I! Cleaner!
Chapter 251 - 251: 0212 The Secret of Aquarius (Part 2)_1

*Could this thing... be trusted?*

After hearing what this entity had to say, Leon couldn't help but ponder for a moment, then turned his head slightly to give Jerry a questioning look.

*'If we don't stop the Cunning Hand of Fate, could it escape?'*

*'Impossible. Only an Anomalous Object with fate attributes can slip through the veil of destiny's pattern. But it's best not to take too long, or even if we haven't stolen the item out, it will still alert the Aquarius Director.'*

Then let's ask more!

Thinking along the lines of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," at the very least someone with whom he could cooperate and communicate, Leon quickly spoke up:

"What exactly are you? Why have you been imprisoned by the Aquarius Director's line for two thousand years?"

"I'm not a thing; I'm a god! The God of Enlightenment!"

As it talked about its past, the self-proclaimed God of Enlightenment spoke through gritted teeth:

"That damn Aquarius Director coveted my authority to grant enlightenment. They actually found a way to entice me to descend and then imprisoned me, extracting my flesh and True Spirit to create seeds of anomaly, stuffing them into the souls of you insects, using my authority to activate your own abnormalities!"

?!!!

*Flesh and True Spirit of a True God? So, this is how the Aquarius Director created his Seeds of Anomaly!*

Upon learning this rather shocking truth, Leon and Jerry instantly understood why what was touched by the Cunning Hand of Fate wasn't the Beyond the Gate, but this imprisoned God of Enlightenment.

Although Beyond the Gate held significant influence over mid-aged Joshua's fate, so did the God of Enlightenment who provided the Seed of Anomaly. The weight was about equal, so either could potentially appear.

Moreover, although the name doesn't sound like an Evil God, considering the way it referred to humans, and the madness and hatred almost oozing from its words, after two thousand years of long torment, this God of Enlightenment's mental state might be more extreme than that of an average Evil God.

...

"Your Excellency, the God of Enlightenment."

Inwardly warning himself to only use what this mad god said as a reference, and never fully believe it, Leon cautiously replied,

"Within our Purification Bureau, someone has noticed the anomalies of the Aquarius Director and is currently initiating an inquiry. How much do you know about the current Aquarius Director?"

"Huh? You idiots at the Purification Bureau finally noticed something was off about him?"

Upon hearing that someone was preparing to initiate an inquiry against the Aquarius Director, the God of Enlightenment let out a burst of mad laughter, then half-joyfully and half-mockingly replied,

"That's good. I thought you would only realize something was wrong once his plan succeeded entirely, and he replaced Taurus, ascended to the Watcher's Palace. I didn't expect there are still smart people among your Purification Bureau."

The Watcher's Palace?!!!!

At this point, Leon's body shook involuntarily, while Jerry's eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed,

"What... what did you say?"

"I just said, your Purification Bureau's Aquarius Director wants to replace Taurus, and seat himself in the Watcher's Palace!"

Repeating what he said earlier, the God of Enlightenment smirked coldly,

"This generation's Aquarius is too distracted, and his combat skills are the weakest in two thousand years, but I must admit, his grasp of the Aquarius lineage's Creation Mystique is the most profound among the fifteen generations of Aquarius.

Even after I've been extracted for two thousand years, with less than ten percent of my authority left, he can still use my flesh to create a large number of Hierarchy-near-divine top-tier Anomalous Objects. His talent is not much different from the first-generation Aquarius."

After giving his enemy a somewhat positive evaluation, the God of Enlightenment laughed,

"The Aquarius lineage's Creation Mystique and the Taurus lineage's Anomaly Forge are the most complementary pair among the Purification Bureau's Thirteen Secret Techniques.

The former can create anomalies, while the latter can, through forging, stabilize many originally unmanifestable anomalies into usable stable Anomalous Objects, resulting in complementary effects.

And your Purification Bureau's Watcher's Palace is the ultimate masterpiece created by the first-generation Aquarius and Taurus by combining the two secret techniques."

Briefly explaining the origins of the Watcher's Palace, the God of Enlightenment continued speaking,

"Although this generation's Aquarius is talented, true gods find it challenging to descend under the protection of the Watcher's Palace. After two thousand years of depletion, the quantity of high-level 'materials' is exceptionally scarce, and coupled with his own inadequate strength, he could never reach the level of the first-generation Aquarius.

If I'm not mistaken, after realizing his own level's ceiling, obsessed with Creation Mystique, he was unwilling to muddle through like this and set his sights on the Watcher's Palace. He probably hoped to glimpse something at a higher level from this ultimate work of Creation Mystique.

But as for the most crucial card, your Purification Bureau protects the Watcher's Palace too securely even a Director can't approach it. The only way to get close to the Watcher's Palace is to become the Ascension Palace Person who guards it.

So, from about thirty years ago, he started planning to create a set of composite Anomalous Objects, hoping to use this set of anomalous objects to replace the identity of the next Ascension Palace Person and thereby go to the Watcher's Palace."

Wait a minute! Replace an identity?

Upon hearing this, Leon's breath involuntarily hitched. He suddenly recalled the photo in the small mirror and the wristwatch with six needles stuck to the photograph like a little wild cat smelling fishy.

Isn't this exactly describing Anna's "If Only"?

No wonder he was fixated on this item, even scheming to frame Senior Emma and giving middle-aged Joshua the wristwatch capable of finding "If Only" because this item could allow him... Uh... Wait!

At this point, it seemed like Leon discovered something he'd long overlooked; his pupils instantly contracted!

Something's wrong! Senior Emma's enemy wasn't just someone who recently died!

Considering the timeline, the Aquarius, upon realizing he would face an inquiry, probably had already planned her frame-up and arranged for middle-aged Joshua with the Beyond the Gate to steal the photo from the Bureau.

Someone about to face an inquiry within the Bureau, whose own security is uncertain, should prioritize their safety. Even if he was planning such a thing, it couldn't happen so quickly unless he had some trump card that made him nearly certain to pass the inquiry!

This is bad! The director's inquiry is likely to encounter trouble!

...

"Senior Jerry!"

Realizing something was amiss, Leon immediately turned to the short man beside him, looking stern as he said,

"Considering this during an inquiry, there's a chance the Aquarius Director has prepared other contingencies!

I feel what the director prepared might not be able to pin him down completely. We must immediately contact headquarters and deliver this news along with Joshua!"

"Huh?"

Prompted by Leon's reminder, Jerry also faintly sensed something was wrong and immediately nodded gravely,

"You're right. We must contact headquarters immediately!"

"..."

"..."

(O_O)?

After waiting for a while without seeing further action, Leon couldn't help but urge,

"Senior! Quickly contact headquarters, what are you waiting for?"

"Huh? So you don't know how to contact headquarters?"

"I just joined a month ago. I'm still the lowest Level Three incident handler. How could I have the contact details for headquarters?"

"I'm only Level Two. If you don't have it, I don't either..."

Exchanging a blank stare with Leon, Jerry, with a trace of hope, asked,

"Didn't the director leave you any contact information before going away?"

"No... But she said if there's a need, contact Senior Emma. Senior Emma can reach her..."

"Emma was taken away by headquarters' people yesterday..."

"..."

"..."

Seeing these idiots bicker outside for half the day without even having a contact number, the God of Enlightenment, thinking revenge was within reach, was thoroughly disappointed. It spat violently toward outside, disdainfully evaluating them,

"A couple of fools!"