[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-m-the-cleanup-crew":3,"chapter-i-m-the-cleanup-crew-i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-144":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I'm the Cleanup Crew!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2285980,4472,"Chapter 144: 143 A False Life","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-144",144,"\u003Cp>Tell me what happened these past few years?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though she desperately did not want to answer, Anna glanced toward her brother and sister’s room, bit her lip, then nodded with obvious difficulty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright… where should I begin?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Start from when you received the item.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black-robed figure said calmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Six years ago, after your parents passed away, I came to deliver the developed photos and noticed you possessed a certain ‘potential.’ I then casually gave you a small favor. What happened after that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What happened after that…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Anna bit her lip again, her face pale as she said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After that… I did regain a family, as you said—but… not the kind I wanted…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black-robed figure raised an eyebrow with interest and pressed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Could you elaborate?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s… when I spoke to that photo, wishing for my family to return, what appeared in the house wasn’t my parents—but a boy about my age.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recalling the moment, Anna’s eyes filled with complexity:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When he saw me, he claimed to be my brother. I thought he was insane, got terrified, and frantically chased him out—then kept speaking to the photo you gave me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I said I wanted my parents back, that I wanted to have a family again—but what appeared wasn’t them, only two swaddled infants…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I see… So back then, you didn’t fully believe me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black-robed figure shook his head, sounding regretful:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You were a slightly precocious, calm, and rational child. By then, you already understood death deeply—you knew your parents could never return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even after I told you that the family photo was an unparalleled miracle, capable of restoring your family, and even showed you a glimpse of my power, you still didn’t fully believe me. Deep down, you were certain it could never bring your parents back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of your doubt and distrust, the seed I left in the photo did not hatch to recall your parents, but veered into an unknown direction—and thus the outcome deviated. What a pity.”?!?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing the black-robed figure’s words, Anna felt dizzy, a chilling, piercing cold crashing into her heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So… if I had believed you enough back then, could I really have brought them back?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, still impossible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black-robed figure shook his head again:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Life and death are not entirely irreversible—but the conditions required are unimaginably strict. Making someone ‘not die’ is easy; bringing back someone already dead is astonishingly difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though your ‘talent’ is exceptional, it’s still insufficient to break through the barrier between life and death. But had you fully trusted me, you might have summoned lingering echoes of your parents—or created two puppets.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But… aren’t those still fake?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, they’re fake—but you were under ten at the time. Even two empty puppets shaped like your parents would have fulfilled your wish. So I didn’t lie to you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After answering Anna’s question without changing expression, the black-robed figure noticed the “test subject” had gone awry. His previously polite demeanor instantly grew visibly colder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Glancing toward the inner room, peering through the wall at the two children inside, he frowned slightly, displeased:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems not only your brother, but the other two also have no blood relation to you—and they aren’t false creations. They’re all genuine, complete human beings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So you received a seed ranked within the top ten, yet what it ultimately produced was merely finding a few children\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>who resembled your parents, then forcibly erasing their pasts, stealing their original lives, and making them play pretend with you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I… I didn’t want this! I never meant to do this!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the black-robed figure’s “accusation,” Anna’s deepest guilt was ripped open. Her face turned deathly pale, every trace of color vanishing instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After I realized something was wrong, I tore it up immediately and took my brother and Melanie to the police, trying to help them return to their real families—but… everyone’s memories seemed changed!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dizzy and reeling, Anna gripped the doorframe to steady her trembling body, her lips whitened as she struggled to explain:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The police asked neighbors—they said our family had always been four children. City officials checked records and confirmed they were truly my siblings. Even our home had baby items, and old photos now showed three additional children!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I… I never wanted to steal someone else’s family! I tried to explain! But no one believed me—they all thought I’d gone mad from grief over my parents’ deaths in battle. I couldn’t find their real families, so… so I…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>City records, neighbor memories, daily traces… everything had been rewritten?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, the black-robed figure’s furrowed brow eased slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the result had clearly gone astray, utterly unlike the anomaly he’d envisioned, this thing—directly intervening in existence itself, forcibly altering someone’s life—must possess an extremely high rank. It wasn’t a waste of the No. 7 seed’s power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, though this test subject met the rank requirement, her ability was still not what he wanted. And “that” time was drawing near—no more than a year left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If within a year he still couldn’t create the corresponding anomaly, even if he succeeded in dealing with the Blood-Haired Lady of *** Bureau and destroyed what she’d sealed atop *** Bureau’s top floor, it would all be for nothing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Forget it…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking this, the black-robed figure, now listless, shook his head, adjusted his hat, and said politely but coldly to Anna:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have no more questions. I’ve disturbed you long enough…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh, one more thing—since you’ve lost the item I gave you, when I find it, I’ll reclaim it. You have no objection, I assume?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the black-robed figure’s words, though knowing he possessed power she could never resist, the frail girl summoned courage, gripping the doorframe to ask:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you take the item away… then… what about Li Ang and Melanie and the others?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’ll return to their original families, and all memories of these years will be erased. No one except you will remember any of this happened.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Anna collapse to the floor with a thud, her eyes instantly drained of light, as if she had become nothing but a fragile shell wearing human form, the black-robed figure’s cold, tear-streaked face finally broke into a genuine smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t worry. When I retrieve the item, I’ll correct the mistakes you’ve made. Isn’t that exactly what you wanted?”\u003C\u002Fp>",1054,"2026-06-20T03:18:28.556Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","36dc79f913c23dd349c264829c17fc55d0844e6329fa5d048ad622e7aa01d1c2","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-145","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-143",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-the-cleanup-crew-cover.jpg"]