As Yanagawa and Isshin Shiba entered the interior of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, the wide corridors were no longer lined with traditional barracks rooms, but with individual laboratories separated by high-strength transparent materials or special force fields.
The personnel inside wore uniform white research coats with anti-contamination Reishi coatings and were equipped with strange glasses, masks, and other auxiliary devices.
Some were performing complex calculations on floating Reishi models at consoles; others were recording data on bizarre biological samples in culture tanks; some were even conducting entity collision experiments that looked extremely dangerous.
It was noisy, busy, and chaotic, yet it possessed a kind of morbid efficiency and fanaticism.
There was no discipline here like that found in other divisions of the Gotei 13; in its place was an ultimate pursuit of knowledge and the exploration of unknown realms.
Occasionally, researchers would hurry past clutching boards filled with insane formulas, ignoring the arrival of Yanagawa and Isshin, completely immersed in their own worlds.
“Tsk, every time I come to this place, I feel like I’ve entered another world.”
Isshin covered his nose, avoiding a puff of purple smoke that sprayed from a nearby vent.
After stating their identities, they were led to the depths of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute by a researcher with vacant eyes but incredibly precise and swift movements.
The laboratories here were larger, the protective measures were tighter, and the concentration of Reishi permeating the air was high enough to make one’s skin tingle slightly.
Finally, they arrived in front of a massive metal door engraved with complex sealing runes, designed in an extremely exaggerated and eerie style.
The doors opened, revealing a vast space inside.
It was piled high with countless instruments, test tubes, culture tanks, mechanical wreckage, biological specimens, and display screens filled with insane data.
In the center of the room, a columnar transparent container filled with an unknown green liquid was particularly striking; it seemed to seal some kind of special object inside.
The gurgling sound of bubbling liquid echoed in the air.
And the master of this place, Squad 12 Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, was standing with his back to them in front of a huge control console.
His hands were operating countless buttons, levers, and floating light screens at a speed invisible to the naked eye, while he emitted an excited and shrill low laugh:
“…Yes, that’s it!
Let me see where your limits are, my Experiment Subject 247!”
He suddenly pulled down a lever.
The green container in the center of the room suddenly twisted and expanded violently, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the container walls!
“Captain!
Reiatsu overload!
It’s going to explode!” a lieutenant wearing an explosion-proof mask and with a shrill voice urgently warned from the side.
“Explode?
No!
This is evolution!”
Mayuri laughed wildly, and instead of stopping it, he slammed another red button.
Boom!
The container finally could not bear the pressure and exploded violently!
Green viscous liquid and violent Reishi turbulence splattered everywhere, but they were all blocked by a Reishi barrier that instantly rose in front of the console.
As the smoke cleared, only a small pile of dull, seemingly charred dust remained in place.
“Tsk, failed again.
The tolerance is still not good enough.
Next time, I’ll try adding some Gillian-level Reishi…”
Mayuri was not discouraged at all; instead, he stroked his chin, his eyes beneath the mask flashing with even more fanatical light.
Only then did he seem to notice that there were two more people at the entrance.
He turned around slowly, locked onto Yanagawa instantly like a scanner, and let out an exclamation of “Oh?”
“A rare guest, a rare guest indeed.”
Mayuri’s voice was shrill and had a slimy quality.
He opened his arms in an exaggerated welcoming gesture, but the action looked more like he was showing off his lair.
“Lord Yanagawa of the Zero Division, and…
Captain Isshin Shiba of Squad 10.
What wind has blown you two to my humble little laboratory?”
“Could it be that you are interested in that failed experiment just now?
Although it failed, the data is very valuable!
Do you want to take a look?”
He spoke at a very fast pace, with strong jumps in logic.
“Captain Kurotsuchi.”
Yanagawa ignored the chaotic and dangerous environment and the other party’s eccentric behavior, cutting straight to the point.
“Pardon the intrusion, but I have come this time in the hope that the Shinigami Research and Development Institute can assist in manufacturing a special tool to investigate the ‘Twin Hyōrinmaru’ incident.”
“Oh?
A special tool?”
Mayuri’s interest was clearly piqued, and he paced closer.
“Let’s hear it.
Could it be…
that you want me to replicate a ‘Hyōrinmaru’?
