Wu Biao, Starving Half to Death (A 4,600-Character Chapter)

Chapter 50: Wu Biao, Starving Half to Death (A 4,600-Character Chapter)

"..."

Mayuri Kurotsuchi fell silent for ten seconds, then pointed his Zanpakuto straight at Wu Biao. "I'm very interested in your body!"

I couldn't think of what to say about the chuunibyou battle fanatic's endless poses, so I went straight to the point... And that sounded pretty suggestive, too. Ishida grumbled to himself.

"I'm really curious!" Mayuri continued. "How could an ordinary human with no spiritual power be this strong? Come to my laboratory. I'll give you even better treatment than that woman over there with her strange abilities!"

Recalling the punch Wu Biao had thrown when he first arrived, Mayuri's eyes filled with ever-greater curiosity. For a mad scientist, the unknown was the most precious treasure of all!

"Ah, I'm so hungry. I'm going to starve to death." Wu Biao clutched his stomach, looking conflicted. Judging by his expression... it seemed he hadn't heard a word Mayuri had said.

"..." Mayuri's mouth twitched.

"Oh, right!" Wu Biao rubbed his stomach and tilted his head at Mayuri. "You little brat, what'd you just say? I didn't hear you. Say it again!"

Mayuri's mouth twitched. "I said I'm interested in—"

"Forget it, too much trouble. Let's just get to it!" Wu Biao said, looking disgusted as he picked at his ear. "I'm starving. If you don't fight me, I'm leaving!"

Not only Mayuri, but even Ishida and the others watching from afar were speechless. Did this guy have some kind of taunt aura? Setting aside how anyone else might react, Ishida was sure he'd release his Sanrei Glove and shoot the guy dead!

As for Mayuri... even the hand holding his Zanpakuto was trembling!

"I've made up my mind!" Mayuri's face darkened more than ever before. "You'll become my most important specimen. I'll study every inch of you, and I'll use every experiment on you!!!"

"You're so damn annoying, running your mouth all day. Let me tell you one truth... villains die from talking too much!"

Before his words had even faded, Wu Biao vanished.

Mayuri snorted, a cold smile appearing on his face. He didn't even bother to dodge, remaining right where he stood.

Whoosh!

When Wu Biao appeared again, he was right in front of Mayuri. He threw a punch at the man, who seemed not to have reacted yet. The blow effortlessly punched through his chest, but there was no shattered bone and no spray of blood!

The 'Mayuri' beneath Wu Biao's fist had a gaping hole punched through him. Then, like a deflating balloon... he flew away!

"That same trick won't work on me. This kind of brutish fighting is laughable. You can't even tell a Gigai apart, you human without spiritual power!" Mayuri's voice suddenly rang out behind Wu Biao.

As he spoke, Ashisogi Jizō slashed at the back of Wu Biao's neck. If the blade landed—even if it only broke the skin—the poison in Ashisogi Jizō would immediately sever the signals his brain sent to his limbs.

Unless this kid had a way to force his body to keep fighting, like Ransotengai!

But Wu Biao wasn't hit. With his powerful battle instincts, the instant the blow felt wrong, he leaned forward with the momentum, ducked, and dodged the Zanpakuto's attack.

He braced one hand on the ground, used it to spin halfway around, and swung a fist at Mayuri behind him!

"So you're a Saint Seiya, too!"

A flicker of surprise crossed Mayuri's eyes. Wu Biao's battle instincts had clearly caught him off guard, but his hands moved without delay. He gripped the hilt in his right hand and braced the blade with his left.

Clang—

With a sharp ring, Wu Biao's fist struck Ashisogi Jizō. Mayuri used the impact to put distance between them. Unlike the Quincy he'd just fought, this kid's strength was terrifying.

He'd have little chance of getting the upper hand in close combat. Mayuri had already figured that out from Wu Biao's punch.

After all, he was one of the thirteen top-ranked members of the Seireitei. He wasn't that easy to deal with!

"You little brat! You think you can run after I hit you?"

Wu Biao had no intention of letting him off so easily. He sprang forward, and his whole body became a blur as he charged after Mayuri, catching up to him in an instant!

So fast!

Even Mayuri's pupils contracted slightly. He'd used Shunpo the moment he landed, yet this kid was still clinging to him like glue!

Seeing Wu Biao's fist already coming at him, Mayuri's gaze turned icy. "If you're asking to die, I'll grant your wish!"

Mayuri moved Ashisogi Jizō, but instead of attacking Wu Biao, he held it out in front of him.

"Bankai..."

