After taking a break for roughly half an hour, the three people managed to recover a bit.
Su Xiao had taken off his shirt, pulled a bucket of water from the storage space and emptied it over his head. As the water reached the ground, it was already completely stained red.
Arima Kisho and Yuna did the same, aiming to dilute the smell of blood on their bodies to reduce the likelihood of being discovered by ghouls.
"Is it this dangerous every time?"
Su Xiao looked at those two, from his short experience there, exploring the 24th district was just way too dangerous.
"Of course not. It was the first time we encountered these special ghouls. Where did they even come from? They were so strong even without their Kagune."
Yuna's answer surprised Su Xiao. She had been exploring the 24th district for half a year and hadn't encountered this situation before?
"Superior Class Investigator Arima, you seemed to be somewhat familiar with these ghouls."
Su Xiao looked at Arima Kisho with a meaningful gaze.
Arima Kisho took off his glasses and smashed the broken lens.
"They are special ghouls that can only be found here, in the 24th district, but I don't know any specifics."
Arima Kisho looked indifferent. Maybe he answered Su Xiao's question because they fought together just now.
"Is that so? Here, take this."
Su Xiao had two bags of dried meat in his hands and threw one to Arima Kisho and Yuna each.
Yuna grabbed it effortlessly, but Arima Kisho subconsciously took a step back as the bag closed in.
The bag of dried meat fell to the ground, Arima Kisho's hand had only grasped air.
It should've been impossible for Arima Kisho to be unable to catch the bag thrown by Su Xiao, with Arima Kisho's close quarters skills, catching a bag leisurely thrown from such a small distance should be normal.
Arima Kisho put his glasses back on and picked up the bag of dried meat.
Yuna had her eyes closed as she enjoyed the dried meat and did not notice the scene.
But Su Xiao noticed that there was a problem with Arima Kisho's eyes. It seemed like he completely relied on his glasses to maintain his sight.
Su Xiao had always been wondering why Arima Kisho wore glasses, because it was very inconvenient to wear them in battle.
"Bringing this was a good choice, it can quickly recover energy."
Arima Kisho ate the dried meat and looked at Su Xiao.
"You might want to try contact lenses, you know."
For the next while, Su Xiao would fight side by side with Arima Kisho, just as they had fought against the primitive ghouls. If Arima Kisho were to die, he would be hard pressed to survive.
"I tried them, but couldn't get used to them."
The two stopped talking, while Yuna confusedly observed the two.
After finishing the break, the three people set off and prepared to leave the 24th district.
"The wall in this direction has not changed yet, so we can retrace the way we came from."
Yuna led the way ahead while holding a tablet in her hand, recording the route the three were taking.
Currently, they were already quite deep into the 24th district. The passageways were intricate, if this were a manmade maze, the difficulty level would be 'Legendary'.
"Oh god… Guys, the route has changed."
Yuna held the tablet in her hand, standing in front of a blood-red meat wall which blocked their route.
According to the tablet display, there should have been a road there, but now, it was a dead end.
"What should we do now, break through the wall?"
Su Xiao pulled his sword and stepped forward.
"You can try, we can check how much the terrain has changed."
Su Xiao grasped the handle of Dragon Flash tightly with both hands, the sword pierced the meat wall, then he pulled as hard as he could, managing to create a tens of centimeters long crack.
Yuna rushed to the crack to check the situation on the other side of the hole.
"It seems like we can only use the stupid way."
Yuna stashed the tablet and pulled out a compass from her backpack.
Su Xiao sheathed his sword away after pulling it out of the meat wall, and within a minute, the meat wall had mended itself, returning to its original condition.
"Is the compass effective?"
In the intricate maze of the 24th district, which had crossroads and branches everywhere, Su Xiao thought that the compass would be of little use.
"It's effective, I've had to use it many times before. No matter how complicated the route is, as long as you know the specific direction, you can get out of the 24th district."
Although the three were trapped in the 24th district, Yuna and Arima Kisho were not nervous. It seemed that it was not too difficult to leave.
"Left, right, left, right…"
Yuna's slender fingers swayed from side to side as she chose the way by fate.
Arima Kisho did not speak, as if he was already used to it, he patiently waited for Yuna to choose.
"Let's take the right. The airflow on the right side is faster, so the chance of it being a dead end is low."
Su Xiao suddenly spoke, leaving Yuna's finger hanging in the air.
"The airflow is faster? I don't feel anything."
Yuna looked at Su Xiao with suspicion.
Su Xiao took the compass from Yuna.
"I'll lead the way, is that okay?"
"Yes."
Arima Kisho answered simply.
"Okay."
The two followed behind Su Xiao, who quickly walked ahead.
Five minutes later, a blood-red meat wall appeared in front of the three people. This was a dead end.
"Ahem, mistakes happen."
Su Xiao looked puzzled at the meat wall in front of him. He did feel that the air flow here was faster.
"Byakuya, are you sure you know what you're doing? How come I feel we've gone deeper than before?"
Yuna scratched her head and looked at Su Xiao with doubtful eyes.
Yuna was not blaming Su Xiao, even if she were to lead, she would just choose randomly.
"Hmm, there shouldn't be a problem."
The three continued to walk. Ten minutes later, another meat wall appeared in front of the group.
Unlike the last time, there were several ghouls at the dead end.
"We have been hiding from you, why are you following us, we don't want to fight."
One of the ghouls was full of tears and fearfully pleaded with Arima Kisho.
"All Ghouls should be killed."
Yuna's Quinque, which had been in its suitcase form, changed and her 'Red Moon' appeared.
"Boom, boom, boom…."
After several shots, blood filled the passage.
"Go on."
Su Xiao did not believe that he could not find the way out.
Twenty minutes later, yet another meat wall appeared in front of the three people. It was another dead end!
After half an hour, there was another dead end.
After an hour, they still had only found dead ends.
Su Xiao's mouth twitched, it seemed he was lost.
"Can I try?"
Yuna helplessly looked at Su Xiao. Su Xiao did not speak, he just silently handed over the compass.
The way Yuna chose the way was different from Su Xiao. Whenever she encountered a crossroad or a branching path, Yuna would murmur for a while and then choose the route for them.
But even with Yuna leading the way, the situation had not changed.
Another hour later, the three, again, stood at a dead end.
"Damn, we have really bad luck this time."
Yuna stamped her feet and clenched the compass in her hand hard, causing a cracking sound to appear.
Two pairs of cold eyes immediately stared at Yuna, who was shocked and quickly checked the compass.
Fortunately, the damage was just superficial, there was no real damage.
"I will lead now."
Arima Kisho took the compass.
It had to be said that Arima Kisho was very lucky.
In the next twenty minutes, the three never encountered a dead end.
"According to this progress, we won't be able to go out soon. I'm full of blood grime, this is so uncomfortable."
Yuna pulled at the neckline of her shirt and enviously looked at Su Xiao and Arima Kisho.
The two were male, they didn't care about walking with naked upper bodies, but Yuna couldn't do the same.
The three people approached a corner, and Arima Kisho, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.
"Wha…?"
Yuna just wanted to ask something, but Su Xiao, standing behind her, acted quickly and muffled Yuna's mouth.
Once Yuna noticed the situation ahead, her eyes widened to the limit and her pupils shrunk.