I! Cleaner!-Chapter 960 - 889: Now I’m Too Ashamed to Face Anyone

Considering that this situation indeed has its reasons, and that things haven't reached the worst stage yet, Taurus director decided not to press Leon about his reckless actions with the tower, instead turning to Leon whose face was partly covered by his hat, and asked with some concern:

"Leon, what's going on with your face?"

"It's actually nothing much..."

Seeing Taurus director inquire about his face, Leon hesitated slightly before raising a hand to lift the brim of his hat and said:

"When I was fighting with the Mountain Patrolling Woman earlier, I was locked by Zhanhuai Mountain's rules for a few seconds, and she pulled away some part of my self 'cognition', causing a bit of an impact on my face..."

Cognition damage?!

Seeing Leon's slightly blurred facial features, as if covered by a thin veil, Taurus director's expression tightened.

"What about besides your face? Is there any other damage to your soul?"

"No."

Shaking his head slightly, Leon pulled down the brim of his hat again and said:

"I was only locked for a short time by Zhanhuai Mountain, apart from the impact on my face, none of the truly important things were eroded... Lord Taurus, I really haven't suffered any harm, let's discuss the issues regarding the Realm of the Dead first."

"Alright then..."

Carefully observing Leon's face and noticing it was only slightly blurred, which could barely be considered a "superficial wound", Taurus director finally felt relieved, but still gave a serious warning:

"Even though it's not a big deal and will likely heal over time, anything involving the soul is no small matter, so you should still be cautious... Oh right!" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

At this point, Taurus director seemed to remember something, furrowed his brows, then sternly advised:

"Remember, until your soul is fully repaired, do not look in the mirror... If you really have to, then try not to look too much."

Huh? Not look in the mirror?

Hearing this, Leon was taken aback for a moment, then somewhat puzzled he asked back:

"Why not look in the mirror? Are you worried that after seeing my somewhat blurred face in the mirror too much, I might completely forget what I originally looked like?"

"That's right."

Taurus director nodded, a bit ruefully, and said:

"It was about a hundred years ago, back then the Gemini director also suffered from cognition stripping, which led to facial damage like yours.

But he was a handsome man who took pride in his appearance, constantly unable to resist checking in the mirror to see if he was recovering, but after looking too often he couldn't remember what he used to look like, and ended up living his whole life with that blurred face.

So you must be careful, don't make the same mistake he did... hmm... You might want to carry a picture of yourself, so whenever you can't remember what you look like, you can take it out and have a look to deepen the impression, that way you might recover a bit faster."

A picture to carry along?

After hearing Taurus director's advice, Leon nodded, keeping it in mind, and decided to get Veronica's royal painter to make one when he got back, before eagerly asking:

"I've got it... Lord Taurus, how did the investigation from Sagittarius director go on over there? Could you ask if Emma and the others have returned safely from the Realm of the Dead?"

"Not yet."

A weary voice sounded from a distance; the large mirror in the main hall of Taurus Pavilion wavered, revealing the stern and square face of Sagittarius director.

Glancing at Leon with the wide-brimmed hat, the Sagittarius director in the mirror slightly shifted, revealing the sky behind him, entirely blocked by Crow reports, then with a somewhat helpless expression said:

"The Black and White Bridge has been moved by the Faceless Man, Grandma Crow-eye has released all the Crow reports, and Yellow Springs has been self-dug and cut off by Cavity-winding Worm, while No Return Path was severed in several closed-off 'locations', the way back to the living world has been blocked off, they probably can't come back for now."

How could this happen?!

Hearing this, Leon's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked:

"Why?"

Why, you ask... because of what you did, don't you see that?

Sagittarius director seemed provoked by Leon's questioning, took several deep breaths to regain composure, then with not a very pleasant expression answered:

"Because someone took less than half a day to brutally slaughter an Overlord of the Dead Realm, knocked the entire City of Regret into the bottom of the Ghostly Mire, dragged two million deceased along deep inside, and then kicked down half the Zhanhuai Mountain, nearly killing the Mountain Patrolling Woman and the Incarnated Doe..."

"..."

Summing up Leon's combat achievements, and looking at the speechless Leon on the other side of the mirror, Sagittarius director couldn't help but scold with a darkened face:

"If you were those Overlords of the Dead Realm, would you not run upon hearing such news? Would they just wait on the No Return Path to be slaughtered by you? They're dead, but they're not stupid!"

"..."

Seems... true, doesn't it?

"Alright, alright, everyone calm down."

Seeing Leon's face slightly reddened from the scolding, with an awkward expression, Taurus director couldn't help but intervene to mediate:

"Ultimately, it's the issue with the Wailing Puppet. If it hadn't tormented our people, Leon wouldn't have gone down to deal with it, so even though Leon was a bit impulsive this time, his heart was in the right place... What's the situation on your side?"

"Over here... the situation's not good."

Setting aside Leon's unauthorized actions for now, closing his eyes slightly, Sagittarius director adjusted the mirror to show the chaotic scene in the Realm of the Dead, describing with a bit of dread:

"The second half of the situation is unclear, but on the first half of the No Return Road, all Overlords not at the Pillar God level have abandoned their territories, leaving all the deceased trapped on the road.

And those ordinary deceased without special abilities or significant regrets, from entering the Gate of the Deceased till they fall from the Cliff of the End, it typically takes about three years.

If the latter half of the Realm is in the same nearly stagnant state as the first, there are now roughly eighty to ninety million deceased stuck on the No Return Path, and if we include those hard-to-'purify' deceased..."

At this, Sagittarius director paused, then looking at the endless procession of deceased below with an extremely grim face said:

"The total number of deceased currently stuck on the No Return Path may have already surpassed a billion."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Facing the appalling figures summed up by Sagittarius director, the three on the other side of the mirror couldn't help but fall silent.

The Administration of Cleanliness had always shown retreats toward the Overlords of the Dead Realm repeatedly, even the most powerful third generation didn't bring them all down in one go, fearing exactly this kind of situation.

If the Overlords really all ran off, leaving the deceased on the road unattended, and this near billion group of deceased were blocked in the Realm for a year, the new births in the living world would decrease by twenty to thirty million, and if things went worse, unable to end swiftly and entering a stalemate...