Chapter 36: Fangs
Su Xiao walked along the streets of the First Division garrison, with Soifon walking beside him and Momo Hinamori also present.
"Mr. White Night, are you alright?"
Momo Hinamori's emotions had stabilized, but there was still some sorrow in her eyes.
"Of course I'm fine. With something like this happening in the Seireitei, it's only natural to conduct a thorough investigation. If I were to be killed one day, I'd also hope someone could find the culprit."
Su Xiao still had that casual and lazy demeanor. His purpose for this trip was a tavern. After learning that Su Xiao was under suspicion, Momo Hinamori rushed to the First Division garrison. The good news was that Su Xiao quickly cleared himself of suspicion.
Since it was around noon, Momo Hinamori wanted to invite Su Xiao for a casual meal and ask him about the results of his investigation into Aizen's murder in recent days.
As a former subordinate of Aizen, it was both reasonable and necessary for Su Xiao not to refuse Momo Hinamori's invitation—or rather, he couldn't refuse. Besides, the tavern was nearby, and it wasn't about drinking, just a simple meal.
The three walked along the street, with Su Xiao occasionally making small talk with Momo Hinamori. Of course, he wouldn't bring up Aizen's matter—that would be a sign of low emotional intelligence.
"Momo, over here."
A busty mature woman waved from a distance. Momo Hinamori quickened her pace, and the woman walked toward them.
"What's this about?"
The newcomer was Rangiku Matsumoto. She looked at the three with confusion, unsure why they were together. Originally, after the interrogation, Soifon had wanted to leave, but since Momo Hinamori invited Su Xiao to lunch, she had to politely invite Soifon as well.
Soifon had no desire to have lunch with Su Xiao. She was about to refuse when Momo Hinamori said, "Captain Soifon wouldn't refuse, would she?"
With that, Soifon had no choice but to grudgingly join the meal, clearly intending to leave as soon as possible.
Seeing Rangiku Matsumoto, Soifon's expression softened a bit—finally, someone with common ground.
"Going to lunch. Rangiku, want to join?"
"Ah~ I've been so busy lately, I haven't had time for lunch."
"Just for a bit. It's more fun with more people."
"Well... alright."
Rangiku Matsumoto couldn't bear to keep refusing Momo Hinamori. Everyone in the Seireitei knew about Momo Hinamori's situation.
With one more person joining, the four soon arrived in front of a tavern.
Stopping about ten meters from the tavern, Su Xiao looked around. The nearby streets were unusually quiet.
"White Night, how long are you going to stand there? I don't have time to waste."
Soifon pulled open the tavern door, looking impatient.
"I'm not really fond of buildings constructed under bridges."
Su Xiao looked up at the stone bridge above the tavern. The bridge was at least ten meters wide, connecting two high-rise buildings, and the tavern used the bridge as its roof.
"Mr. White Night, it's just lunch. The grilled meat at this tavern is delicious."
Momo Hinamori urged from beside Su Xiao, but he remained still.
A breeze swept fallen leaves across the street. Rangiku Matsumoto, standing behind Su Xiao, swallowed nervously—they were openly challenging the rules of the Seireitei.
Momo Hinamori's hands trembled beneath her sleeves, her heart filled with intense guilt.
Not to mention these two, even Soifon was tense. The moment she first saw Su Xiao, she felt something was off about this man. The more she investigated, the more dangerous she found him. He was like a demon holding candy, giving sweets to every Shinigami only to rip out their hearts afterward. This filled Soifon with a fear she hadn't felt in a long time.
Even more terrifying was that, as the captain of the assassination squad, she hadn't uncovered any useful information.
Su Xiao was thinking, trying to figure out where his plan had gone wrong. From the earlier interrogation, Yamamoto Genryusai was only suspicious and wouldn't directly attack Su Xiao—otherwise, he wouldn't have left the interrogation room, or rather, he would never have entered it in the first place.
Using process of elimination, things became simpler. Based on Su Xiao's deductions, this situation likely wasn't an ambush from the Seireitei but rather several captains joining forces, choosing to ignore the Seireitei's rules or regulations. After all, this was the First Division garrison.
"Mr. White... Night."
When Momo Hinamori said this, she wanted to add, "If we just enter the tavern and pass the inspection, everything will be fine." But alas, naive Momo-chan.
Was that really the case? No. Su Xiao could accept interrogation within the Seireitei's rules, but he couldn't accept a desperate check by several captains.
That's right—Su Xiao had already confirmed that several Shinigami captains had been pushed to desperation by him. Realizing this, a smile appeared on his face.
Seeing Su Xiao's smile, Soifon's pupils rapidly contracted.
"Momo! Get away from him!"
Soifon shouted.
Pfft!
Blood splattered. Momo Hinamori stepped back, and due to the cold sensation at her throat, she instinctively touched it. But the next moment, a dizzying sensation overwhelmed her.
With a thud, Momo Hinamori collapsed.
"You bastard!"
Soifon was about to charge forward when the tavern behind her exploded, waves of spiritual pressure spreading outward.
Crack, crack, crack...
The spiritual pressure was so intense that cracks appeared on the nearby streets.
