Chapter 126: Sikong Xu’s Attitude

Watching Touka and Rize walk away, Sikong Xu finally stepped out of the alley.

He had lost count of how many times he had mentally grumbled about Mu Ning and the others. He had messaged them over half an hour ago, yet they still hadn't arrived; they were even less efficient than the stereotypical police in movies who only show up after the chaos has ended.

After waiting for a while longer without seeing any sign of them, he reluctantly pulled out his phone and called Mu Ning. The call connected instantly, and a rather anxious voice came from the other end.

"Sikong Xu, are you alright? I'm sorry, we ran into an unexpected situation here."

"An accident?" Sikong Xu asked, somewhat surprised. "I'm fine now. The ghoul that attacked me has already left. Besides, I thought you were all headed back to school; how could there be an accident?"

"We encountered a ghoul on our end as well."

"What!" Sikong Xu exclaimed, then quickly asked, "Are you all okay?"

"It's over now," the person on the other end replied. "We're on our way to you. We'll discuss the details later. Why don't you wait for us at that cold drink shop from before?"

"No problem."

...

Sikong Xu returned to the cold drink shop. Not long after he arrived, Mu Ning and her companions showed up. This time, it wasn't just the sisters Mu Ning and Mu Qing; Wang Zhen and his group were with them as well.

"How did you run into a ghoul?"

"How did *you* run into a ghoul?"

The two questions were uttered simultaneously, causing both Sikong Xu and Mu Ning to pause before sharing a light laugh.

"You go first," Sikong Xu said with a smile.

"We haven't seen a ghoul before either, but based on the information you provided, what we encountered today was definitely a ghoul."

"Did it have red irises and black sclera?" Sikong Xu asked, describing the telltale sign of a Kakugan.

"Yes, exactly," Mu Ning recalled. "We had gathered and were just about to catch a ride back to campus when a commotion broke out in the crowd nearby. That's when we saw a ghoul attacking people."

"Attacking people?" Sikong Xu rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

"Yes, and it seemed to have lost its senses. It would pounce on anyone it saw. If we hadn't stepped in to wound it in time, people would have been killed."

"Lost its senses?" Upon hearing this, Sikong Xu felt relieved. He had been wondering which ghoul would be bold enough to openly attack humans on the street. It turned out to be a case of mental instability caused by prolonged starvation, which triggered the rampage.

"So, what about the ghoul? Did it get away?" Sikong Xu asked.

"Well..." Mu Ning hesitated, then glanced at Wang Zhen.

Wang Zhen gave an awkward laugh and said, "That ghoul's strength was about the same as mine—mid-stage Radiant Yellow. I thought I could capture it, but I didn't expect that guy to..."

"You were just being careless," Gao Tian-tian interjected, shooting Wang Zhen a look. "If you hadn't been so arrogant, thinking you could handle it alone, you would have caught it long ago."

"Heh, I've learned my lesson, haven't I? If there's a next time, I promise I won't be careless!" Wang Zhen chuckled. "Actually, it was because that guy extended a blood-red, tentacle-like appendage from his tailbone. Its destructive power was immense, which is why I was momentarily caught off guard."

"That's something I mentioned before; it's a predatory organ unique to ghouls called a Kagune. What you encountered was likely a Bikaku, which is one of the more balanced types," Sikong Xu explained.

While the Bikaku is considered the most well-rounded of all Kagune, if both combatants are at the mid-Radiant Yellow stage, the ghoul still holds a significant advantage. Unless one were like Sikong Xu—whose actual power far exceeded his rank and who possessed numerous burst techniques—it was rare to gain the upper hand. But people like Sikong Xu were, and always would be, the exception.

Mu Ning then added, "Actually, we can't blame this entirely on Wang Zhen. Although the data you provided was very detailed, we have too little experience fighting ghouls, so suffering a setback was inevitable."

"And what about your end?"

"Me?" Sikong Xu carefully chose his words. "I was lucky. That ghoul didn't pester me for long."

His answer was perfunctory, but the others didn't seem to notice anything amiss.

"By the way, have you informed the school about the ghouls?" Sikong Xu asked the crucial question. He wanted to foster harmony between humans and ghouls, and the school's stance was vital. Even with his connection to Ye Fei, the headmaster might only listen to a certain extent, and the Dawn Academy wasn't run solely by the headmaster, Sun Gongming. The opinions of the vice-headmasters and grade directors were also critical.

If the school's attitude toward ghouls was hostile, Sikong Xu was in for a headache.

"Yes, I've reported the matter to the school," Mu Ning nodded.

"What is the school's stance?"

"I don't know that part."

Sikong Xu sighed inwardly. It seemed that to understand the school's position, he would have to go back and ask Li Yang. His precious weekend had been wasted just like that—sigh.

"Oh, right. Since we identified the cause of the incident early, the school has already issued the rewards. We discussed it, and since we were able to find the source mostly thanks to you, we decided that forty percent of the reward should go to you. Is that okay?" Mu Ning smiled.

"No problem, you decide." Sikong Xu wasn't particularly interested in the reward; the plane-rift incident was caused by him in the first place, so whether he got a reward or not didn't matter.

Seeing that Sikong Xu had no objections, Mu Ning transferred 5,000 credits to him via their imprints. That forty percent amounted to 5,000 credits, which showed just how generous the reward for this mission was. It was no wonder Mu Ning and the others were so eager to be the first to complete it.

The mission issued by the school was simply to investigate whether any creatures had crossed through the plane rift. Now that it was confirmed to be ghouls, the mission was officially complete. Aside from Sikong Xu and Wang Zhen, the others hadn't experienced a life-or-death battle, so Mu Qing spent the whole time complaining about not having a chance to show off her skills. But there was no helping it; Mu Ning ignored her protests and dragged her back to school.

After sending a text message to Ye Xi and Mikasa, Sikong Xu followed Mu Ning and the others back to campus. For the sake of caution, he didn't tell them about his meeting with Touka tomorrow; it was better to tell Li Yang directly.

Although Sikong Xu desperately wanted to resolve the ghoul issue peacefully, he was currently too weak and restricted in every way, making the school's stance the key factor. If the school's attitude was unfriendly... Sikong Xu had already begun to mentally prepare himself. He believed that if Ye Fei knew about this, he would certainly support him.

After all, it wasn't the ghouls that were wrong, but this world...