Surrounded

"Riding a wild boar looks so impressive!"

Shiba Ganju slapped the wild boar beneath him, then clamped his legs against its sides. The boar he was riding suddenly charged forward. "Hahaha, look how fast my little piggy can run!!"

Hawk and the others let out strange cries at the sight, and the four wild boars followed close behind.

"..." Duan Mu.

I want to go home!

Riding something like this into battle... Somehow, it felt like there was a deeper meaning behind wanting to make the enemy laugh themselves to death...

Actually, Duan Mu did not mind being Brother Iwao's underling. Watching Iwao and the others from the side was entertaining enough, and it could serve as some amusement during his spare time.

Besides...

This identity could also bring him great benefits.

Not long after founding the 'Shinigami Cram School,' Duan Mu discovered that many 'non-students' had appeared among his 'students.'

Identifying these non-students was not difficult. They could roughly be divided into three categories. The first consisted of people who were poor at concealing their spiritual pressure. They were the easiest to distinguish, because the strength of their spiritual pressure was on a completely different level from that of the students.

The second category consisted of people who were highly skilled at concealing their spiritual pressure, making them difficult for Duan Mu to detect with his current strength. Distinguishing this group took some effort, but it was not impossible, because the experience gained from increases in their favorability was slightly greater than that gained from the students.

The most difficult to distinguish...

were those who were both skilled at concealing their spiritual pressure and did not increase their favorability. With this type of person, Duan Mu had no way of telling whether they were a 'non-student' or not, so he simply treated them all the same and kept his distance. Especially women who clearly had not the slightest bit of 'favorability' toward him, yet acted as though they liked Duan Mu very much and were extremely familiar with him. Such women either had ulterior motives or were simply green tea bitches... Keeping well away from them could never be wrong!

You ask how he distinguished men?

Did men even need distinguishing?

Toward these carbon-based lifeforms that could not provide him with experience points, Duan Mu's attitude could be described as 'indifference.' Aside from 'taking payment to do a job,' he had no dealings with them whatsoever.

After discovering these people, Duan Mu began visiting the Shiba Clan once a week under the name of 'Brother Iwao's underling.' His association with the Shiba Clan could help him avoid a lot of trouble, while also conveniently increasing Shiba Kūkaku's favorability toward him.

Although he had barely exchanged more than a few words with Shiba Kūkaku over the past six months, his repeated appearances had still earned him a few favorability points... It was probably about equivalent to the level of strangers who ran into each other on the street and exchanged greetings.

With such great benefits, what was there to resist about being an underling?

Duan Mu looked up at Iwao and the others as they gradually moved away, a smile appearing on his face. He clamped his legs against the boar and rode after them.

"This blasted place really gives me the creeps." Hawk swallowed, already having second thoughts about continuing. He looked at Iwao ahead and said in a low voice, "Brother Iwao, why don't we just go back?"

His words made the other three nod in agreement.

They had long heard that the districts with higher numbers had terrible security and were home to countless thugs, but what they had seen and heard after entering the higher-numbered districts still made them feel as though they had stepped into another world.

Compared with a residential district, the word 'ruins' was more suitable for describing this place.

Most of the houses in the towns of the higher-numbered districts had already collapsed. Countless winding plants covered the ruins, while cracks resembling scars spread across the riverbeds, looking like gaping maws ready to swallow lives at any moment and revealing a ferocious visage.

Here...

Even drinking water was an extremely scarce resource. A few minutes earlier, they had even seen several raggedly dressed people slaughtering one another over a jug of water.

As they continued deeper, more and more horribly mutilated corpses appeared along the road.

These corpses would not decay. They would only slowly evaporate as time passed, eventually transforming into spirit particles of the Soul Society. But precisely because they could not decay, no one bothered to bury them, leaving them all preserved in the state they had been in when they had just died...

This hellish scene made even Iwao feel somewhat afraid. But to maintain the dignity of a boss, he showed nothing on his face. Instead, he said with an unconcerned look, "What's there to fear with me here? Even if we're leaving, we still have to drag those bastards back with us!!"

With that, Iwao charged ahead on his boar and led the way deeper inside.

Hawk and the others exchanged glances. In the end, they gritted their teeth and followed on their boars as though they had steeled themselves for the worst.

Duan Mu, at the very back of the group, had not said a word from beginning to end.

At this moment, the relaxed look he had worn at first was gone, and his eyes were filled with wariness.

Because of his work, Duan Mu often traveled between the various districts of Rukongai. However, he had never actually visited the areas beyond District 70.

Only after stepping onto this land did Duan Mu discover...

that he had still underestimated these districts that had 'produced countless Great Villains.' Along the way, he had sensed fluctuations of spiritual pressure from many people, and the spiritual pressure of some was not much weaker than that of members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. Moreover, these people possessed something the members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads did not...

Killing intent!!

Unlike the Shinigami who had received systematic training, the people here could only increase their spiritual pressure through constant slaughter.

There were no rules and not the slightest trace of morality. They completely followed the law of the jungle: the strong preyed on the weak. The residents of this district had only two choices—to become stronger or die.

Duan Mu knew very well that some people with spiritual pressure, like him, were unwilling to become Shinigami.

But seeing so many people with spiritual pressure still made him uneasy. On closer thought, however, he felt it was perfectly normal. After all, as far as Duan Mu knew, some captains in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads had fought their way out of areas like this, eventually becoming infamous as Great Villains throughout the Soul Society!

If they had only been slaughtering ordinary people, how could they possibly have grown to such a terrifying level?

Although these people did not have Zanpakuto and knew none of the Shinigami-exclusive combat techniques, such as Kido and Shunpo, once their spiritual pressure reached a certain level, they could still unleash terrifying destructive power even when fighting with nothing but their fists and feet!

Thinking of this, Duan Mu urged his boar over to Iwao's side and said quietly, "I think it would be better to listen to Hawk. You've sensed the spiritual pressure on those people too, right? Hawk and the others are just ordinary people. If a conflict breaks out, you'll only have to split your attention to protect them."

Hearing this, hesitation appeared on Iwao's face.

"If they run into danger, it'll be too late for you to regret it then." Seeing this, Duan Mu added fuel to the fire.

At that, Iwao immediately pulled on the reins, bringing the wild boar beneath him to a stop.

He first glanced toward the area deeper inside, then swept his eyes across the faces of the five people, including Duan Mu, one by one. Finally, he said, "Let's go. I'll take you back first."

Duan Mu's brow furrowed. Iwao's words had made his intentions perfectly clear. Apparently, he had no intention of abandoning this trip.

"Iwa... Hm?"

Duan Mu had just been about to continue persuading him when his expression suddenly changed. He instead asked, "Who told you those thugs had run to District 79?"

Duan Mu had asked about the purpose of this trip earlier. According to Iwao, several thugs who often wandered around District 26 had inexplicably beaten up Hawk and the others' family members, claiming it was because of Iwao.

After hearing about it, Iwao naturally could not ignore the matter. But when he went looking for those thugs, he discovered that they had already fled—to District 79.

Duan Mu had not paid much attention to it earlier, but after Iwao stopped, numerous fluctuations of spiritual pressure suddenly appeared around them, steadily closing in.

Without realizing it, the six of them had already been surrounded!