I am a female swordsman.

"During the five squads' pursuit, the enemy attempted to deviate from the planned trajectory..."

"The 11th Squad failed to drive them away, suffering over half casualties. The enemy includes an A-rank ghoul, suspected to be the leader, of the kinkaku type, with the ability..."

"The fourth squad failed to drive them away, suffered no casualties in combat, and is now joining up with the fifth squad..."

…………

"A small team successfully drove them away."

"success!"

"A resounding victory! A resounding victory!"

"All attacking ghouls have entered the designated ambush zone, including the leader. I repeat..."

Takizawa Seidou grabbed the headset and, with lightning speed and decisiveness, gave the order to the scene: "Everyone in the ambush area, detonate the explosives! Send these monsters to the sky before they can react!"

The next moment, the toll station was far to the northwest.

A fireball shot up from the ground, its flames reaching the sky! About ten seconds later, a deafening roar, like the wrath of Thor, echoed from afar, causing the entire tollbooth building to tremble violently! Even from such a distance, the terrifying power of this man-made structure could be felt!

"Confirmed, all enemies have been wiped out!"

Hideyoshi Nagachika clenched his fist tightly and let out a "Yay!" He took off his headset and cheered, giving Takizawa a high-five. They did it!

The scissors project, which lasted for more than a week, finally came to an end in this divinely punished explosion.

More than a week ago, in conference room 2101 of District 11

Before a host of senior investigators, Takizawa No. 2 presented his report.

"Personally, I believe that the Scissors Plan is imperative. The forces that [Bronze Tree] has dispatched to attack various parts of Area 11 are just individual fingers, intended to harass and tie down all our forces, buying time for their true purpose. Before we understand [Bronze Tree]'s objectives, we need to use the 'scissors' to cut off the enemy's 'fingers' and quickly launch a punitive expedition to completely destroy [Bronze Tree]'s stronghold in Area 11."

Takizawa Seidou named his plan the Scissors Project.

It is a very vivid and apt description.

With their overwhelming advantage in information, the White Dove Squad, which operates covertly or swiftly, is like a pair of sharp scissors, ruthlessly severing the fingers thrown out by Aogiri Tree in Area 11.

In Project Scissors, the new [Crow] and Juuzou Suzuya played a significant role.

As for the old [Crow] to which Yomi belongs, they are carrying out another covert mission. With wings that are strong enough to deal with SS-rank ghouls, the crows flap their wings and covertly search the night sky in Area 11. Their purpose is to search the multiple suspected [Aogiri Tree] strongholds that Hideyoshi Nagachika has investigated.

To avoid alerting the enemy, combat cannot be initiated.

At the same time, they also had to protect themselves. This arduous task could only be accomplished by the Old Crows in the entire 11th District, so it naturally fell to them.

The crows readily accepted this highly dangerous mission!

Huang Quan also wanted to find out the location of the Bronze Tree as soon as possible. Although the new task given to her by the system had no time limit, it was not good to keep dragging it on like this.

The fingers have been cut off by the scissors, and the true form should be almost exposed. Strategically, the CCG has gained all the initiative. The only thing that is unclear is the purpose of [Aogiri Tree], or rather, the purpose of the Aogiri Tree ghoul organization has been achieved, but has not yet been truly revealed.

"Search complete. No trace of ghoul activity found."

Her calm voice betrayed no disappointment or frustration, and her slender figure, carrying a long sword, appeared and disappeared in the darkness, as if she might vanish completely at any moment.

[Sword Demon] Huang Quan indifferently surveyed the desolate abandoned factory. From what used to be a window, she saw her partner's strong figure beckoning her downstairs.

A lithe white figure leaped gracefully from the fifth floor, kicking up a cloud of dust that was then gently settled by a silent breeze. Immaculately clean, Huang Quan crossed her arms and walked towards her partner, noticing that another old crow seemed to have fallen behind.

"What about the teacher?"

"This trip was not fruitless; Mr. Mado discovered something interesting in another area."

Chapter 128 Gongsun Family

"Something interesting?"

When Yomi and Amon silently arrived at Mado Kureo's location, they both frowned deeply. Mado had indeed discovered something interesting; Yomi could no longer describe this rotting mass of flesh as a corpse, and it was truly difficult for their teacher, Mado, to get so close to examine it.

Although their footsteps were barely perceptible, they did not deliberately conceal their presence.

Mado Kureo noticed the arrival of his disciples and raised his head.

"Hey, you've come at the right time. Come on, lend me a hand and help me carry this thing upstairs."

Huang Quan's lips twitched slightly, and she gave Amen a meaningful look with her scarlet eyes. Amen, who had been dragged into the water, showed a subtle hint of helplessness on his face and jumped into the deep pit with Huang Quan.

With the three working together, the body was easily moved up.

"It's a ghoul's corpse."

Amon clapped his hands, his tone confident. Compared to other investigators, they had naturally encountered far more ghouls and observed them more meticulously, so their in-depth understanding of ghouls was self-evident. Amon Kotaro could tell at a glance that this was a ghoul's corpse, and the other two naturally had no major problems either.

But this ghoul's corpse is just too gruesome!

Intentional scraping marks on the elbows, puncture marks on the shoulders, numerous gouging marks on the chest, deep whip marks on the back revealing bone, and gruesome twisting marks on the legs...

And, there are no traces of the complete disappearance of the ten fingers and ten toes!

"He must have had a very unpleasant time before he died, tsk, but who knows about the other person." Huang Quan frowned in disgust. She had seen many corpses, and even said that she had created many ghoul corpses. But without exception, those corpses were all cut up extremely beautifully, so much so that even when pieced back together, no sword marks could be seen.

