I! Cleaner!

As expected, Joshua indeed hid something like fireworks or signal flares. Upon hearing the commotion and turning back, Leon caught a glimpse of the signal flare shot out by the middle-aged Joshua through the skylight of the Sky Clipper and couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.

It turned out that the notion of everything going smoothly was just an illusion.

*With the kind of terrible luck that leads to witnessing the descent of the Holy Spirit while shopping, or encountering an out-of-control anomaly when watching a play, there was no possibility of everything going smoothly. Stability was just an accident; misfortune was the norm.*

*Moreover, this kind of bad luck wasn't the Purification Bureau's kind, where "the higher the personal Contamination Value, the more likely to encounter anomalies." It was the simplest kind of misfortune, where nothing went smoothly, and little mishaps always happened...*

Shaking his head helplessly, Leon reached out to grasp the Holy Spirit pendant around his chest and began lifting one unconscious person after another, handing them over to the rebels waiting outside the Sky Clipper.

After a while, when the last unconscious operator was also taken away and had entered the open "Beyond the Gate" with the rebels, confirming that Joshua hadn't played any tricks, Leon first waved goodbye to the tearful rebels and then turned back into the Sky Clipper, leaving only a "resigned to fate" silhouette for everyone.

...

It was almost time.

Leon pried open the fuel storage chamber of the Sky Clipper, took out a dozen barrels of whale oil used as fuel, and poured them along the length of the Sky Clipper, checking repeatedly to ensure nothing was missed. He then retreated to the entrance near the central cabin, taking out a box of matches meant for lighting the Black Goat's cigarettes.

The gasbags of the Sky Clipper were filled with highly flammable and explosive hydrogen, estimated to be over 300,000 cubic meters. Moreover, there were many unstable Thunderstrike minerals stored in the stern.

Next, he just needed to ignite the whale oil, let the flames spread throughout the Sky Clipper, and the entire vessel would be completely destroyed, perhaps even instantly ignited by the electrical arcs of the Thunderstrike minerals, becoming a massive fireball suspended 700 meters in the air...

"Could you not start the fire, please?"

Just as Leon was about to act, a somewhat crisp voice of a young girl suddenly came from the metal pipe beside him.

Was there someone else in the Sky Clipper?!

Hearing the sound, Leon's expression tightened, his right-hand pinky immediately brushed over his cufflink, resting on the protruding Yang Jiao. However, no matter how he checked, the soul vision of the Sky Clipper remained completely silent, with no sign of any Soul Flame.

No soul?

*Was it an Anomalous Object, remote communication technology, or something like a recording device?*

"Where are you?"

Reaching out to feel the inside of the fastened outer wall, the pipe used for transmitting sound from the control room to other cabins, after confirming no danger from anomalies, Leon cautiously found the nearest pipe opening, opened the lid, and shouted inside:

"Whatever you are, if you're on this ship, you'd better come out quickly because I'm about to start the fire!"

"I can't come out."

As soon as Leon's voice had settled, the communication brass pipe in front of him immediately transmitted the clear voice of the "young girl."

"I am the Atifei No. 128 Sky Clipper itself; you are currently standing in my central cabin."

?!!!

Hearing the "young girl," Leon's eyes couldn't help but widen instantly.

*No wonder... No wonder Joshua insisted on blowing up this ship along with it. It turned out to be a living ship! If it were really allowed to return to the Crolock Kingdom, even altering everyone's memories wouldn't matter!*

Astonished, Leon composed himself and then furrowed his brow to inquire:

"What exactly are you? An Anomalous Object, or..."

"I am the 128th sub-body of Atifie."

The girl's voice from the communication brass pipe sounded again.

"To explain in a way that might be easier for you to grasp, I am a lower-level sub-body with low computational capacity, replicated from the core Atifei-01 differential engine of the Crolock Kingdom, via replicating a part of its computational logic. You can call me Atifei-128."

"..."

So, neither human nor Anomalous Object, but something like an intelligent supercomputer? Had the technological level of the Crolock Kingdom reached such a terrifying extent?

After silently contemplating for a while, Leon, rendered speechless by shock, couldn't help but ask:

"Do you possess intelligence, capable of a genuine conversation with me? How are you hearing my voice?"

"I should possess intelligence. As for how I hear you, it's through a special receiving device that converts sounds near the communication brass pipe into 'mechanical codes' like these, sending them to the core differential engine that processes my information, then outputted back in reverse."

As Atifei-128 explained, her voice line gradually slowed and elongated. The originally clear and unified young girl's voice slowly "dispersed," transforming into countless small, dense tapping sounds.

These countless complex tapping sounds synchronized cleverly and precisely, converging just right to form her girl-like timbre, spreading through the specialized communication brass pipes all over the Sky Clipper.

*So... she wasn't "speaking" but was using some kind of mechanical device with countless tiny hammers to "tap" simultaneously on the specialized communication brass pipes, simulating a little girl's voice?*

Having managed to understand how this entity, self-named Atifei-128, was communicating with him, Leon was still shocked but realized he had a ton of questions to ask. However, the thought of the signal flare fired by the middle-aged Joshua made him shake his head helplessly, subsequently opening the matchbox.

"Sorry, I don't have much time left."

*"Please wait a moment."*

The mechanical child's voice, devoid of emotion, sounded once again. Faced with the "crisis of life and death," Atifei-128 seemed somewhat anxious, speaking much faster and revealing slightly discordant tapping sounds.

*"Please do not destroy me. I've already analyzed what you are doing; there are numerous guards below the Boarding Tower who will attack you, leading to your death due to bodily damage. If you're willing to forgo starting the fire, I can teach you how to operate this dirigible to get you safely out of here.*

*Moreover, to the Crolock Kingdom, I am an irreplaceable critical asset. If you are willing to give up destroying me and take me back to the Crolock Kingdom, Atifei-01 is sure to reward you extraordinarily well..."*

"You recorded the volcanic data from Laine County, right?"

Interrupting Atifei-128, Leon asked in return:

"Since you've claimed to possess intelligence, even knowing how to dangle carrots, can you tell me if you bring back those scenting records to the Crolock Kingdom, what would be the reaction afterward?"

"..."

"A war of invasion, with no regard for casualties, right?"

"Yes... but if you destroy me, it will equally draw the attention of Atifei-01."

"But if you aren't destroyed, war will definitely break out, and destroying you may delay the onset of war, right?"

"..."

Leon struck a match and said calmly:

"I have looked at those scenting records. It took them a full 31 years to drill more than seventy deep holes in the Hesperito Volcano Cluster, before they recently determined the location and intensity of the heat source.

Even if they have to re-survey, it would be much faster, but as long as those deep holes are filled and the terrain slightly altered, even if new surveyors are dispatched casually, it would at least buy another ten or eight years. If a few more hurdles are thrown in, who knows how much longer it could be delayed.

And, as crazy as your Crolock Kingdom might be, it wouldn't gamble on a reckless war without knowing the precise situation while the Kingdom here is still compliant, would they?"