A Time of Turmoil / Elegy

"By the way, besides calling people's names, what other characteristics does that Hollow have? If you think of anything, please tell me. This is really important to me," Aizen said.

Ryuko looked troubled.

She only heard about these things secondhand.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know." Aizen his eyes to rest.

We have now obtained two pieces of intelligence.

First: This cat may very well possess intelligence, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Intelligence and the ability to communicate mean it's more easily deceived. Humans can understand what other people are thinking, but they can never truly understand what a cat is thinking.

Second: This fiend's activity area was limited to this brothel, and all the people it ate were women. Why is that?

The void is the transformed human soul.

When a person becomes a ghost, they retain only some instincts, losing almost 90% of their life experiences and memories.

But a small portion of them will still retain the obsessions they held in life.

The simplest example is Salkapolo.

Salkapolo was an alchemist before his death who enjoyed using humans as test subjects to study all sorts of forbidden things.

Those killed by Salkapolo, consumed by their thirst for revenge, became Hollows and attempted to kill Salkapolo. However, to their utter surprise, Salkapolo devoured his own brother's soul and also became a Hollow, slaughtering all the Avengers.

After becoming a Hollow, he continued his research from when he was alive, becoming a mad scientist who loved to study all kinds of life.

Aizen narrowed his eyes. If this logic held true, this Hollow might have had some very unpleasant memories with the women in brothels while he was alive. These memories had become his obsession, so after becoming a Hollow, this person would keep killing the employees of brothels.

If that's the case, as long as there's a bait, the phallus will easily be lured out on its own.

"Ryuko, would you be willing to do me a favor?" Aizen suddenly asked. "Only you can help me with this."

Ryuko had initially thought Aizen was a rather aloof child, but upon hearing him ask for her help, she looked at Aizen with interest. "Why do you want my help? You have to give me a reason."

Aizen smiled sincerely, "Who told Ryuko- san to be the kindest girl? Only the most beautiful girl can help me."

These words made Ryuko overjoyed.

"No problem, leave it to me. I'll help you with whatever it is," Ryuko said happily.

Then...

A dark and windy night.

Ryuko asked in a trembling voice, "Brother Aizen... what... what are you trying to do?"

Ryuko was hanging from a large tree, her body bound hand and foot, with only her head showing. There was no way she, a weak woman, could escape.

"Do you like this kind of play? Put your sister down first, and we can talk things over," Ryuko said in a trembling voice.

Aizen remained remarkably calm. "If my guess is correct, that Hollow must really enjoy eating women from brothels, especially the prettier ones. As the Oiran, Ryuko reluctantly became bait to lure the Hollow Lure out."

Ryuko's face turned pale; the gist of it was that he'd become bait?

"Wait, Aizen, what if the Hollows eat me? Are you confident you can protect me?" Ryuko asked.

Aizen's smile widened, "Don't worry, I'm absolutely confident I can protect you. Of course, in the unlikely event... in the unlikely event that you die, I will definitely remember you."

What's with this incredibly unreliable answer?

Ryuko suddenly felt that the child wasn't so cute anymore.

Chapter Seventeen: Chaotic Times

What happens to the bait? Although Ryuko had never fished before, he knew that once a fish took the bait, it would definitely eat some of it.

You're so cute, how can you do such cruel things?

"Help! I don't want to be bait! How about I give you money? I don't want to be eaten!" Ryuko cried and screamed, while Aizen watched with great satisfaction.

A loud cry indicates that the bait is fresh and healthy, which is essential for catching big fish.

"Go for it! Cry louder, maybe the Hollow can hear you," Aizen said, squinting his eyes.

Ryuko was so frightened that she immediately stopped talking loudly.

What terrible things did I do in my past life?

The night was very dark, with almost no stars or moon in the sky. After shouting for a while, Ryuko's voice became hoarse, but he still didn't see Kyouka. He thought to himself that Kyouka probably wouldn't come back to eat him tonight. Just as he relaxed, Ryuko sensed something approaching in the darkness.

"Aizen... are you asleep? I feel like something is coming. Let me go, Aizen! Are you there?" Ryuko looked at the endless darkness and felt that her mental endurance was about to reach its limit.

"Click!"

A crisp sound.

It was the faint sound of a branch snapping underfoot.

Something is coming; judging from the footsteps, it's quite large.

Ryuko was too terrified to speak.

I could only close my eyes in terror, deceiving myself that as long as I couldn't see, the things in the darkness wouldn't hurt me.

Then she felt something cold and sticky gently slide across her face.

She was very familiar with that sensation; it felt a lot like her tongue.

Although she had been licked by many tongues before, the creature in the darkness still terrified her.

"Another slut!" A deep, hoarse voice came from directly in front of Ryuko.

Ryuko kept her eyes tightly shut.

"What I love to eat most are scum like you, not a single one of you is any good." In the darkness, the monster opened its blood-red maw.

Suddenly, the lights came on.

The sudden light made both Xu and Ryuko very uncomfortable, and they hurriedly covered their eyes with their hands.

Because Ryuko was bound and unable to cover her eyes, she saw the entire phantom.

If I had to use one word to describe it, it would be disgusting.

It looked like a giant toad, with white pustules covering its back and face, a long, bright red tongue, and a white bone mask on its face.

The light not far away was the Aizen was carrying.

"As expected. Can you tell me why you specifically target women who work in brothels?" Aizen calmly looked at the Hollow in front of him.

"Who are you? A Shinigami, or something else?" Hollow's pupils contracted as he saw the Zanpakuto in Aizen's hand.

"No, I can't be considered a true Shinigami yet," Aizen said gently.

