The middle-aged man was momentarily startled by Kenji’s gaze, but that fleeting fear was quickly swallowed by a surging wave of humiliation and fury.
Granted, he hadn’t consumed nearly as many humans as those legendary S-rate ghouls, but it wasn’t as if he had never eaten a living human raw.
Every single piece of human livestock he had devoured spent their final moments weeping, snot flowing down their faces as they begged for mercy.
The memory that stood out most vividly was a mother and daughter.
They had been wandering the streets late at night; they could only blame their own rotten luck for crossing his path.
To save her young daughter’s life, the mother had actually begged him to eat her instead and let the child go.
But how could that ever happen?
Compared to adults, children’s flesh was far more tender and delicious!
There was absolutely no way he was going to let them off the hook.
Thinking back to that woman crying and begging him to spare them because her daughter still needed medical treatment, the man couldn’t help but sneer.
Food should act like food!
To this day, he still remembered the look in that mother’s eyes as he tore into her daughter’s flesh, bite by bite, right in front of her.
Dead, hollow, utter despair!
And he absolutely thrived on that expression.
Yet now, he couldn’t accept the fact that he had actually been intimidated by the gaze of an ordinary human—a creature he had always viewed as mere livestock.
”You’re just a lowly human!
How dare you look at me with those eyes?
Do you think you’re an investigator from the CCG?!”
Hearing this, Kenji let out a faint smirk, looking down at the man from his towering height.
”Lowly?”
Crack.
Snap.
Kenji rolled his shoulders, locking his hands behind his back and stretching out his arms.
A sequence of crisp bone-popping sounds echoed through the alley.
Before transmigrating, he had spent eight long years in the military.
Even after being discharged, he maintained a high-intensity regimen of bodybuilding and combat sports, making him highly proficient in Sanda, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and various other close-quarters combat disciplines.
Although the person in front of him was a ghoul, his haggard, sickly appearance proved he lacked the baseline strength a healthy ghoul should possess.
From what Kenji recalled about Tokyo Ghoul, if these man-eating monsters went without human flesh for extended periods, their bodily functions would severely deteriorate.
Even powerful S-rate ghouls could degenerate to A-rate or B-rate if starved for long enough.
He had just been given a second lease on life.
If he couldn’t pass this initial trial, he would end up as nothing more than ghoul feces.
With that thought, Kenji stopped stretching.
His gaze turned fiercely sharp as he locked eyes with the monster.
Swish!
The thoughts had crossed his mind in a fraction of a second.
Without a shred of hesitation, Kenji exploded forward, throwing a lightning-fast straight punch directly at the ghoul’s face.
”Curse you!
You actually dare to attack!
I’ll make sure you suffer a fate worse than death!
I’m going to make you watch as I rip you apart and eat you piece by piece!” Thoroughly enraged by Kenji’s defiance, the ghoul threw a punch of his own to meet the attack.
Crack!
Their fists collided.
Kenji’s expression didn’t even flicker.
Maintaining his forward momentum, his fist ploughed straight through and smashed into the man’s face.
In contrast, the ghoul’s expression warped instantly, his face twisting in pure agony.
He never could have anticipated that Kenji would possess such monstrous physical strength.
Was this a level of power a normal human could even achieve?
Bang!
Kenji didn’t give him a single moment to process the shock.
As a sharp, blinding pain flared in the ghoul’s nasal cavity, Kenji’s fist buried itself deep into the man’s nose.
The nose is the most prominent and structurally fragile part of the face; a heavy impact is guaranteed to cause brief disorientation and dizziness.
Taking full advantage of the split-second stagger, Kenji immediately drove a brutal follow-up punch into the upper region of the man’s abdomen—right near the stomach, targeting the small intestine and duodenum.
Before the ghoul could even recover from his broken nose, a terrifying concussive force exploded in his gut.
In that instant, he felt as though his internal organs had been violently rearranged.
Having completely paralyzed the ghoul with the two-punch combination, Kenji seamlessly slipped behind him.
His left arm snaked around the ghoul’s neck, pressing his forearm tightly against the man’s jawline while locking it into the crook of his right bicep.
His right hand secured the back of the ghoul’s head, executing a flawless rear-naked choke before violently pulling backward!
The choke-hold was locked in instantly.
Standing at 185 cm, Kenji literally lifted the 170 cm ghoul completely off the ground with the sheer leverage of the choke.
