Chapter 278: 278: I'll take good care of Rize

As for the claim that cannibalism would affect the brain, Ivan felt absolutely nothing.

He wasn’t a Ghoul, and even if his biology had changed that way from eating, maybe he simply hadn’t consumed enough kakuhou yet to have any real effect on his five brains.

“Still too slow.”

Ivan looked at the panel.

The fusion progress had climbed from 5% all the way to 21%.

But even if it reached 100%, that would only mean the Rc Cell talent had finished fusing successfully.

It did not mean he could no longer strengthen himself by continuing to consume kakuhou.

In theory, Ivan could eventually transform every cell in his body into mutated cells.

And as their concentration increased, even stronger mutated cells could be produced.

That was where his adaptive regeneration came in.

As long as his body was pushed to its limit, the resulting strain could force his cells to keep evolving.

Which meant Ivan had no way of seeing where his true limit actually was.

Maybe the only thing capable of restricting him was his five brains.

He had already thought of a possible solution to that problem.

He just had not tested it yet, so he could not say for certain whether it would work.

Still, the odds looked good.

“Too slow?” Kanou’s face darkened. “Forgive me for saying this, but you’re not going to find another ghoul capable of reproducing kakuhou at this rate.”

To him, the man standing in front of him looked like nothing more than an ignorant lunatic.

“Can you wake her up?” Ivan asked, looking at the restrained Rize Kamishiro.

“I’m sorry. Her brain has been severely damaged. She can’t wake up.”

Kanou forced down his anger.

At this point, he only wanted the madman beside him to leave as soon as possible.

“You sure?”

Ivan suddenly raised his hand, grabbed Kanou by the throat, and lifted him off the ground.

“Don’t fuck with me, Dr. Kanou. Do I look like some clueless idiot to you?”

His voice turned cold as he stared at Akihiro Kanou, whose feet were hanging in the air.

“She… she really… can’t wake up…”

As Ivan continued applying pressure, Kanou’s face turned red.

He forced the words out with difficulty.

Even when he was close to suffocating, Kanou still refused to tell the truth.

A dark look crossed Ivan’s face.

“Dr. Kanou, I admire your talent. I also know what you’re after. You want humanity to live longer.”

Ivan loosened his grip just enough to let him breathe.

“So why can’t we work together? I can support your research and help you achieve your goal sooner.”

“Rize… Rize is the only hope… I… won’t let you take her.”

Kanou’s eyes rolled upward.

A thin trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t be so rigid. I’ll take good care of Rize. If you need one of her kakuhou, just ask me for it.”

Ivan smiled faintly.

“Besides, who knows? Maybe a SSS-rated kakuhou would be even more useful.”

He loosened his hand a little more.

Kanou finally got enough air to speak properly.

“Fine… As long as you keep your word, I’ll agree.”

Ivan released him.

Bang!

Kanou collapsed onto the floor and sucked in air.

After catching his breath, he pushed a loose strand of hair back from his forehead, braced himself with both hands, and slowly stood.

“I hope you don’t regret this.”

“Sorry. The word regret has never existed in my dictionary.”

“I hope you can keep that confidence after what comes next.”

Kanou supported himself against the wall and pressed a hidden switch.

A section of the wall opened.

From inside, he took out a vial containing pale red liquid.

“The truth is, Rize has remained unconscious because I’ve been continuously injecting her with different suppressants. If I simply stop administering them, she’ll eventually wake up on her own.”

Kanou held up the vial.

“But judging by your expression, you seem to be in a hurry. This drug will accelerate her recovery.”

“Merci.”

Ivan politely took the vial from Kanou.

Then he walked over to Rize, whose head hung limply in front of her.

Now that he had Rize Kamishiro, someone with the potential to become a Dragon, Ken Kaneki had become completely irrelevant.

Besides, Ivan had neither the time nor the patience to deliberately make Kaneki suffer until he evolved into a Dragon.

When a shortcut was right in front of him, naturally he was going to take it.

Ivan slowly injected the drug into Rize’s body.

A little over ten seconds later, the index finger on her right hand twitched.

“AAAAAH!”

Her eyes snapped open, glowing scarlet.

A mouthful of sharp teeth flashed as her face twisted viciously and she lunged straight for Ivan.

“Hungry! I’m so hungry! Give me food! I need food!”

“Calm the fuck down.”

Ivan’s right hand split into five tentacles that shot forward and instantly sliced apart the restraints holding Rize in place.

Before she could reach him, one tentacle wrapped tightly around her pale neck.

The other four bound her arms and legs.

As the temperature of the tentacles continued rising, steam lifted from Rize’s fair skin.

Her flesh began to burn.

The extreme pain finally overwhelmed her hunger long enough for her mind to clear.

“Who are you?! Where the hell am I?! Die!”

Four crimson, tail-like rinkaku kagune burst from Rize’s waist and stabbed toward Ivan’s head.

Ivan stared coldly at the incoming attack.

“Move again and I’ll rip your head off.”

The four razor-sharp kagune froze in midair.

“Behave.”

Ivan raised his arm and violently swung her sideways.

Bang!

Rize slammed into the underground laboratory wall hard enough to crater it.

Blood poured from her mouth.

The rinkaku kagune she had released immediately withdrew back into her body, and the crimson kakugan faded, leaving ordinary human eyes behind.

“Dr. Kanou, from now on, she belongs to me.”

With that, Ivan dragged Rize out of the laboratory right in front of Kanou.

Even after Ivan’s figure completely disappeared down the corridor, the turmoil inside Akihiro Kanou refused to settle.

The man could actually transform his fingers into kagune.

Just how absurd did his level of control have to be?

Among all the ghouls Kanou had encountered, barely any could accomplish something like that.

SS-rated?

Or perhaps SSS-rated?

Rize had admittedly been in a weakened state just now. Her kakuhou had only recently regenerated and were still immature.

Even so, she was still an S-rated binge eater.

Yet in front of that man, she had been completely helpless.

“At minimum, he’s an S-rated ghoul on Rize’s level. Or perhaps a rare kakuja.”

Kanou forced himself to calm down.

Then he took out his phone and called Souta Washuu-Furuta.

There was no way Rize’s abduction could remain hidden forever.

Word would eventually get out.

And since the man had left without giving Kanou any way to contact him, Kanou could only place his remaining hope in the Washuu family.

He hoped Furuta would send Kishou Arima to take Rize back from Ivan.

“Mm. This wasn’t your fault. I’ll have people search all of Ward 20 for him.”

At the same time, two CCG investigators who had just arrived in Ward 20 received a new order from their superiors.

First Class Investigator Kureo Mado and Koutarou Amon were already tasked with locating the Aogiri Tree executives Rize Kamishiro and Jason.

Now they had another target to watch for.

A ghoul named Ivan Greevs.

The CCG had provisionally classified Ivan as an S-rated ghoul.

Codename: “Dark.”