What should he do?
Aizen's face turned grave as he sank into deep thought.
In the current situation, hiding the truth was definitely no longer possible.
Even with Kyōka Suigetsu, it would be difficult to cover up all the flaws that had just been revealed.
With half the laboratory already exposed, he couldn't very well use Kyōka Suigetsu to control Satoru, erase the laboratory's existence, and then tell him he must have been seeing things.
Satoru might be foolish, but he wasn't an idiot.
According to Aizen's original plan, anyone who discovered the laboratory would have to be silenced permanently.
But Satoru... could he really bring himself to do it?
Perhaps... he could.
After all, from the day he began human experiments, he had already prepared himself mentally.
The path he walked was one of carnage.
In his pursuit of truth, he had long been ready to sacrifice everything.
Yet just as he was about to make his decision, countless memories surfaced.
The memory of when he first entered the academy, friendless, until Satoru forcibly dragged him into conversation.
The memory of when he thought his talent was unrivaled, growing arrogant and dismissive, only to be shocked awake by Satoru's sudden display of power.
And that idiot Satoru, eagerly teaching him everything he'd just learned from the First Division.
Countless sparring sessions in the dojo, pushing each other to improve together...
After a long silence, Aizen made his decision.
He would tell Satoru the truth and see how he reacted.
If Satoru couldn't accept it, he would take a step back and leave the Soul Society with his research results.
Come to think of it, his next experimental direction required studying Hollows.
Might as well move the entire lab to Hueco Mundo.
That way, even if Satoru couldn't accept it, he probably wouldn't pursue the matter further.
If Satoru still insisted on upholding justice and bringing him to justice despite all this... then he'd have no choice but to use force.
Satoru didn't know about his Zanpakutō's ability yet. As long as he used Kyōka Suigetsu to control him, victory should be assured.
After defeating him, he'd just need to seal him in some cave with Kido for a few days.
By the time Satoru broke free, he'd already have left the Soul Society.
Having figured this out, Aizen turned to Satoru.
"Satoru, I—"
As he spoke, he realized Satoru, who had been standing beside him moments ago, was gone.
Where had that guy run off to?
Aizen tensed and quickly scanned his surroundings.
Soon, he spotted Satoru.
Inside the lab with half its roof blown off, Satoru stood before a machine, his eyes filled with curiosity.
After a few seconds of thought, he reached out, about to touch it.
A cold sweat broke out on Aizen's back.
He flash-stepped to Satoru's side.
"Don't touch that. The machine is running—you can't interrupt it."
"Oh."
Satoru nodded and withdrew his hand.
He turned to Aizen excitedly. "Sōsuke, what does this machine do? What's the screen made of? Did you design it? How did you set up the wiring inside? Does the living world already have technology like this?"
Aizen: "..."
Faced with Satoru's eager expression, he was momentarily at a loss.
Instinctively, he glanced at the large glass tank nearby.
The tank was filled with liquid, a Shinigami corpse floating inside—a scene as eerie as could be.
Any normal person entering the lab would have noticed those tanks first.
Who in their right mind would go straight for the display screen?
Though he wanted to complain, his professionalism as a researcher compelled him to answer:
"This is a soul-sorting device. It can distinguish and categorize souls based on their properties."
"If you're interested in its structure, I can give you the blueprints to study at your leisure..."
"As for its origins, most of it is indeed technology from the living world, but I've made many improvements since spiritual particles and physical matter don't share identical properties."
"Many things possible with physical matter aren't necessarily achievable with spiritual particles, and vice versa—"
Before Aizen could finish, Satoru suddenly asked, "What about game consoles? Do they have game consoles in the living world?"
As if worried Aizen wouldn't understand, he even explained what a game console was.
Hearing this question, Aizen felt like he was about to suffer internal injuries.
How could someone hear about a "soul-sorting device"—something that obviously raised major red flags—and not bat an eye?
Compared to something as meaningless as a game console, shouldn't his own activities be far more concerning?!
Was this guy insane??
He took a deep breath, gritting his teeth to stop himself from impulsively cutting Satoru down.
After a moment of silence, he spoke in a calm voice, "I've seen something similar, but far from as miraculous as you describe. It could only play some pixel games."
He had expected Satoru to show disappointment upon hearing this.
To his surprise, Satoru's eyes practically lit up.
Satoru widened his eyes, filled with emotion.
Great, just great!
Indeed, this world was completely different from the Earth he had transmigrated from.
A wonderful life was now one step closer to him!
Seeing Satoru's mind begin to wander, Aizen finally couldn't hold back.
"Satoru."
"Don't you have anything to say about all this?"
Satoru blinked in slight confusion.
"Say what... I didn't do anything. This was all you and Kenpachi Kiganjō's doing. Don't try to pin it on me."
Aizen took a deep breath.
He directly pointed at the Shinigami corpses floating in the nearby tanks.
"These were all living Shinigami before I took their lives for soul research."
"Seeing this, don't you have anything to say or do?"
Hearing Aizen's words, Satoru looked puzzled: "Is there anyone I know among them?"
Aizen: "?"
The question was so unexpected that he paused for two seconds before shaking his head. "Probably not."
Recently, he'd only been killing rebels.
Satoru shouldn't have any connections with the rebels.
Satoru continued: "Then, are they friends or relatives of anyone I know?"
Aizen carefully considered Satoru's social circle.
Then he shook his head again. "Probably not either."
"Well then," Satoru spread his hands.
"If they're neither people I know nor relatives of people I know..."
"Whether they live or die, what's it to me?"
Seeing Satoru wasn't being sarcastic, Aizen felt an intense sense of absurdity.
One of them definitely had something wrong.
And he was certain it wasn't himself.
As Aizen pondered this, Satoru suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Speaking of using Shinigami for experiments... wouldn't Kenpachi Kiganjō make excellent material?"
Aizen nodded instinctively.
Then Satoru said, "Then what are you waiting for? Go contain him!"
Aizen: "..."
Whose laboratory was this anyway?
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