Gasp—
With his trachea crushed, the ghoul’s face flushed a deep crimson before turning purple.
Kenji maintained maximum pressure while silently counting the seconds.
If you were a normal human, you’d pass out within ten seconds.
But you’re a ghoul.
Ghouls are notoriously difficult to kill; they can survive even after being hacked into human blocks.
I need to maintain this force for at least a full minute!
Moreover, I have to watch out for his Kagune!
That is a ghoul’s ultimate weapon!
What kind of Kakuhou does this guy have?
Ukaku?
Koukaku?
Rinkaku?
Bikaku?
Whichever it is, I have to be careful!
While Kenji was analyzing the situation, the ghoul’s mind was screaming in a frenzied panic.
I am a ghoul!
How could I possibly be killed by a filthy human?!
Even though I haven’t eaten human flesh in forever and my RC cell count is pitifully low, it’s still enough to manifest my Kagune just once!
Suddenly, Kenji felt a violent writhing motion beneath the flesh of the ghoul’s shoulder blades.
The moment a splash of crimson light erupted, Kenji instantly released his grip and leapt backward.
The very next second, a crimson Koukaku materialized from the ghoul’s back, rapidly wrapping itself around his left arm like a heavy, jagged blade.
”A Koukaku?
Good thing I backed off, otherwise I would’ve been run clean through!”
Now bolstered by his Kagune, the ghoul’s demeanor shifted drastically.
The crimson irises of his eyes contracted to tiny pinpricks, and his jaw slackened as a massive amount of thick saliva poured from his mouth.
”Heh…
I’m going to…
EAT YOU!” The middle-aged man bellowed.
His hollow eyes bulged as his body abruptly accelerated, charging at Kenji with a face contorted in madness.
In the blink of an eye, the ghoul was in front of him, swinging his Koukaku-clad left arm down in a vicious cleaving motion.
Looking at the razor-sharp Kagune, Kenji didn’t dare test his durability.
He slipped to the side, narrowly evading the slash, and simultaneously delivered a crushing side kick directly to the ghoul’s knee joint.
CRACK!
The sound of shattering bone rang out.
The ghoul’s knee buckled and twisted at a grotesque angle, sending him crashing heavily to the ground.
Seizing the opening, Kenji pressed the advantage.
Using the exact same brutal efficiency, he shattered the ghoul’s other leg.
Completely stripped of his balance, the monster was left helplessly grounded.
”You damned human!!”
The ghoul shrieked in rage.
The Koukaku attached to his left arm began to writhe and morph, detaching from his limb and extending drastically to spear straight toward Kenji.
Seeing the incoming Kagune, a bead of sweat rolled down Kenji’s forehead.
He contorted his torso, dodging the piercing strike by a hair’s breadth, and thrust his hands forward to firmly grab the extended Kagune with a vice-like grip.
”Hah!”
With veins bulging across his forearms, Kenji gritted his teeth and used his raw, explosive strength to lift the ghoul into the air by his own Kagune.
After spinning the monster two full circles through the air, Kenji slammed him violently against the adjacent brick courtyard wall.
BOOM!
Taking the full brunt of the impact, the ghoul slumped against the wall, seeing stars, while Kenji’s breathing began to turn heavy.
But Kenji didn’t give him a moment to breathe.
Taking large, aggressive strides, Kenji closed the distance in two steps.
He cast a look of utter revulsion at the ghoul’s Kagune before driving a heavy, concentrated fist directly into the monster’s throat.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
One punch, two punches, three punches!
Kenji lost track of how many times his fists rained down.
The ghoul, who initially had the strength to lift his arms and flail his Kagune, gradually grew completely still.
Kenji’s knuckles were thoroughly stained with blood.
Finally, a mechanical notification chimed in his mind, causing Kenji to halt his bloodied fists.
[Ding!
The host has successfully passed the initial trial and meets the criteria of a Predator!
Rewarded: 1x Starter Gift Pack!]
[Ding!
The host has killed a C-rate Ghoul barehanded!
Rewarded: 1x C-Grade Treasure Chest!]
[Ding!
The host has achieved a First Kill on a C-rate Ghoul!
Rewarded: 1x C-Grade First Kill Chest!]
[Ding!
The host has completed the First Kill mission!
System Attribute Panel is now unlocked!]
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