I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

"It seems like a failure."

In a grove of trees somewhere in Rukongai, Gin Ichimaru effortlessly dodged an attack from a Hollow, then used Shunpo to leap to a branch diagonally behind him. Looking down at the monster below, which was furious at losing its target, he couldn't help but sigh.

Just a day ago, this raging Hollow was a Shinigami in the Gotei 13.

He and nine other companions were the advance team sent by the Gotei 13 to investigate the disappearance of residents of Rukongai, but they were attacked by Gin Ichimaru, who wounded them with a divine spear coated with Hollowfication potion and then stood aside to watch what happened.

Soon, the physical forms of these ten Grim Reapers completely collapsed and fell into nothingness.

As with previous experiments, these Hollows, transformed from lower-level Shinigami, are extremely violent and will attack any living creature they encounter. As is customary, Gin Ichimaru should be tasked with destroying them, but this time the situation is slightly different.

These Hollows were bait for the Ninth Division and couldn't be killed easily, so Gin Ichimaru kept them trapped near the forest and specially protected the Shinigami uniforms they wore before their forms collapsed, all so that the Ninth Division members who came to search would discover the problem.

Use the advance team to fish out the Ninth Division, and then use the Ninth Division to fish out other captains.

Aizen's plan was simple and brutal, but it would obviously be quite effective.

So could you please stop pushing all the tasks onto me, a young person like me...?

Gin Ichimaru looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.

This is probably the difficulty of starting a company. Every employee has to work hard, even to the point of exhaustion, to achieve performance targets, while the returns are very meager, or even just empty promises from the boss.

Gin Ichimaru's situation was even more difficult.

—Because he was an undercover agent.

In order to avoid arousing suspicion, the undercover agent had to act more proactively than the ordinary employees. His only colleague was a hard-working person who shared the same dream as Aizen, which meant that Gin Ichimaru had to work twice as hard to cope with the intense competition.

Chapter 43: Gundam Strikes!

Don't be fooled by Aizen's smooth talk in public; the amount of hard work he puts in behind the scenes is staggering. You can imagine the workload of working for someone like him.

Even someone as resolute as Gin Ichimaru occasionally feels a little sad.

When will this ever end...?

"Huh?"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar female voice rang out behind Gin Ichimaru.

"Little brother, you seem to be doing something very interesting~"

Gin Ichimaru was startled.

He swung his sword back with lightning speed, but missed everything.

Turning around, all I saw was an empty forest.

"Huh? Where are you looking?"

The voice rang out behind him again: "I'm over here."

Gin Ichimaru suddenly turned around again.

The divine spear in his hand cut through the air silently like the fangs of a viper. This lightning-fast strike would probably leave most of the vice-captains with no time to react—but he still missed.

A woman dressed in black, shrouded in a blurry curtain, was floating in the air, but her spiritual pressure was completely imperceptible.

Gin Ichimaru's pupils contracted.

Unlike before, he watched as the divine spear slashed past the woman's location, but... he felt nothing.

It was like cutting into thin air.

What's going on? There's no spiritual pressure response, and I can't feel anything. Is it just an illusion?

"Oh? You seem puzzled?" the woman said with interest. "Want to guess how I dodged it? There'll be a mystery reward if you guess right."

Gin Ichimaru couldn't see her expression, but he could hear the contempt in her tone.

He frowned deeply, took a half step back, as if preparing to slip away.

—Then, seemingly casually, he pointed the knife at her.

"Shoot him, sharpshooter."

The blade extends and then retracts—a very simple ability.

But what if the speed far exceeds the speed of sound, faster than a bullet?

The faint sound of wind breaking was hidden in the rustling of leaves, but it was like a venomous snake silently striking and piercing the woman's body.

But she remained standing in mid-air, without moving an inch.

Gin Ichimaru squinted—what's going on!

Mi Zhen raised an eyebrow—Holy crap, that hurts!

He swallowed hard, nearly ruining his composure, as his form was obscured by the mosaic provided by the messenger token.

Showing off is indeed a risky thing. Even though he had overestimated Gin Ichimaru as much as possible, the opponent's speed still caught him off guard. He had time to dodge the first two attacks with a misalignment, but he didn't have time for the last thrust. He could only use a slash to make up for it.

He used the Black Hole to cross Hueco Mundo and return to Soul Society a dozen minutes earlier.

After running ahead of the Ninth Division and conducting a thorough search, they finally found ten Hollows that seemed to be transformed from Shinigami in a forest, along with Gin Ichimaru controlling them.

So he decided to go up and give them a hard time.

At this time, Gin Ichimaru was not the Third Division Captain who would later be able to suppress Ichigo Kurosaki's Hollowfied Bankai. Although his assassination skills were equally superb, his raw strength was still lacking—he didn't even know how to use Bankai yet.