He cautiously sized up Aizen; he was just an eleven or twelve-year-old boy who shouldn't be able to cause any trouble.

"I'm curious, what kind of life experiences could have led you to such a depravity?" Aizen, as if he were jogging in his own garden, completely disregarding the other person.

When Toad Hollow talked about his life experiences, he became very distressed.

"What do you know, you greenhorn? You have no idea what my pain is like!" the Toad Hollow roared in a frenzied rage.

Upon hearing the other's roar, Aizen showed no sign of tension or anger. Instead, he spoke in a very gentle tone, "Indeed, I cannot fully empathize with your pain, but that doesn't stop me from being a listener. I am not a Shinigami; I only wish to help you."

Xu's eyes darted around, and he began to doubt his own ears. A normal soul was actually helping Xu? Was this kid out of his mind?

To show his sincerity, Aizen casually tossed his sword to the ground. "I believe that killing cannot protect this world. We must understand and communicate with each other to reduce suffering. Tell me, what have you been through? I will definitely stand by your side."

Hollow was moved by Aizen's words; did such a kind soul still exist in this world?

It turns out that not all the light in this world has disappeared.

He couldn't help but recall his tragic and bizarre life.

During his childhood, he also had a very happy family, with loving parents and an adorable Younger Brother. When he was young, his father arranged a marriage for him.

She was a very cute and beautiful girl, and he fell deeply in love with her at first sight.

Unfortunately, he was born in a chaotic era.

In chaotic times, human life is cheap. The Daimyo of his region went to war with another country, and all the men were conscripted into the army. When he was captured, he still had a sliver of hope that if he won on the battlefield, he could return home and continue living his happy life.

But they lost.

A crushing defeat; blood and limbs stained the entire battlefield.

He himself didn't know how he survived. After waking up on the battlefield, he was the only one left alive among his comrades. He returned home according to his memories, hoping that his family was safe and sound.

But when I got home, I saw a completely different, despairing scene.

My father and mother had both been beheaded and hung from the roof beams. Their bodies had been rotting for months, and maggots and flies swarmed everywhere.

When he found his Younger Brother, all that remained was Younger Brother skeleton, exposed in the wilderness.

But he didn't see his fiancée.

Even then, a sliver of hope remained in his heart, a prayer that his fiancée was still alive.

Perhaps heaven heard his prayers, for he learned that his fiancée was not dead. At that time, a mutinous army had stormed into the village, burning, killing, and looting, and his fiancée had been abducted by the enemy general because of her beauty.

Now he no longer asks for anything, only that his beloved girl is still alive and that he can find her.

This search lasted for three years.

Finally, three years later, he found out about his fiancée, who had become the top courtesan at a brothel.

Even so, he did not give up and, after many hardships, finally arrived at the brothel.

He wanted to save the girl he loved from her suffering.

However, when he saw his fiancée again, he was even more shocked than when he saw her before.

Three years had transformed the once naive girl into a stunning beauty. The imagined abuse and humiliation didn't occur. The girl, dressed in an elegant Kimono and adorned with beautiful jewelry, looked at him with the disdainful gaze of someone looking at a dead dog. She slightly moved her lips and coldly asked, "Who are you?"

Chapter 18: Lament

The man kept explaining, and kept explaining.

The girl seemed to finally remember that she had a fiancé, and the two looked at each other silently.

"Aoko, come here quickly! What are you looking at?" A man's voice came from deep within the brothel.

Judging from his attire, the man was either a nobleman or a general; he carried a sword and had many servants with him.

"Oh! Here I come!" Aoko let out a coquettish sound, pinched her pinky fingers, and tiptoed into the man's arms.

"Wait, Aoko, you..."

Aoko paused slightly, turning to look at the man. Years of hardship had weathered his face, and he possessed nothing of value; even his clothes were patched and mended repeatedly.

Then look at the nobles in front of me, surrounded by attendants, dressed in fine silks and satins.

Aoko already knew what choice to make. Without the slightest hesitation, she threw herself into the arms of the nobleman and did her best to please him.

"Aoko... you... you're clearly mine..."

"Baby? Do you know this person?" The nobleman held Aoko's body, looking at the man as if he were looking at a dog, no, even less than a dog.

"I don't know him. Where did this beggar come from? Let's just give him some food and send him on his way!" Aoko said with a playful laugh.

The man watched helplessly as the woman he loved most fell into another man's arms.

He was met with a brutal beating from these lowly servants.

He only remembered that it rained heavily that day, and he was beaten black and blue, lying in the muddy rain. He didn't know how long it had been, but the rain seemed to have stopped. The man opened his eyes with difficulty and saw Aoko holding an umbrella and silently watching him.

"Aoko... come home with me!"

"Home? Are you kidding me? I don't want to stay in that dirt poor house, getting up before dawn every day to do farm work, struggling in the mud, with no hope in sight. This is where I should stay. I don't have to do anything every day, and I can make a lot of money just by making those nobles happy! Come on, we've known each other for a while, I won't make things difficult for you, let's go our separate ways," Aoko said.

From that moment on, the man suddenly realized why Aoko wouldn't leave with him.

Because I'm poor.

If I were rolling in money, Aoko, you would definitely come home with me.

But how do we get the money?

The man picked up some of the martial arts skills he had learned on the battlefield, sold all his belongings to buy a knife, and started a business as an assassin.

Two years later, the man finally saved enough money to buy Aoko's freedom. In those two years, he had lost count of how many people he had killed—men, women, the elderly, children, even pregnant women. As long as the price was high enough, he would show no mercy.

Moreover, in the past two years, he has transformed from a clueless young man into a cold-blooded killer.