Fake Vessel, Real Bait

"Who's up there?!"

The footsteps at the stairwell drew closer and closer.

Bai Zhu glanced down at the controller in his pocket, then at the large bell he had just rung.

Good.

The audience was in place.

Lowering his voice, he spoke into his earpiece. "Milluki, don't set anything off on your end yet. A few enthusiastic fellow believers just showed up on mine."

Static crackled twice from Milluki's end.

"Don't do anything reckless! Big Brother is still in the core area!"

"Relax. I value my life."

"The credibility of that statement is zero."

Bai Zhu pulled his hood lower and turned toward the stairwell.

Two black-robed guards rushed up, short batons in hand. They had Nen, but not much of it.

One of them froze when he got a clear look at Bai Zhu's priestly robes.

"Who are you? Why did you ring the bell?"

Bai Zhu raised a hand and made the sign of the Creation Society over his chest.

"The Lord told me to ring it."

The two men stopped at the same time.

Bai Zhu added, "Are you going to stop the Lord?"

The one on the left visibly hesitated.

The one on the right was more clearheaded. He raised his baton.

"Bullshit! Take him down!"

Bai Zhu sighed.

"As expected, rank-and-file employees aren't easy to fool."

He brought his fingers together, and yellow light flashed.

"Bakudo #4: Hainawa."

The guard charging ahead had both arms suddenly yanked behind his back by a rope of yellow light. He crashed face-first onto the stairwell floorboards.

The other guard was just about to shout when Bai Zhu was already on him, driving an elbow into his abdomen.

The guard doubled over.

Bai Zhu casually snatched his baton and struck the back of his neck.

Bang.

The man fell.

"Done."

Milluki said nothing through the earpiece.

Bai Zhu frowned. "Fatty? Don't tell me you disconnected again?"

Several seconds later, Milluki's voice came through, low and tense.

"Stop talking."

"Something happened to my big brother."

In the underground core area.

After Illumi was pushed out of the examination room, he was not taken back to the purification room.

The silver-robed bishop personally followed behind him, far more courteous than before.

The two nurses supporting him had gentler movements as well.

"Container Number Fifteen requires separate placement."

The silver-robed bishop ordered, "From now on, her meals, medication, and number of baptisms must all be personally approved by the elder."

The nurses immediately lowered their heads.

"Yes."

Illumi had a blanket around him and walked very slowly.

He was currently playing the role of a pregnant woman who had been terrified and forcibly examined. He could not walk too steadily, nor could he reveal any traces of training.

But what truly held his attention was the old man who had scrutinized him through the glass earlier.

That old man had also come out of the adjacent room and was now studying Illumi up close.

The Nen of the gaunt elder himself did not make Illumi feel disgust or fear.

The source of all that malicious Nen was the black crystal embedded in the old man's chest.

What came from inside it was chaotic.

It was like many remnants of Nen left after death had been forcibly crammed together, biting and dragging at one another, yet bound by an even greater will.

The thing did not press down on him directly, but its clinginess was deeply unpleasant.

Illumi rarely had this kind of reaction.

Since childhood, he had endured training in poison, pain, suffocation, and torture. His body no longer reacted normally to most forms of discomfort.

But when that Nen touched him just now, his first instinct had been to pull out the needle, kill everyone, and retreat.

This was not a matter of strength.

It was filthy.

The nurses brought him into a private hospital room.

The room was padded, with monitoring equipment beside the bed and three medical staff members standing by nearby.

His treatment had suddenly improved by several levels.

One nurse brought over warm water, and even her tone had changed.

"Number Fifteen, the elder thinks highly of you. Cooperate, and do not disappoint the Lord."

Illumi lowered his head, his voice trembling.

"I... I want to see Pige Aaron."

The nurse glanced at him.

"Your husband will be rewarded. Right now, all you need to do is take good care of the Holy Infant."

Illumi protected his abdomen, lightly tapping his fingers twice beneath the blanket.

