A Clear Conscience

Milluki's hand trembled.

"Bro, say that again."

Illumi's voice was steady through the headset.

"The ritual has begun."

"The man in white is underground."

"Ella is locked down by the Black Crystal Circuit."

"Contact Grandpa. Great-Grandpa works too. I'll do my best to stay alive. You retreat first."

Milluki didn't curse.

He merely fell silent for half a second, then slammed the accelerator to the floor.

The car tore through a stretch of fallen timber, its undercarriage screeching against the wood.

Bai Zhu was still sprawled across the roof, his Zanpakuto held horizontally before him.

Seven Black Crystal Needle Tubes chased the car, splitting apart now and then to target the tires, fuel tank, and gaps in the windows.

These things were infuriating.

They couldn't be destroyed.

They couldn't be shaken off.

And even a touch from one drained Reiatsu.

Bai Zhu's left palm was still numb. Where a needle tube had grazed him earlier felt as though needles and thread had been sewn into his bones.

Milluki spoke urgently. "Bai Zhu, get down here! I'm turning around and taking the northwest route. I'll get you and Number Nineteen out first, then contact the family!"

Bai Zhu didn't answer.

He knelt halfway on the roof, keeping his breathing low.

Number Nineteen huddled in the back seat, her face deathly pale.

She had just watched the people in the vehicle die with her own eyes.

Now she couldn't even cry.

Milluki glanced at her through the rearview mirror, then shouted toward the roof again. "Did you hear me?!"

Bai Zhu finally moved.

He raised his blade and knocked aside a needle tube streaking toward the window.

"I heard you."

Milluki gritted his teeth. "Then why are you playing dead? Get down!"

Bai Zhu didn't climb down.

He merely sat slowly on the roof, laying his Zanpakuto across his knees.

The car was still drifting at high speed.

The needle tubes were still pursuing them.

Yet he began regulating his breathing.

Milluki froze for a moment.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Bai Zhu closed his eyes.

The sight of those pregnant women being pierced through by the needle tubes weighed on his mind.

It wasn't his first time seeing people die.

He had seen plenty of death in the Hunter world.

But this was different.

Those people had already placed their hopes in his hands.

And he had failed to catch them.

Bai Zhu spoke, so quietly that Milluki nearly missed it.

"I'll collect this debt by the head."

Milluki's grip tightened around the controls.

No one in the car replied.

After several seconds, Milluki finally suppressed his anger and said, "You can't collect anything right now. That woman is still behind us, and there's a man underground. Even my brother said he couldn't handle them. What are you going to use?"

Bai Zhu opened his eyes and looked at the panel in his vision.

[Random Bankai Trial Ticket]

It was still flashing in the corner.

As if waiting for him to reach out.

Bai Zhu didn't tap it right away.

He first checked his body enhancement panel.

[Strength: 100]

[Agility: 266]

[Stamina: 100]

Before, he had only thought that bigger numbers meant greater strength.

But after being hunted down by the woman in white, he had roughly figured it out.

Strength wasn't just about hitting harder.

After his strength increased, his body could withstand higher-density Reiatsu output.

The same White Lightning that he had once forced out could now be compressed more solidly.

Agility wasn't merely about running faster.

His reflexes, Shunpo, sudden stops, and physical limits had all been raised.

Otherwise, he would have been turned into a specimen atop the car earlier.

Stamina was the most important.

His Reiatsu circulation had stabilized.

His recovery speed had increased as well.

That system prompt hadn't been trying to scare him.

"Do not let the power that belongs to you tear your body apart."

Bai Zhu lowered his gaze to his Zanpakuto.

If Shikai and Bankai required his body to endure them, then the system's earlier body enhancement wasn't a free benefit.

It was warning him—

If he didn't strengthen himself, he would die at the next step.

Then what about that random Bankai?

If it merely gave him a name and made him spend his own Reiatsu to unleash his ultimate move, then it was a suicide button.

The system had just made up for his physical weakness. It couldn't possibly turn around and hand him a self-destruct switch.

At the very least, the trial ticket most likely came with compensation.

Even if it was only for one use.

That would be enough.

Milluki was still waiting for his answer.

