Suspicious

Iwamoto nodded. "Let them arrange a bed for you so you can get some rest. My room is at the very end of the hall; if you need anything, just have them pass the word along."

With the help of the guards, Lin Nan had his wounds cleaned and re-dressed. After wrapping the bandages, he lay on the bed to rest for a dozen minutes or so.

"How many people are watching downstairs? Don't let that brat Kyoraku use this chance to pull any tricks!" He asked, eyes snapping open while he had been resting.

"Don't worry, there are five men watching below. That young master Kyoraku won't be able to stir up any trouble," a guard in black standing nearby replied.

Lin Nan nodded, reassured. "How many of us are here in total? If the Kyoraku House people come looking for us, can we hold them off?"

"Counting you, there are fifteen. Rest easy, they definitely won't find us. The place is surrounded by walls on all sides, and Master Iwamoto has used Kido to disguise it. It's not that easy to find."

"Oh, that puts my mind at ease." Lin Nan nodded, looking thoughtful, then suddenly stood up. "No, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. I have to go back down and beat him again!"

As he spoke, he stood up huffily and patted the bandages on his abdomen. "Wrapped tight enough—it won't split open this time!"

The guards wanted to speak up and stop him, but Lin Nan shut them down with a single sentence.

"Boss Iwamoto has already tacitly approved it. As long as I don't kill him, it doesn't matter how I beat him. Don't worry, it's fine."

In the basement, several guards were dozing off in the dark corners. Hearing footsteps, they opened their eyes and looked over.

"All of you, stay at the foot of the stairs. I don't want him running off while I'm busy thrashing him." Lin Nan seemed to have regained his strength, waving a hand at the group with a swagger.

The guards exchanged glances and obediently took up positions at the stairs.

Lin Nan crossed the spacious, dim basement and arrived before Kyoraku, who was sitting upright. Meeting his gaze, he laughed.

"Young Master is here to beat you. Looks like you're ready? We're quite in sync, aren't we!"

The five guards stood in a row at the dark entrance of the stairs, looking at him with sullen, drooping eyes in the faint light trailing behind Lin Nan.

Why did Boss Iwamoto let such a cocky little brat get away with this? Besides, the kid was still injured. If he ended up getting beaten himself while trying to "discipline" the young master of the Kyoraku House, that would only be natural, right?

Having worked together for years, the men shared a tacit understanding. In the darkness, they exchanged glances, grasped each other's intentions, and began to crack their knuckles.

Kyoraku raised his head and gave Lin Nan a cold look. "Since you dared to come back, do you dare to take off my handcuffs and let us have a fair fight?"

Lin Nan boldly patted his bandaged stomach, grabbed Kyoraku by the collar, and hauled him up. "I'm here to beat you, why the hell would I care about fairness?"

Seeing Lin Nan's shameless grin, Kyoraku's face filled with rage. His scarred body erupted with all the strength he could muster as he shoved hard. "Get lost, you disgusting bastard!"

In the scuffle, the heavily injured Lin Nan was clearly no match for Kyoraku, who only had superficial wounds. He stumbled backward, unable to control his footing, and in the struggle, knocked over an oil lamp sitting on a nearby table.

Clang—

The five guards watched as the oil lamp tumbled off the small table by the wall, and the tiny flame was instantly extinguished.

The chance had arrived!

The men moved in unison, relying on the last memory of the light before it vanished, and charged straight toward Lin Nan!

In the darkness, dull thuds, muffled groans, and the sound of heavy bodies hitting the floor rang out one after another, followed by a flurry of blows like falling rain.

At that moment, Kuramoto, who happened to be passing by upstairs, heard the commotion coming from the basement. Curious, he walked to the stairs, opened the door, and shouted down, "What's going on down there? Is there trouble?"

From the basement, a guard's voice replied, "It's nothing! Just the new guy beating the prisoner!"

Kuramoto frowned. "I thought they said not to beat him to death... He's hitting him pretty hard; this new guy is truly ruthless!"

He thought for a moment, then turned and headed toward Iwamoto's location. Reporting things beforehand was never a mistake.

Inside the basement, the dense sound of blows gradually subsided, leaving only the sound of several people panting heavily.

"Ha... ha... at least this should... beat this brat half to death..."

"Yeah... right... honestly, it's been a long time since I've had this much... fun beating someone up..."

"Just now... which one of you hit me too..."

"Don't know... sigh, what is this?"

In the darkness, several men simultaneously felt something heavy placed into their hands.

Kuramoto knocked on the door and entered Iwamoto's room.

"Boss. That new guy seems to have gone down to beat the Kyoraku House young master again."

Iwamoto was meticulously sharpening his blade. "It's fine, let him beat him..."

Kuramoto was taken aback. "You don't intend to stop him?"

"It's not certain who is beating whom."

"You knew he would go down there to start a fight?"

Iwamoto said indifferently, "It boils down to three scenarios: one, Kyoraku beats him down; two, the guards downstairs beat him down; or three, the two of them take advantage of the chaos to escape."

"Es—escape?... This was all within your calculations?"

"How could I possibly trust that brat so easily?" Iwamoto continued sharpening his blade with meticulous care, as if he were discussing something that had nothing to do with him.

"Then what if they really do run away?"

Iwamoto raised the blade, held it up to the light to inspect the edge, and said leisurely:

"According to intelligence, Kyoraku Shunsui has been a disciple under Yamamoto for less than three months. And during this time, Yamamoto hasn't returned to the Gen Private School, so naturally, he hasn't had the chance to teach him. His level is predictable; he's just a genius in name only."

