I! Cleaner!

What are you... doing?

Looking at the Scorpio Bureau Chief, who suddenly went from arrogance to politeness and showed kindness, Leon felt a slight jolt in his heart, feeling uneasy all over.

Could it be that I've been visited by a nightmare again?

But I just touched the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell], this thing is real. Even if the King of Nightmares personally came, it's impossible to simulate the information of the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell], right?

"Don't overthink it."

Raising his head to look at the night sky of the capital, and glancing at the Dream Realm Creatures "fixed" by the pale puppet, the tall, thin man picked up the blood-dripping fine sword, neatly and swiftly beheaded the puppet, killed hundreds of Elite Nightmares that broke through, then put his hand behind his back, and said with magnificent bearing:

"Olivia and I have a personal vendetta, it doesn't involve you Cleaners. Personally, I admire your courage... If I'm not mistaken, the King of Nightmares should appear soon, try to stay closer to me so I won't be too late to save you."

"..."

If you had insulted me a bit less before, I might have believed you now...

Although the sudden change in the other felt very awkward, my own bureau chief did say that staying close to this guy is safe before the King of Nightmares appears, so Leon didn't say much, only nodded cautiously and moved closer.

"Come, stand by me."

Motioning to Leon, who was half a position behind and looking up at the sky, to stand beside him, the tall, thin man patched up the puppet's head while kindly advising:

"Remember, the Demonic Soul Abyss coincides with reality, which will strengthen Dream Realm Creatures' power, but when Dream Realm Creatures descend into reality, they also gain a physical body. They're not just in consciousness as before, actually making them easier to kill than in the Dream Realm.

But conversely, the way the Dream Realm exists is different from reality, so we also need to be cautious not to be dragged into it.

After all, the Dream Realm is the opponent's home ground, being too attached to one's body and soul would make you no match for Dream Realm Creatures. But if you let go of your understanding of yourself and align with the rules of the Dream Realm, it can easily confuse your existence... Hmm?"

At this point, seemingly noticing something off, the tall, thin man slightly raised an eyebrow, and pinched the tendrils of the queen insect on his chest.

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

A sharp insect cry was heard again, and as the queen insect called, the spreading sub-insects across the capital also began to cry in response, echoing three rounds of clear insect cries.

But the strange thing was, although their numbers kept growing, the cries of the Dream-Eater Mutant Shell sub-insects quickly decreased. If the first wave of cries was as loud as a tidal wave on the ocean, the second wave was only as loud as the surf on the shore.

As for the third wave of cries...

"Squeak..."

Watching the Dream-Eater Mutant Shell perched on Leon's shoulder, responding weakly to the queen insect with the last lingering sound, the Scorpio Bureau Chief's expression became visibly serious.

"Don't move."

Addressing the confused Leon briefly, the Scorpio Branch Chief picked up the beetle on Leon's shoulder, turned it over as it feebly kicked its three pairs of legs, revealing a fine wooden thorn embedded in its abdomen, piercing straight from the forehead spot of the human face pattern.

They're all wiped out...

Gazing at the beetle in his hand, making smaller movements, its abdomen leaking black fluid, and obviously nearing death, the tall, thin man took a deep breath, looking rather displeased, he said:

"Aberrant creation... So Aquarius is indeed alive!"

Aquarius?

Upon hearing the tall, thin man's words, Leon's expression subtly changed, then he reached out to lightly tap on the wooden thorn stuck in the insect's abdomen.

[Name: Pest Control Thorn Sub-body (Wish, Pest Control, Chain)]

[Appearance: A fine wooden thorn slightly red at the tip, too slender to discern its wood type, likely some kind of cheap, fast-grown wood]

[Ability: Kill beetles, eradicate pests, chain pest control]

[Cost: Too minimal to consider]

[Archive: Former Aquarius Director of the Clean-up Bureau, to deal with the rapidly proliferating "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell," using the King of Nightmares' intense desire to erase the "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell" as material, tainted with a True God's heart's blood, temporarily created this killing-type aberrant object, unassigned number.

When this aberrant object is used to kill one insect, tracing through the connection of identical fonts, it allows simultaneous killing of all the same sub-bodies within a large range, this effect is only effective on "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell"]

[Evaluation: Highly targeted aberrant object, has miraculous effects on crustacean targets, is also very good for toothpicking due to its slender and resilient wood]

[Contamination Value: 0.1]

"..."

With a personal Contamination Value of 60 points, the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] that once proliferated nearly a billion and caused the Clean-up Bureau headaches was killed off by a toothpick-sized thorn?

After reading the intelligence on the [Pest Control Thorn Font], Leon unconsciously reached for his cuff links, wanting to use the [Unfair Snake Pact] to exchange it and make the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] function normally.

But thinking of the yet-to-be-exposed [Unfair Snake Pact] and the overly "cheap" material of the [Pest Control Thorn], Leon released his grip and instead addressed the Scorpio Bureau Chief:

"Mr. Edward, can you save this last sub-body?"

"I can save it."

After glancing at the beetle that was more out of breath than in, the tall, thin man frowned and said:

"But saving it doesn't serve much purpose. The [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] needs a certain time to proliferate to a sufficient number, and Aquarius has already prepared targeted aberrant items ahead of time.

No matter how much these [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] proliferate, as long as he finds any one of the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] sub-body, all other sub-bodies will be killed simultaneously. This thing is no longer useful."

"Save it anyway."

Leon insisted:

"You've already given one order to the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] mother body and can't issue a second one in this lifetime. To trigger the mother insect to produce controllable sub-insects requires 60 Leon Points, so we might as well keep a few just in case."

"That's true..."

The Scorpio Bureau Chief nodded, took back dozens of still somewhat alive beetles from the surrounding slumbering passersby, pricked his finger to squeeze a drop of blood into each, and then put the revived beetles in a jar and handed it to Leon.

"Here you go! If you ever get hypnotized by a nightmare again, you can let them devour your dream to forcibly expel the nightmare.

However, to prevent them from going out of control, I specially set a very short lifespan for this batch of grown insects. They only live about a week, after which they will die naturally. Don't forget this."

"Thank you, I'll remember."

Carefully storing the jar containing the [Dream-Eater Mutant Shell] and putting away the [Pest Control Thorn (Sub-body)], Leon looked at the increasingly bloody sky above, then slightly worriedly asked:

"Mr. Edward, how much longer until the King of Nightmares appears?"