Chapter 90. Interference

As Mu Yang fought with growing fervor, ghouls suddenly struck at Kaneki.

The ghoul’s razor-sharp kagune tail pierced Kaneki’s chest. Mu Yang registered the threat at once. He drew Hundred Hatred in a single fluid motion, annihilating the surrounding ghouls, then severed the attacker’s tail with a clean stroke. Turning to Tsukiyama, he demanded, “Didn’t you promise me you would not let Kaneki escape?”

“This incident lies beyond my calculations. Kaneki did err on the field, yet I never foresaw anyone daring to strike at him. I shall see this matter resolved.” Tsukiyama’s face darkened. He had not anticipated that his own word would be followed by assassination. He could weave subtle textual manipulations, but such means required absolute credibility; empty threats earned no cooperation. He had genuinely believed no one would risk the breach of that basic rule.

Mu Yang replied coolly, “Then I shall observe how the gourmet conducts his affairs.” He took Kaneki’s arm and continued onward without hesitation.

Mu Yang had already deduced the perpetrators: the Labyrinth Explorers. Yet he suspected Tsukiyama would have intervened himself. The moment Kaneki fell, Tsukiyama’s footsteps had shifted toward him, and his kagune had materialized. That was one reason he held his tongue. Another was the Tsukiyama family; he could not afford to sever all ties. The third was the backlash of Hundred Hatred itself. Drawing it had exhausted Mu Yang; now every step required Kaneki’s support.

Though he could have overwhelmed the ghouls in open combat, Kaneki’s safety remained uncertain. Trusting Tsukiyama’s circle was impossible. The era of Tokyo Ghoul had once burned bright across the world; its plotlines and character temperaments were familiar to all. The current chaos stirred by the Labyrinth Explorers changed nothing essential.

This reluctance to rely solely on the original characters’ abilities was one reason.

Kaneki, voice faint, asked, “Who are you? Why save me? Tsukiyama referred to you as the Lord of the Shepherd, yet I have no recollection of that title.”

“You need not inquire. To the antique shop—quickly. The Shepherd Headquarters is too distant, and the antique shop offers the only safety left.” Mu Yang spoke in haste, fear tightening his voice as he anticipated the Labyrinth Explorers’ arrival.

On the walk there, no one from that faction appeared. Treating Kaneki with such care nonetheless stirred an unfamiliar warmth in Mu Yang’s chest, as if he were no longer acting in his own character.

At the antique shop he addressed the system: “System, have my feelings and thoughts been corrupted by Kaneki?”

“Host, the interference does not originate from the Son of the World but from the World itself, compelling you—perhaps unconsciously—to safeguard that same Son.”

“Will you not halt this interference?”

“The act, though it exerts a subtle influence upon the host, carries neither malice nor grave consequence. The system therefore does not classify it as harmful and will not intervene.”