Chapter 235

Faced with Leon's two choices, the Freckled Prince mustered rare defiance.

He chose neither to hand over the intelligence nor to take Leon's slap head-on, but instead, through sheer courage, carved out a third path…

He took a beating first, then cried as he handed over the future intelligence.

What on earth did you think you were accomplishing?

Looking at Joshua, his face smeared with snot and tears, still clutching his swollen cheek, glaring at him with bitter resentment, Leon couldn't help but sigh—he felt he'd gone just a little too far this time.

Though he now bore the title of prince and went around provoking trouble, the Freckled Prince was actually younger than his sister Anna, hadn't grown a single whisker, and was undeniably still a half-grown child; to beat him with force and even steal his "possessions" was truly immoral.

But this concerned the future of countless people in the kingdom, possibly even the safety of Watch Palace and the survival of all humanity—such vital intelligence could not be overlooked… Next time Joshua had another outburst, maybe I'll hold back and spare him one beating—consider this one prepaid!

As the Freckled Prince began sobbing while copying down the information, Senior Jerry had already returned to the Bureau. Having made his "prepaid" decision, Leon took out the Ram's Head, asked Joshua a few questions, confirmed the intelligence was genuine, then immediately pulled out the 【Infected Blood Band】, wrapped it around Joshua's face to reduce the swelling, and hurried out of the Wang Palace, hailed a carriage, and headed straight for the Cleanup Bureau.

…

So that's how it was…

On the carriage, Leon unfolded Joshua's copied future intelligence and skimmed it quickly—he finally understood why the future kingdom had refused to cooperate with the Krok Kingdom, rejected its request for joint mining, and was ultimately invaded.

Because the Krok Kingdom's scouts had mistaken the so-called "energy mineral" discovered by the kingdom—not for any ore, but for dozens of underground lava rivers stretching over a hundred kilometers, and eleven extinct volcanoes scattered across two of the kingdom's prefectures.

Leon's own home prefecture, Lyne, and the wool-famous Merino Prefecture both sat atop a special "hotspot" in the crust, possessing nearly infinite geothermal energy; if these volcanoes were fully exploited, they could satisfy over eighty percent of the Krok Kingdom's energy needs.

But the problem was, the Krok Kingdom's proposed extraction method was unimaginably brutal—it required reopening all eleven extinct volcanoes and conducting multiple deliberate detonations!

If the kingdom truly cooperated with the Krok Kingdom, not only would residents of both prefectures need mass relocation, but the volcanic ash and smoke spewed from the eruptions would, carried by monsoons, spread westward across most of the kingdom.

Following that, neither Lyne nor Merino Prefectures would remain habitable; tens of thousands of farms and pastures across the entire kingdom would suffer catastrophic crop failures and total losses due to volcanic impact, triggering a multi-year famine.

In addition, the detonations and subsequent mining would likely cause intermittent earthquakes and widespread ground collapses; given such consequences, no amount of compensation from the Krok Kingdom could justify the kingdom's acceptance.

So… one side was determined to seize these underground energy sources, while the other could never accept the consequences of extraction—core interests clashed, leaving only one solution: resort to force, settle it with fists.

Though the Krok Kingdom had a tiny population, its fists were far harder than the kingdom's could ever be; once the "exchange" began, the outcome was certain to be one-sided—the kingdom had virtually no capacity to resist on a large battlefield, and after the Princess, the most steadfast resistance leader, was killed, it nearly collapsed entirely, teetering on the brink of annihilation.

After reading the news regarding the Krok Kingdom's invasion, Leon's doubts about the future were partially resolved.

No wonder the middle-aged Joshua didn't flee at that time but stubbornly negotiated with him amid rebel encirclement, hoping to persuade him to attack the Docking Tower and kill the Krok Kingdom's scouts—because it was the only method he could conceive that might possibly prevent this future.

And now it seemed clear—he really had to go to the Docking Tower. Even if he didn't kill the Krok Kingdom's scouts as middle-aged Joshua suggested, he had to bring the Phoebe sisters, who could alter memories, to prevent the "mineral" intelligence from being sent back to the Krok Kingdom and triggering the subsequent invasion war.

Also…

Looking at the dark future recorded by the Freckled Prince—thick smoke, ash everywhere, the kingdom's population halved, nearly sixty percent of its people suffering from lung diseases—Leon's brow furrowed deeply.

Since this future had truly occurred, it meant the Cleanup Bureau had not intervened, strictly adhering to its agreements with the kingdoms: only handling anomalies, never interfering in matters outside the anomalous.

Given what he'd seen today—the scattered, independent operations of each branch, the near-total disorganization without large-scale actions—it was entirely plausible such a result had occurred.

Not to mention the branch directors, deeply tainted by anomalies and no longer seeming human; even the few directors present had shown chilling indifference to Water Bearer Director's secret mass casualties.

The only one who might have acted—Taurus Director—was about to be promoted to the Palace next year; by the time the Krok Kingdom invaded, the only ones likely to care would be Virgo Branch and Gemini Branch.

But judging from Water Bearer Director's brain-swap surgery, Gemini Branch seemed "extremely closely tied" to the Krok Kingdom—unlikely to intervene. So…

Where was the Director? What was the Director doing?

After pondering his own Director's behavior, Leon's brow tightened further.

Though the Director was eccentric, liked to tease people when he had no alcohol, and lost his mind when drunk, he was undeniably a "kind-hearted" man; even if he couldn't directly intervene, he wouldn't just sit idle.

Yet in Joshua's written future, Virgo Branch was almost entirely absent—even Water Bearer Director, who hadn't replaced Taurus Director, had appeared several times—but Leon's own Director seemed to have vanished without a trace, never appearing at all, as if Virgo Branch had vanished entirely.

Knowing his Director as he did, this situation was impossible—so… in the future without Leon's presence, had the kingdom suffered some catastrophic large-scale event that left Virgo Branch decimated, even…

"Woof! Woof woof!"

As Leon held Joshua's written intelligence, pondering what had gone wrong, a frantic dog bark rang in his ear.

Leon turned in surprise and saw Jerry's senior's dog… or rather, Lisa, the adult golden retriever, poking her head through the carriage window, shoving a hastily scribbled note into his hand.

'Come back quickly—the Bureau is in trouble!'?!?!