"Isn’t the quality of this batch of cleaners a bit too poor?"
Upon hearing the words of the Aquarius Director, the Pisces Director’s expression momentarily stiffened slightly, while the Aquarius Director seemed unaware and continued to speak:
"Before I poked you, I also took a look at their performance. Don’t even mention comparing them to our batch; this batch of cleaners is probably even worse than the one from ten years ago, which was called the worst in three hundred years.
Among the cleaners who came to participate in the promotion assessment this time, apart from that Leon, those with the qualifications to challenge the Zodiac Star Palace didn’t even add up to five?" ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel⟡fire.net
"If I remember correctly, for a cleaner with this kind of qualification, there should be about thirty to forty people to have one successfully challenge the Zodiac Star Palace, right?"
Seemingly very worried for the future of the Clean-up Bureau, seeing the last few brave "Challengers" being cut down and scattered all over the place, with no one daring to step forward anymore, the Aquarius Director sighed helplessly and said:
"If cleaners coming for assessment in the future are all at this ratio, then the situation would be quite severe.
If, after the current twelve Directors of the Yellow Road die of old age, and the new Yellow Road Directors who come up to take their places, even with the backing of the Zodiac Star Palaces, have difficulty reaching the level of Pillar Gods, and if a large number of Director seats also become vacant, the Clean-up Bureau will probably have no successors!"
So you came here just to stab me in the heart? And even stabbing with a knife wasn’t enough; you have to stab me verbally again?
Turning his head in irritation, glaring angrily at the Aquarius Director who was speaking sarcastically, the Pisces Director shouted angrily with a face full of anger:
"These things have nothing to do with you! You traitor who joined the Slaughter King Association!"
"I wouldn’t call it joining the Slaughter King Association; I just cooperated with them for certain purposes, that’s all."
Glancing at the Pisces Director, who was angered by his words, the Aquarius Director shook his head and said:
"Although I am not of one heart with the Slaughter King Association, I actually think that what they are preparing to do might, contrarywise, be a good thing for the Clean-up Bureau and even for all humankind.
Now the Clean-up Bureau has been too well protected by the Watcher’s Palace, seldom facing any crisis, making the level of the cleaners get worse and worse each batch. If this continues, it will eventually fall to a level where even the Watcher’s Palace can’t protect them.
From this perspective, I think it might be better to let the Slaughter King Association act more, kill all the royal family members of seven or eight Kingdoms, and also give the future cleaners more chances for training."
The Pisces Director couldn’t help but rebuke:
"Do you even know what you are saying? It took the contributions of numerous predecessors over countless generations to nurture the Watcher’s Palace to its current scale, and you want to destroy it all with a single sentence? You simply..."
"Hey, don’t get excited."
With a turn of his wrist, interrupting the Pisces Director’s words, the Aquarius Director said leisurely:
"I actually meant nothing else; I was just unable to leave because of the activation of an abnormal object and chatted with you, my old friend, out of that occurrence. This kind of casual chat need not be taken seriously.
After the timing and effect of the abnormal object are set, I will continue to return to plan my scheme, and you can continue doing what you want to do. We used to be friends, after all; there’s no need to quarrel over this kind of thing..."
Abnormal object activation... Timing and effect?
Upon capturing the keywords in the Aquarius Director’s words, the heart of the Pisces Director trembled slightly, then immediately retorted:
"It’s useless; as long as [Bubble Shadow Cove] is still around, no matter what you do to me, as long as I slightly stir a thought, anything that happens during this time would be as if it never happened, and without a Star Palace, you absolutely cannot destroy my [Bubble Shadow Cove]!"
The Aquarius Director nodded at the words, then smiled and said:
"Your [Bubble Shadow Cove] is indeed a good thing; as long as the ’anchors’ for restoration are recorded in advance, almost any reality you dislike can be erased, forcibly guiding affairs toward a direction favorable to you.
But this all has a premise in the end: you have to be yourself and must actively generate the thought of ’using’ Bubble Shadow Cove."
I have to be myself?!!!
With a sudden shudder in the Pisces Director’s expression, the Aquarius Director rotated his wrist again, forcibly twisting once in a clockwise direction.
"It seems you’ve already thought of it."
The Aquarius Director smiled and said:
"Although your [Bubble Shadow Cove] is essentially impregnable, capable of triggering automatically even in an unconscious state, your soul, however, has a huge flaw.
Due to past events, your soul was divided into four, continually shifting among the four forms of male, female, elderly, and young over time. Behind this most powerful ’old’ soul in line is Mimi, who represents ’youth’.
And based on my understanding of Mimi, innocent and naive as she is, let alone knowing how to manipulate [Bubble Shadow Cove], she probably hasn’t even figured out how many abnormal objects you truly possess, has she?"
So... your true purpose is to bring Mimi’s soul out early to replace me! And the blade thrust into my heart has been secretly ’slicing’ my time!
Gazing at the short blade sticking out of his chest, rotating slowly in a clockwise direction, the Pisces Director, who vaguely guessed the truth, hurriedly mobilized his secret technique to barely discern it and indeed found special imprints belonging to a time-based abnormal object.
Roughly, every rotation of the Aquarius Director’s wrist caused the time his soul experienced to suddenly advance a large chunk unconsciously, and after being rotated so many times by him, the ’appearance’ time of himself seemed to be really nearing its limit.
No! I must not let Mimi come out now!
Feeling the naive soul within his body gradually reviving and starting to contend for control, the Pisces Director couldn’t help clenching his teeth, starting to struggle desperately.
Even though Mimi can also passively ’trigger’ [Bubble Shadow Cove] and wouldn’t be killed by the Aquarius Director, without his protection, those cleaners participating in the assessment would fall into the Aquarius Director’s hands.
Moreover, what’s even more critical is that the time for the Director of Taurus to ascend the palace has already been set and cannot be further altered. If Mimi is brought out at this juncture, leading to the loss of his [Bubble Shadow Cove]’s protection, then...
"Don’t move; your soul will shatter."
Pressing a hand on the shoulder of the Pisces Director, holding down his heavily trembling body, the Aquarius Director gently advised:
"Rest assured, I won’t do anything to these cleaners; this time, my target is only you.
Out of our past camaraderie, I didn’t even plan to harm you. I only need to have Mimi, who can’t control [Bubble Shadow Cove], come out early to replace you and prevent you from using [Bubble Shadow Cove] to cause me trouble, and then my goal will be achieved.
As for this batch of not-so-quality cleaners... their fate will depend on what you decide to do."
Amid the Pisces Director’s glare, the Aquarius Director smilingly warned:
"You know, I don’t like reckless killing, as long as you don’t act rashly, I naturally won’t lay a hand on them, but if you insist on risking your soul shattering to forcibly prevent Mimi from coming out... then I’m forced to apologize!"
"If you are still unwilling, then I can help you calculate the odds."
Seeing the Pisces Director’s body trembling continuously, the Aquarius Director accelerated the speed of the heart-carving while leaning over and whispered:
"The probability that you can perfectly suppress Mimi is at most only one-quarter, and the remaining three-quarters is the possibility that your soul fractures due to conflict, making [Bubble Shadow Cove] imperfect, and then you, along with these over four hundred cleaners, being eradicated by me.
But if you choose to follow my arrangements, obediently allowing Mimi to come out from your soul, although the Director of Taurus will lose [Bubble Shadow Cove]’s shelter, you and the future of this Clean-up Bureau can all survive."
"Come, make your choice!"