Has our reaction slowed down?
Upon hearing Leon’s words, the three cleaners, now mere souls, showed expressions of astonishment. Alger snatched the nail gun and fired another shot towards his foot, refusing to believe it.
This time, thanks to some psychological preparation, the response was much better than before. Before the nail hit the ground, Alger’s right foot scattered into countless threads again, firmly wrapping the nail.
However, even though the experiment was successful, Alger’s face showed no joy of success; instead, it turned quite ugly.
"It really did slow down a lot..."
Bang, bang, bang. After continuously firing and emptying the remaining nails in the nail gun, seeing two nails caught by the Skin Thread and four nails that passed through and hit the ground, Alger couldn’t help but look grim:
"It feels like less than an eighth of normal, perhaps even less. My reaction speed is now almost like a regular person’s! Damn it! Why didn’t I notice this earlier?"
"I’m not too sure either, but I guess you’ve been subjected to some method that reduced the upper limit of your reaction speed."
Looking at the four nails embedded in the ground, Leon also frowned and said:
"The more often cleaners carry and use high-grade abnormal objects, the more likely they are to be contaminated by these objects, with their bodies transforming towards non-human strength. But no matter how intense this transformation is, it’s ultimately based on human flesh.
Simply put, regardless of contamination value, we can still feel hot and cold, thirst, hunger, and injury, but our vitality is much stronger than ordinary people, our reaction speed faster, our bodies tougher, souls more vibrant, and we can use abnormal objects longer and more often.
But these changes don’t usually manifest so clearly. Having a much faster reaction speed than average doesn’t mean we see others moving in slow motion; it’s just that the higher upper limit can be realized when a quick reaction is needed."
Leon paused briefly and then pointed at pedestrians on the street:
"It’s like the difference between running and walking. An ordinary person, when chased by a beast, can run a hundred meters in just a dozen seconds, but while strolling, it might take more than a minute to walk that distance because that speed is entirely sufficient for a stroll.
But the opponent seems to have done something, locking your ’running’ ability. During normal walking and strolling, you don’t need to be fast, so it’s barely noticeable. But when a beast truly pounces, requiring full-speed running, you’d realize that you’ve lost the ability to run."
So that’s how we got caught!
Through Leon’s tests and explanations, understanding the origins of the "quick cannons," the three cleaners suddenly realized, and the female cleaner Mona urgently said:
"If it’s just like that, then let’s quickly find the director! Just tell him the secret, maybe there’s still a chance for him..."
"Sorry, I don’t think that’s a good idea."
Before the female cleaner finished speaking, Leon immediately interrupted:
"You possibly died too early, not witnessing what happened afterward. Nicole told me that Edward’s body was blown apart halfwise, and his soul was forcibly sealed inside his shattered flesh. There’s no longer any chance of a comeback for them."
"But surely we can’t just..."
"It’s not that I’m leaving them to die; I simply have no ability to save them."
Shaking his head decisively, Leon said:
"Especially at such times, one has to make decisions with caution. Our information is inadequate, and acting recklessly won’t save anyone but rather destroy any last hopes and mess up everything completely.
Mona senior, although this sounds unpleasant, I must say, if your suggestion comes from rational judgment, I’ll certainly consider it seriously. But if it’s merely an emotional impulse, then I must ask you to calm down first."
"I... I’m sorry... I got too anxious..."
Biting her lip hard, the female cleaner calmed herself a bit, bowed her head, and apologized voluntarily, then asked:
"So what do we do now? Find a way to investigate that thing that suppressed our reaction speed and help you and Alger free from it?"
"That can be investigated, but the priority needs to be lower."
Leon shook his head upon hearing this:
"Even if we find out how the opponent manipulated, we might not have the means to remove it. So, let’s focus on more important issues, like the location of the palace and Atifei-01 itself, and the current situation of the royal family."
"But how do we check that?"
The female cleaner couldn’t help but ask:
"The Crolock Kingdom’s blocks change too frequently. The director and us have been investigating for almost two weeks, finding only some irrelevant stuff. These two places are still without any leads, and the royal family has been staying secluded for years; there’s really no way to start checking."
"Don’t worry, I’ve got leads now."
Leon pulled out his identification card, casually twisted and discarded it, while reaching out to Alger, signaling him to destroy his identification card and answered:
"Once we reach the embassy district, we’ll have a chance to get close to these two places. As for the royal family’s situation... Lady Feiliya, do you have anything to say?"
With a sideways glance at the emerald-eyed girl who was still "unconscious," Leon squinted slightly and said:
"Lady Feiliya, could you please tell me why upon hearing that something’s happened to us, the emotion flooding your heart was not panic but rather a hint of glee?"
After Leon exposed her heart’s thoughts, the princess Feiliya trembled all over, then had to open her eyes and said fearfully:
"Because... because you guys are kidnappers. I’ve been kidnapped by you, so hearing you’re having trouble naturally ... I couldn’t help but feel... a little happy..."
"Alright, you passed."
Leon heard this, nodded indifferently, and while crushing the identification card Alger handed over, asked with a calm expression:
"Now for the second question. When we were discussing the method that locked our reaction speed, I sensed a distinct ’pride’ in your soul. How do you intend to explain this?"
"If you can’t explain it, I’ll have to guess myself."
Seeing the princess Feiliya sweating at her temples, her large eyes darting around and not daring to meet his gaze, Leon said expressionlessly:
"Given that pride in your heart, it proves that this method is related to you, maybe even a tactic you suggested. Lady Feiliya, am I guessing correctly?"
"If you don’t speak, I’ll assume silence means consent."
Looking at the flustered soul of the emerald-eyed girl, Leon sighed lightly and then asked with tightly knit brows:
"Next is the third question... Besides you and Prince Andre, are there any other living members of the Crolock royal family now?"