I! Cleaner!
Chapter 468 - 406: The Dead City and the Desert

Chapter 468: Chapter 406: The Dead City and the Desert

It’s here!

When the giant of gray mist hugged the six-layer nightmare and tried to squeeze in, even without any obvious omens, everyone in the nightmare world almost simultaneously sensed the presence of the King of Nightmares.

If one had to describe this sudden peculiar feeling, it’s like a rabbit grazing noticing the shadow of an eagle cast on the ground, or like drifting in a small boat on the sea and seeing a massive shadow approaching from beneath the waters.

Even though there was no real crisis yet, just the sense of impending danger was enough to make one’s heart sink suddenly.

If the King of Nightmares arrives first, it might be too late to rescue anyone...

Feeling the sudden liveliness around, as if something was being welcomed, the director of the Scorpio Bureau standing atop a dust-filled tower slightly frowned, and directly raised a hand to snap the neck of a pale puppet beside him.

"Crack!"

Along with the crisp sound of bone cracking, a scream emerged from a frail woman in the crowd trying to flee the gate below the tower. Her scarred, thin neck tilted to one side simultaneously with the puppet’s pale neck.

Strangely though, even with her neck suddenly broken, the frail woman didn’t die. Instead, hunching her shoulders to support her head, she sprinted towards another group of sickly-looking people.

But before she could take two steps, a blood-dripping slender sword brutally pierced through her chest, knocking her to the ground and nailing her down permanently.

With her death, the tower beneath the Scorpio Bureau director began to twist eerily. _{free\we,bnovel.c o(m)}

Next followed the scattered and terrified retreat of the crowd; doctors in black robes wearing bizarre bird-beaked masks, shouting loudly; soldiers behind wooden barricades poking at the escapees with long poles;

The filthy streets, strewn everywhere with the dead bodies; and outside the city, the ever-burning cremation ground with billows of white smoke, burning countless bodies of the plague victims...

This city being dragged into death by the plague, along with the death of the frail woman, started to twist on its own like a reflection on a lake distorted by a stone thrown in.

The next layer of nightmare should be the desert of the sandworms, right?

After killing the epidemic girl responsible for "guarding" this nightmare layer and temporarily breaking the nightmare called "City of Plagues," the Scorpio Bureau director, with a weary expression, squinted at the yellowish, scorching layer below the dead city, and sighed regretfully, stepping into the Boundless Desert below with a last glimmer of hope.

Knowing that Leon had jumped into the dream proactively, he had immediately plunged downwards with all his strength, crossing three nightmare layers in an attempt to meet up with him as quickly as possible, but ultimately was a step too late.

Unlike him, who needed to slay the corresponding world’s nightmares to escape, the King of Nightmares, as the Lord of Nightmares, could freely traverse all nightmares without hindrance.

Thus, the moment it touched the six-layer nightmare, it had already found Leon’s position, able to move directly without obstruction and reach the nightmare he was in almost instantly.

And facing the King of Nightmares, intensified by both the dream world and the Demonic Soul Abyss, and fighting on its own turf in the nightmare, even he, without the Star Palace’s blessing, would face a grim battle.

As for Leon, with his level three Cleaner capabilities, no matter how many strategies he had left, he would probably shatter upon contact; for the King of Nightmares to snuff him out would be easier than squashing a bug.

Such a promising talent... sigh... this is indeed the fate of a Cleaner.

The more stubborn and risk-taking a Cleaner’s personality is, often the greater their potential, and the faster they grow stronger. There was even a record of someone being promoted all the way to bureau chief in just five years.

Sadly, the more outstanding such talents are, the more easily they act imprudently due to excessive emotions, prematurely perishing during a task incompatible with their anomalous items, with few surviving in the end.

Someone like Leon, who, even with intense emotions, could maintain calm and rationality, only needed steady progress, patiently honing his skills for another ten to twenty years. His future would be limitless.

Yet Olivia, that damned woman, failed to fulfill the responsibilities of a bureau chief, allowing a level three Cleaner to get involved in such a True God-level task, it’s really...

Shaking his head with displeasure, the regret-filled Scorpio Bureau director wielded the slender sword in his hand, slicing open the exterior of the yellowish dream below, actively entering the Boundless Desert belonging to the sandworms.

"Boom!"

After leaving the damp and cold, rain-shrouded City of Plagues and entering the desert under the blazing sun, the scorching waves hit like a sauna, instantly evaporating any remaining moisture on him.

Once he adapted to the temperature change, through the heat waves that distorted the horizon, a familiar figure from afar quickly captured his attention.

Is that... Leon?!

Observing Leon carrying a snow woman on his back desperately fleeing on the dunes miles away, along with the gray mist giant appearing behind him, the Scorpio Bureau director’s eyes widened suddenly.

Damn it! Why, of all places, in the vast Boundless Desert? It’s too far away!

Upon spotting Leon and the King of Nightmares, the Scorpio Bureau director activated some anomalous item, letting his slender body fall backward as his shadow elongated infinitely, stretching over a thousand meters in an instant until halted by a huge sunken sandpit.

Then, the elongated shadow shot back, and when the director stood up again, he had already crossed thousands of meters, directly standing by the massive sandpit.

Got to catch up! Maybe it’s not too late yet!

No time to brush off the sand on his body, the rising Scorpio Bureau director was about to activate the anomalous item again to move towards Leon but suddenly realized neither the gray mist giant nor Leon was visible, nothing was on the distant dune.

So, it was a mirage...

Gazing at the deserted dunes afar, the director’s face sank completely.

This mirage-like phenomenon, just like the plague zones in the City of Plagues or the deep mountains of the snowy mountain range, is a "feature" of the Boundless Desert nightmare.

Its origin lies in the scales shed from the sandworms, refracting an illusory light through the dream, letting people see what they most desire to see at present, luring them to move towards that seemingly reachable goal.

However, once enticed by the mirage, they would continually dehydrate on the move, eventually collapsing in the vast endless sand sea, becoming a dry corpse buried by yellow sand, experiencing the reality they see but never reaching it.

"Phew..."

Exhaling a breath of disappointment, the director turned back to the path, activating the anomaly used for traveling again.

Mirage is a mirage...

Judging by Leon’s surroundings in the mirage, he should also be in the Boundless Desert, but with such an enormous area, spanning all six nightmares and more, there’s no time to reach him.

Since he couldn’t save him, he might as well use the dune mirage to witness his end, which would be his tribute as a Cleaner to a brave fellow Cleaner.

With such thoughts, he elongated his shadow, returning to the position he entered the Boundless Desert from, and solemnly watched the location where the dune mirage appeared, yet...

"Huh?"

Watching the mirage, where Leon punched the King of Nightmares’ toe, causing both him and the gray mist giant to twist their faces and scream in pain, the Scorpio Bureau director’s eyes opened to their limits, almost bulging out.

"Huh???????"