After the waiter left with their trays...
"Their last meal..."
Kirika Tachibana finally couldn't contain her baffled expression as she stared at Luo Shu.
Was he seriously suggesting SDS provide human corpses as food for Ghouls, to prevent attacks on civilians during their UN extermination petition?
What kind of sick joke was this?
Contrary to Tachibana, Meer seemed to grasp something, though hesitantly:
"Fabricated corpses? Like clones?"
"Impossible. Our research division's cloning tech isn't mature enough. Feeding 20,000 Ghouls would bankrupt our budget first."
"That's your concern? The budget?"
Luo Shu suddenly found Meer's practicality terrifying.
To prevent darker ideas, he raised his hand, revealing the Vongola Ring on his knuckle.
Whoosh!
Indigo Mist Flames ignited by his willpower.
A hazy mist materialised, coalescing into a corpse bearing Kogoro Mouri's likeness before the trio.
"This is...?"
Both Meer and Tachibana froze, witnessing this phenomenon for the first time.
"Dying Will Flames can even create fake corpses?" Kirika Tachibana asked with curiosity.
"To be precise, it's Mist-type Dying Will Flames that possess the ability to construct false objects. Of course, they're identical to real corpses in both appearance and substance."
"But once I withdraw the Dying Will Flames..."
Luo Shu waved his hand, and Kogoro Mouri on the ground instantly vanished without a trace.
"...this thing will simply disappear."
"...Are you sure this isn't fraud?"
Kirika Tachibana looked at Luo Shu with a rather peculiar expression.
Even the last meal for ghouls is fake? That's a bit too much.
"Wow!! Mist Flames can actually do this, too!"
Meer clasped her hands together and exclaimed excitedly:
"Then could you make a replica of yourself according to your proportions for me to take home?"
"My place happens to be missing a body pillow recently~ Oh, and remember to remove the lower half, otherwise if I see your face before bed and do something inappropriate, that wouldn't be good."
Hey, hey, isn't that line of thinking a bit off? Planning to use me as a 'toy'?
Luo Shu sighed helplessly at the mischievous girl winking at him:
"Although the corpses constructed by Mist Flames are fake, since Dying Will Flames are manifestations of life force, they can temporarily satisfy a ghoul's hunger."
"Can they be tracked?" Meer suddenly asked.
Hearing this, Luo Shu looked up at Meer. Seeing her smiling face, he chuckled:
"As expected, I can't hide anything from you."
"I see."
Kirika Tachibana immediately understood Luo Shu's plan - using Mist Flames to create fake corpses, offering them to ghouls as appeasement while simultaneously tracking them for eventual elimination:
"So the tricky part is making ghouls believe these corpses are harmless."
As she spoke, she opened the whitelist on Luo Shu's document and smiled:
"Are these whitelisted individuals your assistants?"
"SSS-Rated Ghoul Non-Killing Owl, real name Yoshimura. He's the father of the ghouls' acknowledged leader, the One-Eyed King. He runs an organisation called Anteiku that provides support to ghouls and holds considerable prestige among them."
At this point, Luo Shu's lips curled slightly:
"We can use his name to distribute free food to ghouls."
"Snow White's poisoned apple~" Meer said playfully: "Then wouldn't you be the wicked queen, Luo Shu?"
"And you? The king?" Luo Shu couldn't help rolling his eyes.
"Eh, me as king? That doesn't sound bad, actually."
Hearing Meer's words, Luo Shu chuckled, then turned his gaze to Kirika Tachibana, who was still reading the report.
Noticing Luo Shu's look, Kirika Tachibana regarded him meaningfully:
"This plan is indeed feasible. Heh, actually, the most troublesome part would be locating all these ghouls across Tokyo, but I never imagined you'd already pinpointed them - addresses for twenty thousand individuals. You never cease to amaze."
"Lacus really shouldn't have made you head of the Hidden Management Department. You belong in Intelligence instead."
Hearing this, Meer tapped her chin thoughtfully: "If it's for Luo Shu, I'd be willing to step aside."
"Pointless discussion now. The priority is handling the ghoul situation properly."
Luo Shu spoke while scooping a spoonful of Snoopy chocolate ice cream into his mouth.
The taste was indeed rich, and the fact that he didn't have to pay for it made it even sweeter.
"How soon can the UN pass it?"
"If we go through special channels..."
Meer glanced at Luo Shu's laptop, considering the completeness of the intelligence inside, and felt it wouldn't be challenging to get approval:
"About two days. Right now, it's 11 AM in Tokyo, and around 11 PM in Washington. If we apply for a special investigative committee review directly, we'll probably get a response in about 15 hours."
"As for the Tokyo authorities, based on precedent, they'll likely receive the news by 10 AM tomorrow."
At this point, Meer looked towards Kirika Tachibana, giving her a meaningful glance.
After all, while she could remotely manage the process on Washington's side, when it came to Tokyo's officials, Kirika was the one with the most connections in the room.
"With those playboys' efficiency, getting a reply within three days would already be impressive."
"So the minimum is four days... That's tight. Can we compress it to two?"
Luo Shu ate his chocolate ice cream, his gaze shifting to Kirika Tachibana:
"Come on, Chief, this is the first case I'm handling since becoming a department head. Can't you do me a favour?"
