I! Cleaner!-Chapter 992 - 911: Leon’s Plan (Part 1)

The eighteenth layer... of hell?!?!?!

Seeing Leon, who seemed to have had some peculiar "switch" triggered, suddenly brimming with enthusiasm, the two board members who were dragged up became tense all over, their hearts, which had just calmed down not long ago, skipped a beat.

While the methods the Realm of the Dead uses to "handle" the deceased do seem excessively cruel... but this eighteenth layer of hell doesn't sound much better than the original, does it?

"You've misunderstood, the hell I'm talking about isn't one everyone has to go to; there's obviously a series of evaluations first, and only the wicked are thrown in."

Glancing at the two board members who seemed a bit overwhelmed, Leon, holding "administrator rights" for the first time, couldn't help but suppress his eager desire to replicate, taking the initiative to explain:

"Before we took over the Realm of the Dead, humans had to suffer here in vain after death. If even after we take over, they still suffer here in vain, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

So my thought is, we either do nothing, or if we do, we should go all the way. We should find a way to completely 'bind' the Realm of the Dead and the living world together, or even make it part of the rules of the living world!"

Make the Realm of the Dead part of the rules of the living world?

Following this train of thought for a bit, the Taurus board member, who was fairly familiar with Leon's "habits," vaguely grasped something and asked, frowning:

"You mean... abandon the concealment of the 'existence' of the Realm of the Dead so that the living world completely knows about its existence?"

"Yes."

Leon nodded, his eyes quite determined as he said:

"Cognition is world. Since the Ten Offsprings of the Great Hall could separate part of the world from the living world through their clan's consensus, we can naturally do the reverse. I propose to perhaps loosen some of the powers of the [Illusion Can], letting the message of the existence of the Realm of the Dead spread in the living world.

And when the consensus becomes, 'the souls after death must go to the Realm of the Dead, then return to the living world,' there is a high probability that the Realm of the Dead, which was originally separate from the living world, will slowly approach and eventually bind with it completely."

"This is indeed possible... but what good does it do?"

Habitually rubbing his big belly, the Cancer board member expressed confusion:

"The more 'anomalies' that ordinary people come into contact with, the higher their 'Leon Value' becomes, and the more likely it is for anomalous events to occur or be triggered, necessitating more Cleaners to handle them..."

"But after doing this, more Cleaners can also be born, which will equally strengthen the power of the Cleaning Bureau!"

Looking at the expressions of the two board members, Leon organized his thoughts for a moment and then seriously spoke:

"Sir Taurus, Sir Cancer, to be frank, I actually believe there's always been a big problem with our bureau's attitude towards anomalies and anomalous events in the past.

Our thoughts and actions regarding newly born anomalies and events have always been focused on how to suppress the situation and how to quickly eliminate the influence. This approach is too passive, and with the current manpower, it's simply not manageable.

So instead of trying to minimize everyone's Contamination Value and chasing after the outbreaks of anomalous events to extinguish them everywhere, it might be better to slightly loosen some of the suppression and conversely increase the number of potential Cleaners."

"Leon... actually, the idea you propose has already been tried by our bureau's predecessors before, but the result was not very good."

The Taurus board member sighed, looking none too pleased as he said:

"There was once a honeymoon period between the bureau and the Moonfolk. The eighth-generation Ophiuchus board member temporarily lifted the concealment of the blood moon for a month, allowing it to shine on the land for 3-5 seconds at midnight each day, raising some citizens' Leon Value by about 0.5.

The purpose was to foster a group of Cleaners, and by the end of the year, the number of level three Cleaners at the Ophiuchus Sub-bureau did increase by 30%, but anomalous events simultaneously surged by 200%, and most of them were 'malignant,' causing considerable casualties.

After that, this kind of attempt was completely halted, and the eighth-generation Ophiuchus board member was dismissed and sent to guard the Astral Realm for over eighty years, never returning before passing away..."

So the Cleaning Bureau had previously made similar attempts?

Somewhat surprised, Leon glanced at the Taurus board member, then briefly fell silent before tentatively speaking:

"Sir Taurus, could it be that the reason the eighth-generation Ophiuchus board member didn't succeed wasn't due to his flawed thinking, but rather the problem lies with the world itself?"

"???"

"Sir Taurus, did you know that in most of the Kingdoms of the living world, the majority of people actually live very hard lives? Just living stably is difficult for them."

After organizing his thoughts a bit, Leon flipped through the mirror world, found a wristwatch with six hands, and handed it over while patiently explaining:

"I've studied the Abnormal Genesis Sorcery of the Aquarius Palace, so I have some understanding of the birth of anomalies... According to the theories of Aquarius Secret Techniques, the birth of most anomalies requires meeting certain conditions.

A past filled with suffering or a great future, a special soul or body, intense emotions or an obsessive personality—each of these three sets of traits must contain at least one, and the capability and tendency of the anomalies birthed are inevitably related to these traits.

And for those involved in that attempt, the most easily assembled formula for birthing anomalies is [painful experiences] + [body exposed to the blood moon] + [explosive negative emotions], and the anomalies born through this negative formula naturally have negative effects."

Having gained abilities surpassing ordinary humans, they would naturally not immediately forget their past suffering, but would begin to instinctively retaliate wildly until they are in turn contaminated by anomalies, ultimately losing control completely and becoming indiscriminate anomalies that attack everyone..."

"I see!"

Hearing this, the Cancer board member who had been frowning in contemplation couldn't help but brighten in realization.

"You mean to use the situation in that hell to promote the concept that people must suffer for their evil deeds after death, thus intimidating the living into reducing their evil acts, thereby decreasing the prevalence of negative trait anomalies?"

"Not intimidation, but a warning! Or you could call it deterrence!"

Adjusting the too blunt wording of the Cancer board member, Leon, with gleaming eyes, added:

"Moreover, the deterrence of the Realm of the Dead alone isn't enough; we also need to leverage the bureau's influence over the royal families of various kingdoms, requiring them to improve the current situation. Otherwise, it would just be a stopgap measure.

After all, the root of the problem is with the royal families... Well... it's due to the overly arduous lives most people lead. As long as this issue isn't resolved, the majority of newly born anomalies will still be malignant."