I! Cleaner!-Chapter 995 - 914: Bold Reforms, More Axes and Blades

"Well... Leon..."

Floating right above the City of Regret, watching tens of thousands of souls shouting rhythmically, trying to excavate the City of Regret from the swamp, Taurus director couldn't help but say with a tense face:

"Wasn't the City of Regret sunk by you? Why are you digging it out now? And since you are almost half an Overlord of the Dead Realm, if you did it yourself, it should be faster than them, right?"

"It's different."

Leon shook his head in response.

"I only control half of the powers of death, so without breaking the fundamental rules of the Dead Realm, I can only transform half of it. For things that others can do, it's better to let them handle it, even if it's slower.

As for why we're excavating the City of Regret... Not all departed souls can completely let go of their regrets. They still need a place to stay, and I've recruited quite a few employees for the Netherworld Bureau; they can't work all the time, they need some other form of life. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

If we excavate the City of Regret and the ruins of Spirit Stepping Square, then clean them up nicely, one can be used for their living, and the other can host shops and entertainment, so they don't live—or die—too bored."

"But... isn't this a bit too good?"

After squinting and observing the souls below, and seeing the vitality on their pale, deathly faces that almost rivals the living, Cancer director couldn't help but comment with a complex expression:

"Leon, according to your plan, the future life of souls in the Dead Realm might not be worse than in the living world. Making the Dead Realm so pleasant, will the dead still be willing to journey to the Cliff of the End?"

"They will be."

Having likely thought this question through long ago, Leon, while modifying some rules of the City of Regret, calmly explained:

"True souls have no bodies, no senses; everything is merely 'perception' by the soul. This kind of existence cannot compare to 'being alive' itself.

Moreover, from the moment souls enter the Dead Realm, it constantly erodes away the parts of them that belong to the 'living.' It's just that the speed is slower than in the original locations, but this is a basic rule of the Dead Realm, and I cannot change it either... By the way."

When he got to this point, Leon seemed to remember something and turned to look at the Taurus director beside him.

"Lord Taurus, can the way our bureau selects Cleaners be changed?"

"Ah?"

Not expecting Leon to already be eyeing another basic policy of the Cleaning Bureau right after finishing a slew of major changes, the two directors couldn't help but shudder, feeling a bit anxious as they asked:

"Do you... have another new idea?"

"Actually, I've had this idea for a long time."

After pondering for a moment, Leon spoke earnestly:

"Lord Taurus, Lord Cancer, to be honest, I've always thought that the methods our bureau's Cleaners use to perform their tasks have had significant problems."

Oh dear... here we go again?

Hearing this extremely familiar sentence pattern, the two directors couldn't help but feel a shiver down their spines.

Not long after saying this last time, Aquarius had torn apart the millennium tradition of "suppression first" in the Cleaning Bureau, then began kneading the Dead Realm, turning the originally terrifying and eerie world unrecognizable, and subsequently proposed increasingly outrageous plans.

And now he was targeting the personnel selection method and execution approach in the bureau, perhaps...

"Why not just abolish the original model entirely!"

"..."

I knew it! X2

After making a proposal completely in line with the two directors' "expectations," Leon earnestly explained:

"Lord Taurus, Lord Cancer, our current selection method, while able to quickly discover those with extreme personalities and thoughts, and thus those who generate anomalies.

But precisely because of this selection method, many of our Cleaners are criminals who have committed heinous acts. Even if they now stand at the frontline of protecting humanity, their methods in handling matters are quite ruthless, often disregarding the lives of ordinary people, leading to large-scale casualties that could have been avoided."

"Sigh... there is indeed an issue there..."

Cancer director sighed slightly, frowning deeply:

"However, I still don't agree with your idea because if the bureau imposes restrictions and prohibits the use of excessive measures, the mortality rate among Cleaners will surely soar, leading to more problems."

"I understand your point."

Nodding to Cancer director, Leon calmly countered:

"I don't intend to use this as a reason to tie the Cleaners' hands, forcing them to choose incredibly dangerous options that might reduce casualties but could harm more people.

I just hope to change the selection method and add a few small rules so that future Cleaners might be a bit more 'humane,' and when faced with dilemmas, they can manage to make choices that are a bit more 'human.'"

"So... how do you plan to do it?"

"First of all, expanding the scope of 'inspections,' using large-scale inspections to replace the method of pulling people from prison."

After organizing his thoughts, Leon looked at Taurus director:

"Lord Taurus, can you forge something with a large sensing range that can conduct periodic extensive inspections of human Leon Value anomalies?"

"It's possible..."

Taurus director hesitated upon hearing this.

"But such things are not only resource-intensive but also temporarily increase ordinary people's Leon Value. If the inspections are too frequent... hmm... I understand."

Glancing at the City of Regret below, an enlightened look appeared in Taurus director's eyes.

In the past, we didn't use this method of finding people because we were worried about accidentally 'creating' a large number of anomaly holders, causing more anomalous disasters. But if Leon's transformation plan works, this kind of small, repeated 'micro-immersion' is actually a good thing, potentially producing more Cleaner candidates.

"I'll start trying as soon as I get back!"

"Thank you for your hard work."

Nodding towards Taurus director, Leon glanced at the still frowning Cancer director and continued:

"As for the issue of Cleaners' methods being too harsh, I think we can address it by integrating it with the current Dead Realm... Although too many restrictions can't be made for now, we can use 'incentives' to regulate their behavior."

"Incentives?"

"In essence, it's a reward and punishment system, though given Cleaners differ significantly from ordinary people, the rewards and penalties need to change accordingly."

Glancing at the City of Regret, gradually revealing itself below, Leon mused aloud:

"Lord Cancer, I've observed that although most Cleaners are extreme and stubborn, they actually have considerable regrets, many of which involve family.

So what if our Netherworld Bureau added a rule stating that Cleaners who join the bureau, maintain outstanding 'evaluations,' and have no malicious misconduct, can regularly visit deceased relatives, and if they accumulate enough merit, even resurrect them..."