I! Cleaner!-Chapter 1013 - 932: Contamination and Old Friends

[Name: The Withered Heart of the Red King (Truth, Blood, Legacy)]

[Appearance: A giant heart with a diameter exceeding two meters, even though most of the remaining blood has been drained, it still exudes an incredibly heavy scent of blood. Getting close will drench your whole body with plasma.]

[Ability: Crimson Overlord, Blood Manipulation, Heart of Legacy]

[Cost: The heart of the Red King is unique. When using its truth and authority, your own heart will temporarily stop beating.]

[Record: As the core component of the Crimson Overlord's body, after the Crimson King's flesh was killed, the Bureau extracted its heart and drained the blood, then placed it into the Vault for preservation...

After refuting the incorrect answer of the current Aquarius Director during the assessment, the Crimson Heart was subjected to exceptionally cruel abuse from the opponent, dragged forcibly to the brink of death fifteen times within a minute, with its heartbeat exceeding two hundred thirty times per minute at one point, eventually having to succumb to their tyranny.]

[Evaluation: Despite ulterior motives, after being threatened by you, having been so close to death in the first fifteen instances, it has plunged into boundless fear. Before it finds a way to safely escape from your grasp and avoid you forever, it can be used with confidence.]

[Contamination Value: Equivalent to the maximum contamination value of the user.]

The sound "sizzle"

[Through your own observation and summary, you've gained a wealth of intelligence about the "Withered Heart of the Red King"... Your resistance to the Crimson line of anomalous objects has greatly increased, allowing you to shield against certain levels of influence.]

It's secure, and I've got the thing to restrain the Aquarius Director!

Touching the slightly trembling Crimson Heart, feeling its immense fear from the heart, Leon couldn't help but nod in extraordinary satisfaction.

I told you there's no need to answer any questions, just stab it directly and it's done. Look how obedient it is now?

"Thank you, Taurus Pavilion."

After picking up the trembling Crimson Heart and strenuously pulling it out from its original position, Leon wiped the sticky blood off his face and flashed a bloody grin at the Taurus Director standing beside him with an uneasy expression.

"Then I'll take it first, and I'll return it after dealing with the problems in the Western Carleighwen Kingdom."

"Fair enough... If you can manage it, you might as well keep it with you all the time."

Watching Leon, who was drenched in blood and grinning like anything but a good guy, the Taurus Director couldn't help but remind:

"Leon, I have to tell you something. Even though the Crimson Heart has acknowledged you, it's still the heart of the Crimson Overlord, originally from the supreme Four Pillar Gods, so you must be careful not to be influenced by it."

"You're right, I'll definitely be cautious."

After gladly accepting the Taurus Director's kind reminder, Leon casually stabbed the Crimson Heart twice, which quivered suddenly before screaming in alarm:

"Thought! Thought is higher than blood! You are right! Don't stab anymore!"

"And why is blood red?"

"Because... because of what egg and what iron, after they combine with something..."

"Splurt splurt"

"Ah!"

After another scream, the Crimson Heart in Leon's hand, relying on certain experiences from its divine past, suddenly understood a profound truth.

"I know! Because you! You said blood is red, then blood is red!"

"Splurt splurt splurt"

"Ah! Why are you still stabbing me?"

"You deserve it! Do I need your flattery?"

With eyes full of disdain, Leon supplemented with two more stabs and dragged the trembling Crimson Heart out of the vault while griping:

"How is it that you don't learn anything useful day by day, always spewing nonsense, and shamelessly having me take a test without understanding why blood is red?

Now start remembering what I say! Blood is red because there are iron atoms in the hemoglobin molecules, these iron atoms can combine with oxygen to form oxyhemoglobin..."

"The reason why blood is red is because there are iron atoms in the hemoglobin molecules… uh… what is hemoglobin?"

"If you had been so genuinely willing to learn from the start, you wouldn't have needed to get stabbed, right?"

" … "

"You memorize it first, after you've memorized all the answers, I might explain them depending on my mood."

"Oh…"

" … "

With that look… perhaps I've overthought a bit?

Watching the Crimson Heart being stabbed every now and then, bleeding profusely, shivering like a two-meter-tall chick, the Taurus Director following behind didn't know what to say anymore.

Theoretically speaking, Leon should be careful of being contaminated by the Crimson Heart, but if he keeps teaching it one stab at a time, it's hard to say who will end up "contaminating" whom...

…

"Hmm…"

Pressing his own heart, suppressing the strange stabbing pain, the tall slender man looked up and gazed steadily at the woman with snowy hair across from him:

"Olivia!"

Calling out, the middle-aged man with black hair and eyes furrowed his brow and questioned:

"How dare you come back?"

"Why wouldn't I dare to come back?"

Sipping a little from the amber-colored mead in the cup, the slightly tipsy red-haired… snowy-haired director chuckled:

"Though I was chased out long ago, I'm still a member of the royal family of the Western Carleighwen Kingdom. Even the King sitting on the throne now has to call me 'Aunt', so why can't I return?"

"You know I didn't mean that!"

Covering the heart that constantly sent strange stabbing pains, the black-haired man, faintly resembling Leon but much older, said coldly:

"You promised to help me change the world! But just when I was about to succeed, you conspired with the Bureau's directors to nearly wipe out my entire tribe! You treacherous turncoat!"

" … "

Faced with the middle-aged man's accusation, the smile on the red-haired director's face faded away instantly, and instead of arguing, she tilted her head back and drank the wine in the cup.

"Your path was wrong."

With slightly blurred eyes, another black-haired figure flashed by quietly. Half-leaning on the small round table, the red-haired director cradled her chin in hand, shaking her head slightly with drunken eyes:

"You were too foolish in the past, and I was too foolish too… Though we weren't weak, we didn't really see the true face of this world. Many things aren't purely up to… thank you."

Nodding in thanks to the waiter crossing through the middle-aged man's ethereal form, who delivered two bottles of sherry, the red-haired director gestured to the seat opposite her and kindly requested:

"Would you mind bringing over a few more cups? Place them opposite me; I want to drink with past friends."

"Certainly."

Nodding in agreement to the strange guest's request, the waiter with a tray smiled and asked:

"Are you expecting friends to arrive soon? How many cups do you need specifically?"

"Specifically… maybe five or six. My friend has a bad temper, and if he gets angry and starts arguing, I'm afraid he might smash some cups."

"?"

What… you know there's a chance of a commotion, yet you insist on staying at our establishment? Couldn't you and your friend find another place?

Looking at the woman so beautiful it was hard to look directly at her, who was now boozy, the waiter hesitated to ask her to leave, instead politely reminding her as best as he could:

"When are your friends expected to arrive? I can have the store's security on standby if you think it necessary."

"No need, they're already here. Just put the cups out."

"???"