I! Cleaner!
Chapter 260 - 260: 0220 The Real Inquiry (Part 3)_1

"Wise decision."

After slightly bowing to the Director of the Purification Bureau, the Aquarius Director left his seat and slowly walked toward the massive cage in the center of the venue.

As he approached, the icosahedral prison composed of thirty blazing golden beams gradually opened, revealing the true form of the colossal creature within.

"Hiss..."

Accompanied by a peculiar hiss that resonated within everyone's soul, the hideous demon, resembling a gigantic octopus-like mollusk, rapidly "spread out," instantly covering nearly a quarter of the venue.

Next, its mouth, similar in shape to a nautilus's beak, slowly opened. Hundreds of slender tongues, dotted with purple-red fleshy tumors, writhed like clusters of bizarre sea serpents, lunging toward everyone.

"Settle down!"

Along with a shout, the Aquarius Director interlaced his fingers and pressed forcefully downward towards the spread-out Brain-Eating Demon.

A loud, dull thud was heard. The enormous demon, nearly thirty meters in size, seemed to be weighed down by something incredibly heavy, collapsing in the center of the venue with a pained wail.

God-Suppressing Forked Fingers... a secret technique specifically developed by the Aquarius lineage to suppress imprisoned True Gods.

Watching the Aquarius Director forcibly subdue a God Tier Brain-Eating Demon with a simple hand gesture, the Director of the Purification Bureau couldn't help but narrow his eyes, a hint of admiration showing.

The secret technique developed by the original Aquarius was indeed formidable. Once a True God's authority was sealed, no matter how strong its physical power, it could be effortlessly subdued with a single gesture.

The only regret was the slightly high threshold, resulting in no one besides this generation's Aquarius being able to master it... Such a pity.

After seeing the Aquarius Director release the Brain-Eating Demon's tongues and willingly expose his face for licking, the Director of the Purification Bureau couldn't help but shake his head.

If it were merely to create anomalies privately, there probably would be room for maneuvering. But concerning the safety of the Watcher's Palace, regardless of this generation's Aquarius's talent, if the extracted memories proved problematic, then what awaited him would only be...

Hmm?

Noticing something amiss, the Director of the Purification Bureau couldn't help but frown.

When the Brain-Eating Demon first "spread out," to prevent the four people moved there from being crushed, he directly shifted the podium back and shielded them at his rear.

However, instead of staying safely behind him, they peeked and pried about. One of them, named Leon, even stealthily extended his hand to touch the rear of the God Tier Brain-Eating Demon.

...

"Zzz..."

[Encounter... Materialism... Information]

[Name: The Rumination of the Memory Eater (Memory, Corruption)]

[Appearance: Approximately thirty meters in size, a gigantic demon resembling a mollusk cuttlefish, identical to that of a normal living adult God Tier Brain-Eating Demon]

[Ability: Memory Reading]

[Cost: None]

[File: A God Tier demon that descended through a accidentally opened Abyss Rift nine hundred years ago at Saio in the Thousand Sails Maritime Country, causing unimaginable casualties, nearly annihilating Saio Kingdom's 0137 numbering unanchored ship. After ravaging Saio for three months and devouring the memories of nearly a hundred thousand people, this God Tier Brain-Eating Demon was finally captured by the joint efforts of Pisces and Aquarius divisions of the Purification Bureau and given to the contemporary Taurus Director for modification, removing... After a series of treatments, the demon's authority was stripped, its emotions and intelligence were cleansed, leaving only the instinct to devour memories, and it was kept as a special anomalous object for memory reading in the Purification Bureau Headquarters' basement till now.]

[Evaluation: An extremely powerful anomalous object, tendril-like tongues somewhere between flesh and spirit, can easily penetrate the brain of any sentient creature, capturing their memories through licking their cerebral grooves, and due to its high hierarchy, even a True God cannot resist its reading...]

[Contamination Value: 59.9]

This thing... is truly disgusting... and truly deadly!

After secretly touching the rear of the God Tier Brain-Eating Demon and gaining intelligence on it through [Materialism], Leon felt a chill run down his spine.

*Not to mention whether its reading would extract memories about his "transmigration," just letting its disgusting slimy tongue into one's brain was enough to make one want to die.*

Watching as the clusters of tongues penetrated into the Aquarius Director's head, scraping out something with those purple-red fleshy tumors, Leon couldn't help but shudder.

*If the Aquarius Director wasn't bluffing and actually had a plan to pass through safely, the one being licked inside out would have to be himself and the Director!* Judging by the Aquarius Director's bulging veins and twitching body, the experience of having one's memory read seemed far from pleasant...

No! Absolutely not! He must quickly come up with a plan, ensuring that the Aquarius Director couldn't execute any trick!

...

Looking at the "Corruption" tag in the name [The Rumination of the Memory Eater], and recalling the ability to forcibly manipulate [Corruption] anomalous objects with [I Am the Demon], Leon clenched his fist tightly and then extended his guilty right hand again to provide the Aquarius Director with an extra layer of insurance.

However, at this moment, a somewhat cold voice came from ahead.

"Stop."