As the word left his mouth, the area within a hundred meters of Mayuri and Wu Biao twisted violently. Clouds of purple mist appeared everywhere. Even without smelling it, anyone could tell the poison had to be potent.

The poisonous fog blanketed the area. From the outside, it was impossible to see anything inside.

"This is..." Sado and the others' pupils contracted.

"That's impossible! That Zanpakuto already released once!"

"Bankai..." Makiuzo Aramaki began to tremble, his eyes filled with nothing but fear. "A Zanpakuto has two forms. That's the final release, something only a captain-level Shinigami can master!"

"What?" Sado had no real sense of what that meant, but Ishida, who had just faced Mayuri in battle, felt a chill rise in his heart. Even Mayuri's first release had forced him to use every ounce of his strength, and still he hadn't been able to fight back at all.

And now he'd used Bankai...

Uryu Ishida steeled himself, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the Sanrei Glove on his arm. If necessary, he wouldn't hesitate to release it!

Whether he could defeat Mayuri after releasing it was another matter. The moment the Sanrei Glove was released, though, he would temporarily gain the power of the strongest Quincy.

Even against a top-tier Shinigami, Uryu Ishida wouldn't be afraid. The power would only last a few minutes, perhaps even less!

But if he chose the right moment and took advantage of Mayuri underestimating him, then combined that with the Quincy's powerful long-range attacks, he could completely avoid Mayuri's Bankai poison. Under those circumstances, he had a good chance of killing him.

It seemed like a long time had passed, but only a few exchanges had taken place. The situation on the battlefield suddenly changed again!

A terrifying aura spread from within the poisonous fog. It was full of ill intent. As it spread, the fog churned and expanded in every direction!

"Get back! I once heard a lieutenant say that the fog contains a deadly poison that paralyzes the nerves!" Makiuzo Aramaki no longer cared about revealing a captain's Bankai secret. After all, he was already in this mess.

If all these Ryoka died, he didn't think the sinister and cruel captain, Mayuri, would spare him!

Everyone's eyes narrowed as they glanced worriedly at the area covered by the poison. They all retreated as far away as they could.

Just then, Mayuri's sinister laugh rang out once more.

"Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō!"

A giant golden baby's head burst out of the poisonous fog and soared into the sky. It had gray eyeballs, a hollow ring like an angel's halo above its head, countless blades beneath its neck, and many segmented, centipede-like limbs.

"You've got to be kidding me!!!"

Wu Biao's voice rang out again. Following the sound, everyone saw that his whole body was embedded in the giant baby's forehead. The punch he'd thrown at Mayuri had gone straight into its head!

"Your Shinigami abilities are stranger than the last! It's just a sword—does it really need to transform this much?" Wu Biao complained, but his hands still moved quickly. He yanked his arm out of the baby's forehead, bringing a whole mass of strange, dark-purple liquid with it.

The liquid landed on Wu Biao's body, causing a wave of burning pain. Even its blood was clearly corrosive and poisonous!

Standing beneath Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō, Mayuri watched Wu Biao land after pulling free and sneered. "It's too late, even if you escape. Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō is covered in deadly poison. You'll soon lose the ability to move, and then it will swallow you whole."

He paused, looking at Wu Biao with a sigh. "It's a shame a body like yours won't become a specimen for my research."

As soon as he finished speaking, the air boomed. Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō charged straight at Wu Biao, surrounded by dark-purple poison mist!

Wu Biao furrowed his brow at the sight, but then his expression relaxed. He raised his wrist to his mouth.

So it really was no good trying to avoid using it. Still, at least he'd gotten some practice in during the fight earlier. His body should be able to hold up better after he recovered!

Ichibai Kanon Ken was a method Kanonji had originally devised to let someone with Wu Biao's unusual constitution wield spiritual power. It used the principle behind Kannonji-dan, forcibly gathering Reishi and then pulling it into Wu Biao's body.

The idea had been to let Wu Biao temporarily possess spiritual pressure, but Kanonji had underestimated how terrifying Wu Biao's constitution was.

Not only could spiritual pressure not enter his body from the outside, but even the spiritual pressure forcibly gathered inside him was completely sealed off. In other words, he couldn't release it; it could only circulate endlessly through his blood vessels.

That was why the technique compressed his blood throughout his body, speeding up his circulation to a rate that would make an ordinary person burst instantly. This enhanced Wu Biao's physique in every way, creating Ichibai Kanon Ken.

But the technique required a body of incredible strength to withstand it. Probably only a freak like Wu Biao could manage that anywhere in the world.

Even Wu Biao's body, which was already terrifyingly resilient, couldn't perfectly endure that level of internal pressure. That was why Kanonji had told him not to use the move unless he was in dire straits!

