"What is this? It's so disgusting..."
Madam A's face twisted in discomfort.
Having never seen "RC cell walls" before, she was nauseated by the writhing matter—even though she was a ghoul herself with a similar kagune. In fact, RC cell walls were made from kagune. She was just too ignorant.
"These seem to be the same 'RC cell walls' as in Ward 24. Isn't that supposed to be a technique exclusive to 'ghouls originating from Ward 24'? How did Kanou manage to produce something like this..."
Akira's expression grew more serious.
These RC cell walls could indeed only be made by ghouls from Ward 24. Ghouls from other wards didn't possess this technique.
"Only ghouls can open and close these RC cell walls made from kagune. Coat them with some paint and they look just like normal walls. No wonder we found nothing after walking around."
Kiyoko Aura spoke up.
"Let's go in. We should be close to finding Dr. Kanou."
Byakuya said evenly.
"Do I... have to go in with you too?..."
Madam A asked very quietly, her voice small.
"Of course. You're still a Cochlea prisoner. I can't just let you leave."
Byakuya said.
"Alright..."
Madam A hung her head dejectedly, her heart filled with unease.
Her main concern was that there might be something terrifying inside. After all, she found that Dr. Kanou inscrutable, and there might be horrifying things within...
"Are you scared? You don't need to worry about that. Since I brought you here, I'll definitely bring you back to Cochlea alive."
Byakuya said flatly.
"Then... I'm counting on you..."
Madam A then hid behind Byakuya, surprisingly polite about it.
She didn't know the strength of the other "Doves" here, but she knew this young man was genuinely powerful. Back at the Ghoul Restaurant, he'd single-handedly taken on the entire establishment.
Just as they entered the passage, they could see a surveillance camera above them, clearly active. Someone on the other end was monitoring them—most likely Dr. Kanou.
"Ignore it. We'll just keep going deeper."
Byakuya said.
After proceeding some distance into the passage, the writhing RC cell walls ahead disappeared, replaced by normal-looking walls again.
"This place feels like a maze. And these walls seem to be from a different era than the basement above. Was this once some kind of facility?"
Akira observed the surrounding walls, finding it increasingly strange.
After a while, they needed to cross a short bridge. Below it was black, foul-smelling water.
As they crossed, a ghastly pale face suddenly emerged from the water's surface—eyes completely white for some reason.
Then a fat, naked man burst out of the water, lunging straight at the nearest person—Madam A.
"Kyaaa!!"
Madam A was terrified out of her wits, seemingly forgetting she was a ghoul herself.
As she was knocked down, she instinctively grabbed Byakuya's pants. The next moment, she might have pulled them right off.
"Save me! Save me!"
Byakuya immediately thrust his sword backward, piercing through the man's heart from behind and killing him instantly.
[Ding! Host defeated a "failed experiment." Reward: 5 Fusion Points!]
Without question, this was one of Dr. Kanou's failed subjects from the half-ghoul transformation surgery.
Facing Madam A as she kept tugging at his pants, Byakuya simply said, "Stop pulling my pants down."
"Ah... sorry!"
Realizing she was safe now, Madam A quickly let go.
But she was still pinned under the "failed specimen" and could only gradually kick it away. "Get off! Get off! Disgusting!"
"Wait! He has a kagune—isn't he still alive?"
At this point, Akira warned them.
Four dark red kagune tentacles emerged from the specimen's back—the characteristic kagune of the Washuu Clan.
However, the specimen didn't rise, and those four kagune didn't attack them. Instead, they began devouring their own body, as if the body and kagune weren't connected...
"No... he's already dead, but his kagune is eating his own body..."
Kiyoko was somewhat shocked.
Both Akira and Kiyoko were shaken by this sight. Madam A, who had never seen such a scene, sat on the ground too frightened to get up.
In contrast, Kurona and Nashiro remained completely calm, showing no emotional reaction whatsoever. They'd seen countless "failures" like this before—all discarded by that bastard Kanou like garbage.
They couldn't help but feel grateful that the experiment they'd been tricked into undergoing had at least succeeded. If it had failed, their deaths would have been utterly miserable.
"Dr. Kanou is conducting some kind of 'half-ghoul transformation' experiment, right? This must be a 'failure' of some kind. Before being transformed into this, he was a living human being..."
Byakuya spoke up to remind them. "Let's be more careful from here on. There are probably quite a few more 'failures' like this..."
Akira immediately snapped back to attention. "Kanou... to think he would do something so unconscionable..."
The group continued forward. Madam A, still sitting on the ground, hurriedly got up to follow, terrified that there might be more strange things in the black water below.
"Although I said I'd protect you, I never said you could grab onto my clothes and hinder my movement, did I?"
After what had just happened, Madam A was now fearfully clutching the hem of Byakuya's clothes. Somewhat exasperated, Byakuya spoke up.
"But..."
Madam A wanted to say something.
"You're too close."
"Please don't interfere with Byakuya-oniichan's work."
Kurona and Nashiro expressed their displeasure at Madam A's behavior without any change in expression.
"S-sorry..."
Madam A had no choice but to let go.
Seeing how unusually close Kurona and Nashiro were with Byakuya, Akira hoped she was just overthinking things—that Kurona and Nashiro weren't actually colluding with Dr. Kanou.
But... how had First Class Amaha become so close with these twin sisters?
This made her inexplicably... somewhat concerned.
...
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