Chapter 221

"A wise decision."

After bowing slightly to the Director of the Cleanup Bureau, the Aquarius Director left his seat and walked slowly toward the massive cage at the center of the hall.

As he drew near, the twenty-sided prison formed by thirty brilliant golden beams slowly opened, revealing the true form of the colossal creature within.

"Hssss..."

Accompanied by a strange shriek echoing through everyone's soul, the ugly demon resembling a giant soft-bodied octopus rapidly "unfolded," instantly spreading across nearly a quarter of the hall.

Immediately afterward, a mouth resembling a nautilus's beak slowly opened, and hundreds of slender tongues, each adorned with purple-red tubercles, twisted like a tangle of bizarre sea serpents, lashing out toward everyone around.

"Behave!"

With a shout, the Aquarius Director interlaced his fingers and pressed down hard on the spread-out Brain-Eater.

A muffled, thunderous crash rang out—the thirty-meter-tall demon, as if crushed by an impossibly heavy weight, slammed violently onto the floor of the hall and let out a pained moan.

Spirit-Suppressing Fork Technique... a secret art unique to the Aquarius lineage, used exclusively to subdue imprisoned True Gods.

Watching the Aquarius Director casually press down and forcibly subdue a Divine-rank Brain-Eater, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau narrowed his eyes slightly, a flicker of admiration in his gaze.

The secret art developed by the first Aquarius was truly formidable—once a True God's authority was sealed, no matter how powerful its physical form, a single gesture could effortlessly suppress it.

The only regret was the high threshold—no one besides this generation's Aquarius had yet mastered it...

A pity.

Watching the Aquarius Director, who had released the Brain-Eater's tongues and now deliberately stepped forward to receive their licks, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

If this were merely about secretly manufacturing anomalies, there might still be room to maneuver—but this concerned the safety of the Watch Palace. No matter how gifted this generation's Aquarius might be, if the memories extracted proved faulty, his fate would be...

Hm?

As if noticing something amiss, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau frowned.

When the Brain-Eater had "unfolded," to prevent the four relocated individuals from being crushed, he had immediately shifted the main platform backward and shielded them behind himself.

But these people hadn't stayed safely behind him—they were craning their necks to peek, and that cleanup officer named Li Ang had even stealthily reached out and grabbed the Divine-rank Brain-Eater's rear end.

"Zzz..."

【Encountered... Materialist... Information】

【Name: The Ruminant Memory-Eater (Memory, Corruption)】

【Appearance: Approximately thirty meters in size, a giant demon resembling a soft-bodied squid, identical to a normal adult Divine-rank Brain-Eater】

【Ability: Memory Reading】

【Cost: None】

【File: A Divine-rank demon that descended upon the Sai-O Kingdom of the Thousand Sails nine hundred years ago through an accidentally opened Abyssal Rift, causing unimaginable casualties; the Sai-O Kingdom's Unanchored Vessel #0137 was nearly obliterated by it.】

After ravaging Sai-O for three months and devouring nearly one hundred thousand memories, this Divine-rank Brain-Eater was ultimately captured by the Pisces and Aquarius Divisions of the Cleanup Bureau and handed over to the contemporary Taurus Director for modification, during which its...】

【After a series of procedures, the demon's authority was stripped, its emotions and intellect purged, leaving only the instinct to consume memories. It was preserved as a special anomaly for memory extraction, stored in the underground vaults of the Cleanup Bureau headquarters ever since.】

【Evaluation: An exceptionally potent anomaly—its fleshy, spirit-like tentacle tongues can effortlessly penetrate any sentient being's brain, extracting memories by licking its cerebral grooves. Due to its extremely high rank, even True Gods cannot resist its memory reading...】

【Contamination Level: 59. 】

This thing... is real.

And so is the nausea... and the deadly threat.

After secretly touching the Divine-rank Brain-Eater's rear end and gaining information about it through 【Materialist】, Li Ang felt a chill crawl up his spine.

Leaving aside whether his own "transmigration" memories might be read, just the thought of those slimy, disgusting tongues slithering into his brain and licking around was enough to make him want to die.

Watching the clusters of tongues burrow into the Aquarius Director's skull, their purple-red tubercles scraping something outward, Li Ang shuddered violently.

If the Aquarius Director wasn't bluffing and truly had a way to deceive them, then the ones being licked inside the brain would soon be him and the Director! And judging by the Aquarius Director's bulging veins and convulsing body, the memory extraction experience must be excruciating...

No! Absolutely not! He had to think of a way—fast—to ensure the Aquarius Director couldn't use his trick!

Seeing the "Corruption" tag in the name 【The Ruminant Memory-Eater】 and recalling 【I Am the Demon】, which could forcibly control 【Corruption】 anomalies, Li Ang clenched his fist tightly, then extended his sinful right hand again, ready to give the Aquarius Director a double layer of trouble.

But at that moment, a cold voice came from ahead.

"Stop."

