Chapter 164: The Shepherd and His Livestock
The Arrancar who had been kneeling on one knee suddenly swayed.
He lurched to his feet.
One hand pressed to his chest, face contorted into something close to a grimace. He bared his teeth, reached his right hand out toward Matsushita Yusuke and Tosen, as if asking for help.
The gesture barely finished forming.
In the next instant, he collapsed like someone had pulled out his spine.
A gurgling sound.
His body began to convulse. Limbs flailing, twisting into strange angles, the tonic spasms of a body in the process of shutting down.
Matsushita Yusuke and Tosen's reactions were identically calm. They stepped together and watched, clinical and unhurried.
"What's the cause this time?"
"Reiatsu instability... the fusion process probably didn't go smoothly."
"The procedure still has room to be optimized. Also... raw power is probably a factor."
"I see. So a Hollow at this level simply isn't strong enough to reach Arrancar status?"
"More or less... either way, this is important data. We'll need to pass it along to Aizen-sensei later. Also."
Matsushita Yusuke stepped forward quickly and crouched beside the figure.
"Hey. How are you feeling right now?"
The subject's own experience was valuable data too. Whether there was pain in specific locations, for instance.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he pressed his lips together in resignation.
Already dead.
"Bring the body with us. It should still be worth dissecting."
Tosen hoisted it over his shoulder. The two of them continued in the same easy conversational tone and walked on, completely unmoved by the loss of life.
This wasn't simple cruelty.
It was the result of both of them having seen too much. They had simply gone numb.
The Arrancar experiments were inherently complex and drawn out. Aizen, in pursuit of breaking the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow, showed essentially no moral floor.
"I don't even treat Shinigami as people. You think I'm going to talk about ethics in Hueco Mundo? Don't make me laugh. Not going straight for the kill is already more than you deserve."
Operating from that philosophy, the Club's experiments in Hueco Mundo could fairly be described as deeply inhumane.
At first, Matsushita Yusuke had carried some psychological weight over it.
But that had gradually worn away. He'd boarded Aizen's ship. There was no point pretending his hands had stayed clean.
By now the two of them had developed the detachment of field doctors who had simply seen too much.
"Tosen, he's bleeding from the corner of his mouth."
"He is... so internal bleeding as well. The load was too much? His body couldn't withstand that level of pressure?"
"Can't rule out that he couldn't control his own strength. Being forcibly pulled up from a lower-tier Hollow means his command over the power is limited."
"Like the disorientation of going from nothing to everything overnight? That makes sense... let's put together a full report when we're back."
The Arrancar experiments were still ongoing, but for now there clearly wasn't a breakthrough moment in sight.
Matsushita Yusuke wasn't in a hurry. While completing the boss's assignments, he was still quietly farming extras for himself on the side.
As Aizen's campaign pushed forward, the side benefits Yusuke was pulling in kept accumulating.
Why was he drawing the map?
To let his alt move around freely.
Any region that Matsushita Yusuke had personally confirmed safe, that all three of them had already swept through, got marked on the map, then categorized based on Hollow activity strength and frequency in the area.
This zone: power-farming area. That one: low-risk grinding spot.
The first type had decent mobs but low efficiency, and you'd need a health recovery option nearby (a safe point to retreat to and restore condition).
The second type had low experience yield, but you could just park the alt there and walk away. No hands-on management required.
With this level of focused planning, Matsushita Yusuke had leveled the alt up considerably in a short amount of time.
"We've arrived."
At Tosen's voice, Matsushita Yusuke looked up. A pyramid-shaped structure rose up in front of them, climbing into the sky.
Hueco Mundo had nothing.
That was literally true. But with enough effort, you could leave your mark on it.
Otherwise where did old Barragan's palace come from?
After the Club had conquered multiple Hollow settlements, they put those beings to work building shelter. Another form of exploitation in its own way.
The boss was genuinely treating the Hollows as free labor.
The two entered the hall side by side. No electricity, but Hueco Mundo produced glowing stones. Polished down and sized appropriately, they created an effect not entirely unlike electric lighting. A different kind of lamp, in its own way.
'Is there radiation though?'
Matsushita Yusuke glanced around briefly, then pulled his attention back.
The footsteps of two people echoed through the empty corridor. About half a minute later, a familiar voice carried to them from not far ahead.
"The two of you, sorry to have kept you waiting."
Matsushita Yusuke looked up.
At the far end of a wide long table, Aizen Sosuke sat with a smile aimed at both of them.
"Aizen-sama..." Both, simultaneously.
"No need for that. Unlike the others, you two are different. My trusted inner circle. My right and left hands. Irreplaceable."
Aizen smiled, stood, and spread both arms out wide to either side in a welcoming gesture.
"Then let's go through it. Everything we found today."
The daily work summary.
A routine they had settled into since coming to Hueco Mundo. Both Matsushita Yusuke and Tosen gave their individual reports in turn, and Aizen made his assessments.
"I see. The Arrancar research clearly needs to go considerably deeper... staying at this level will yield nothing viable."
More research meant large quantities of live subjects and raw material.
"Both of you, please bring in more Hollows tomorrow."
Like livestock in the hands of a shepherd. That was roughly Aizen's current relationship with the Hollows.
"Then, that's probably enough for today. Tosen, Matsushita... do you plan to come back with me?"
Thanks to Kyoka Suigetsu, the illusion operating in Soul Society could sustain itself on its own internal logic for a period of time.
So even with the real person absent, staying in Hueco Mundo was viable. Though staying too long would risk inconsistencies appearing.
Tosen accepted without hesitation. Matsushita Yusuke gave a different answer.
"Aizen-sama, I'd like to stay behind... about two days. I have some things to take care of."