I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

However, the Shihouin family is no longer as easy to infiltrate as it was yesterday morning. After the Seireitei search began, almost all the noble families except for the Kuchiki and Kyoraku families have entered tortoise shell mode, greatly increasing their defenses. It is now much more difficult for Yama to dig tunnels to get supplies.

Without the tools for casting spells, he was like a skilled cook without rice.

Considering that the barrier was likely maintained by senior technicians from the Shihōin family, who would surely know a great deal, Mima circled the barrier several times, intending to capture someone to use the Mind Beacon.

But he didn't find a single living person outside the barrier; it seemed everyone was hiding inside.

This is a bit tricky.

Should we think of a way to directly reveal the news of Shihōin Hyakugetsu's presence here to Shunsui?

No, that's a last resort.

As she was deep in thought, Mima suddenly heard faint footsteps behind her.

"?!"

My spiritual pressure perception has never been turned off, so how could someone appear behind me silently?

After a mere instant of calm, Mima said without turning her head, "There's no need for this kind of trick. Come out."

"I'm not quite used to this yet, I hope you won't laugh at me."

A steady and honest male voice came to Mi Zhen's side, accompanied by footsteps.

That was Aizen, wearing a black cloak.

Damn it, this guy licked Urahara's bag first!

The "messenger" and Kisuke Urahara should be related in principle. Aizen appearing in front of him wearing something he got from the latter was probably also a test.

However, Mi Zhen really couldn't be bothered with those fancy tricks.

“Aizen Sousuke,” Mima said calmly, “it seems you’ve made quite a haul.”

“I’m doing some research work, which is quite expensive. If I can get something for free, there’s no need for me to pay out of my own pocket.” Aizen casually brushed off the topic and laughed, “Miss Messenger’s information network is truly impressive.”

“They each have their own channels,” Mi Zhen said, looking at the edge of the barrier. “Should we check the information?”

When it comes to intelligence gathering, both "Illusory Mirror" and "Historical Retrospection" have their own merits.

The former can freely access all kinds of secret documents as if they were in an empty place, while the latter can completely ensure that what is found is true—unless history itself is wrong.

"Then I shall accept it without hesitation." Aizen nodded.

The two then began to discuss the findings of their investigation over the past day.

Most of the things overlapped, but Mima knew about the four types of Bankai of Shihouin Hyakugetsu, while Aizen went directly to the underground space of the Tsunayashiro family to take a look at the Dark Azure Mighty, but did not take any further action for fear of alerting the enemy.

After some conversation, both sides looked thoughtful.

No... to be precise, they each had their own ulterior motives.

Aizen was probably trying to figure out how to trick Mima into showing him his Shikai, while Mima was also considering whether he should reveal a few more cards now.

I casually counted the number of leaves on a branch not far in front of me, and it turned out to be an odd number.

Let's talk about it then. As the saying goes, there's no time like the present.

"Hmph... I don't like excessive pretense, so I'll just say it directly."

Mima gave a cold smile: "I can probably guess your ability. It's definitely not something like using water mist to disrupt the enemy's senses, but something much more thorough—hypnosis or illusion creation, right?"

Aizen's pupils contracted slightly, but he did not show any panic. Instead, he returned a polite smile: "Since Miss Messenger has already guessed, there is no point in hiding it anymore—the ability of my Zanpakuto 'Kyoka Suigetsu' is 'Complete Hypnosis'."

Aizen's mindset at this moment is not hard to analyze—he doesn't know how much information Mima actually possesses, but since he has already been exposed to this extent, he might as well just admit it directly, which would allow him to maintain a magnanimous image.

It's probably a way of forcing yourself not to lose money.

"Is this why everyone in Seireitei turns a blind eye to your abnormality?" Mima said. "I did find out that you have a habit of demonstrating your Shikai to others—it seems that this is the ritual of 'complete hypnosis,' where just one glance is enough to keep you under its spell? It's a truly terrifying ability."

"This is one of the things I rely on to get things done," Aizen said with a smile. "I'm afraid the messenger will find it amusing."

“When I appear in this form, please just call me by my name,” Mima replied. “Saki—not a messenger, not Urahara, just Saki.”

After all, he'll still have to go out in public looking like this, and he can't keep letting people call him "Miss Messenger," can he? Even if others find it easy to say, he'd be incredibly embarrassed to hear it himself.

Aizen nodded: "Yes, Miss Saki."

"I don't need to guess to know that you're definitely looking for an opportunity to bring me under the control of 'complete hypnosis'."

Mima said calmly, "If you have the chance, you can give it a try."

Aizen simply adjusted his glasses, neither denying nor confirming the statement.

Mima glanced at him and changed the subject: "But this time I was the one who came to you for help first, so consider this a small advance payment—I can tell you some information about the 'Queen King,' but only the part that I know."

Aizen isn't his subordinate. He just exposed Aizen's weakness, so he definitely needs to offer something to smooth things over. If he keeps being too forceful, it's easy to strain the relationship, which would be bad.

Huh? But doesn't this seem a bit like psychological manipulation?

I used PUA (Pick-Up Artist) techniques on a famous PUA master in Soul Society?!

It seems like they've suddenly achieved something remarkable...

