I! Cleaner!-Chapter 959 - 888: Filter

My face...

Upon hearing the Faceless Man's inquiry, Leon's soul fragment fell silent for a moment, not immediately responding.

The Faceless Man wasn't wrong; Leon had indeed been directly hit by the rules of Zhanhuai Mountain earlier, and he suffered quite severe effects.

After all, he had already fallen to a Contamination Value of 70 as a Taurus-level, and while the Mountain Patrol Woman was severely injured, she was still a genuine Taurus-level Overlord of the Dead Realm. It wasn't as easy to invade her Heart Lake as he had just claimed.

Without truly letting her "catch" him and creating an extremely intense emotional fluctuation, given her level of defense over her Heart Lake, he might not have been able to breach it while he was significantly weakened.

And even though he had previously touched Zhanhuai Mountain and received resistance bonuses from Materialism, being directly hit by the rules of an Overlord of the Dead Realm still cost him a lot.

Under the frightening erosion of Zhanhuai Mountain's presence, his memory, emotions, thoughts, and even cognition were affected to some extent, causing his self-awareness to become blurred.

To avoid being taken down before making a counterattack, his thoughts and awareness couldn't falter, so he deliberately guided Zhanhuai Mountain's erosion of his self towards other areas, choosing to affect his perception and memory of his appearance.

Although because the time he spent being torn at was short, he didn't forget his entire appearance, it still caused some memory blurring. Even this soul fragment, and likely the main body, was affected.

Looks like I guessed right.

After waiting for a moment and seeing Leon not refute, the Faceless Man's mouth — perhaps where his mouth would be — curled slightly, continuing to probe:

"Food God, people like you should know that the body is just a shell; the soul is the essence of you humans. Your soul fragment has already shown damage after being hit by Zhanhuai Mountain's rules.

If you can immediately return to the living world and merge with your main soul, you might recover with its nurturing. But if you stay in the Dead Realm, with the split experiences and encounters you've been through, you might truly separate from your original soul and never be able to merge again."

"..."

"Also, if I'm not mistaken, your main body may have touched the threshold of the True God but hasn't truly crossed it, right?"

"..."

"If you don't answer, I'll take that as your default admission."

Seeing the Food God, who was dominant just now, being utterly suppressed by himself in the battle of words, unable to even retort, the Faceless Man's mouth widened with an eerie expression as he continued to press:

"For your human souls, minor damages are like trivial cuts that can heal over time, but major soul damage is like a severed finger or even amputation — once lost, it's irretrievable.

Food God, although we cannot destroy your soul now, if this quarter of your soul remains in the Dead Realm, it would be akin to having two legs cut off.

And the soul is truly a person's limit; a complete soul is crucial for anyone. Damage to the soul could even affect one's understanding of the rules... Food God, with two legs left in the Dead Realm, and a quarter of your upper limit gone, do you still have the ability to cross that threshold?"

"..."

"Food God, are you not going to speak?"

What am I supposed to say?

Faced with the Faceless Man's overbearing questioning, Leon, hiding deep in the Heart Lake of the Mountain Patrol Woman, couldn't help but curl his lip, filled with disdain.

I'm not a chatterbox. Earlier, I was willing to chat to buy time, to scare you two fools into not rushing to save someone. If I keep chatting with you now, it would be pure intelligence leakage. I'd have to be crazy to engage with you further!

However, unfortunately, Leon's choice to remain silent to avoid intelligence leakage seemed to be misunderstood as guilt and hesitation.

The Faceless Man, who had "gained the upper hand" through words, seemed to be encouraged, and began to nag at the heart of the Mountain Patrol Woman. He started with some speculation and analysis, then moved on to promises and persuasion.

You're really clueless, huh.

Bothered by his noisy chatter, Leon finally couldn't help but poke his head out again after a long silence. In the surprised eyes of the three Overlords of the Dead Realm, he asked the Faceless Man:

"What did you just say?"

What did I say?

The Faceless Man paused, then responded:

"I asked... if you still aren't going to speak?"

"Not that one."

Leon shook his head:

"A bit further back."

A bit further back...

"The soul is the essence of you humans?"

"No, further back, keep going to the very beginning."

The very beginning?

Faced with Leon's strange request, the Faceless Man hesitated momentarily, then uncertainly said:

"Food God, no matter what you say, I'm sure my eyes haven't deceived me..."

"Yes, that's the one."

Leon nodded with satisfaction, then, under the flickering light of the "Words Betray" badge, disdainfully retorted to the Faceless Man:

"Your face looks like a big pancake with no eyeballs. Where did you find the nerve to say you're sure your eyes haven't deceived you? Do you turn around and take a look?"

"You?!?!?!"

...

"What did you say?!!!"

Seeing Leon with a large child's broad-brimmed hat that covered half his face, Capricorn Director dragged him back from beside the forge. The silver-haired old lady, full of fatigue, was suddenly furious.

"You left a quarter of your soul in the Dead Realm and lost contact with that part?!!"

"Well..."

Feeling the burgeoning, or rather boiling, anger of the Taurus Director, the Deathtide Card Source who had been dominating the Dead Realm a while ago couldn't help but shrink his neck, admitting sheepishly:

"But it's just left there, not really in danger... I believe that quarter of my soul, after entering the Mountain Patrol Woman's Heart Lake, was enveloped by her soul, which is why I haven't received any message, but it should be safe and shouldn't affect the main body much."

"You... you're reckless!!!"

Seeing him causing such a huge ruckus quietly, Leon single-handedly took down an Overlord of the Dead Realm with just a quarter of a soul, making Taurus Director feel both love and hate. She tried to hold back, but eventually couldn't resist, scolding him thoroughly:

"Did Olivia teach you to act like this? You're a Director now! Can you be more stable? Stop acting wild like her! That bastard's reckless behavior is beyond help, do you really have to emulate everything she does?

That silly girl isn't afraid of danger because she has the anomaly set I gave her! She thinks she's immortal! You have nothing, yet dare to go straight to the Dead Realm? You, you... you want to anger me to death?!"

"I... I had no other choice..."

Looking at the little old lady jumping in anger before him, sensing the hidden fear in her words, Leon's heart warmed, and he chose not to argue further but instead admitted his mistake:

"It won't happen again... This time, primarily through Emma Senior's anomaly, I discovered that our captured Cleaners were all being tortured, many on the verge of soul collapse, about to fall apart.

They were captured for the mission, and I couldn't just watch them suffer without doing anything, so I took the risk this once... I did indeed consider less this time. Next time if there's such a situation, I will discuss it with everyone before taking action." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Those captured Cleaners... sigh...

After hearing Leon's words, the Taurus Director, familiar with the situation in the City of Regret, couldn't help but calm down gradually. Under the astonished gaze of the Capricorn Director, she sighed helplessly and nodded:

"Indeed... You've always been kind-hearted, unable to bear seeing others suffer. After seeing the situation there, it's understandable you couldn't help but intervene, I can't blame you for that."

Capricorn Director: "..."

(눈_눈)

Alright... Just ignore me, as long as you're happy.