"Bai Zhu, stop pretending you're mute."

Bai Zhu rose to his feet, his blade tip scraping across the roof.

"Turn around."

Milluki thought he had misheard.

"What?"

"Go to the church."

"Is your brain really broken?" Milluki's voice rose. "You just escaped that female ghost, and now you want to crawl into the male ghost's den?!"

Bai Zhu looked down toward the driver's seat.

"No. I'm going to tear down their nest."

Milluki nearly snapped the controls in half.

"You're going there to kill yourself!"

"I have a killing move."

"You have my ass! Your energy bar is almost empty!"

"It's temporary. Once in a lifetime."

Bai Zhu paused.

"But if I don't vent this anger, I won't have a clear conscience."

The car fell silent.

Milluki couldn't curse anymore.

Bai Zhu continued, "And remember this—you brothers owe me a favor this time. A huge one."

Milluki forced out several words through clenched teeth. "My brother isn't dead yet."

"That's why I'm going. What your brother said just now sounded like his last words. Do you think contacting your family means he'll be fine? You'll only be collecting his body!"

The moment he finished speaking, the snowy forest on the right suddenly exploded.

The woman in white cut in from the side of the slope.

She had calculated the car's route and intercepted them from the flank.

The seven Black Crystal Needle Tubes split into three groups.

Two targeted the front tires.

Two targeted the rear tires.

Two flew straight for the fuel tank.

The last one shot toward the window beside Number Nineteen in the back seat.

Milluki's pupils contracted.

"Hold on tight!"

The car suddenly swung sideways.

But they were too close. There was no time to evade them all.

Bai Zhu leaped down from the roof.

His Zanpakuto swept horizontally.

Clang! Clang!

Two needle tubes were sent flying.

He raised his left hand, compressing his Reiatsu into a single point.

"White Lightning."

A blue-white spark struck the third needle tube.

This time, it didn't explode. The electricity merely crawled halfway around the Black Crystal surface.

Crack.

A fracture appeared on the needle tube.

The woman in white stopped.

For the first time, she didn't immediately continue the pursuit.

Her nearly expressionless face turned toward Bai Zhu.

Milluki caught the moment and immediately shouted, "It worked! That attack worked!"

"It didn't work."

Bai Zhu withdrew his numb hand.

"She's reassessing my strength."

"You're still pretty calm at a time like this?"

"I've always been very calm."

Bai Zhu flipped back onto the roof.

"Fatty, shake her off."

Without wasting words, Milluki pressed a red button on the center console.

"Last batch."

Six small compartments opened at the rear of the car.

The remaining Interference Bugs flew out and scattered across the snowy plain.

They didn't explode. Instead, they released thermal smoke screens and split into over a dozen moving false images.

Two blurry heat sources were also projected along the sides of the car, racing down separate forks in the road.

"Now!"

Bai Zhu jumped down from the roof.

He landed in the snow and deliberately left a trail of deep footprints.

The woman in white immediately locked onto him.

The seven needle tubes pursued him.

Bai Zhu didn't run far.

He circled around a fallen tree, activated Shunpo, and abruptly doubled back in the opposite direction while hugging the car's shadow.

The Black Crystal Needle Tubes missed.

The next moment, Bai Zhu stepped onto the roof again.

Milluki yanked the wheel, and the car charged toward the old bridge.

"Get down!"

Bai Zhu ducked.

The instant the wheels rolled over the bridge deck, a faint cutting sound came from below.

The small devices Milluki had planted there long ago activated.

The rear half of the bridge was cut apart.

The modified vehicle flew over the final broken stretch and crashed heavily onto the far bank.

The woman in white landed at the other end of the bridge.

The bridge deck collapsed, and the broken planks and iron chains smashed into the bottom of the ravine.

She stood on the other side, seven syringes circling around her.

Milluki looked into the rearview mirror and finally let out a breath.

"Lost her for now."

Bai Zhu did not relax.

"How long?"

"No idea. If she can fly, thirty seconds."

"Good news."

"That counts as good news?"

When he got no answer, Milluki's expression changed. "You're really going to use that finishing move?"

Bai Zhu did not answer. Illumi's voice suddenly came through the earpiece.

"What they sense isn't Nen."