Faced with this intriguing topic, Aizen raised an eyebrow and said, "Then I'll gladly accept your offer—coincidentally, I still have some questions about the Quincy King's 'purpose.' You know, 'wanting to destroy the world' isn't a casual goal decided on a whim. The Quincy King who wants to do this must have an internal logic. Can you explain that to me?"

"What a coincidence, I happen to know the answer to this question."

Mima gave the answer without hesitation: "It's because of 'fear'—the fear of death."

Aizen frowned slightly: "That is an interesting point of view."

“This is actually easy to understand. Just investigate Yhwach’s birth experience and you’ll understand.” Mima shrugged. “He was born in darkness as the ‘Son of the Spirit King.’ Before he used the ability of ‘Soul Sharing’ to gain ‘Perception,’ he was no different from a dead person—experiencing death while alive. This would inevitably make him fear death more than anyone else. That’s why he planned to erase the ‘cycle of life and death’ created by the Spirit King, so that he would never have to worry about death again.”

At this point, Mima scoffed, "A boring reason, isn't it?"

"So that's it..."

Upon hearing this, Aizen looked thoughtful for a long time before raising his head and smiling at Mima.

"Thank you—now it's my turn to show my sincerity."

“Then I’ll have to take a good look,” Mima said. “What are you planning to do?”

"Let's go inside the barrier and take a look," Aizen said. "Would you like to come along, Saki-san?"

“I would like to do that,” Mima shrugged, “but there are no obvious flaws in this barrier, and there’s no point in forcing our way in.”

“That’s not a problem,” Aizen said with a smile. “I have my own way of asking Miss Saki to conceal her spiritual pressure.”

Mizhen casually swiped on the messenger token, enveloping herself in a mosaic screen... Wait, I don't think I've ever known the name of this barrier?

Now that you mention it, I seem to have forgotten that you can use history traversal on messenger tokens?

But this thing was created by the Spirit King himself, so looking at its history, it's inevitable that it will come into contact with the Spirit King again... Hmm, it doesn't seem good for the heart.

Let's talk about it later...

And so, Mima watched as Aizen stood motionless, staring at a dirt road in the distance, seemingly doing something, but he couldn't make out what it was.

They must be playing a game of illusion, right?

While using time to eliminate illusions can evade hypnotic manipulation, there is still a problem with this approach.

Mima cannot see the illusions created by Aizen.

Good things and bad things can sometimes be relative. Although Mima can be free from hallucinations, it can become a bit awkward when she needs to see hallucinations.

After standing there dumbfounded for more than a minute, Mima finally couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

“It’s hard to find a breakthrough if we just look from the outside like this,” Aizen said. “I created some… little surprises to see their reactions.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Mima saw several points of light suddenly condense in mid-air, and then abruptly transform into blazing flames that blasted towards the dirt road at the end of Aizen's line of sight, creating a sizable crater there.

This should be some kind of defense mechanism of the barrier, but it's unclear whether it's automatic or manual.

“It’s quite normal to see a few Hollows occasionally in such a remote area,” Aizen said. “This kind of probing won’t arouse any suspicion.”

Chapter 102: A mirage, powerful!

Although that's what they say, all Mima can see are fireballs similar to the Red Fire Cannons shooting out one after another in mid-air, and then they all miss, leaving the ground pitted and uneven.

"Please follow me, Ms. Saki."

As Aizen spoke, he walked out of the woods and stood openly beside the barrier.

Mima's lips twitched a few times, then he followed Aizen and walked over.

"Illusory Flower in a Watery Mirror" is really useful!

Then, he saw Aizen raise a finger and unleash one of his Hadō techniques, Ryū, on the barrier.

Even though it was just the most basic Destruction technique, it still produced an effect like a cannonball bombardment under Aizen's immense spiritual pressure.

"'The Void' was enraged by the series of attacks just now. Although it was seriously injured, it still rushed forward and crashed into the barrier."

As Aizen recounted his planned scenario, he continuously unleashed his first Hadō technique, Ryū, which quickly caused the outer walls of the barrier to shake, and it looked as if a breach was about to appear.

Just before a breach appeared in the outer wall of the barrier, the fireball launched from mid-air suddenly grew larger and continuously bombarded the ground around Aizen before stopping a few seconds later.

“In this way, the Hollow will be severely injured and unable to move, and will soon die.” Aizen shrugged. “But the barrier has been damaged, and no matter how the people inside intend to repair it, there will inevitably be flaws.”

Before he could finish speaking, a masked man in white emerged from the barrier amidst a ripple of water.

He glanced around nervously, and after confirming that no one was around, he bent down and drew his Zanpakuto from his waist.

I inserted it into the empty hole.

This is the standard procedure for purifying the void.

He then removed the part of the barrier that Aizen had damaged and began repair work.

And so, a path leading into the interior of the barrier appeared.

“Let’s go, Ms. Saki.” Aizen smiled at him. “The path has appeared.”

Mima: "..."

You're truly amazing.

"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey."

Mima walked past the pitiful man who was repairing the barrier but ignored the two of them, and entered the barrier with Aizen.

Immediately afterwards, a tremendous sense of "abnormality" surged up.