You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"This... um, it should be fine."

Iori thought about it for a moment. He had originally thought that he and Mayuri Kurotsuchi had a past relationship, and that he might feel uncomfortable taking on this mission... but in reality, he was surprisingly calm.

I don't care at all...

He even felt that Mayuri Kurotsuchi should have been arrested long ago!

Without Mayuri Kurotsuchi's magical gadgets, things will be much more troublesome in the future, since among the researchers Iori knows, no one's talent can compare to Mayuri Kurotsuchi's.

Do I have to do it myself? Doing it myself is not bad... Although it's a bit more troublesome, at least I won't have to turn things over and over and check them countless times every time I get them.

"Ukitake-kun~"

Chunshui chuckled and said, "Isn't Mayuri Kurotsuchi using special wartime regulations to exonerate himself? If that's the case, then let's use the same wartime regulations to deal with him."

Cough!

Aizen Iori, in the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces of the Modern World, I order you to place Mayuri Kurotsuchi under guard and imprisonment, who is highly suspected of being involved. His residence and laboratory shall be sealed off and reported to Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto after Captain Kiryu Hikifune has completed his work. The final decision on the disposal plan shall be made by the Captains' Meeting.

"Do you understand?"

"Please rest assured, I will complete the mission well."

As Iori agreed, he stroked his chin: What about the money he invested before? Is he just going to have to accept his bad luck?

-

Mayuri Kurotsuchi may have sensed something, as he hasn't been staying in the 12th Division's barracks these days. It would be quite difficult for anyone else to find him, but Iori is clearly an exception.

As his financial backer and partner, Iori knew of several of Mayuri Kurotsuchi's safe houses and immediately went to them one by one, eventually cornering him in the secret laboratory in the tenth district of West Rukongai.

Surprisingly, when Iori found Mayuri Kurotsuchi, he was completely different from the person Iori remembered.

Although Nie used to have a sinister and gloomy appearance, he at least appeared in a complete human form. But now he looks like a mummy that has just crawled out of the grave. His body, which is so emaciated that it is no longer human, is tightly bound by layers of bandages. Large areas of blood seep out from below. His left eyeball has disappeared for some reason, leaving only an empty hole. Most of his teeth have fallen out like those of an eighty or ninety-year-old.

Even Iori was startled by this horrifying sight!

It was as if he had just walked off the execution ground where he was torn apart by a thousand cuts... If it weren't for this familiar spiritual pressure fluctuation, Iori wouldn't even be sure whether the person in front of him was a scientist or an experimental subject.

and many more!

"Did you... use yourself as an experiment?"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi did not answer immediately, but Iori's eyes showed a hint of realization.

He looked around and saw rows of glass culture tanks standing in the laboratory, containing things that were hard to describe. Some looked like organs detached from a living organism, others like embryos in the process of forming, and still others were indistinguishable mixtures of bones and muscles, foreign objects that defied easy labeling...

In addition, there were some operating tables with Quincy corpses on them—not physical bodies, of course, but probably quite a few "whole (souls)" that had been brought to the laboratory alive.

Even as a former mortal enemy, Iori couldn't bear to look at this scene. No wonder Jushiro Ukitake was so angry... Any normal person would think that such a thing shouldn't exist!

"……It is you."

Mayuri Kurotsuchi didn't seem surprised by Iori's arrival: "I originally thought that Jushiro Ukitake or Kiryu Hikifune would be the first to arrive... or maybe that guy Urahara, but you... hmph, in a sense, it's not unexpected!"

"That's gone too far, Nie."

Iori narrowed her eyes slightly: "If it's just stealing corpses and detaining Quincy souls, although it's a great crime, there's still room for maneuver. After all, your mind can't be replaced."

But from what I just saw, besides the Quincy... you also attacked the corpses of Shinigami, didn't you?"

"I had no idea you became so righteous."

"I have been just for one day and three hours."

Iori did a rough calculation: "From the moment I accepted the mission to supervise you."

"Hehe... Just one step away, just one last step away... Iori! Just one step away!"

If it were anyone else, I would have given up, but it's different with you. You should be able to understand me!

With his only remaining eye, Konohamaru looked at Iori, and a strange aura emanating from him made Iori feel slightly uncomfortable.

Don't you want to know the answer to that question?

"Topic?"

"What topic?" Iori was about to ask when her expression subtly changed.

He remembered something, and his eyes narrowed: "You mean the soul...?"

"I'm almost done... That's right, soul replication!"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi said almost fanatically, "No one can match me. In this field, besides me, who else can do it!"

Chapter 227: The Mad Scientist's Flawed Aesthetics (4K)

'Log 3-216'

Title: [Feasibility Verification of Uploading Goal Awareness]

Experimental scheme one: ...

Experimental scheme two: ...

experiment……

Conclusion Summary:

The subjective consciousness and memories of 'the whole' were erased, bleaching them into a blank doll, and then the memory backup was uploaded to its brain... Failure.

No matter what methods are used, it is impossible to completely erase the doll's memories. Even if its personality is completely destroyed and its thinking ability is reset to the infant stage, it will still unconsciously show similarities to before.

The influence of muscle inertia has been ruled out, and no tissue storing memory backups has been found in the brain... So where does this 'reverberation' originate?

