Two Teams Converge

Gaoyu not only gained Tanimoto Toru's favorability, but also Fujita Satoru's and Tanaka Kohei's. Although it didn't reach eighty, it was already over seventy.

Under these circumstances, it was indeed the easiest to gain the favorability of others.

In a short while, Gin Ichimaru returned, still with his usual squinting eyes, and said, "I regret to inform you that I've observed the surroundings but found no trace of a Hollow."

Fujita Satoru said with some disappointment, "Even Vice-Captain Ichimaru couldn't find it, so we can only rely on Gaoyu's passive defense?"

"This is bad!"

A Shinigami on the side suddenly spoke up, "Kawai's corpse has suddenly disappeared!"

"What?!" Tanaka Kohei exclaimed immediately, "The corpse disappeared? Weren't you watching it the whole time?!"

Gaoyu also looked over and found that Kawamura's corpse was indeed gone, leaving only an empty shihakusho.

Seeing this scene, everyone immediately remembered the reason they came here.

"The soul disappeared?!"

"Could that Hollow be the culprit behind the soul's disappearance?!"

Tanaka quickly looked at Gin Ichimaru and said, "Vice-Captain Ichimaru! Should we continue to advance, or should we go back and inform the Captain?"

Gin Ichimaru's tone seemed unchanging as always. He turned to face forward and then said, "Fujita, you take a team back to Seireitei to report what happened here."

"As for us, we need to continue forward to inform the Shinigami of the Ninth Division."

"Yes!" Fujita Satoru nodded and immediately led his team of Shinigami towards Seireitei.

Gaoyu watched their retreating figures and then took a deep breath.

He wondered if this group would be able to make it back alive.

"Cancel the rest, we need to rush to the Ninth Division's current location immediately."

Gin Ichimaru made another arrangement, and their small team immediately mobilized. Gaoyu, Tanimoto, and Tanaka exchanged glances, seeing the worry in each other's eyes.

In this situation...

Even if they met up with the Ninth Division, could they still trust each other?

Although Gaoyu could identify the Hollow, what if something went wrong?

What if the other party vehemently denied it?

Would the Ninth Division believe the Fifth Division's words?

This...

It seemed like a test of trust.

Gaoyu felt a storm crashing into his heart. He vaguely guessed what kind of small game Aizen had set up.

Didn't he like being a good person and making friends in Seireitei? Then let's play a game where everyone isolates him.

If Metastacia could continue to parasitize, then sooner or later, more and more people would be killed by Gaoyu's accusations.

These people also had their own friends; how would they view Gaoyu?

Moreover, humans are emotional beings. Would they truly believe Gaoyu's words and kill the other party?

Perhaps under the influence of the Game Master, Gaoyu thought of something he hadn't noticed before.

Why did Metastacia split out in front of so many people?

Was it an inevitable result of its abilities?

No, Gaoyu remembered that in the original work, its Spirit Fusion was a true union with the other party. If one died, they truly died and wouldn't emerge. Otherwise, Rukia wouldn't have had so many years of psychological trauma.

Then, in the future, if Gaoyu discovered a Shinigami parasitized by Metastacia and identified them, causing them to die, but Metastacia's part didn't reappear from their body...

How would Gaoyu be treated then?

Tsk, playing it this way, huh?

Gaoyu glanced at Gin Ichimaru, only to see his seemingly unchanging squinting eyes.

He said nothing and continued to follow the team.

The group of Shinigami moved quickly. After another three hours of travel, Tanimoto stopped.

"The Ninth Division is about ten ri ahead."

Tanimoto was the Shinigami in the team who used his spiritual network the best, in other words, the one with the best perception abilities.

His Zanpakuto's ability was similar to Gin Ichimaru's, capable of shooting enemies from a distance, thus requiring high perception abilities.

Therefore, his Soul Ability was the Destruction Death Ray, a powerful pinpoint attack.

A distance of ten ri was equivalent to crossing several distances of Karakura Town; this distance was not too far for them.

However, the continuous travel had left the Shinigami panting. Gaoyu, on the other hand, was fine.

After all, the Game Master's abilities were quite effective.

But everyone else was already very tired at this point.

"It's alright, everyone can rest."

Gin Ichimaru spoke at the forefront, "I'll be the one to notify the Ninth Division."

He raised his hand and began to chant.

"Black and white net! Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns, treads of thunder, sharp peaks, returning earth, lurking night, sea of clouds, azure sequence, fill the great circle, and descend unto the heavens! Bakudō #77, Tenteikūra!"

Gin Ichimaru activated the seventy-seventh Bakudō, a Kidō used for long-distance communication.

It wasn't that they didn't want to use the Denreishinki; it was simply that the Denreishinki hadn't been invented in this era.

Normally, Shinigami used Kidō or Hell Butterflies for communication. They hadn't brought any Hell Butterflies on this trip, and the Denreishinki didn't exist yet, so they had no choice but to use Tenteikūra.

Considering it was the Ninth Division, Gaoyu wanted to see if Shūhei was among them.

The result came quickly. After receiving Gin Ichimaru's Tenteikūra, the Ninth Division rushed over. Among the crowd, Hizaki Shūhei was indeed present.

Gaoyu glanced at the members of the Ninth Division and then fell silent.

Two Shinigami within the Ninth Division had already been parasitized by Metastacia. He saw the red light emanating from them before they even reached him.

Upon their arrival, he observed the Soul Ability of those two individuals.

Both had 'Parasitism,' confirming that these two Shinigami were Metastacia.

However, Gaoyu didn't expose them. This was the incredible intuition granted to Gaoyu by the Game Master.

Just as he had thought, he believed that if he exposed and killed them, nothing unusual would happen, and he himself would be the one in a difficult situation.

Therefore, he decided to keep a close watch on them and act only when they made a move.

Gaoyu believed that with his current strength, dealing with them would be relatively simple.

He glanced at Gin Ichimaru and saw that Gin Ichimaru was also looking at him. Gaoyu then offered him a smile.

Gin Ichimaru returned a smile as well. It seemed they both understood what the other was thinking.