But after fighting Kenpachi, Wu Biao could feel that his body had grown a little stronger. He shouldn't pass out as quickly as he had before.

Back to the point: after sighing, Wu Biao sank his teeth into the blood vessel in his wrist!

"You little brat! You couldn't beat me, so you called your son out to fight his grandpa! Today I'll beat the two of you into meat paste!"

With that muttered curse, Wu Biao bit down hard, and spiritual pressure flooded into his body. A bloody mist erupted from his pores as Reishi squeezed the blood from his body, evaporating it at an incredible speed.

It was a good thing Brother Biao could recover so quickly. Anyone else would have died of blood loss in under a minute. As for Wu Biao... he could only say he desperately needed food. He was so hungry he didn't even feel like fighting anymore!

"You little brat! Today your grandpa's going to teach you a lesson!"

With a roar, a deafening boom rang out. The place where Wu Biao stood exploded, and his figure vanished. All that remained was a bloody mist and the ground, which had crumbled under the force of the impact!

"What!"

Mayuri's pupils contracted. He shivered instinctively, overcome by an intense sense of danger.

Wu Biao's blurred figure shot straight through the poisonous fog, as if crossing the boundary between nothingness and space. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō. His body was like a spear that could pierce the heavens as he charged without slowing, straight into the poisonous area and at the enormous creature.

A cry of pain suddenly rang out from within the poisonous fog. Amid the rumbling, Mayuri's Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō convulsed, dark-purple blood spraying into the sky as its body twisted in agony. Then, with a dull thud—

A huge hole appeared in the creature's tail. Through it, they could clearly see the scenery on the other side.

Wu Biao had punched straight through the enormous creature's body. He kept going, charging at Mayuri behind it.

"This is impossible!!!" Mayuri's expression changed dramatically. His body swayed, his face filled with shock and horror. "How could an ordinary human have such incredible strength? It's impossible!"

"There's nothing impossible about it!" Wu Biao shouted, charging at Mayuri with a punch!

A thunderous boom shook the heavens. Wu Biao reached Mayuri in an instant, and it was already too late for Mayuri to flee!

The impact of Wu Biao's punch spread in every direction with a rumbling roar. The sound shook the air, deafening. The surrounding walls and streets all shattered, becoming a field of ruins as smoke billowed into the air!

A figure flew backward through the smoke. It was Mayuri!

Blood poured from his mouth. He wasn't dead, but his chest had caved in. His internal organs were badly damaged, and his bones and flesh were on the verge of collapsing. He was at death's door!

The force sent him flying until he finally crashed into the ruins.

As the dust gradually settled, Wu Biao also ended the Ichibai Kanon Ken state. He stumbled twice, then collapsed to the ground!

"Brother Biao!"

Ishida and the others were startled and hurried over. When they reached him, they saw that Wu Biao hadn't passed out. He was just lying facedown on the ground, gasping for breath!

"Brother Biao... how are you?" Sado asked.

"I'm starving. Now I really am going to die of hunger!"

"Huh?" Everyone froze at his words, then breathed a sigh of relief. If he could still feel hungry, that meant he was fine!

"I'm not joking. If I don't get food soon, I really will starve to death!"

Grrrr...

As if to back up Wu Biao's words, his stomach rumbled. A pained expression appeared on his face at the sound.

Ishida and the others stared, stunned.

Was he serious?

Could he really starve to death?

"Such a pity, kid!" Suddenly, a voice sounded out of nowhere. Everyone's faces changed, because if they'd heard right, it was Mayuri's voice—the Mayuri who had just been on the verge of death.

"How is that possible? He's still alive?" Ishida asked in disbelief.

But then everyone froze. A pool of purple liquid flowed out of the ruins and rolled toward them.

Ishida instinctively drew his bow.

"It's no use. In this state, I can't attack, but I also can't be attacked. Kid... I'll come for you again. That body of yours is as good as mine!"

As he spoke, the liquid slipped through the cracks in the ruins.

All they could do was watch it slowly disappear, powerless to stop it!

"Rice porridge? Is that rice porridge?"

Wu Biao's excited voice suddenly rang out. He crawled past everyone and lunged toward the liquid.

"Holy crap, what... what... what are you doing?"

Even Mayuri couldn't help blurting out a curse at the sight. Was this guy going to eat a person or something?!

"Brother Biao, you can't eat that!"

Fortunately, Sado reacted quickly. He rushed forward and grabbed Wu Biao...

"Let go of me! That's rice porridge... rice porridge... it's getting away!"

Wu Biao cried out urgently, so hungry he was hallucinating.