Log: 3-217

Title: [On the Reasons for the Failure of Willpower Upload, and an In-Depth Exploration]

Log: 3-218

Log: 3-219

Log: 3-220

……

'Log 4-1'

Title: How to Create a Perfect Blank Doll

If you mold another person's spirit into your own image, even if the physical stats are adjusted to be identical and there are no differences, there will still be a rejection reaction with the uploaded consciousness backup. When the awakened individual experiences significant mental fluctuations, there is a high probability that they will fall into chaos.

Therefore, they chose to use their own body parts for cloning... The situation improved, but each one was silly.

I'd like to try culturing brain tissue samples directly.

……

'Log 4--2'

Title: [The Perfect Medium]

What if we used the 'original' body instead of a clone?

The human body is constantly undergoing spiritual metabolism, replacing all the spiritual particles that make up the body approximately every year. However, in the public's perception, it is not seen as a 'newly created person', but rather as the original one.

Perhaps we could also use this approach in reverse: if we accelerate the metabolic process and collect all the replaced spiritual particles, we could use them as the basis for a 'clone'... then the body and the personality it carries would have the highest compatibility, right?

……

Log: 4-4

Title: [Questions about the nature of the soul]

'There is no way to completely erase a person's past. Since it cannot be made into a pure vessel, the experiment of uploading consciousness and memories to a doll to create another "self" can be declared a failure.'

The fundamental reason for its failure is that it could not find the objective form of the 'soul'.

Humans exist as spirits after death; the difference between the 'whole' and the 'Grim Reaper' is merely the level of energy density.

In conventional wisdom, this is what is known as the 'soul'.

So, is the Grim Reaper's body the soul itself?

If you cut off a hand, does that count as a split soul?

Can a severed hand be considered a separate soul?

If the hand is also part of the soul, then after the Grim Reaper's hand is cut off, will the Grim Reaper's memories, personality, and consciousness be altered?

What if you cut off the limbs? What if you remove the internal organs?

The answer is obvious.

The Grim Reaper's body is merely an aggregate of spiritual particles; even if it is destroyed, it will not directly affect his personality.

These places are not where the 'soul' resides.

To truly replicate a soul, one must not only create an identical spiritual body, but also insert an identical 'soul'.

Or to put it another way: 'heart'!

—I hate things that are ambiguous, because they can't be measured or calculated.

……

'Log: 4-4-5'

Title: [Questions about the nature of the soul]

If we divide the 'soul' into two parts: the 'heart' and the 'soul'.

The former is an abstract concept that includes consciousness and personality, while the latter is an objectively existing spiritual body. Together, they constitute a normal soul, including the 'whole', 'death', and 'emptiness'.

A living person is composed of the three elements: heart, soul, and body.

The commonly used terms 'spiritual body' and 'transformation of spirit and matter' refer to the soul and the body, but do not involve the mind.

In other words, the human spirit has two layers of protection, while death only has one.

But correspondingly, Shinigami are also more likely to sense the presence of 'spirits'... Perhaps, what is injected into Zanpakuto is not only spiritual pressure, but also one's own 'heart'.

This topic is getting more and more interesting!

……

Log: 4-6

Title: [Questions about the nature of the soul]

While creating an identical physical and spiritual body is challenging, it is not impossible.

However, the biggest challenge is ensuring that this identical body contains the same heart.

If you want to modify, copy, or delete something, you must first find it accurately... So what exactly is the "heart," and where is it hidden?

So it really is a neural impulse from the brain? Is the essence of humanity electronic and spiritual signals?

-

call!

After closing the thick experimental records, Iori closed her eyes and pressed the bridge of her nose for a while. When she opened them again, her gaze towards Mayuri Kurotsuchi was quite complicated.

What he had just looked at were only some early materials. Mayuri Kurotsuchi's research topic was quite obscure and mysterious, but the progress was visible to the naked eye, with breakthroughs every now and then. Moreover, judging from the dates, it seemed to have started when Iori mentioned "soul splitting/copying" to him...

Aside from some research in the early and middle stages, the later parts were beyond Iori's comprehension; he couldn't understand what he had accomplished based solely on written descriptions.

In short, Mayuri Kurotsuchi was not lying; he did indeed take the final step, even exceeding Iori's original expectations.

After putting down the record, the young Grim Reaper walked to another connected laboratory, which also contained some culture tanks, but not the inhuman organs and tissues outside, but real "humans".

Half of him was an experimental subject, using the templates he stole from the corpses of Shinigami and Quincy, while the other half was a semi-finished product, using his own flesh and blood tissue!

Iori noticed that the "Mayuri Kurotsuchi" in these glass tanks were not like traditional clones, where everyone looked the same, but rather each had subtle differences.

Compared to Mayuri Kurotsuchi's original form, some are stronger, some are slightly thinner, some have more handsome faces, and some have longer and thinner limbs... They also vary in age, with the youngest being a teenager.

"This is?"

Iori frowned slightly and asked in confusion, "Don't you use 'yourself' as nutrients to cultivate clones? With your technology, even if you can't make the 'inside and outside' exactly the same as the original, you should at least be able to keep the appearance perfect."

So, what happened?

"...Can you understand those records?"