Milluki immediately sat up straight.

"Brother?"

There was the sound of running on Illumi's end, along with metal clashing.

"I made three decoy routes."

"Puppet medics, fake blood trails, Nen Needle guidance."

"The man in white didn't pursue the decoys."

Bai Zhu looked toward the earpiece.

Illumi's speech remained steady.

"Every time, he cut toward my real body."

"You're hurt?"

"No."

"Ordinary aura disguises are ineffective. What he's looking for may be connected to life, or the soul."

Bai Zhu raised his head and looked toward the other side of the broken bridge.

The woman in white was still there.

Her head slowly turned toward their vehicle.

Bai Zhu cursed under his breath.

No wonder.

Forced Zetsu could conceal Nen, but it could not conceal him himself.

Against something like this, his usual tricks for staying alive were severely weakened.

Milluki suddenly slapped the dashboard.

"Shit!"

"What now?"

"I intercepted the altar data."

Milluki projected the image onto the central display. Dense curves leaped and flickered without end.

"The Black Crystal reaction in Ella's abdomen is skyrocketing."

"The children's prayers stabilized the ritual. They're using those children as circuits."

"The outer ring is being held by Holy Knights."

Milluki's voice grew heavier with every word.

"Ten minutes."

Bai Zhu stared at the screen.

"What happens in ten minutes?"

"Ella will be locked into the core. By then, even if my brother can get close, he won't be able to pull her out."

Number Nineteen suddenly grabbed the front seat.

"Ella... what will she become?"

No one answered her.

Milluki took his right hand off the steering wheel and reached for the communicator.

It was the Zoldyck family's private line.

He hesitated for two seconds, then still prepared to press it.

"Forget it, I'll contact Grandpa."

Bai Zhu flipped in from the roof into the passenger seat and grabbed his wrist.

Milluki looked up.

"What are you doing?"

"There's no time. Speed up and head for the church."

"You want to get my brother killed?"

"Trust me."

Milluki's face darkened at once.

Bai Zhu released his hand and pointed ahead.

"Drive. Go to the church."

"Easy for you to say! The church has to be full of Holy Knights right now. That man is underground, that woman will catch up, and how many people are you planning to fight alone?"

Bai Zhu looked at the panel.

[Ella's Suffering Holy Infant (4/6) · Save the Little White Mice!]

The progress had not moved.

The mission prompt was still hanging there.

Save people.

Cut off the supply line.

But he did not want to look at any of it now.

Bai Zhu raised a hand and swiped the mission panel aside.

"Then let it fail."

Bai Zhu grabbed his Zanpakuto, climbed back onto the roof, and shouted.

"Today, I'm going to look damn cool."

Milluki stared at him hard.

A few seconds later, he tossed the private-line communicator beneath the passenger seat and gripped the wheel with both hands.

"You'd better really have something."

Bai Zhu stood on the roof, the wind snapping his clothes loudly.

"I do."

Number Nineteen's voice trembled from the back seat. "Are you two... insane?"

Bai Zhu did not turn around.

"Yes."

He paused.

"But we're the good kind of insane."

Milluki floored the accelerator.

The vehicle stopped taking detours and stopped fleeing along the treeline.

It charged straight toward the center of town.

In the distance, the church spire faintly emerged through the wind and snow.

Black light seeped up from the cracks in the ground, and the townsfolk who worshipped there began gathering toward the church as though being led by strings.

In the earpiece, Illumi's breathing finally became a little uneven.

"Milluki, you're getting closer?"

Milluki said nothing.

Bai Zhu answered for him.

"Brother, hold on for ten minutes."

Illumi fell silent.

"What are you going to do?"

Bai Zhu lowered his head and looked at his Zanpakuto.

"Use my ultimate move."

The vehicle charged onto the main road leading to the church.

Ahead, the first squad of black-armored Holy Knights had already formed up.

Bai Zhu stood on the roof, his Zanpakuto held horizontally before him.

In his vision, the [Random Bankai Trial Ticket] flashed wildly.

He raised his hand and tapped it.

"System, activate Temporary Bankai."

The next second, the translucent panel turned blood-gold.

[Drawing a Bankai for the host...]