Although it would be very challenging, it is not impossible!”
“As long as there are sufficient Reishi samples and the basic forging data from that ‘God of the Sword’…”
“I need a Tenshintai.”
As soon as the word “Tenshintai” was spoken, the air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment.
Even the lieutenant standing quietly at the side, Nemu Kurotsuchi, lifted her head almost imperceptibly.
Mayuri’s movements paused, and the gaze behind his mask suddenly became incredibly sharp, even carrying a hint of cold scrutiny.
He slowly straightened up and let out a long, ambiguous “Hmm—?”
“A Tenshintai, one of the little toys left behind by that guy, former Captain Kisuke Urahara.”
Mayuri’s voice was still shrill, but it now contained an indescribable, complex emotion.
“Something used to forcibly drag the boring Zanpakutō spirit into reality to play house.
What, is Lord Yanagawa interested in these antiques left behind by former Captain Kisuke Urahara?”
He did not immediately agree or refuse, but instead paced slowly around Yanagawa, as if evaluating a rare specimen.
“Manufacturing a Tenshintai is not a difficult task for me.
Although the research materials left behind by former Captain Kisuke Urahara are chaotic, filled with personally perverse encryption and unaesthetic recording methods, the core principles and technical details have long been cracked, optimized, and even…
completely surpassed by me in some aspects.”
His tone did not hide his disdain for former Captain Kisuke Urahara’s research style, yet it carried a near-paranoid confidence and pride.
“However…”
Mayuri changed the subject, stopping in front of Yanagawa, his eyes behind his mask staring fixedly at him.
“Why should I do it for you?
The status of the Zero Division is not enough to make me, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Captain of Squad 12 and Director of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, condescend to replicate an old toy left behind by a predecessor that I have already ‘surpassed’ and which has limited use.
Unless…”
He extended a slender finger.
“…You can provide something that interests me in exchange.
For example, cooperating with me to complete some special research?
Or perhaps…
the ‘real reason’ for how you gained the favor of the Zero Division?”
His request was direct, greedy, and full of probing.
Clearly, he held a great research interest in Yanagawa himself, as well as the Zero Division.
Yanagawa suddenly turned his head to look at Isshin beside him, who was feeling somewhat uncomfortable due to the eerie atmosphere of the laboratory and was looking around.
Yanagawa suddenly thought of a good idea.
“Captain Isshin,” Yanagawa said in a heavy tone.
“Huh?
What is it, Yanagawa?” Isshin responded subconsciously, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
Yanagawa sighed, as if he had made a difficult decision.
“As things stand, in order to obtain the Tenshintai as soon as possible, uncover the truth, and save your future subordinate Tōshirō Hitsugaya…
I’m afraid you will have to be wronged for a bit.”
“Wronged?
What do you mean?”
Isshin was stunned and didn’t react in time.
Yanagawa pointed at Mayuri, who was watching them with great interest, his tone “sorrowful”:
“For Captain Kurotsuchi to assist in manufacturing the Tenshintai, he needs to expend manpower and resources.
In exchange, he needs a ‘volunteer’.”
“To cooperate with the Shinigami Research and Development Institute in conducting some…
well, special research.”
“Captain Isshin, as the Captain of Squad 10, you have a vast amount of Reiatsu, rich experience, and you are the designated superior of Hitsugaya.
By reason and logic, this heavy responsibility of cooperating with the research falls to you.”
Cooperate with research?
At the Shinigami Research and Development Institute?
Be a “volunteer” for Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi?!
Isshin’s eyes widened instantly, as if he had heard the most terrifying joke in the world.
In his mind, he uncontrollably imagined himself tied to an experimental table, surrounded by surgical instruments flashing with cold light and unknown liquids bubbling away.
The image of Mayuri wearing gloves covered in unknown mucus, emitting a “hehehe” weird laugh while approaching with a huge syringe…
“Hiss—!”
Isshin gasped, his back instantly soaked with cold sweat, feeling chilly.
He jumped back a step, distancing himself from Yanagawa, and pointed at his nose, his voice changing pitch:
“Hey!
Yanagawa!
You brat!
You can’t sabotage a teammate like this!
Selling me to Captain Kurotsuchi for research?
No!
Absolutely not! New chapters come out on g.com first.