Although Lin Nan's Hakuda is decent, he has just suffered a blade wound, so his performance will inevitably be greatly diminished. With him injured, even adding Kyoraku to the mix, they are certainly no match for the five guards below.

Even if those two brats are genius youths who know how to use Kido, their current spiritual pressure is not yet sufficient to use Kido above number twenty, let alone break the seal of the basement.

He picked up a handkerchief from his side, carefully wiped his blade, and said smugly, "Therefore, whether it comes to Kido or combat, they are both within my control. Even if they really want to stir up trouble, I am confident I can keep Kyoraku Shunsui in the palm of my hand. As for Lin Nan... if he doesn't cherish his life, then I have no choice but to kill him."

Kuramoto nodded as if he understood, then asked, "It has been over ten hours since we captured them. The Soul Reapers should have dispatched people to search by now, right? Should we relocate?"

Iwamoto glanced at him: "Oh, I forgot this is your first time here and you aren't familiar with the situation. Rest assured, there is absolutely no problem here. As long as anyone outside searches this far, I will know."

"Even if they discover something unusual, they will inevitably trigger an alarm. By the time they rack their brains to find our hideout, we will have already walked away in plain sight."

On the outskirts of the Danzhao District, Kyoraku Seishu and his group were anxiously searching for traces in the surrounding area.

"My lord, we haven't found anything in the vicinity." The lead servant approached Seishu with a grave expression and said in a low voice.

A Soul Reaper squad member also came up to Kyoraku: "Mr. Kyoraku, the nearby locations have all been searched, and no abnormalities were found. There are two abandoned residential houses, and we are preparing to search them now."

Seishu glanced at the squad member and noticed something unusual: "Abandoned residential houses? How could there be abandoned houses in the Danzhao District?"

The squad member nodded: "We also found it strange, so we asked the nearby residents. The residents said these two houses belong to two wealthy merchants who moved away a long time ago."

"Furthermore, it is said that these two houses have always emitted strange and terrifying sounds every night, so no one dares to stay here. Thus, they have remained empty, and the surrounding residents have become accustomed to it."

After hearing this, Kyoraku Seishu scratched his chin: "Let's go take a look."

The group followed the direction indicated by the squad member and arrived in front of the two adjacent abandoned houses.

The courtyards of both houses were quite large, and it appeared the previous owners had indeed lived very affluent lives. But now, both courtyards were overgrown; through the rotten and dilapidated gates, one could see weeds over a person's height swaying gently in the sunlight.

Seishu looked at the two closed, decrepit gates and instructed the squad members beside him: "The servants have limited combat power. You two take them and guard the outside; do not enter unless necessary. If an unexpected situation occurs, immediately send a distress signal to the Seireitei."

After saying this, he took two squad members and entered the gate on the left.

Just as it appeared from the outside, the courtyard was a scene of ruin. Beside the cracked corners of the walls and the collapsed railings, grass grew lush and green, forming dense thickets.

The entire courtyard was almost completely covered by the grass, and even the path had been submerged in a sea of green. From time to time, the sound of small animals being startled and fleeing could be heard from the brush.

A Soul Reaper squad member walked forward a few steps, swung his blade to cut down a patch of weeds, looked down at the traces in the grass, and said loudly: "No traces of human activity found on the ground, nor any footprints."

The other squad member responsible for guarding heard this and said with some disappointment: "Big Brother Kyoraku, what should we do?"

Seishu's gaze, however, was fixed intently on the dilapidated house twenty meters ahead, which was obscured by the man-high weeds.

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he kept feeling the faint, flickering presence of spiritual pressure there.

"Let's go inside and take a look." He drew his Zanpakuto to clear the way and led the two men toward the depths.

As the distance closed, his feeling became clearer. Even the two squad members whispered in surprise: "I think I feel a trace of spiritual pressure..."

"Me too... keep your voices down, stay alert."

Several people held their Zanpakuto, moving slowly toward the house while maintaining their guard.

After walking a few steps, Seishu suddenly asked in a low voice: "Did you notice?"

The other two turned their heads and shook them slightly.

Seishu twitched his nose twice and gestured silently: "The smell."

The two squad members looked at each other, puzzled.

Seishu pointed a finger at the grass nearby and then lowered his voice: "There is no smell of grass."

The two squad members only then realized it; they sniffed carefully and indeed did not smell the scent of fresh grass.

Yet here, there were weeds everywhere.

A gust of wind brushed through the grass, causing the shadows to sway.

Although the sun was shining, the two squad members still felt a chill run down their spines.

Amidst the rustling sound, a faint, fleeting noise seemed to come from inside the house.

It sounded as if someone had bumped into something.

The two Soul Reaper squad members locked onto the direction of the sound almost instantly and raised their blades, ready to charge into the house.

Hearing the noise, Seishu's foot had subconsciously taken a step forward, but he forcibly stopped himself and whispered: "Stop!"

The two squad members immediately halted, turned their heads to look at Kyoraku Seishu with confused expressions, and asked in low voices: "Why stop?"

"There must be someone hiding inside! We can catch them if we go in now!"

Kyoraku Seishu's gaze looked far toward the house, with only its roof visible, and he frowned: "That's right, I felt it too. However, something is wrong; this place isn't that simple."

"Big Brother, you must have heard the sound inside and felt the spiritual pressure, right? Something all three of us can feel surely can't be wrong!"

Seishu shook his head slightly: "I can't explain it. But this place is eerie; let's not act rashly."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the right, looking past the dilapidated, cracked courtyard wall toward the courtyard on the right.

"I keep feeling that the courtyard on the right is even more suspicious."