Such deliberate and cruel acts of inflicting pain on the body without stopping are extremely heinous.

"Huang Quan is quite right. These bastards have always been incredibly resilient. Ordinary torture wouldn't kill them so easily. Hmm, I smell something familiar...!"

Mado Kureo turned the corpse over.

The fact that a ghoul's corpse was abandoned in the area speaks volumes. They were close enough to their target, but still a little short.

"[Jason]!"

Upon realizing what had happened, Amon uttered a title: Jason, a ghoul codenamed a core member of the Aogiri Tree. He and Yomi had encountered this extremely dangerous ghoul in the 20th ward, but it had escaped. Even after Crow was ordered to reinforce the 11th ward, they still hadn't been able to find any clear trace of Jason.

"He ran back to District 11 from District 20." Huang Quan's eyes gradually turned cold. She hadn't forgotten the ambush Jason and Rize Kamishiro had set up for her.

"As expected."

Mado Kureo looked up at Yomi, and he also thought of the ambush that had happened to his prized disciple.

It seems the opportunity for revenge is coming soon.

Removing his white gloves, stained with the filth of numerous corpses, Mado tossed them onto the bodies. He hated ghouls so intensely that he didn't want to even touch them. He stroked the wedding ring on his left ring finger; whenever he did this, it meant he was remembering his deceased wife, giving himself more strength to face the vicious ghouls to come. Mado hadn't done this in a long time; his intuition warned him that the approach of [Crow] to its target also meant closer danger.

"Yamen-kun, notify someone to come over and conduct a thorough search. There have definitely been scumbags around here lately. Find them, and then..."

Mado Kureo walked outside, his trench coat fluttering in the evening breeze as he stroked his ring.

"Let them know we're here by using crows."

………………

Cruelty, devastation, trampling, injury, sadism...

Endless abuse!

His consciousness had long been worn away by the endless torture. The only thing he knew was that he was holding on by sheer willpower, never yielding to his abusers. What was it that sustained him? It seemed to be a sharp glint of light, but whenever he tried to see that cold light clearly, he always failed for various reasons.

Is it better to hurt yourself than to hurt others?

How gentle...

Living with such a loving and gentle heart, one feels happiness just by looking at her. Does that mean being without gentleness is unhappiness?

'It's unfortunate to need gentleness to survive.'

An ominous premonition struck Kaneki Ken's mind like lightning; darkness enveloped him, and he could see nothing with his eyes covered.

'who!?'

The scarlet eye still throbs with pain, and the rotten, acrid smell of the RC inhibitor fills the air. The needle piercing through the eye's mucous membrane feels like a nerve carrying pain being submerged in magma, so painful that you wish you could just give up on life immediately.

Hehe~~

'That voice...'

Kaneki Ken remembered. It was that beautiful woman he'd once shyly peeked at in the Antiques—that was her voice. The source of all his misfortune, the source of his torn existence between the human and ghoul worlds. Why was he hearing Rize's voice now?

Why insist on not counting?

'Because I would lose if I did that, and I don't want to admit defeat to someone like that, so I choose my own way.'

Captured, Kaneki Ken imagined the worst-case scenario he might face, but the treatment he received was even worse. Willing to endure inhuman torture to save his comrades, Kaneki vaguely recalled everything.

“Once upon a time…Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman…Gongsun, who…danced with her sword, moving all directions, moving all directions. The spectators were like…mountain colors…dejected, heaven and earth were saddened for a long time…swaying…” He distracted himself by chanting unconsciously like a madman, because if he did not, he would be overwhelmed by the tsunami-like pain and fall into the abyss of madness.

'Wow, what a beautiful poem~~'

"Yes, this is a Tang Dynasty poem from China." Kaneki couldn't help but laugh. The reason he remembered this poem was because...

'But is it merely because it's Tang poetry?' A graceful figure appeared behind him, gently removing the blindfold. Rize Kamishiro smiled sweetly and embraced Kaneki Ken from behind. 'Or perhaps, Kaneki-kun, it's truly her you're missing?'

Following the direction Rize Kamishiro pointed, Kaneki saw Gongsun Shi reciting the poem.

The silver-haired, crimson-eyed figure, clad in a kendo uniform, wielded a longsword with graceful movements, her every smile and gesture radiating brilliance. The sharp, flowing light of the sword revealed its master's power, its cold, gleaming light seemingly capable of cutting through anything!

'Senior Huang Quan…'

Chapter 129 Devastation

'That's incredible~~'

'Senior Huang Quan, that's truly unbelievable.'

"She was clearly a beautiful young girl, yet this world twisted her into a ruthless 'Sword Demon.' Kaneki-kun, your feelings towards the 'Sword Demon' are truly complex—fear mixed with longing, attachment mixed with hatred. What are you really thinking?!" Rize Kamishiro's voice was somewhat distorted, as if she couldn't coexist with the underworld; her existence became ethereal.

Although it's all fiction, this is a bit too much.

'Miss Rize, are you afraid of Senior Yomi?'

'Oh dear~~ why do I say that?'

'Every time I try to get closer to see Yomi-senpai more clearly, you always stop me.' Kaneki Ken felt as if he had touched upon some signs of the absurd illusions within his own heart. Yomi-senpai and Rize-san were nothing more than figments of his imagination.

Hehe~~!

As if she had heard an extremely funny joke, Rize Kamishiro couldn't help but cover her mouth and sneer.

'Kaneki-kun, you're so adorably naive. Why do you think I'd be afraid of the Sword Demon in this kind of environment?' As if to make her words more convincing, Rize Kamishiro leaned intimately on Kaneki's shoulder, a position that reminded Kaneki of some unpleasant memories.

He went through too many things after he became a ghoul.

Fill your stomach, fight, twist.