Early morning.
As night-shift workers drowsed and middle-aged joggers began their routines.
Luo Shu, clad in a black suit with deliberately mature makeup, carried a briefcase into Kamijo Hospital. Swiping his work pass, he entered the designated elevator and pressed the button for the underground base.
The elevator shuddered slightly as it opened after a prolonged descent.
When the doors parted, Luo Shu found a figure waiting patiently at the entrance.
"Welcome, Director, to your inspection visit."
Mira Tsubakihara smiled, exhaustion faint in her eyes but joy shimmering through. She spread her arms playfully:
"Well? How do I look in this outfit?"
Luo Shu appraised Mira's performance with a glance.
Though not particularly tall—just over 160cm—Mira's legs and proportions were impeccable, naturally exuding the aura of a statuesque beauty. Today's ensemble—consisting of a white blouse, a pencil skirt, and black stockings—only accentuated her allure.
After a thorough inspection, Luo Shu stepped forward with a grin, wrapping an arm around Mira's waist and whispering in her ear:
"You look stunning. Just don't wear this outside again."
Mira's eyes curved mischievously:
"My, how easily jealous you are."
She naturally linked arms with him and reassured:
"Relax, I changed out of my actual work clothes before meeting you. No one saw this getup."
Luo Shu exhaled in relief, then swatted her backside in mock annoyance:
"Adjusting well to R&D?"
"Not at all."
Mira's grin turned impish:
"Because someone might get jealous, I've only interacted with a select few. Two days here, and I still haven't met half the base. Whose fault is that, I wonder?"
Luo Shu responded with another playful reprimand, his actions growing bolder.
Were the setting inappropriate, he'd have dealt with this temptress already.
Mira smiled at Luo Shu, even adjusting her posture to let him tease her.
Only when Luo Shu's teasing started to cross a line did she hurriedly stop him:
"Stop fooling around. Dr. Verde is already waiting for you in Research Lab 2."
Luo Shu gave her an exasperated look. 'Who's the one fooling around here?'
"Fine, got it. Let me change first, then we'll go together."
Mira Tsubakihara nodded cheerfully, then led Luo Shu on a detour to her rest area in the research department. After changing into her white lab coat, she escorted him to Research Lab 2.
Upon entering, Luo Shu was greeted by rows upon rows of cylindrical nutrient tanks.
They stood in neat lines on either side of the walkway, each filled with an emerald-green liquid.
A small number of the tanks were empty, but most contained bizarre and grotesque life forms.
And without exception, these lifeforms were all yokai bodies.
The sight, reminiscent of forbidden experiments, made Luo Shu raise an eyebrow.
In contrast to Luo Shu's slight change in expression, Mira Tsubakihara seemed entirely unfazed as she strode into the lab.
"The doctor should be at Tank No. 66."
After taking a few steps, she turned back when she noticed Luo Shu hadn't followed, her face tinged with curiosity.
"Shu-kun, are you... scared?"
"I was startled too when I first came here, but after spending a couple of days around this place, I got used to it."
'Used to it? What kind of nonsense is that...' Luo Shu couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
It seemed letting Mira Tsubakihara meet Verde had been a mistake.
But since there was no undoing it now, Luo Shu could only sigh and step inside.
"Of course I'm startled."
As he walked in, Luo Shu scanned the bizarre yokai specimens around him.
"But seriously, how did Verde manage to produce so many yokai in just a few days? Just how many experiments has he run on Naraku?"
From the strange yokai before him, Luo Shu could sense the same Demon Power—belonging to Naraku, the yokai he had brought back from the Abyss Warring States.
'Clearly, these canned yokai were all fragments of Naraku. Many even carried traces of being... birthed by Naraku.'
The realisation made Luo Shu slightly nauseous, but considering the stakes of this research—and Mira's presence—he held back his disgust.
"According to the doctor, this is only a quarter of the yokai traits extracted from Subject Zero. Three-quarters of its yokai essence still hasn't been separated."
"He mentioned that Research Lab 2 might not have enough space, so they might need to activate Research Lab 6."
Mira Tsubakihara led Luo Shu to the sixth row, where they soon spotted Verde, dressed in a white lab coat and standing only as tall as Luo Shu's calf, peering up at a massive cylindrical nutrient tank.
Luo Shu glanced at the tank. Inside floated a humanoid figure with no facial features, no discernible gender, and waist-length black hair, silently suspended in the liquid.
Seeing this, Luo Shu stepped forward, scrutinised the tank, and asked:
"...So this is the Hagoromo Gitsune flesh body made from Naraku's body that I proposed last night?"
"To be precise, it's Substitute Test Subject No.1."
Verde adjusted his glasses before stating calmly:
"Test Subject Zero possesses the ability to steal others' faces and disguise itself as them. Based on this, I wasted 30 minutes creating this enhanced version that can proportionally replicate other yokai bodies."
"After three hours of work, the result is this Substitute No.1 - inject some Demon Power, and it can disguise itself as any yokai."
"Unfortunately, due to time constraints, it can only replicate yokai bodies, and only humanoid ones at that. Given more time, I could have developed substitutes for common humans, too."
Hearing this, Luo Shu grinned, inwardly astonished by Verde's technical prowess.
He'd made his request at 1 am, and by 6:30 am, Verde had delivered results. The infant scientist's research capabilities truly shouldn't be underestimated.
But to be fair, with this Substitute No.1... Abe no Seimei, your mother is secured!