Watching Li Ang, who had already touched the Brain-Eater's rear end and now intended to touch it again, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau frowned and asked:

"Why are you constantly touching her rear?"

"..."

Good grief, after it unfolded, it looked like a giant sliced-open octopus—how the hell did you tell head from ass?

Suppressing an internal scoff, Li Ang retracted his hand and gave a nervous, "honest" reply:

"My ability allows me to forcibly obtain partial information about an anomaly through touch. After hearing the Aquarius Director's words, I feared he might cheat during memory extraction, so I wanted to check if this thing had any weaknesses..."

Look for weaknesses in this thing? By you?

Unaware that Li Ang's real goal was to exploit the weakness himself, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau studied his eyes, confirmed the truth of his words through some unknown method, then turned away, his tone cold:

"Don't bother. When at its peak, its power rivaled Olivia's. Even now, stripped of its authority, its rank remains nearly equal to a True God—you, a Level Three Cleanup Officer, can't possibly challenge it."

"Well... I've already gleaned some information."

To secure another chance to touch the Brain-Eater's rear and activate 【I Am the Demon】 to sabotage the Aquarius Director, Li Ang had to showcase his value and continued:

"This thing's name is 【The Ruminant Memory-Eater】. It was originally a Divine-rank Brain-Eater that descended upon the Thousand Sails Kingdom, eventually captured by the Pisces and Aquarius Divisions."

"Nine hundred years ago, the Taurus Director of that era stripped its emotions and memories, removed its memory-digesting organ, and replaced it with the 【Dream Memory Furnace】, which converts memories into dreams."

"Memories it swallows aren't digested—they pass through the 【Dream Memory Furnace】, leave behind a batch of copied dreams, then are regurgitated back..."

When Li Ang first began speaking, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau had been dismissive, even glancing toward the Red-haired Woman, displeased by her unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

But as Li Ang spoke more and more—especially when describing how the Taurus Director of nine centuries past had handled the Divine-rank Brain-Eater—the Director's expression gradually changed.

If this were merely documented bureau knowledge, fine—but much of what the boy revealed had no written record; even the Director himself only vaguely knew these details, and Olivia certainly couldn't.

So... he just touched it once, and uncovered all this?

Eyes wide with shock, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau studied Li Ang, sensed his aura, and a flash of realization lit his eyes.

His contamination level was barely average for a Level Three Cleanup Officer—yet this weakling could forcibly extract intelligence from a True God-level anomaly while remaining unharmed!

No wonder Olivia and the Taurus Director protected him—this boy was truly a treasure!

He guessed right—this Director was indeed a pragmatist!

Seeing the Director's gaze, Li Ang detected a faint eagerness and promptly stopped speaking, withholding the rest.

The Director, now clearly hooked, couldn't help asking:

"Why stop? What's next?"

Li Ang hesitated, then replied:

"The rest... my strength is too weak, and I fear contamination. I only touched it lightly just now, and then you called me off..."

"Those behind me... my strength is truly weak, and I'm afraid of contamination, so I just lightly touched once, and the second time you called out to stop me..."

Glancing at the Aquarius Director and confirming the memory extraction was proceeding normally without interference, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau immediately declared:

"Touch it all you want! Touch as long as you can—see how much more you can uncover! And don't worry about contamination—I'm here to block it. No problem will occur."

Got it! You told me to touch it! If the Aquarius Director gets caught later, don't blame me!

Biting his cheek to suppress a smug grin, Li Ang nodded firmly, activated 【I Am the Demon】, extended his sinful right hand toward the Brain-Eater's rear, and added cautiously:

He secretly bit his cheek, forcibly suppressing the urge to smile, then nodded firmly and activated 【I Am the Demon】, extending his sinful right hand toward the brain-eating demon's rear, while cautiously adding:

"Don't worry—go ahead and touch!"

Huh... finally over...

As wave after wave of memories flowed back into his mind through the slimy purple-red tongues, the Aquarius Director gradually regained consciousness and staggered to his feet.

After carefully checking his backup plan and confirming it wouldn't fail, the Aquarius Director—whose brain had nearly boiled from the licking—lifted his head with the triumphant smile of a victor, gazing toward the Director of the Cleanup Bureau.

Safe! All those years of preparation weren't wasted—this time, it's flawless!

"Sorry... there was a slight issue on this end. The previous reading doesn't count."

"Sorry... there was a slight issue here; the previous read doesn't count."

Meeting the Aquarius Director's bewildered gaze, the Director of the Cleanup Bureau awkwardly explained:

"This device has existed for over nine hundred years. While the core, the 【Dream Memory Furnace】, remains intact, it's been severely corroded by the Brain-Eater's stomach acid—the memory extraction wasn't fully successful."

"I checked the dreams it regurgitated and found only a small portion of your memories were copied—insufficient to prove your innocence. So... could you please undergo the process again?"

I just checked the dreams emitted by the Dream Recall Brazier and found that only a small portion of your memories were copied—insufficient to prove your innocence, so… could you please do it again?