Are You Serious?!

Twenty minutes later, the 8th Division training ground. Every member of the 8th Division not currently on an outside mission was present, standing in neat rows.

Lin Nan stood at the edge of the field, feeling somewhat at a loss. After making Katori Batsunsai storm off earlier, he had considered running away. However, the barracks entrance was guarded, making it impossible to slip out, and the walls were far too high to climb.

"Let's begin." Katori walked leisurely to the edge of the training ground, stopped beside Lin Nan, and announced in a deep voice.

At this moment, she radiated immense authority, looking like a completely different person from the one who had been with Lin Nan yesterday.

Under her powerful pressure, all the members shrank their heads in fear. The Captain was in a bad mood today; it seemed some fool was about to have a miserable time.

Katori Batsunsai turned to look at Lin Nan beside her, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear: "You brat, it's your turn to step up."

Lin Nan frowned, sensing trouble. He looked at Katori with eyes intentionally filled with a hint of naive stupidity: "What kind of show are we putting on here?"

"Testing your spiritual pressure intensity."

"Testing... how?"

"Fight them. One by one. Let's see how long you can last—don't worry, I won't let them kill you."

What? I haven't even taken off my bandages, and you want to throw me in front of a hundred people to get beaten up? Is this something a human would do? This is clearly revenge, isn't it?!

Lin Nan cautiously voiced a slight objection to this arrangement.

"Soul Reapers aren't human to begin with, so isn't it normal to lack humanity?" Katori shrugged, looking indifferent.

"If you don't want to fight, you can leave right now. But I must remind you, the 11th Division has been keeping people stationed at my gate, just waiting for you to step out so their Captain can hack you to pieces. Choose for yourself."

After saying this, she looked at Lin Nan, her eyes full of smugness: You eavesdropped on my private conversation and wouldn't admit it, let's see if you'll be obedient now.

Lin Nan naturally saw the cunning in Katori's eyes, but he was helpless and unable to refute her.

This was a naked threat! It was clearly forcing him to choose between an elite dungeon and a normal one!

He tried his best to make his gaze look more sincere, looked at Katori, and blinked:

Katori, are you for real? Are you trying to finish me off?

Katori didn't respond, instead arching those beautiful eyebrows as her only reply.

Having finished her intimidation, she walked onto the training ground and parted her red lips: "Today's training objective is to use hand-to-hand combat to take down the young man beside me. The restriction is that you must not use lethal force; simply subdue him.

The top three who take the shortest amount of time will have their results recorded as a reference for next year's seated officer selection."

Seated officers were the assistants to captains and lieutenants, belonging to the undisputed management tier and the goal that most ordinary Soul Reapers strove for.

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the division members instantly flashed with longing.

Lin Nan was now in a difficult position. After a moment of hesitation, he walked quickly toward the training ground. When he reached Katori's side, he shot her a fierce glare.

Katori didn't back down, returning the look with an even tougher one.

As Lin Nan's feet stepped onto the stone floor of the training ground, several predatory gazes from all directions immediately locked onto him.

"I'm in!"

"I'm second!"

"If winning means a chance at being a seated officer, don't think you're going to pick up a bargain!"

Swish—swish—swish—

Tempted by the prospect of a direct promotion to seated officer, three Soul Reapers darted onto the training ground simultaneously.

A member closest to Lin Nan and Katori also wanted to join, but was hurriedly pulled back by a more observant companion.

The would-be participant was confused, so the companion quickly whispered in his ear:

"Are you blind? Didn't you see the Captain and that kid flirting with their eyes? This training isn't testing us; it's testing him!"

The former suddenly realized the truth and quickly took half a step back, honestly settling in to watch the show.

Although the two lowered their voices, they were simply too close. Both Lin Nan and Katori heard every word clearly.

Katori Batsunsai kept a straight face, but if one looked closely, they would see the corner of her eye twitching slightly, and a hint of killing intent faintly leaking into the gaze she cast at Lin Nan.

Lin Nan smiled back at her, looking slightly awkward but also apologetic: Even if it's embarrassing to be misunderstood, you're planning to play me to death, so I guess we're even?

Katori silently turned her gaze back to the training ground: "Restrictions lifted. You may use heavy strikes, but no fatalities. Whoever lands the hit first gets priority for promotion."

Lin Nan's mouth twitched, and the slight apology he felt vanished instantly.

Several more figures stood up immediately. Before long, more than a dozen people were standing in front of Lin Nan.

Lin Nan frowned: "Damn it, are you treating me like Ip Man?"

Katori turned her head to look over, her eyes filled with the smugness of successful revenge: Since we aren't using blades, if you get beaten up, I'll just bandage you up again!

At this moment, the Soul Reapers on the field exchanged glances and swarmed forward!

Facing the Soul Reapers closing in from all sides, Lin Nan had no time to worry about Katori's provocation. He widened his eyes, his aura surged, and he lunged toward the weakest point of the forming encirclement.

