Chapter 1496 - 19: The Protagonist Team Approaches

Chapter 1496: Chapter 19: The Protagonist Team Approaches

First Division Station, inside Su Xiao’s laboratory.

Su Xiao and Sosuke Aizen sat opposite each other with a short wooden table between them. The food on the table was not particularly sumptuous, and there was a pot of light wine.

The two were chatting idly, with Su Xiao appearing more relaxed, so most of the conversation was led by Aizen, who was actually seeking advice on pharmacological knowledge. This made their drinking together legitimate.

The room wasn’t empty; a young girl stood not far away: Aizen’s deputy captain, Hinamori Momo.

Hinamori watched them with a smile. She hadn’t seen Aizen drink with someone for a long time, and she understood one thing clearly: maintaining a good relationship with a special researcher like Su Xiao could only be beneficial. At the very least, Squad 5 wouldn’t have to worry about soul elixirs in the future, significantly reducing the mortality and injury rate of the team members.

Thinking of this, Hinamori’s smile grew even sweeter. However, she was unaware that the two sitting here would soon become a major threat to the entire Soul Society, people whom all captains would want to eliminate quickly.

"Captain Aizen, although it might be impolite to say this, I suggest you give up on pharmacology. Your talents don’t seem to lend themselves to this field."

Su Xiao set down his drink. This mild wine wasn’t particularly good, and what was more troubling was that neither Yamamoto Genryuusai nor Ukitake Retsu had arrived yet.

Upon hearing Su Xiao’s words, Aizen had no reaction, but Hinamori pouted.

"Mister Bai Ye, that’s too rude. Captain Aizen is..."

Before Hinamori could finish her words, Aizen smiled and waved her off.

"Indeed, I lack talent in that area. It’s getting late, and the Soul Society hasn’t been peaceful recently. As the captain of the Fifth Division, I can’t be away from the station for too long."

Aizen got up and accidentally knocked over a wine glass on the table.

Shortly after, Aizen and Hinamori left; before leaving, Hinamori waved and smiled at Su Xiao.

"A naive rabbit, unfortunately deceived by a wolf."

Su Xiao picked up the wine glass, placing it over the wine stain. Within the wine, he sensed a faint spiritual power, forming twisted characters in the script of the Soul Society.

’Nine PM, Inner Courtyard.’

Aizen left this message, indicating his well-prepared plan was about to unfold and that he would secretly meet with Su Xiao tonight.

The Inner Courtyard was within the premises of the Fifth Division, and the Fifth Division was Aizen’s territory.

Realizing this, Su Xiao narrowed his eyes, feeling that Aizen’s defection from the Jingling Court wasn’t far off. Based on Bu Wang’s intelligence, the protagonist of the plot, Ichigo Kurosaki, was about to enter the Soul Society.

Once the protagonist’s team arrives, the events in the Soul Society will fully unfold, making it the optimal time to reap benefits. Su Xiao had been in disguise for so long to facilitate action during this period.

However, Su Xiao had another task to quickly complete: gaining reputation in the Jingling Court. He could forgo exchanging the Zanpakutō from the Camp Shop, but he must secure the [Spiritual Corpse], as it is a tool capable of summoning a captain-level shinigami.

With the assistance of a captain-level combat shinigami, Su Xiao would have more influence in both upcoming operations and within Aizen’s forces.

The shinigami summoned by the [Spiritual Corpse], in principle, is a no-summoning-slot, no-cost summons. This tool is extremely powerful, but it’s not perfect, as it can only be used in the Bleach World, limiting its value within the Reincarnation Paradise.

To obtain reputation in the Jingling Court, Su Xiao now had three channels. One was accepting tasks from the captains, but as a scientific researcher, he didn’t fit into the task structure with the captains.

The second was to achieve significant feats in the Jingling Court, such as exposing Aizen, Gin Ichimaru as traitors, which would earn substantial reputation but with enormous risk.

However, Su Xiao was now allied with Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tosen. Reporting these two to the Jingling Court would be akin to confessing on his behalf.

The third was producing soul elixirs, but their ’production capacity is limited.’ If provided in large quantities, it would alert the Guard Court Thirteen Teams to the limits of the soul elixirs.

Additionally, producing soul elixirs consumed vast amounts of mana, and in such a dangerous world as the one of the Soul Society, having mana fall below half was too risky.

After weighing all options, Su Xiao suddenly thought of a good plan, one that could gain him reputation within the Jingling Court without depleting too much mana. Moreover, his status within the Jingling Court would soar.

"Nan Que."

Just after Su Xiao called out, the door opened, revealing the head of the young girl, Nan Que.

"Master Bai Ye, what are your orders?"

Nan Que was currently carrying a delicate bracelet in her small hands, a gift from Hinamori Momo before she left.

Though Nan Que hadn’t been heavily relied upon before, receiving a gift from the vice captain of Squad 5 made her feel enveloped in happiness, fulfilling a sense of vanity that couldn’t be easily expressed with words.

Moreover, Nan Que had realized that working under Su Xiao seemed to be a good position.

"Go find the captain of the Fourth Division, Ukitake Retsu, and have her come to see me."

"Um... this..."

Nan Que was momentarily at a loss for words; she understood what "have the captain of the Fourth Division come to see me" meant, but it left her confused, as it seemed Su Xiao’s authority wasn’t so vast as to have a captain voluntarily meet with him.

"Master, this seems inappropriate. The Fourth Division’s station isn’t far; why don’t we..."

"Just go, and go quickly."

Su Xiao glanced at Nan Que. Even though he appeared as casual as ever, Nan Que didn’t dare to speak again.

"Understood, understood."

After going a fair distance, Nan Que snapped out of it. For a moment, she felt fear from the bottom of her heart, or perhaps it was more of a sense of dread.

In less than half an hour, Nan Que returned with Ukitake Retsu to Su Xiao’s laboratory.

"I heard you wanted to see me?"

Ukitake Retsu looked at Su Xiao with a playful smile, and seeing Sister Hua’s expression made Nan Que instinctively shudder a bit.

"That’s correct."

Su Xiao set aside the half-made alchemy bomb, which was highly unstable and needed to be fixed.

Sister Hua stepped into the room, and with a thud, the sliding wooden door was shut tightly. Nan Que almost bumped into it.

"Recently, I’ve developed an impressive batch of unfinished potions, though they can’t really be called potions."

Su Xiao took a test tube from beside him and poured out a spirit particle ball the size of a sugar bean, with a purity level of 50.

Upon seeing the spirit particle ball, Ukitake Retsu felt an urge to swallow it.

"I call it the ’Condensed State Biological Spirit Capsule,’ though calling it a spirit particle ball works too. The usage is simple—just swallow it."

Su Xiao tossed the spirit particle ball to Ukitake Retsu, who caught it, resisting the urge to swallow it, and began to examine it.

Shinigami bodies are fundamentally composed of spirit particles, which is why high-purity biological spirit particles are highly enticing to shinigami.

"Swallowing this can enhance your spiritual pressure at a gradual pace, completely harmless, though the increase is slow. A gradual, step-by-step approach is the most prudent way."

This time, Su Xiao presented something no shinigami could refuse.