The sky was dim, and endless pale dunes stretched as far as the eye could see. Yekawa looked up, and all he saw was desolation. He had wandered this barren land for a long time, yet he had not encountered a single living creature, as if this white desert was destined to be his final destination.
"Is this... the world after death?"
His last memory was fixed on the cramped hospital room, on the dust-covered ceiling where he had swallowed his final breath of sorrowful air and slipped helplessly away. He had once been a small-town test-taker who endured more than ten years of relentless study, finally fulfilling his wish of making a name for himself, breaking free from his impoverished family, graduating from a prestigious school, and entering a major company.
After several years of desperate work, he achieved the class transcendence he had dreamed of, buying a car and a house in a first-tier city. For a brief moment, Yekawa became a prideful figure in his hometown and its surrounding villages, the child every parent used as an example. Yet just when he had attained enough stability and freedom to enjoy life, a medical record diagnosing advanced gastric cancer shattered the happiness he had fought so hard to build.
Because the illness was discovered late, the first chemotherapy already exhausted him. His parents sold his car and his house, took him back to a small county hospital under the guise of conservative treatment, and his condition rapidly deteriorated. In only two months, he passed away.
"The past is gone."
His entire previous life flashed through his mind, but he discarded each memory one by one. Standing in the white desert, he shifted instinctively and heard a rustling sound behind him. Segments of a massive body, covered in white bone-like material, writhed beneath the sand and revealed a broad shell and blade-like ridges.
"Ah... what is this monster?"
"Oh, this is my own body."
"Then it's fine."
"I've turned into a monster with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a centipede."
Perhaps it had been too long since he had spoken to anyone. He rambled to himself before finally coming to his senses and examined his form. With no mirrors or water nearby to reflect his image, he used his own eyes to observe.
He had transformed into a towering creature with a human upper body and a centipede-like lower body four or five meters long, solid and heavily built. His broad human-shaped arms were coated in a white bone layer and full of raw strength. He had no doubt he could crush an adult's head with one hand. At the junction between his human torso and his massive segmented lower body, he saw a circular hole.
"Is this my bizarre form? And this dreadful desert—could this be Hueco Mundo? Have I become a Hollow?"
At first he doubted his surroundings, but the hole in his body made the truth clear. He was in Hueco Mundo, and he had become a Hollow. He brought a pale hand to his face. The hard surface he touched confirmed the presence of a mask carved with strange patterns.
"So I've transmigrated into the Shinigami world."
In his previous life, Yekawa had been a devoted fan of the Bleach manga. He never imagined that after death he would awaken in Hueco Mundo as a Hollow. Seeing his grotesque form brought him no fear or disgust. Instead, a trace of excitement rose in him.
"This is super cool."
But reality pressed in quickly. Hollows were high-risk beings in the Shinigami world. If killed by Soul Society, innocent souls would be purified and sent to reincarnate, but those judged sinful were dragged directly into Hell. Worse, if a Hollow was struck down by Quincy, there was no reincarnation—only erasure. And during Aizen's era, the Arrancar-related experiments slaughtered countless Hollows in Hueco Mundo.
"Being a Hollow is tough. I just don't know what the current timeline is. If it's before the main plot, there's time to grow. If it's during or after… that would be a disaster."
A low roar erupted from behind him. A green lizard-shaped Hollow over two meters long, drooling dark yellow fluid, lunged toward him. Yekawa's centipede tail burst from beneath the sand, whipping out and slamming into the creature's body, smashing it into the dunes. He turned and unleashed a furious barrage of punches at the struggling Hollow.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Under the relentless assault, the lizard Hollow lay deeply embedded in the sand. Its pale mask split into pieces, its claws shattered, and faint whimpers escaped it as if begging for mercy. Dark green blood splattered across the sand and over Yekawa, but he kept striking until the creature was utterly lifeless.
He exhaled. Though the lizard Hollow was smaller than him and not difficult to kill, it was still a psychological hurdle for a man who had lived thirty years without harming even a chicken. But he steadied himself quickly. Now that he knew he had reincarnated into the Bleach world as a Hollow, he needed to adjust his mindset, survive, and grow as fast as possible. This world was fraught with danger, filled with beings who crushed Hollows without pause.
Without knowing the timeline, seizing every moment to become stronger was essential. Danger came with opportunity—an opportunity to obtain transcendent power and rise beyond everything.
His gaze locked onto the crushed corpse of the lizard Hollow. He remembered clearly: in the original story, Hollows evolved by devouring one another, and the strongest among them could ascend into the legendary Menos Grande and even the feared Vasto Lorde. Ignoring his revulsion, he grabbed one of the lizard Hollow's broken forelimbs dripping with dark green blood and began chewing through his mask.
Crunch. Crunch.
He tore through the limb in several bites. Surprisingly, there was no nausea—only an unexpected, almost pleasant taste. He wasn't sure if the creature was inherently edible or if his Hollow instincts had twisted his palate. After swallowing the limb, he felt his spiritual power surge ever so slightly. His eyes lit with excitement as he stared at the rest of the corpse and began his feast.