"I suppose... I know a little bit..."
Knowing that Leon has the ability to detect lies, it’s useless to make excuses in front of him. The girl with emerald eyes hesitated for a moment, then simply confessed:
"When I was indirectly controlling the Gemini Branch before, I saw a lot of their files, among which there were some records about your Virgin Branch. It said that..."
"Most of what’s written there should just be rumors!"
Leon shook his head indifferently and said:
"Our Virgin Branch is rather unique. We have quite a few cleaners with distinct personalities, but everyone is basically a good person, not the kind of irredeemable scoundrels... If you don’t believe it, look at me. I’m also from the Virgin Branch, am I not normal?"
Would a normal person kidnap a princess on a mission? Would a normal person cut open the back of a princess’s head with a knife? Would a normal person have me take a bus to deliver a coup speech? Could a normal person dismantle a Kingdom in just over two weeks?
Unable to resist, she secretly raised her hand and touched the back of her head, which had been cut open by Leon before. The girl with emerald eyes couldn’t help but shift her gaze away, nodding in fear.
"Yes, yes, you’re very normal."
How did you... suddenly start speaking with hidden meanings? Who did you learn this from?
Looking at the girl with emerald eyes, who moved her little butt away as if desperately trying to distance herself, Leon opened his mouth and then asked somewhat speechlessly:
"Can I ask how that Gemini Branch record actually described our Virgin Branch?"
"That record... just ordinarily described how you folks from the Virgin Branch carry out your tasks."
Feiliya cautiously said:
"For example, the Level 1 Cleaner Emma Alman, nicknamed ’The Executioner,’ participated in thirteen joint actions and accidentally injured sixty-three cleaners, with more than six hundred civilians unintentionally harmed.
Most of those victims were forcibly dragged into ’The Executioner’s’ exclusive abnormal object, where they suffered through dozens of extremely cruel torture devices repeatedly over twenty-plus hours, enduring nearly a thousand tortures, creating immeasurable psychological shadows. Some even almost had a complete breakdown of their souls after coming out..."
"Wait! Those people can’t really be considered victims!"
Hearing this, Leon, who knew the specifics, couldn’t help but speak up to explain for Emma:
"Emma’s abnormal objects, many of them can distinguish between good and evil. Among them, ’Satisfying Scales’ discerns good and evil based on good thoughts and evil thoughts, while ’Coffin of Condemnation’ distinguishes based on good deeds and evil deeds.
And those so-called victims, were basically driven by sinister intentions to commit evil deeds, causing severe consequences, and they committed serious ’crimes’ deserving of execution. That’s why they were captured by Emma’s abnormal objects, and they just got what they deserved!"
Upon hearing this, the girl with emerald eyes breathed a slight sigh of relief, but she still remained somewhat skeptical and continued:
"And then there’s Jerry Baker, the Second-level Cleaner known as the ’Sewer Emperor,’ and Amien Bellet, dubbed the ’Poisoned Plague Pharmacist.’
During a mission to eliminate the Bai Ye Sect, the former drove over eight hundred thousand rats to bite tens of thousands of Monet City-State citizens, while the latter released a rancid toxic gas at the windward of Monet City-State, causing everyone to vomit and have diarrhea, clogging the sewers with excrement and vomit, flowing across the streets, even at one point covering the feet of pedestrians..."
"This matter... I haven’t heard Jerry mention it, but I can more or less guess what happened."
After hearing the girl’s account, Leon couldn’t help but frown before speculating:
"The believers of the Bai Ye Sect love to hold rituals at night, summoning the Nightmare Messengers of the King of Nightmares, and by creating terrifying nightmares, they cause mass psychological trauma to nearby sleepers and permanently devour parts of the sleepers’ souls.
The reason Jerry did this was likely because he couldn’t stop the Bai Ye Sect’s ritual, so he had to let the rats disrupt the citizens, trying to keep people in the area awake. Being bitten a few times is preferable to having parts of their souls devoured, remaining sickly for life, or even bedridden.
As for Amien, whom I’m not very familiar with, I’ve heard a bit about his ability. His potions have significant side effects, but their efficacy is actually impressive, generally able to nullify all ’abnormal’ states.
So the rancid toxic gas mentioned in the records should be the mass distribution of a diluted disinfectant, aiming to prevent those bitten from contracting diseases like the plague. After all, compared to those highly fatal infectious diseases, a few days of nausea and diarrhea should be more tolerable?"
If that’s the case... that makes sense?
After listening to Leon’s conjecture and cross-referencing it with the records she read, which aligned with the outcomes, the girl with emerald eyes let out a long breath.
It seems that although what’s written on the Virgin Branch is true, it’s somewhat incomplete and peppered with the recorder’s prejudices. The real Virgin Branch probably isn’t as outrageous as the records suggest.
"I think I understand. That record is indeed biased, skipping over many details, so it can indeed be seen as rumor."
Knowing now that the Virgin Branch she’s heading to is merely a bit more ’individualistic’ rather than a Dragon’s Den and Tiger’s Lair filled with madmen and murderers, Feiliya’s previously tense expression eased considerably, even blinking her big eyes curiously as she speculated based on analogy:
"So your branch’s ’Scarlet Hair Lady’ often binge-drinks during work hours, possibly to numb hidden enemies; she files erratic reports and embezzles funds, even borrows money without returning, but actually has a different private agenda;
And when occasionally enraged, directly brawling with other branch leaders she has conflicts with, it’s actually to test and uncover potential traitors like the Aquarius Director?"
"What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything?"
"..." New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel⚑fire.net
Upon hearing this, Leon couldn’t help but turn his head, avoiding the gaze of the girl with emerald eyes, and looked out the window at the whistling green winter cedars, his mouth twitching slightly, showing an indescribably complex expression.
Before Leon could knock on the door, the red-haired director opened the door to their office using their hair, raising a bottle filled with tea, laughing heartily:
"You did splendidly this time! After this investigation, Edward won’t even make it to last place even if he takes down a descending True God this year!"
"Ahahaha! Who would’ve thought he’d have his day of reckoning too? In the past, during year-end evaluations, he’d always be there with veiled sarcasm, using his ranking to ridicule me. Now it’s finally my turn to ridicule him!"
So you’re this happy because you can stand in the second-to-last place and mock the bottom-ranked first?