[{"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-183":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},2286019,4472,"Chapter 183","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-183",183,"\u003Cp>“Don’t… don’t hit me anymore…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After enduring a hellish mixed-gender “rescue” session, the freckled prince—now bruised and swollen, unconscious then revived—could take no more; he curled into a ball, hugged his head, and groaned on the ground in protest:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I… I’m still a prince! You and the Royal House have an agreement to… to guarantee our safety…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Prince Joshua, you’re speaking very untruthfully.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After shaking out his aching wrist, Li Ang, thoroughly satisfied by the “rescue,” marveled at the guy’s stubborn moral compass—he’d taken this brutal beating and still clung to his princely identity—and replied with sincere falsehood:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’re protecting your safety right now. After being rescued this long, don’t you feel better? No more of that strange feeling of being controlled or influenced?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“… ”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There never was any such feeling to begin with! I just want to know what that dream was about!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he longed to tear these two damn Cleaners into pieces, the freckled prince—having endured his first real beating—was genuinely frightened now; he bent over, wiggling his rear, and nodded frantically:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Gone! Gone! Not a trace left! I’ve never felt better in my life!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Joshua’s morals were twisted, not his intellect—he understood Li Ang’s implication perfectly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling better meant fewer beatings; feeling nothing meant he was still controlled—and needed to be “saved” again, relentlessly, until he felt better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fine then. I’m feeling pretty good too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the living porcupine finally submit, Li Ang—who’d been “rescuing” him for ages—was truly exhausted; he turned to the tall, beautiful woman beside him and asked politely:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Senior Emma, do you still need to ‘save’ him a few more times?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. I’ve calmed down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After giving Li Ang a bright smile, Senior Emma warned:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Li Ang, before you leave, treat his injuries. Otherwise, when the Bureau’s investigators come down, you won’t have a good explanation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nodding, Li Ang pulled out the [Infected Blood Bandage], forcibly pried open Joshua’s arms clutching his head, and wrapped the filthy strip twice around his skull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the healthy vitality stolen from the kitchen’s fat chicken surged in, the prince’s swollen, pig-like face shrank back to normal within seconds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally… finally over?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sensing the sudden absence of pain, Joshua reached up to touch his face; when he realized the swelling was gone, he nearly burst into tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though last night’s fall of kingdom and family was horrific, it had been a dream— Gezheyiceng , so the pain wasn’t as deep; that soul-rending regret faded slowly after waking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this beating? This was real, tangible pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In all his years, since childhood scrapes, he’d never been beaten this brutally—not even his king father had ever slapped him more than once… Ah!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>?ttkΛn?co\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tsk. What are you squirming for?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Joshua, once again slapped to the ground, dazed and clutching his face, Li Ang frowned in annoyance:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I over-treated your injuries—accidentally healed yesterday’s slap too. Yesterday and today’s beatings had different reasons; one thing at a time. So I still have to reapply that slap…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Get up! Put your hands down! Stand still! If I miss this time, I’ll have to hit you again!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Enough, enough. Let it end here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Joshua tremble, hands lowered, eyes shut, face twisted in dread as he waited for the next slap, Emma shook her head, stepped forward, and took Li Ang’s arm, pulling him\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>out of the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Emma, why’d you drag me like that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To keep you from causing more trouble!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Li Ang still seemed unsatisfied, Emma sighed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder the Director warned me before we came to keep an eye on you—you’re really…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Li Ang, even if we found a decent excuse, this will definitely draw a Bureau investigator. He already admitted he’s fine—stop now. Keep hitting him and you’ll have real problems.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t worry. I already had a reason ready before I swung.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ang smiled and explained:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t remember it myself, but his sister said she accepted my proposal. That makes me his nominal brother-in-law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A brother-in-law and brother-in-law quarrel, exchange a couple of slaps—no abnormal objects used—this is clearly a family dispute. The Bureau won’t interfere in something like this, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You can do that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emma paused, then laughed wryly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re something else… fine, you’re brilliant.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not brilliant. You’re the truly brilliant one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of Emma’s astonishing emotional stability and her calm, rational handling of crises, Li Ang sincerely praised:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m just a bit more flexible in thinking—but in actual execution, I still have so much to learn from you… By the way, Senior, your soul surged violently earlier. Did you find something?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stop calling me ‘Senior.’ It sounds ancient. I’m not much older than you—just call me Emma.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After correcting Li Ang’s address, Emma smiled warmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for discoveries… have you heard of the King of Nightmares?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“King of Nightmares?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The King of Nightmares, also called Lord of Dreams, controls the Nightmare aspect of dream power—one of the true gods worshipped by the Black Cult of Nightmares.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since its true form exists only within the dreams of sentient beings and never touches reality, even the Bureau has no way to deal with it. A very troublesome entity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After briefly explaining the King of Nightmares, Emma mused as she spoke:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Our royal ancestors once fought the King of Nightmares and drove it away multiple times, thus incurring its curses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As each direct royal descendant ages, they begin suffering frequent nightmares—re-living, again and again, their greatest regrets. The older they grow, the more regrets they accumulate, the more vivid and agonizing the dreams become. The current king fell ill from such nightmares.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So if I’m right, Prince Joshua last night endured an excruciating nightmare, which is why he suddenly lost control and acted so madly, desperate to know what the dream was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s also why I didn’t confront him at first—he endured a terrifying dream. His emotional instability is normal. Joshua has his own suffering.”\u003C\u002Fp>",983,"2026-06-20T03:18:28.556Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","6cc201c96571c33b86427e748f09658d91cb32e1c962e819a56fe0eaf69f2d90","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-184","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-182",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-the-cleanup-crew-cover.jpg"]