REINCARNATION PARADISE

In the afternoon, Su Xiao woke up from a deep sleep. The rest had replenished his energy. As he sat up on the living room couch, the scent of food wafted toward him.

On the coffee table next to him, there were a few delicate dishes: a bowl of rice, a grilled fish, and a bowl of fragrant soup.

Beside the food was a note.

"Second-class Investigator White Night, I've gone to the division to handle the aftermath of the ghoul extermination — Mado Akira."

Su Xiao stretched lazily. Although Mado Akira wasn't particularly strong, she was a decent assistant.

After finishing the food, Su Xiao took out the five white treasure chests and opened them one by one.

These five white chests were all dropped by ordinary ghouls, so Su Xiao didn't have high expectations. From the chests, he obtained the following items:

[Received 1,100 Paradise Coins (total from five chests).]

[Received A-grade Kakuho ×2.]

[Received B-grade Kakuho ×1.]

Two of the chests only contained Paradise Coins, while the other three yielded Kakuhou. These Kakuhou had no immediate use for Su Xiao; he needed more contribution points to rise in rank before he could create a Quinque.

Luckily, increasing his rank required only accumulating contribution points and didn't spend them. Once he reached the rank of First-class Investigator, he would be able to use his contribution points to create a Quinque. Even if he chose not to craft one, these Kakuhou could be sold in Reincarnation Paradise for a decent sum.

With the 1,100 Paradise Coins he'd collected, Su Xiao considered it a satisfactory haul.

Leaning back on the couch, Su Xiao began planning his next steps.

First, he needed to complete Main Mission (2). The punishment for failing this mission was severe—reducing all of his stats by 3 points. Strength, agility, and intelligence would be manageable, though still a significant loss. But losing 3 points in stamina, which he only had 6 points of, would drop him to 3 points. That would be devastating.

If his charm attribute dropped by 3 points, it would hit zero. Su Xiao had a theory about the charm attribute: it didn't represent physical appearance but a person's charisma and aura. Some people naturally attract others, like celebrities in the real world, whose charm attributes are likely quite high.

As for Su Xiao, with his cold, murderous aura, having a high charm attribute would be surprising. However, this aura could be an asset if he were to join a villainous organization.

His luck attribute, if reduced by 3 points, would go into the negative. At that point, it would be akin to living through the events of Final Destination, where death could come from even the smallest mishap.

Thus, Main Mission (2) had to be completed, and doing so would reward him with 1 attribute point and 1,500 Paradise Coins.

Next, there was the Hunt Mission. Although Reincarnation Paradise didn't specify the rewards, Su Xiao had a gut feeling that completing it would bring significant benefits, as he was essentially helping Reincarnation Paradise eliminate a threat.

"So, I need to continue finding ghoul gathering spots."

The massive slaughter of ghouls last night had given Su Xiao a taste of the benefits. He wouldn't waste time hunting down individual ghouls; it was inefficient and yielded small rewards.

It was much more profitable to target large gatherings of ghouls.

However, finding these ghoul hideouts wasn't easy. The ones that were well-known were often too dangerous, especially in districts 1 through 4, where there were sometimes hundreds or even thousands of ghouls.

Even Su Xiao couldn't handle such a large group. If thousands of ghouls rushed at him, even if they were all B-rank, they would eventually overwhelm him.

Ideally, he needed to find a gathering of no more than 100 ghouls. Any more than that, and it would be too much to handle.

Last night's success was largely due to the fact that the ghouls didn't swarm him all at once.

There's a vast difference between fighting one person and fighting a hundred. Even Su Xiao, a skilled fighter, could be worn down if he got injured, and once injured, death was just around the corner.

With that in mind, he realized he needed to return to Helter Skelter, the bar run by the ghoul Itori. She likely had the information he needed about ghoul gathering spots.

But this time, he didn't plan on threatening her. That wasn't a long-term solution.

Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, and Itori was an SS-rated ghoul.

Su Xiao picked up the phone and called Mado Akira.

"Second-class Investigator White Night, you're awake!" Mado Akira's voice was bright and cheerful.

"How did things go?"

"All handled. Headquarters has taken in the ghoul bodies. If all goes well, I'll be receiving a new Quinque."

Mado Akira's laugh echoed through the phone.

"Second-class Investigator White Night, what do you want to do with the Kakuhou from the ghouls you took down? Since you killed them, it's your right to decide."

Su Xiao thought for a moment. He now had 390/400 contribution points as a second-class investigator. Just 10 more points, and he would be promoted to first-class.

"Submit two-thirds of the Kakuhou to headquarters. As for the remaining third, exchange them for something for me."

When Mado Akira heard Su Xiao's request, she was a bit surprised.

"You want that? Okay, I'll report it, but it's something that's usually only used when crafting Quinque, and headquarters doesn't have much of it."

Mado Akira had been very diligent in helping Su Xiao lately. Not only could she gain credit by working with him, but her combat skills had also improved quickly.

After hanging up, Mado Akira returned an hour later.

"I got it! The branch had just one left. But Second-class Investigator White Night, I'm curious—what are you going to do with it? It's extremely toxic to humans."

Mado Akira held a small metal case, handling it carefully as though it contained something fragile.

"Some things are best left unknown."

Su Xiao took the metal case, opened it, and examined the contents.

"Careful!"

Mado Akira instinctively stepped back as Su Xiao opened the case. After confirming everything was in order, Su Xiao closed it again and stored it in his inventory.

He didn't bother hiding this from Mado Akira, and she didn't seem surprised when the item disappeared. It was as if this kind of thing was perfectly normal.

This was due to the disguise mechanism of Reincarnation Paradise, which integrated various abilities seamlessly into the ghoul world.

"Let's go. We're heading back to the bar."

Mado Akira was full of questions but held her tongue. Just as Su Xiao had said, there were some things better left unknown.

While Su Xiao could trade with ghouls, Mado Akira absolutely could not. It was a matter of principle.

Twenty minutes later, the two arrived at the Helter Skelter bar.

Once again, Su Xiao asked Mado Akira to wait in the car and entered the bar alone.

"Welcome—"

Itori, who had greeted him habitually, fell silent when she saw who it was.

To Itori, Su Xiao was like a walking disaster. The massacre in the West District the previous night had wiped out many ghouls, making her even more wary of him.

"Relax. This time, I'm here to make a trade."

Su Xiao took out the metal case and removed a test tube from it.

The test tube was about ten centimeters long and as thick as a thumb. Inside, a light red, semi-transparent liquid with small bubbles floated.

Itori's eyes locked onto the test tube, and she swallowed hard, unable to tear her gaze away.

Ghouls rarely had access to the substance inside the test tube, but nearly all of them craved it deeply.

(End of Chapter)

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Translator's Note :- I am Not that familiar with a lot of the fictional worlds mentioned in the story. So if I make a mistake naming something please correct me by writing a paragraph comment on the mistake. Thank you.