Three figures rushed out from the building debris: Retsu Unohana, Byakuya Kuchiki, and Toshiro Hitsugaya.
The three stood beside Soifon, four captains facing off against Su Xiao. All of them had murderous intent. They had ignored the Seireitei's rules and united to eliminate Su Xiao through extra-legal means. As for the consequences, they chose to bear them, or rather, in their perception, Su Xiao's danger level had reached a point where they could disregard the rules.
"You really are suspicious."
Toshiro Hitsugaya's jaw muscles bulged, but he didn't dare advance. Momo Hinamori lay at Su Xiao's feet, still alive. If he charged now, she would surely die.
"It seems I've pushed you all to the point of desperation."
Su Xiao lightly flicked the blood off Dragon-Slaying Flash. The current situation wasn't entirely unacceptable. In fact, he had long anticipated being exposed, just not that these captains would be so desperate.
Su Xiao never treated his enemies as fools. When he planned his infiltration of the Seireitei, he had already prepared for exposure. That time was near—within days at most, or a week at least, just before Aizen's plan concluded. Recently, he had been too active, and the interrogation was the clearest sign.
Su Xiao appeared to be wasting words with his enemies, but that wasn't the case. If he hadn't been prepared, he would have activated Demon Hunting Hour long ago. The four captains, concerned for Momo Hinamori's life, hesitated to act directly.
"You're right. If we followed the Seireitei's laws, we'd have no way to deal with you—not a single chance. I don't even know if the name 'White Night' is real. 'Desperate' is a good description, but as long as I can kill you, even if I become a dog, I won't hesitate. Don't call me despicable. As a woman, I'll be despicable just this once."
Retsu Unohana didn't hide the fact that she was pushed to desperation. She found Su Xiao terrifying. In just over ten days in the Seireitei, he had allied with three major families. In the end, even interrogating him became a problem. If this continued, who knew what horrors would unfold.
"Worthy of praise."
Five spirit particles appeared in Su Xiao's hand, emitting a dazzling golden light with energy density nearly reaching a physical level.
These five spirit particles weren't the garbage Su Xiao had given to the Seireitei. Each had a purity of 500—the maximum he could extract.
The spiritual pressure distorted the surrounding air. Three kilometers away, on top of a high-rise building, several contractors were observing the scene in front of the tavern through binoculars.
"Holy shit, this guy's insane. Four captains are trying to kill him at once."
"I've been suspecting he's a fifth-rank contractor using some special props. But now it doesn't seem that way. No matter how awesome he is, he's dead meat here. Four captains surrounding him—I don't believe he can survive."
"Oscar-worthy, absolutely Oscar-worthy. If I didn't know he was a contractor, I'd have thought he was a Seireitei researcher."
As the contractors discussed, certain areas of the Soul Society were rapidly changing.
Five apple-sized spirit particles floated around Su Xiao, the spirit concentration around him nearly visible to the naked eye.
"Let's move. Something's very wrong."
Soifon shed her white haori, revealing a black backless outfit.
"Wait for the right moment. Momo..."
Hitsugaya was still concerned about Momo Hinamori's safety.
"Move."
Retsu Unohana knew they couldn't delay any longer. She also sensed something was off.
"Spirit Particle... Link!"
Su Xiao clasped his hands together, and his black trench coat billowed without wind.
Crack, crack, crack...
Large cracks appeared in the surrounding air. This wasn't spatial fragmentation but collisions between spirit particles. From the moment Su Xiao entered the Seireitei until now, he had created 7,659 spirit particles. Apart from those handed over, where had the rest gone?
Meanwhile, in Su Xiao's residence, an Apollo hidden beneath the floorboards was activated. In the wooden building, Yamamoto Genryusai's eyes snapped open, and he crashed through the wall.
The cracks around Su Xiao grew denser, and a spirit particle storm spread outward. Even Soifon and the others couldn't advance against it.
"Remember, next time you encounter a suspicious target, kill them directly."
As Su Xiao's words fell, the five spirit particles floating around him shattered.
Boom!
A ten-meter-high ring-shaped spirit particle pulse spread outward. Houses, streets—anything touched by the pulse was instantly obliterated. The four captains were engulfed by the spirit particle pulse.
At the edge of the Seireitei, a yellow-haired youth holding a Zanpakuto looked up, his face blank as he watched the spirit particle pulse spreading from the center.
At the same time, a fireball appeared in the First Division garrison. This fireball was even more terrifying than the spirit particle pulse, like a small sun crashing to the ground.
Su Xiao was at the center of the spirit particle pulse, so he wasn't affected. In his plan, the spirit particle pulse was originally meant to level a third of the Seireitei. But since these four captains had exposed him through unconventional means—not a matter of acting skills but targeted opposition—he activated the pulse early.
In principle, the spirit particle pulse had almost zero lethality to humans, but to Shinigami or Seireitei structures, its power was immense.
Almost instantly, Su Xiao's notifications flooded his screen. Bubu Wang beside him was impatient. When the spirit particle pulse ended, there would be a ground full of treasure chests and Zanpakutos—that would be the true harvest.