Seeing that touching the rear of the Brain-Eating Demon once wasn't enough and Leon was even about to touch it a second time, the Director of the Purification Bureau couldn't suppress his frown as he inquired,

"Why do you keep touching her rear?"

"..."

Goodness, after this thing spread out, it looks like a cut-open giant octopus. How could you tell which end was the head and which was the rear?

Unable to withhold an internal complaint, Leon had to retract his right hand under the scrutinizing gaze of the Purification Bureau Director and then awkwardly replied "truthfully":

"My ability is through touch, to forcibly obtain part of the intelligence of the anomalous object being touched. After listening to the Aquarius Director's words, I worried he'd play tricks while undergoing memory reading, so I wanted to check if there were any loopholes in this thing..."

You want to find this thing's loophole? Just you?

Unaware that Leon's purpose in finding loopholes was actually to exploit them himself, after staring into Leon's eyes for a moment and somehow verifying the truth of his statement, the Purification Bureau Director turned his head back and warned coolly:

"Don't bother trying; when this thing was at its peak, it was on par with Olivia in power. Now its authority has been drained, but its hierarchy remains near True God level, not something a Third-Class Cleanser like you can shake."

"Well... I've actually already figured out some things."

In an effort to touch the Brain-Eating Demon's rear once more to employ [I Am the Demon] as a hindrance to the Aquarius Director, Leon tried to demonstrate his value and began to articulate:

"This thing is called [The Rumination of the Memory Eater]. Its former identity was that of a God Tier Brain-Eating Demon that descended upon the Thousand Sails Maritime Country and was ultimately captured by the joint efforts of the Pisces and Aquarius Bureaus.

Nine hundred years ago, the Taurus Director of that time washed away its emotions and memories, removed its memory-digesting organs, and replaced them with the [Dream Memory Furnace], capable of converting memories into dreams.

The memories it consumed wouldn't be digested but would circle through the [Dream Memory Furnace], leaving a batch of replicated dreams before being spat back out..."

...

When Leon started to narrate, the Director of the Purification Bureau was initially dismissive, even casting a glance towards the Red-haired Director, quite dissatisfied with her unauthorized disclosure of important intelligence.

But as Leon spoke more, even describing how the Taurus Director of nine hundred years ago processed that God Tier Brain-Eating Demon, the expression of the Purification Bureau Director began to change.

*If it were something documented within the bureau, that would be one thing, but Leon revealed many details that had no written record whatsoever, not even known to himself as Director, let alone Olivia.*

So... he only touched it briefly and figured out so much?

Staring at Leon with eyes filled with shock, after sensing his aura, the Director of the Purification Bureau's eyes gleamed with the light of understanding.

*Judging from his contamination level, he's only about average for a Third-Class Cleanser. Such a weak individual could forcibly obtain intelligence on a True God-level anomalous object while ensuring his own safety!*

No wonder Olivia and the Taurus Director were both protecting him, this kid truly was a treasure!

*The Director sure had a penchant for "utilitarianism"!*

Leon noticed the Director's eager gaze, sensed an underlying fervency, and decisively stopped his narration, not revealing everything he knew.

But the Purification Bureau Director, having taken the bait, couldn't help but ask:

"Why did you stop? What's next?"

Leon replied with some difficulty:

"The rest... I honestly feel a bit weak, and I'm also afraid of contamination, so I only grazed it lightly earlier, but you stopped me the second time..."

"Then keep going!"

Taking a look at the Aquarius Director to ensure the memory read process wasn't disturbed and continued properly, the Purification Bureau Director decided immediately:

"Touch as much as you need, as long as you can! See how much intelligence you can eventually figure out! Besides, don't worry about contamination. With me here to hold it off for you, there won't be any problems!"

All right then! You told me to touch it! If the Aquarius Director ends up in trouble because of it, you can't blame me!

Giving his cheek a discreet bite to suppress a budding smile, Leon nodded firmly. He then switched to [I Am the Demon] and extended his guilty right hand towards the Brain-Eating Demon's rear, carefully adding a warning:

"Please, do hold it off well..."

"Rest assured, go ahead and touch!"

...

Finally, it was over...

As wave after wave of memory flowed back into his mind through those sticky purple-red tongues, the Aquarius Director gradually regained consciousness and shakily stood up.

After thoroughly checking the backup plan he had prepared and confirming it wouldn't be detected, the Aquarius Director, whose brain was nearly boiled by the Brain-Eating Demon's licking, raised his head with the smile exclusive to a victor, looking towards the Purification Bureau Director.

*This is stable! All those years of preparation weren't in vain! This time, it's absolutely foolproof!*

"Apologies... there was a slight issue, and the recent read doesn't count."

"???"

Receiving a bewildered look from the Aquarius Director, the Purification Bureau Director awkwardly explained:

"This thing's been crafted for over nine hundred years. While the core Dream Memory Furnace hasn't broken, it's been somewhat severely corroded by the Brain-Eating Demon's gastric acid. The memory reading wasn't entirely successful.

I've just reviewed the dreams expelled by the Dream Memory Furnace and found only a small portion of your memories were replicated, which isn't enough to prove your innocence, so... could you please do it once more?"