Milluki immediately received the signal.

"Private room. Three medical staff. Two guards at the door."

At the hotel, Milluki entered the information into a temporary map, his expression growing uglier by the second.

Ella sat beside him, both hands pressed over her lower abdomen.

The image on the screen shook violently, but the audio still came through in broken fragments.

"Holy Infant..."

She murmured the words once, as though she had finally understood what they truly meant.

Milluki did not look up.

"Stop spacing out. Every second you space out is another second of risk for us."

Ella did not argue back.

After a while, she finally spoke. "They call me a container, and they call my child the Holy Infant."

Milluki's hands paused over the keyboard for half a beat.

Ella raised her head, the uncertainty from before gone from her face.

"This isn't my child."

"It's a demon they want me to give birth to."

Milluki glanced at her.

"You only figured that out now?"

Ella pressed her hands down harder.

"I was too stupid before."

Bai Zhu's voice came through the earpiece.

"Congratulations. You finally dragged your love-struck brain back from the crematorium."

Ella froze.

Suddenly, she felt that the way these people talked was not quite as unpleasant as before.

She looked at the rows of compartments on the screen, her voice a little hoarse.

"Mr. Bai Zhu, I'll expose myself according to your plan."

Milluki immediately turned his head.

"Are you insane?"

"If they want the real me, then let them come and capture me."

"Do you know what you're saying?" Milluki's voice abruptly rose. "You have no training, no combat ability, and you can't even run fast. If they send out a single Nen user, you won't even have time to react."

Ella looked at him.

"Then what about the women on that screen?"

Milluki choked.

Ella continued, "If I hide here, they'll die. If I go out, I might die too. But at least I can make them move."

"You can't save everyone."

"I know."

"Going in there is just throwing your life away."

"I know that too."

Milluki irritably raked a hand through his hair.

"Then why are you still going?"

Ella lowered her eyes to her stomach.

"If I do nothing, I'll hate myself more than death."

The room fell silent for two seconds.

Milluki cursed. "Crazy really is contagious."

Bai Zhu, on the other hand, did not laugh.

"Ella, don't rush to throw yourself away. We're using a double bait now."

"What double bait?" Milluki immediately asked.

Standing in the bell tower, Bai Zhu dragged the unconscious guards into a corner as he made rapid arrangements.

"Illumi is currently the fake perfect container. He'll keep the elder's attention fixed on him."

"It's too dangerous for Big Brother to stay in there."

"So we switch."

"The real Ella reveals herself in a controllable location, making them confirm that Number Fifteen has another source. Or rather, making them think the Holy Infant's reaction has split."

Hearing this, Milluki's fingers began to move.

"You want them to send people out to capture the real Ella, pull manpower from underground, reduce the pressure in the core area, and let Big Brother escape while they're distracted?"

"Smart."

"Don't praise me. It makes me sick."

Bai Zhu took out the first Exploding Mosquito and stuck it to the inside of the bell's clapper.

"I'll stir up the surface first. Once they start moving people around, give Illumi an escape route."

Milluki gritted his teeth.

"You'd better not blow up the bell tower."

Bai Zhu looked down at the great bell.

"That depends on the building quality."

"Bai Zhu!"

"Just kidding. Why so tense?"

Just then, the hotel screen suddenly flickered.

The audio from the underground core area stabilized again for a short while.

Behind the glass room, the silver-robed bishop returned to the elder's side.

"Elder, the abnormality in Container Number Fifteen has stabilized."

The gaunt elder sat amid the machinery, one hand pressed against the black crystal in his chest.

"It has not stabilized."

His voice was extremely hoarse.

"Her soul has not been corroded."

The silver-robed bishop lowered his head.

"Does that mean the Lord has chosen her?"

The elder slowly stroked the crystal.

"I am merely a wick."

"Before the Lord descends, someone must guard the flame for Him."

"My flesh should have rotted away long ago. It is the Holy Stone and the Lord's will that have kept me alive until today."

