I! Cleaner!-Chapter 1056 - 973: Following Your Heart

"What did you say?"

Looking at the gloomy-faced Leon in front of him, the red-haired chief remained silent for a moment, then spoke with an unusually strained expression:

"I was gone for just ten minutes, sending little Vernon and the others to rest, and you managed to make the snake-man disappear?"

"Well, not completely gone..."

Feeling the Crimson Heart nestled in his own heart, refusing to come out no matter what, Leon explained somewhat sheepishly:

"The snake-man director was merely absorbed by the Crimson Heart and integrated into my heart. He can't come out temporarily, but he's still safe. In fact, because of the dual enhancements from the Crimson Heart and me, the progress of the blood exchange ritual has increased several times... If you don't believe me, look at my hair."

"..."

It really did speed up quite a bit...

Seeing Leon's hair, more than half of it having changed color, almost sixty percent of it already white, the red-haired chief couldn't help but nod, then asked again full of confusion:

"So what exactly did you do? How was he swallowed by the Crimson Heart? And why can't you get the Crimson Heart out?"

"Well... to be honest, I'm not really sure, but it's probably related to the connection between the Crimson Heart and the Crimson Blood."

Leon said bashfully:

"The snake-man director had already completely merged with the Crimson Blood in the past, and the Crimson Blood in the bureau is basically drawn from the Crimson Heart, so theoretically speaking, he and the Crimson Heart are of the same origin and can be considered as one.

To show me how to merge with anomalies stronger than himself, he voluntarily integrated into the Crimson Blood in front of me, and I happened to apply the Snake-man Secret Skill to the Crimson Heart..."

"So he's seen as part of the Crimson Heart and got integrated into your heart together?"

"Probably..."

"..."

After standing there silently for a while, the red-haired chief wordlessly closed his eyes, roughly guessing the causes and consequences of the snake-man's disappearance.

It was just that Leon mastered the secret technique too quickly, and then the snake-man's annoying pride got hurt, foolishly choosing the most difficult skill to control, wanting to give Leon a hard time.

As a result, Leon's talent in secret techniques was higher than he imagined, effortlessly subdued the Crimson Heart used as a "teaching aid," and accidentally "integrated" the unlucky snake-man along with it.

This is really... just teaching a secret technique, and you managed to teach yourself away? Would using a bit of common sense really kill you?

"Alright then..."

Already used to the unreliability of his old friend, the red-haired chief sighed gently and said helplessly:

"So when can you release him?"

"That's the part I'm not too clear about..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Leon shook his head, answering with the same helpless expression:

"I've only just learned the Snake-man Secret Skill a few minutes ago, I'm not that familiar with this secret technique... Actually, before you came back, I tried several times, but I could only make the snake-man come out and say a few words, the secret technique just refuses to be canceled."

Can't cancel the secret technique? How is that possible?

Upon hearing this, the red-haired chief frowned, then said with a look of confusion:

"The core of the Snake-man Secret Skill is to synchronize with the anomaly and maintain a state of not being rejected. If you stop casting it, the anomaly you're fused with should naturally reject you and directly expel you, right?"

"Um... then I think I understand what's going on..."

After hearing the red-haired chief's words, Leon blinked, then said awkwardly:

"The way I integrate with anomalies might be a little different from the version taught by the snake-man director..."

"?"

"It's just... he treats anomalies as gods, himself as a believer, infecting the anomaly through adoration, worship, and devotion, while my method is a bit more violent."

"Violent?"

"Specifically, it's stabbing with a knife."

"??"

Leon awkwardly chuckled, and under the slightly shocked expression of the red-haired chief, explained somewhat embarrassedly:

"When Lord Taurus took me to the secret vault, I actually didn't get the approval of the Crimson Heart, and even had an argument with it. At that time, I was concerned about your situation here, plus the fact that the Crimson Heart was speaking too offensively, so I couldn't resist and just stabbed it a few times..."

"A few times?"

"About over three hundred times maybe..."

"..."

Got it... It's not that the Crimson Heart isn't rejecting you, it's just that it's been stabbed from the Crimson Heart into a Crimson Sieve, so it doesn't dare to reject you, right?

Listening to Leon's ridiculous degree of bizarre operation, the red-haired chief felt a bit numb, couldn't help but rubbing his temple with a headache, and asked:

"Didn't you say the snake-man could come out and say a few words? How does the snake-man himself say?"

"He said..."

"How did you do that?!"

Just as Leon was about to relay it, the snake-man director's voice suddenly emerged from his heart, full of shock, and questioned:

"This is the heart of the God of Pillars! The bureau couldn't destroy it after so many years, and you managed to kill it fifteen times in one minute?"

"Um... not really killed."

Under the red-haired chief's surprised gaze, Leon spoke:

"Didn't the bureau conquer the Realm of the Dead? I might have killed a few too many Overlords of the Dead Realm, and together with Senior Emma, we each took half of the authority over death, able to drag whoever I killed into the end of death... you know, the big lake under the Cliff of the End."

Raising his hand for emphasis, Leon continued to explain:

"That place represents the most fundamental end, the essential embodiment of the authority of death, its status essentially equivalent to the God of Pillars' truth... Previously the Crimson Heart just wouldn't submit, even cursed at me, so I couldn't resist and dunked it in the lake a few times."

"..."

"Alright, let's not worry about how he did it anymore."

Feeling that sense of fear "from the heart" emitted by Leon's heart, the red-haired chief asked coldly:

"You understand the Snake-man Secret Skill better than Leon; do you know when you can come out?"

"Hard to say..."

Leon's "heart" jumped twice quickly upon hearing this, then answered helplessly:

"The stone tablet in the Snake Palace that records the [Abnormal Metamorphosis] secret technique only taught me how to integrate with anomalies, not how to separate from them... mostly because it doesn't need to teach that! Anomalies can't even reject humans fast enough, why would they be eager to integrate with one?"

"Can you get out then?"

"I can... but exactly when is hard to say."

The snake-man director thought for a moment, then answered uncertainly:

"The Crimson Heart does have a certain level of self-awareness; as long as you make it genuinely hostile towards the Food God, become repulsed by, reject, or even start resisting him, this state can be naturally undone."

"Then make the Crimson Heart resist!"

"The problem is, it doesn't dare!"