Even if you beat me to death, I won’t do it!”
His reaction was intense, gesturing wildly, his expression a mixture of terror, anger, and disbelief at being betrayed.
He unleashed a torrent of complaints at Yanagawa, completely disregarding the occasion and the increasingly bright eyes of Mayuri nearby.
Yanagawa remained calm, just looking at Isshin with eyes that said it was for the greater good, as if saying, “This is a necessary sacrifice.”
Isshin grumbled for a long time, but seeing Yanagawa unmoved, and Mayuri nearby seemingly very interested in this “proposal,” his heart immediately sank.
He looked at Yanagawa’s “righteous” face, then thought of Tōshirō Hitsugaya, who was still locked in Central 46 with an uncertain future, that genius boy he favored and for whom he had already silently prepared an application to join the division…
A complex emotion of hot blood mixed with helplessness and tragedy surged into his heart.
Isshin gritted his teeth, the struggle on his face clearly visible.
He grabbed his hair hard and let out a painful groan.
“Damn it, Yanagawa, you bastard…
fine, you win!”
As if he had used up all his strength, he squeezed a sentence out from between his teeth, his expression as tragic as if he were about to head to the execution ground:
“For Shiro-chan…
I accept it!
Isn’t it just cooperating with research?!
Come on!
Captain Kurotsuchi!
Use whatever means you have!
If I frown even once, my name isn’t Isshin Shiba!”
He puffed out his chest, closed his eyes, and looked like a martyr ready to be “killed or skinned at your will,” but his slightly trembling eyelids and clenched fists betrayed his inner terror.
However, the excited “hehehe” weird laugh and cold touch he expected from Mayuri did not come.
Instead, it was an undisguised, disdainful sneer.
“Pfft—”
Isshin opened one eye in confusion.
He saw Mayuri waving his gloved hand in disgust, his tone full of disdain:
“Isshin Shiba?
Cooperate with research?
You?”
He looked Isshin up and down, his gaze like he was looking at an ordinary rock.
“Mediocre Captain-level Reiatsu, a featureless Zanpakutō ability, without even a single abnormal mutation or special talent worth noting.”
“If I sliced you up for research, the data I could get would probably be less than that of a subspecies of Gillian-level Hollow I raise casually.
It would be a waste of my time and would defile my instruments.”
“…”
Isshin froze, the tragic expression on his face instantly solidified, and then slowly cracked.
An indescribable feeling surged into his heart—was it relief?
Or…
the humiliation of being despised and a strange, inexplicable annoyance?
I am the dignified Captain of Squad 10, head of a branch family of the Five Great Noble Families, and I’m actually so unwanted that I don’t even qualify as experimental material?
Yanagawa’s mouth also twitched almost imperceptibly; clearly, he hadn’t expected Mayuri to react this way.
But this was fine; it saved him from actually selling out Isshin.
Mayuri no longer looked at the devastated Isshin and refocused his attention on Yanagawa; it seemed that after the little interlude, he had a new idea.
He tilted his head, his bone mask making a slight rubbing sound.
“However, Lord Yanagawa,” Mayuri’s tone became interested again, carrying a hint of subtle nostalgia, “since you are about to head to the Soul King Palace and become a member of the Zero Division…
then, there is something I might ask you to do a small favor for.”
“Please speak,” Yanagawa said.
“In the Zero Division, there is an old superior of mine,” Mayuri said slowly.
“Kirio Hikifune, former Captain of Squad 12, the founder of the Gigai and Mod-Soul theories.”
“If you see her at the Soul King Palace, please give her my regards.”
Yanagawa recalled the records he had seen in the Great Spirit Book Corridor; indeed, Kirio Hikifune was Mayuri’s superior before she was promoted to the Zero Division.
Yanagawa looked at the mad scientist in front of him, with his twisted personality and crazy actions, yet at this moment revealing such a human side, and understood.
He nodded in agreement:
“Very well.
When I meet Lord Kirio Hikifune, I will certainly convey Captain Kurotsuchi’s regards and status.”
After walking out of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, Isshin finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead, and said to Yanagawa in a low, lingering-fear voice:
“Scared the hell out of me.
I really thought I was going to be left here to be experimented on…
Yanagawa, you brat, can you give me a heads-up next time you’re going to joke around?”