the Self-Defence Forces. Interesting, isn't it? Making moves in both politics and the military?"
Hearing this, Yoshimura's expression twisted slightly.
Just from the institutions Luo Shu mentioned, Yoshimura grasped the grand vision of the V Organisation – and suddenly, many things became clear.
"I see... So that's how it was!"
"No wonder Ghouls in our original world were both controlled and tacitly permitted by the authorities... They'd already infiltrated human society, hadn't they?"
Yoshimura had never understood how the V Organisation operated with such impunity.
They were all Ghouls – in his youth, he'd had to scavenge like a stray dog.
He'd fought tooth and nail, devouring an entire generation of Ghouls to reach SSS-rank, yet the V Organisation had no shortage of SSS-ranks stronger than him.
He'd wondered where they got their resources. Turns out they were being groomed by the nation's elite all along.
"...Done!"
As realisation dawned on Yoshimura, Luo Shu hit enter, saved the file, then looked up:
"You've done well with what I asked."
"At the very least, I'm satisfied with this intel."
"And personally, I'm not one to exploit others' efforts without compensation."
Here, Luo Shu smiled at Yoshimura:
"I have a recommended test subject slot available. Would you like to consider it?"
A test subject? And it needs recommending?
Not only was Yoshimura stunned by these words, but even the onlooking Renji Yomo and Enji Koma were momentarily dazed, their expressions blank.
In this day and age, did one need a kind recommendation to be treated as experimental material?
This was truly eye-opening!