295. Chapter 294: The Dragon Statue in Little Tokyo!
Xia Shang looked at the wall before him, about a hundred meters high, like a giant stone slab connecting to the top of the cave. And there weren't just one, but hundreds of these slabs, arranged neatly like mahjong tiles on a table, sectioning off an isolated area within the cave.
"Which area of Tokyo is this located in? How thick is the rock layer above?" Xia Shang raised his right hand and gently pressed it against the wall.
"I'm not sure, after all, no one has done any research on these things." The ghoul shook its head. "The fact is, we only care about how to fill our stomachs and how to survive better."
"It's fine if you don't know." Thinking about it, for the ghouls living underground with scarce food, perhaps survival was indeed the top priority.
"If it leads to the 11th Ward above, that would be much more convenient." Xia Shang looked up towards the top of the high wall.
If it happened to be the Tokyo 11th Ward above, then he wouldn't have to waste time driving the ghouls in the Labyrinth out to the Outside World. More precisely, he should drive them to the 11th Ward currently managed by the Aogiri Tree.
After all, his purpose in doing this was to gather enough RC cells for Dragonization, the more the better.
"Leading to the 11th Ward? I don't quite understand what you mean." The ghoul said, looking confused.
"You don't need to understand." As far as Xia Shang knew, the current 11th Ward was extremely overcrowded.
The ghouls who fled there numbered at least eighteen thousand, if not twenty thousand. Putting other things aside, just to fill their stomachs, ghouls had to feed at least twice a week. This meant they would consume forty to fifty thousand humans per week, let alone the total over a year.
Of course, if they were dispersed across the various wards of Tokyo, their numbers wouldn't be considered very large. Moreover, under the restrictions of the CCG, most ghouls could only operate within a few wards. Their feeding primarily relied on cannibalism. Otherwise, if they were allowed to eat without restraint, it's estimated they could devour the entire Tokyo in just a few years.
"Lord, if you wish to enter, I happen to know a secret passage that leads inside." The ghoul standing behind Xia Shang said respectfully.
"No need." Xia Shang's legs suddenly exerted force, and he leaped up in an instant. Bang! His figure vanished from the spot like a cannonball, then, like a goat on a cliff face, he effortlessly leaped onto the top of the wall.
Arriving at the top of the wall, Xia Shang looked at the hanging rock column beside it and frowned slightly. "It looks like a purely natural rock layer, with no traces of artificial carving."
Relying on his knowledge of the original plot, he vaguely remembered that fifty years ago, the Washuu Clan used some unknown means to seal the One-Eyed King from the Surface Underground, resolving the crisis that could have destroyed Tokyo.
However, Xia Shang guessed that the Washuu Clan back then must have found an underground cavern and then used explosives to collapse the cave ceiling. This caused the One-Eyed King, who was undergoing Dragonization on the Surface, along with some infected humans, to fall deep underground.
Therefore, Xia Shang had reason to deduce that this extremely vast underground space before him was likely the underground cavern found by the Washuu Clan back then.
"My deduction should be correct." He stood on the top of the wall and looked down.
Inside the surrounding wall, there was indeed a dilapidated complex of buildings. The Houses, Streets, tall buildings, and other structures within seemed to correspond one-to-one with Tokyo on the Surface, except the actual area might only be one-tenth or one-twentieth of Tokyo's size.
"Little Tokyo... it truly lives up to its name."
At this moment, Xia Shang suddenly noticed a massive, strangely shaped statue on the central Street of the complex. It was in a destructive posture, wreaking havoc on the city.
It was different from Kaneki's Dragonization in the source material. Compared to Kaneki's centipede form, the statue before him looked more like a long snake with dozens of legs. Its size was also much larger than the centipede dragon; just a small section of its body was as big as a residential building. It was hard to imagine how terrifying its strength would be if it were alive. Furthermore, its raised head actually had whiskers and horns, almost identical to the dragon in mythology.
"This is the true dragon in the ghoul world."
Xia Shang flew to the side of the statue, watching its legs pierce into the Houses along both sides of the Street.
"Analyze." Xia Shang attempted to analyze the colossal object before him, but unfortunately, the Panel gave the result: analysis failed.
Bang! He punched into the interior of the statue, then pulled out a handful of stone powder. "Is it just a simple statue? Or does a dragon's body turn completely to stone after death?" Xia Shang didn't know the specific reason, but it was clear that the statue before him could not be analyzed by the Panel.
"It's probably the ghouls who created the city back then. To remember the past, after replicating their homeland, they also replicated the combat scene from that time, as well as the dragon that destroyed the city."
Xia Shang brushed the stone powder off his hands, then stomped hard on the ground. Like a rocket shooting straight into the clouds, using the high-temperature airflow jetted from his back, he flew towards the top of the cave.
Bang! As expected, the height above Little Tokyo was much greater than the periphery. After flying nearly three to four hundred meters, Xia Shang noticed that the surrounding Space was becoming increasingly narrow, like an inverted funnel, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top.
"Here we are." Xia Shang crashed head-first into a hard object. As debris scattered, he actually saw some rebar structures.
"This is concrete." Xia Shang extended his right hand, inserted his hand into it, and then looked at the excavated concrete, muttering softly.
"This should be very close to the Surface. I think I hear the sound of water flowing."
Half a minute later, a figure suddenly shot out from the center of a pool of water. Boom!! Countless water splashes scattered. Xia Shang, having flown out of the water, looked around curiously.
Unexpectedly, the Washuu Clan had actually transformed the area above the underground cavern into an artificial waterfall, and the surroundings seemed to be a Park.
"For now, I still need to figure out which area of Tokyo this is located in."
Before leaving, Xia Shang casually found a large rock and blocked the entrance to the cave, to prevent anyone from noticing anything unusual.
On the Street.
A man wearing a crimson red mask was tightly gripping someone's neck.
"I gave you a warning. Any feeding activity must be reported to the Aogiri Tree in advance, otherwise..."
"Didn't I just kill a human? I was just trying to fill my stomach. The Aogiri Tree has to control even this? You're being too overbearing." The ghoul, whose lips were stained with blood, said weakly, his face flushed.
"Overbearing? These are the rules of our Aogiri Tree."
The man didn't hesitate, using his kagune to pierce the other's limbs. He then dragged the person to a dark corner and patiently dealt with them.
Seeing this, the corners of Xia Shang's mouth couldn't help but curl upwards. "Excellent."
(end of chapter)