Kirika studied Luo Shu's smiling face for a moment before replying:
"Since you put it that way, I'll pull some strings and have Minister Fujiwara handle the review."
Luo Shu blinked in surprise. "Who's Minister Fujiwara? Why does it have to be him?"
Kirika rolled her eyes and said irritably:
"Because he's the only minister who cares about his daughter. Got it now?"
Luo Shu's lips twitched.
'Her methods are way too wild,' he thought to himself, then clicked his tongue and said:
"Lacus wouldn't approve of this approach, would she?"
Kirika smiled sweetly and countered:
"Do you think she'd approve of the mass extermination of twenty thousand Ghouls?"
"Or to put it another way—among the Ghouls, there must be a certain number of uninvolved individuals. Given Lacus's personality, she'd definitely push for lighter sentences for minor offenders and harsher ones for major ones."
"But your report also states..."
Kirika's tone turned sinister as she continued:
"Verde determined that targeted modifications for Ghouls require a specialised Adjuster Drug. Factoring in one-time equipment modifications and drug production costs, each dose would cost roughly three million dollars—about four hundred million yen on average."
"To cut costs, we'd need mass production—at least a hundred thousand doses. But there are only twenty thousand Ghouls. No matter how you look at it, that doesn't qualify as mass production."
"And if even a thousand Ghouls are salvageable enough to make the 'white list,' the cost would balloon to four trillion yen—thirty billion dollars."
"That's not even counting the losses from diverting R&D personnel for the modifications or the post-modification resettlement of these genetically altered individuals."
"Heh. Forget America—even here in Japan, there are eyes coveting our unique Gene Adjustment technology. The follow-up resettlement would probably be even more troublesome than the thirty billion in expenses."
"And this funding—to prevent leaks—has to come entirely from us. You know what these costs represent."
Luo Shu sighed and voiced Kirika's unspoken conclusion:
"The SDS's funding chain will be severed, leading to an internal collapse crisis..."
"So, do you understand now?"
Kirika Tachibana patiently explained to Luo Shu:
"Lacus's personality is like that, and I don't expect her to change. But as her man, sometimes you need to take some responsibility."
Nearby, Meer leisurely sipped her juice, pretending not to hear anything.
"So we're just directly assuming I'm Lacus's man now?"
Luo Shu didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point.
While it did give him some small satisfaction that both department heads within the SDS supported him becoming the Supreme Chairwoman's husband, the money issue was indeed a major problem.
Perhaps saving the Ghouls had been impossible from the very beginning.
Unless someone was willing to foot the bill for the Ghouls - and the only ones who could afford it were national governments, which made the situation immediately unsolvable.
Luo Shu actually understood what Kirika Tachibana meant.
They would work together behind Lacus's back to deal with the Ghouls.
Simply put, they would adopt severe measures, killing enough Ghouls until the department heads could bear the cost of maintaining the whitelist.
Calculating at a rate of 30 billion USD per thousand people, Luo Shu might need to limit the number to under a hundred, perhaps even fewer.
'Maybe fifty would be a reasonable figure... 150 million USD. The money he'd embezzled from the funeral industry this time should suffice...' Thinking this, Luo Shu pondered for a moment before rapping his knuckles on the table:
"I'll try to compress the whitelist as much as possible, but I'll need your cooperation with Japan's officials."
At this point, Luo Shu paused and turned to Kirika Tachibana:
"Preferably, we could swindle some funding too."
Kirika Tachibana curled her lips into a confident smile: "Don't worry, I'm far more experienced than you in that regard."
"In that case, I'll take the report draft and polish it before submission."
Meer said as she took the notebook, grinning:
"Whether it's the version for Lacus, the UN, or Japan's officials, I'll handle them all."
'The Intelligence Department, Hidden Management Department, and Operations Department are collaborating, yet their primary goal is to deceive the Supreme Speaker? What kind of operation is this?'
Luo Shu inwardly scoffed, but couldn't resist asking Meer:
"So, about that so-called reward?"
Meer blinked, then looked at Luo Shu with an amused expression:
"That depends on how many people remain on your whitelist, Luo Shu-kun~"
As she spoke, Meer winked at him and licked her lips.
"On one side, a massacre targeting twenty thousand Ghouls, and on the other, a special reward. The dichotomy couldn't be more stark."
Luo Shu muttered under his breath, finished the dessert before him, then stood up and glanced at the two women before forcing a smile:
"Let's hope the next time we meet, the three of us won't be graced with the lovely title of 'butchers'."
Meer cupped her cheeks and said playfully:
"That is, assuming Japan even has a Ghoul Protection Association."
"Hahaha, fair point."
Luo Shu laughed dryly, then turned away with a wave, striding out of the private room.
"I'll take my leave first and await your good news at home."
Only when Luo Shu's retreating figure had completely vanished beyond the door did Kirika Tachibana finally speak up:
"So what exactly are you planning to give him as a reward?"
Meer twirled a lock of her pink hair around her finger:
"Who knows? Maybe helping someone lose their virginity?"
"You're really set on him, aren't you..."
Kirika Tachibana sighed in exasperation before shaking her head:
"Give me a copy of the report. I'll prepare accordingly. Since we're eliminating a dangerous species, we might as well do it thoroughly."
Meer didn't argue, merely resting her chin on her hand as she gazed at the doorway, lost in thought.