He hadn't fought one-against-a-dozen before, but did they really think they could handle him?

Facing such a numerical disadvantage, he had to seize the gaps and seek out weaknesses to break through. If he just kept retreating, he would easily be surrounded and fall into a passive situation!

His agile figure wove through the crowd, dodging and shifting amidst various attacks, seizing every opening to launch a counterattack.

In less than two minutes, four of the weaker Soul Reapers had been struck and sent flying backward.

"I didn't expect you to actually have some tricks up your sleeve!" Katori's eyes lit up instantly. A smile just touched the corners of her mouth before she forcibly suppressed it, then she loudly scolded, "Did none of you eat today?! To be beaten like this by a rookie!?"

She then randomly pointed at five members: "You lot, get up there! We must decide on a final winner today!"

Lin Nan, busy fighting, had black lines running down his face. He snatched a moment of leisure to glance at Katori, gritting his teeth internally: What is this woman doing? Does she really want to beat me to death here?

Katori caught Lin Nan's gaze and glared back without showing any weakness: Who told you to bully me earlier?

For some reason, she felt an urge to make Lin Nan yield. Yet, this brat was so silver-tongued that he simply refused to back down.

The Shinigami member who had been held back by his companion earlier stole a glance at his captain's expression and couldn't help but whisper to his friend: "You were right on the money! This is the first time I've ever seen the captain blush while watching a hand-to-hand combat training session..."

Katori was focused intently on the field when she suddenly heard someone report: "Report, Captain! The 3rd Division Lieutenant requests an audience!"

Katori was a bit puzzled and returned to the sidelines: "What does someone from the 3rd Division want?"

The 3rd Division Lieutenant was led to the training ground and came to Katori's side to whisper a few words.

Katori frowned slightly and replied airily: "Fine, tell him I know."

The 3rd Division Lieutenant looked troubled: "But Captain Katori, you are currently..."

Katori grew impatient: "Isn't your duty just to deliver the message? You've delivered it, so why haven't you left yet?"

The 3rd Division Lieutenant had no choice but to bow deeply and withdraw.

Katori's gaze turned back to the field, and just as she was about to speak, another report came from behind: "Captain, the captains of the 7th Division and 9th Division are here to visit, saying it is a matter of importance."

Katori's brow furrowed even tighter, and she said in surprise: "Why are these two back so soon after leaving? Take them to the 8th Division headquarters; I'll be there in a moment."

The reporting Shinigami retreated, and Katori's attention returned to the field.

The sounds of fighting were incessant until an abrupt voice exploded at the edge of the training ground: "Stop!"

All the members were startled, and the fighting came to an abrupt halt.

Lin Nan looked toward the sound and saw a man with short white hair and a stern expression standing outside the training ground.

1st Division Lieutenant, Sasakibe Chojiro.

"What is it? Why is he here again..." After seeing the man's face, Katori couldn't help but pout and mutter to herself.

Sasakibe stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "Captain Katori, the Head Captain has arrived at the 8th Division headquarters. He orders you to stop what you are doing immediately and bring that Rukongai civilian to report to the headquarters at once!"

Katori Batsunsai sighed slightly, stood up, and complained: "Chojiro, when will you stop being so serious... Just listening to your tone, you sound older than the Head Captain!"

"The Head Captain is already aware of the existence of that Rukongai resident and knows what happened here at the training ground. He is not particularly pleased with your methods... so please prepare yourself mentally."

Sasakibe Chojiro remained unmoved, his expression as stern as ever.

"Not pleased with me? Unohana Kenpachi nearly hacked the man to death and he didn't say anything, yet I at least snatched him back to bandage his wounds!" Katori said dismissively, "Why should he be displeased with me?"

Sasakibe seemed to suddenly recall something strange, and a look of discomfort appeared on his face:

"Uh, the Head Captain... he just scolded Unohana Kenpachi as well..."

Katori's indignant expression went blank for half a second before she beamed with joy: "Really? So Unohana Kenpachi actually has days like this... It would be a loss if I didn't go see it!"

Sasakibe said in astonishment: "Um, but Kenpachi is not here right now..."

Katori acted as if she hadn't heard him and waved at Lin Nan with a smile: "Come here quickly, stop fighting!"

Although Lin Nan hadn't heard what the two were saying, being called over so suddenly meant something was up.

After all, the original plan was for him to be a hidden member, so why was she now blatantly exposing him in front of other lieutenants?

"What's wrong?" He asked as he arrived at Katori's side, acting as if nothing was the matter.

Katori didn't answer, grabbed Lin Nan's sleeve, and started walking: "Let's go, come with me to watch Kenpachi get scolded!"

Lin Nan was unprepared and was yanked into the air by Katori: "...!? What is this all about? Hey, take it easy, my wounds are tearing open!!"