I, your humble servant, possess genuine captain-level strength. With my intentions catching the unsuspecting, handling this young venomous snake should be a piece of cake.

As for the results...

Regardless of whether he was stabbed or not, just tell me if this was a show of force or not?

At least Gin Ichimaru was shocked.

That last thrust was his full strength. Although it was different from the previous two, and he felt like he had actually stabbed her, the woman was still standing perfectly fine, showing no signs of heart damage.

Who exactly is this deity?

"Hmm, that's strange."

Mimicking Liu Yue's tone, Mi Zhen crossed his arms and sighed, "Little brother, there doesn't seem to be any life-or-death feud between us, so why did you attack me so fiercely?"

—If it were really Liu Yue, the word "attack" might be replaced with "insertion," but Mi Zhen still has some integrity left and simply can't bring herself to do it.

Gin Ichimaru gripped the divine spear tightly and moved his right foot backward.

This time, he really intends to run away.

"Who are you? How did you get here?"

"Don't answer questions with questions."

Mi-jin rubbed her temples, feigning distress: "I'm just a passerby, you know. I saw you doing something really interesting, so I couldn't help but stay and watch for a while."

Gin Ichimaru: "!"

How long has she been standing here?!

"Seeing how cheerful you are, I thought you were a kind child." Mima wiped her eyes twice, feigning sadness. "Even someone as peaceful as me would get angry if I were slashed and poked like this without doing anything—"

Halfway through his sentence, he took a silver ball out of his pocket and tossed it downwards.

"Let's teach him a lesson, Gundam 1."

As soon as he finished speaking, the autonomous doll, which had completed its transformation in mid-air, suddenly leaped up and launched a powerful thrust at Gin Ichimaru.

The latter's pupils contracted, and he casually twisted his body to dodge, then instinctively retaliated with a slash.

The sniper made a shallow cut on the autonomous robot, but it obviously had no practical effect. The robot, which might have some kind of kinship with Android, changed its thrusting technique to slashing and cut off the thick tree branch that Ichimaru Gin was standing on with a single sword strike.

Just before the blade was about to strike, Gin Ichimaru used a small Shunpo to adjust his position, then lightly jumped to the ground, also kicking back a Hollow that was charging towards him. The autonomous puppet that should have immediately chased after him was "stunned" for a moment before realizing that Gin Ichimaru was below.

Then it continued its pursuit, engaging in a delicate battle where neither could strike the other's defenses.

Hmm... this thing has very obvious advantages and disadvantages.

It has strong defense, great strength, and low manufacturing cost, but its speed is too slow, and its target acquisition function needs improvement.

The autonomous puppet is controlled by the controller issuing a major command through thought, and then it decides how to execute it through real-time calculations. So far, it seems to be working well.

However, its computing efficiency is somewhat lacking, making it unsuitable for high-speed combat. Anise needs to focus on improving this aspect.

Incidentally, Gundam No. 1 was the name he arbitrarily gave to the autonomous doll; Anise originally intended to use a more elegant name.

Unlike Mima's leisurely demeanor, Gin Ichimaru was caught in a dilemma.

Should we run? What will happen to the mission if we run?

Should we run? If we don't run, I don't think I can beat these two monsters.

Forget about that mysterious woman, the iron lump she threw was a real headache. Although it was as slow as a snail, it was incredibly tough. Even if it was pierced by a sharpshooter, it could continue fighting without any problems.

At this moment, Gin Ichimaru doesn't possess the strength he later acquired, enough to split a city in two with a single slash. The steel-clad defense of Gundam 1, comparable to a high-ranking Adjuchas, is extremely difficult for him. Not to mention, he also has to keep an eye on Mima, Gundam 1, and the Hollow Three in the forest at the same time, making the pressure even greater.

Chapter 44: Conversation with Aizen

How could something like this happen just because I'm just showing up for work...?

Gin Ichimaru fell into deep thought.

Come to think of it, Aizen isn't around nearby.

Is there any possibility, I mean, is there any possibility...?

Could I run away from here first, then cut myself and use my wounded state to go find Aizen and play the victim?

I can't cut that woman, and I can't cut this lump of iron, so why should I stay here and fight to the death?

Why not inform Aizen and have him take over?

I'm an undercover agent!

Isn't the duty of an undercover agent to do their utmost to sabotage the enemy camp?

After a subtle slip in his thinking, he suddenly felt that the road ahead had become bright.

But perhaps it was fate, or perhaps Aizen actually cared a lot about this subordinate, because after Gin Ichimaru dodged one of Gundam 1's attacks, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Yin, you may step back now."