I! Cleaner!-Chapter 1201 - 1094: The Little Mermaid and the Missing Directors (Part 2)

"Ah? Oh oh!"

The sardonic Miss Fish, who was equally shocked by the reversal in the plot, regained her composure and quickly assessed the trio's current location. She shook her head and said:

"Actually, we don't need to look for it. We're already very close to the sea eye, and it won't take too long to dive down ourselves. Plus, mother's boat was smashed by ice blocks. Even if we find it, it might not be usable. Let's just go down directly.'

"Okay."

After agreeing with Miss Fish's words, Leon was afraid of hearing more abstract plots like 'Sleeping Young Woman,' 'Snowy Young Woman,' or 'The Little Match Girl.' He dared not linger a moment longer and led the way, diving toward the seabed.

After Leon dove down hurriedly, Miss Fish also reacted. She looked at the beautiful mermaid woman with some fear, then shouted, "Wait for me!" and quickly rolled up the sea current to follow.

"Your Majesty Wendy."

Seeing the beautiful mermaid woman left behind by the two, unable to catch up to launch a mental attack, Leon felt a slight relief and asked Miss Fish behind him:

"What were those ice blocks just now? Does this happen often?"

"No, it's the first time I've seen it."

After getting out of the mermaid woman's shameful realm, Miss Fish regained some of her usual rationality and shook her head firmly:

"At least until the last time my mother and I left the Tidal Realm, the ice layer at the seabed was still very stable without this kind of large-scale fragmentation... Hmm... but maybe there was once!"

Furrowing her brow thoughtfully, Miss Fish seemed unsure:

"During the days I attended the Twelve Kingdoms assembly, my grandpa and the other two ancestors once broke through the ice layer to check the initial freezing spot. Maybe there was such a situation then."

So now, is it possible someone is excavating the ice?

Leon raised his eyebrow slightly at the words, instinctively thinking of the two directors who had arrived at the Tidal Realm ahead of them.

Yes, the Cancer Director and Scorpio Director have been here for almost three days already. Besides probing the attitudes of the Sea Race and investigating the surrounding sea conditions and freezing speed, they're likely breaking the ice now.

Better unite with them first!

Recalling how Miss Fish and her mother spoke of the Flowing Vortex Ancestor's attitude toward humans, Leon decisively chose to change his itinerary. He didn't continue to dive toward the sea eye but adjusted his direction slightly, swimming toward where the ice blocks surfaced.

"Your Majesty Wendy, I won't go to the Tidal Realm for now."

"Ah? Why?"

Miss Fish was slightly astonished on hearing this, asking in confusion:

"Regarding the situation at the seabed, my mother and I only know a part of it. Grandpa should have more detailed records. Aren't you planning to ask him?"

"No need."

Leon shook his head and said:

"From your previous description, I feel your grandpa's attitude toward me would be worse than toward other people in the Clean-up Bureau. And since Scorpio and Cancer Directors have been to the Tidal Realm, if they couldn't obtain any information, I probably won't either.

So instead of going to your grandpa and getting nothing, I'd rather join Scorpio Director and Cancer Director, get ready-made information from them, which would be quicker."

Ah, I see.

After hearing Leon's reasoning, Miss Fish immediately understood his plans, and followed to adjust her direction, swimming toward the source of the broken ice.

Strangely enough, as if aware that someone was coming to find them, as the two dove deeper, the floating ice from the depths decreased and finally stopped surfacing altogether.

Even if large pieces of floating ice didn't continue to bombard them, Leon and Miss Fish's dive did not become easier; instead, it became increasingly difficult as they ventured further.

"No... Something is not right!"

When the two reached a spot roughly two or three hundred meters from the seabed, noticing the ice layer at the bottom had thickened to nearly twice the previous size, almost eighty meters thick, brows adorned with light frost, Miss Fish couldn't help but cross her arms over her chest, teeth chattering:

"So cold! And... and why did it suddenly become thicker?! It wasn't like this before!"

"?"

Hearing the commotion behind him, Leon turned his head to take a look, surprised to find that Miss Fish's hair tips were already covered with a layer of frost at some point.

Moreover, it wasn't just her hair — eyebrows, clothes' edges, fingertips, fish tail... all parts of Miss Fish's body that are away from the "core" were rapidly freezing.

Seeing her state, Leon thought for a moment, then opened his badge panel, removing the slot that kept flashing with a dark blue glow of [Ocean's Disaster].

And at the instant [Ocean's Disaster] was removed, a bone-chilling surge of seawater attacked abruptly, not only quickly frosting Leon's body but also making the remaining seawater in his chest and lungs exude a penetrating cold.

This was not an attack aimed at Miss Fish; the entire seabed was rapidly cooling down!

Feeling uncomfortable, Leon blew his nose to rid it of ice shards, and instead of re-equipping [Ocean's Disaster] to continue the dive, he grabbed the shivering Miss Fish, enduring the triple attack of water pressure, suffocation, and cold as he quickly swam back.

Two hundred meters, two hundred and fifty meters, three hundred meters, three hundred and fifty meters... When they met up with the equally frozen mermaid woman, and returned to about five hundred meters from the seabed, the temperature of the ocean currents finally normalized.

"How could it suddenly..."

"Wait a moment."

Waving to pause the inquiries from Miss Fish and her mother, after measuring the change with his flesh, and re-equipping [Ocean's Disaster], Leon didn't continue using his eyes to observe the pitch-black seabed, but instead closed his eyes, switching to the Black Goat's soul vision.

However, regardless of whether it was the Black Goat's soul vision or the powers from the former Heart Lake God, the seabed appeared disturbingly empty, even more desolate than the world visible to the naked eye.

Even though the seabed was not completely silent, sporadically, the heart lakes and souls of marine creatures entered Leon's vision, yet the two heart lakes that should have appeared were missing.

In Leon's dual vision, he could only see the souls of marine creatures which were weakly shimmering, and the shallow heart lakes barely holding room for emotions beyond survival and mating.

But the two directors' souls, suspected of having excavated the ice layer causing numerous ice blocks to surge upward and damaging his shell ship, were nowhere in the bottom of the ocean, completely vanished.

... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Ancestor! Lady Camilla! Something has happened!"

After gaining entry permission, the mermaid attendant rushed into the palace with a flushed face and reported to the two seated:

"The two directors of the Clean-up Bureau just broke through the seabed ice layer! Then those sent to keep watch all..."

"Suddenly lost contact, right?"

"Y-yes..."

Hearing the elderly mermaid's question, the mermaid attendant paused in confusion, then hurriedly reported:

"Not only those sent to keep watch, but even those I subsequently dispatched to find them have also lost contact! They..."

"They're not True Gods and they're far away; they're probably just frozen by the scattered aftermath, and dropped straight down."

"Ah?"

"Alright, you may leave."

Gesturing the mermaid attendant not to inquire further, Flowing Vortex Ancestor said:

"Don't worry about those frozen people; I'll personally retrieve them later. The surveillance stops here; pretend you never saw those two humans, and speak of none of these past days, understood?"

"O-okay..."

Confused by Flowing Vortex Ancestor's response, the mermaid attendant left, full of bewilderment. After the attendant departed, the woman mermaid on the slightly lower throne, looking at her delighted husband, spoke with a hint of helplessness:

"Oliver, those two directors from the Clean-up Bureau also encountered trouble; are you satisfied now?"