Suzuki Makoto knelt halfway by the riverside, cupping water in his hands to wash his face.
During this frantic half-month, aside from sleeping, he had been on the move almost non-stop, traveling from one place to another, killing one group of people after another.
The further he advanced toward the inner districts, the more distinct the 'streets' of the Rukongai became. It seemed that in the past, this place had truly been a complete, constructed area. However, it was evident that over such a long period of time, the further one went toward the outer districts, the more desolate it became, eventually resulting in places like the Zaraki District.
Although he had been killing continuously, Suzuki Makoto could keenly perceive that in the last few days, those fellows who liked to strike from the shadows had become fewer. Most people were simply taking the money and running. However, for Suzuki Makoto, he currently didn't have the time to discriminate, so he treated them all equally.
The only problem, however, lay in...
Suzuki Makoto wiped the water from his face, drew his sword, and slashed out. A deformed monster howled as it fell.
Why was the probability of Hollows appearing in these places even higher than in the areas beyond District 70?
Originally, Suzuki Makoto had intended to make do for the night in the nearby woods, but now that a Hollow had appeared here, he had to raise his vigilance. After all, places where Hollows appeared usually signified that space-time was not quite stable, making it easy for various entrances to the Precipice World to appear. If he were to fall in, getting out might be easy, but exactly where he would emerge would be very difficult to determine.
Suzuki Makoto's figure disappeared. An hour later, another cloaked figure appeared in the same spot. He checked the residual aura of the Hollow, searched the surroundings again, but still found nothing.
"You really do run fast, Suzuki-kun."
Wearing a cloak that concealed his aura, the Captain of the 5th Division, Aizen, sighed with a hint of helplessness.
There were actually not many Hollows entering the Rukongai, because the Menos Grande were all very sensible and did not come here to provoke the Shinigami. Only some reckless ones or those who strayed in by mistake would appear—and the reason for the high-density appearance of Hollows here was, of course, because Aizen was consciously dumping these defective products here.
He was using this method to attempt to establish contact with Suzuki Makoto.
Originally, Aizen had planned to contact Suzuki Makoto a bit later. However, he hadn't expected the nobles to actually pull such a drastic move, forcing the Gotei 13 to the front lines ahead of schedule. Therefore, Aizen also decided to contact Suzuki Makoto ahead of time.
He had first gone to District 70 and found the Yellow Turban Army's stronghold, and even found Hideki. But regrettably, Hideki could not actively contact Suzuki Makoto, so the only news Aizen received was that the man had set off to deal with the noble action squads in various locations.
As the Captain of the 5th Division, it was naturally impossible for him to have just a few people scour through a full thirty districts with a dragnet. So, he simply released a large number of ordinary Hollows into this range, utilizing the deaths of these Hollows to lock onto Suzuki Makoto's probable location.
However, he realized that he had also underestimated Suzuki Makoto. The other party was able to easily slay these Hollows without leaving any information behind. Although Aizen had quickly locked onto the area where Suzuki Makoto was by tracking the dying Hollows, the final distance of one hour between the two sides could never be compressed any further.
"I am looking forward to our meeting more and more, Suzuki-kun."
Sosuke Aizen's figure vanished. Since he couldn't find Suzuki Makoto, he might as well start from the other side.
Black Jeanne casually dispersed the black flames, looking at the Hollow before her that had been burned to the brink of death, her expression somewhat dissatisfied.
"Why do you have resistance to my fire? Shouldn't you be like those other Hollows—just touching a tiny bit, you should howl in pain, then use your Reishi to feed this fire until it burns brighter and brighter, finally turning completely into ash?"
The Hollow naturally could not answer her question, but Black Jeanne didn't expect it to answer anyway. She just patiently waited for it to regenerate, ready to roast it until it sizzled with oil once again.
"If I said that this is because I specially enhanced its resistance to fire, would you feel disappointed?"
"Who is it!"
The languid young girl instantly sharpened her focus, manifesting all her armor. The long sword in her hand, carrying those black flames that symbolized wrath, slashed toward the place where the voice had originated.
"I am merely an ordinary person who simply wishes to make the acquaintance of Lord Suzuki Makoto."
The voice rang out from another direction; clearly, the speaker had not truly revealed themselves.
"A rat hiding its head and showing its tail—that is exactly the kind of thing I like to ignite the most!"
Realizing she couldn't find the opponent's true position, Black Jeanne simply erupted with all her Magical Energy instantly. Countless black flames surged in all directions; any camouflage was left with nowhere to hide in the face of such an attack.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū."
A Dankū cast without an incantation was certainly not enough to fully block such a strike, but it was sufficient to hinder the speed of the flames slightly.
"I really just want to have a chat with Suzuki-kun. I come from the Seireitei."
"A lackey of that bunch of nobles?"
At the mention of nobles, Black Jeanne's face wore an obvious look of disgust. Whether it was the France of the past or the Rukongai of the present, the existence of such creatures only made things worse.
"No, I come as someone who also wishes to resist the current order of the Soul Society, to invite you and Suzuki-kun, and even the entire Yellow Turban Army, to join me."
This sentence was evidently more effective than anything else. At least Black Jeanne did not continue attacking, but instead looked suspiciously at the cloaked person before her.
"How can you prove it?"
"I have already disposed of the noble action squad that was collecting wealth in the nearby area. Of course, this cannot prove much more, but at the very least, it should give me a chance to meet Mr. Suzuki Makoto once, correct?"
The young girl twitched her lips. Although she hadn't fought this guy seriously, his strength was much greater than the previous guy. If she wanted to win, she would probably find it hard to care about anything else in the surroundings.
"Fine, I'll ask Makoto."
Aizen was startled. He hadn't expected Black Jeanne to actually have a means to contact Suzuki Makoto directly. Reasonably speaking, across such a vast distance, only the special communication spells of the Department of Research and Development should be able to achieve that.
The girl before him merely remained silent for a moment, then took out a map, identified a spot on it, and gave an answer that surprised Aizen.
"One hundred kilometers to the southeast of where we are now, there is a river. That is the largest water source in District 42. We are going to deal with the problem there; he will rush over to meet you."
The communication was completed?
But why was there absolutely no fluctuation of Reishi, nor any movement of using Reiatsu?
As a technology enthusiast, Aizen was incomparably astonished inside. He found it somewhat hard to understand why Black Jeanne could contact Suzuki Makoto like this, and even wondered if she was fooling him, wanting to see a pledge of allegiance with her own eyes before taking him to see Suzuki Makoto.
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