CHAPTER 659: CHAPTER 595: MUSHROOMS AND CHICKEN

"Director, it’s not that we don’t believe you."

Abigail, a girl in white, pursed her lips and then asked somewhat unhappily:

"But even if Leon from the Virgin Branch is as strong as you say, and does participate in this assessment, we surely can’t get first place, but passing the assessment shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

"..."

This isn’t a question of passing or not... You haven’t dealt with that guy; you have no idea how terrifying he really is. There are no small matters around him!

A seemingly peaceful investigation task, and yet the noise escalated more and more. I blinked my eyes, and crack! The Crolock Kingdom was burned away! The Twelve Kingdoms became eleven!

And in that previous support action, originally we were just resisting the invasion of the Demonic Soul Abyss, and driving the King of Nightmares back was supposed to be it. But ended up not only killing the King of Nightmares but half of the Dream Realm was gone too!

If the King of Nightmares is humanity’s nightmare, his impulsive destruction of half of the Dream Realm made him the collective nightmare of all Dream Realm creatures. You go to the Dream Realm with such a phenomenon, and you think you can come out unscathed?

"You don’t understand the situation! Sigh..."

After rubbing his eyebrows, constrained by Leon’s actions, which are mostly fourth-tier infiltration tasks, unable to disclose the situation, the Scorpio Director had to take a detour to persuade:

"Really, don’t go. Besides Leon’s ridiculously strong personal strength that you can’t match, there’s also the issue with the Virgin Branch.

That insidious woman bears grudges, and four of you defected from the Virgin Branch. From what I know of Olivia, she’s definitely going to take the opportunity to vent some anger, letting that Leon..."

"Director! We’re not afraid!"

Upon hearing the Scorpio Director mention the Virgin Branch, one of the Cleaners stepped forward, furrowing his bushy brows with a hint of anger and said:

"The assessment in the Dream Realm is just on consciousness; even if Leon is strong, at most we’ll run into him in the second assessment and he might beat us up, but it won’t cause actual harm.

And by the time the third practical assessment begins, the eight of us will team up, with one Level 1 and four Level 2 working together, can he really take all of us out in one go?"

"..."

I don’t know if he can take all of you out, but according to Ruben and Frankie, Leon faced an assault from the Gemini Branch Cleaners and took under five minutes to take out over twenty heads from the Gemini Branch - among them were Cleaners at about your level, seven or eight of them...

"Alright then..."

Knowing that if he ordered them not to participate, they would ultimately choose to comply. But seeing these subordinates who, instead of being stubborn, seemed bent on getting punched, the Scorpio Director sighed helplessly and waved his hand:

"I’ve said what I can, and since you’re determined to go, I won’t stop you... But although the assessment is in the Dream Realm, at most you’ll suffer a mental setback, no real danger will befall any of you. Still, I personally suggest you stay away from that Leon."

"We’re not..."

"We’ll be careful!"

Abigail interrupted the white-brow Cleaner’s remark, nodded, and accepted the Scorpio Director’s advice. Then raised her head slightly and said:

"However, Director! We are seasoned Cleaners with tens or hundreds of tasks under our belts; we’ve walked this far on the knife-edge of life and death. We believe we won’t be inferior to anyone!"

"..."

Great, not a single word got through.

Seeing that after his earnest persuasion, not only did they not start backing down, but they stood tall and proud with eyes seemingly burning with a flame, the Scorpio Director felt three parts gratified and seven parts regretful, and sighed deeply.

The gratification naturally lies in their commendable morale. For a Cleaner, caution and rationality are important, yet when faced with adversity, the courage to forge ahead undeterred by threats is the most crucial trait and what he admires the most.

Although aside from Abigail, their aptitudes can only be described as decent, with such vibrant and striving spirits, as long as they don’t accidentally perish on the task, their future achievements will undoubtedly be significant, and his Scorpio Branch will likely boast several more Level 1 Cleaners.

As for the regret... After this promotion assessment, being severely crushed by a real maniac, who knows how much of this rare spirit they would retain...

"Alright, go on then, sigh..."

Gazed with immense sorrow at his beloved subordinates and at the already setting sun in the sky, the Scorpio Director had no choice but to reach inside his pocket, took out the [Dream-Playing Colorful Fungus] spraying rainbow-colored spores, and handed one to each of the eight Cleaners eager to participate, solemnly advising:

"Please be safe, if you can’t win, just concede, don’t push yourself too hard!"

...

[Name: Dream Fungus Spore Strain (Dream Homing, Life of Bubble Shadow)]

[Appearance: Colorful mushroom the thickness of a thumb, the upper side of the cap is a constant flow of otherworldly hues, while the underside is a hazy night visible only when eyes are shut. If bitten after sunset, it will continuously erupt colorful spore clouds]

[Ability: Dream Homing, Life of Bubble Shadow]

[Cost: Consumption leads to a hard-to-awaken slumber until Dream Homing ends, or Life of Bubble Shadow triggers]

[File: A special plant growing deep in Paradise Lost of the Dream Realm. Consuming the spore strain forcibly induces dreaming, granting immunity to all harm before waking.

The mother plant can split spore strains and act as a "beacon", drawing the minds of all those who’ve consumed spore strains. It also has the ability to ’erase’ all dreams.

Since the Goddess of Pleasure Dreams became trapped in her own dream, causing large-scale collapse in Paradise Lost, the remaining thirty-plus Dream-Playing Colorful Fungus mother plants were all harvested and stored by the Clean-up Bureau without exception]

[Evaluation: Dinner had just begun when suddenly the chicken in the pot inexplicably kicked aside the adjacent colorful mushroom and donned overalls to play basketball]

[Contamination Value: 2.5]

"..."

What is all this random stuff...

After reading the [Dream-Playing Colorful Fungus] explanation, confirming that the thing posed no danger, Leon lay on the second-floor sofa of the Virgin Branch, pulled the little blanket given by the Director to cover his navel, and at the moment the sun set outside the window, tossed the colorful little mushroom into his mouth.

Honestly, it does taste quite fresh; might be good for chicken stew.

This was Leon’s last thought before closing his eyes, and when he next opened them, the world before him had completely changed.

Above him was no longer the plaster ceiling of the second-floor meeting room but instead a deep night sky like flowing ink, along with a dazzling galaxy composed of countless colorful bubbles.

Numerous marvelous, picturesque, vividly colored dreams were encapsulated in bubbles of the same hue as the [Dream-Playing Colorful Fungus], floating and sinking within the terrifically low galaxy overhead, seemingly within reach.