The silver-robed bishop lowered himself even further.

"The Lord will surely return."

The elder suddenly raised his hand.

"Activate the Fetal Breath Resonance Instrument."

The silver-robed bishop froze.

"Now? Number Fifteen has just endured the gaze."

"I want to hear the Holy Infant's response."

In the private ward.

A nurse wheeled in a small instrument.

A disk was pressed against Illumi's abdomen, engraved with the Creation Society's symbol.

Illumi lowered his head, one hand resting on his stomach.

There was no fetus.

There could be no fetal breath.

Once this test began, his disguise would immediately crack.

The nurse secured the disk and pressed the switch.

The instrument emitted a soft sound.

On the screen, the line remained flat.

The nurse frowned.

"Why isn't there any response?"

The silver-robed bishop at the door looked over as well.

"Test it again."

Illumi's hand moved beneath the blanket.

Several Nen Needles pierced through his skin and into his abdominal muscles.

He suppressed the pain.

His muscles began twitching in segments, at a subtle frequency, like the tugging caused by fetal movement during pregnancy.

The line on the instrument jumped.

The nurse immediately shouted, "There it is!"

The silver-robed bishop hurried forward.

On the screen, the line jumped twice more.

Not much.

But enough.

Inside the core chamber, the elder stared at the transmitted data and leaned forward.

"It is protecting the mother."

The silver-robed bishop hesitated. "Elder, could it be an instrument error?"

The elder grabbed the metal cup beside him and smashed it at the bishop's feet.

"Idiot!"

"The Holy Infant already possesses the instinct to protect itself. The mother's soul is so resilient because He is inside her."

The silver-robed bishop immediately dropped to his knees.

"Please forgive me, Elder."

The crystal in the elder's chest pulsed faster.

"Inform everyone."

"Three days is too long."

The silver-robed bishop abruptly raised his head.

"Elder, the other vessels have yet to stabilize, and Number Seven's side isn't ready either."

The elder pressed a hand against the crystal, his knuckles turning white.

"Conduct the Pre-Sanctification Descent tonight."

"The Lord has chosen the finest cradle."

At the hotel, Milluki nearly crushed the controller in his hand.

"Damn it."

Ella stood up. "What happened?"

Milluki snatched up the communicator and roared into his headset.

"Bai Zhu! The plan's ruined!"

At the clock tower, Bai Zhu had just kicked the second guard rushing up at him down the stairs.

"What now?"

Milluki spoke rapidly.

"The old bastard announced the Pre-Sanctification Descent for tonight! Big Brother is going to be sent to the altar ahead of schedule!"

Bai Zhu paused for a second.

Then he laughed.

"Overtime?"

"I hate it when clients change the requirements at the last minute."

Milluki got angry.

"You can still joke at a time like this?!"

Bai Zhu pocketed the controller and looked up at the stairway entrance.

More guards were charging upward.

"Don't panic."

"I'll first let them know that last-minute changes cost extra."

Milluki sensed something was wrong.

"What are you going to do?"

Bai Zhu backed up to the edge of the clock tower and glanced down at the height.

Not bad.

It probably wouldn't kill him.

Probably.

He reached into empty space, slowly drawing the Zanpakuto from the system storage.

Half the blade emerged, Reiatsu gathering in his palm.

The guards charging up saw this and all paused for an instant.

Bai Zhu waved at them.

"Gentlemen, could you make some room?"

The next moment, he slashed at the clock's main axle.

Crack.

The heavy bronze bell suddenly sank.

Bai Zhu leaped out of the clock tower.

Behind him, the Exploding Mosquito's red light lit up.

Boom!

The top of the clock tower exploded.

The enormous bronze bell, along with its broken wooden frame, crashed down from above toward the church's main hall.

Bai Zhu was still in midair, his Zanpakuto fully drawn.

Milluki's distorted roar came through the headset.

"You call this holding back?!"