[{"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-268":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},2286104,4472,"Chapter 268: 267 Letter from Taurus Director and…","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-268",268,"\u003Cp>Dear Little Leon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thank you once again for everything you’ve done for the Clearance Bureau—and indeed for all of humanity. I take this opportunity to extend my warmest greetings, and to inform you of a few matters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, I sincerely apologize: the Pearl of the Brewing God, which I promised you, cannot be delivered as agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I originally intended to personally deliver it to you, but I am now unable to leave the Headquarters. Knowing Olivia’s nature, if anyone else were to deliver it, she would undoubtedly attempt to seize it by force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To prevent such an outcome, I asked the Pisces Director to use the Pisces lineage’s secret art to calculate how many times you would use the Pearl of the Brewing God, and had the corresponding wines pre-brewed and sent ahead. I hope this solution satisfies you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, though incomplete, you have indeed mastered the secret arts of both Taurus and Aquarius. You will require vast quantities of materials for practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, in addition to the one thousand one hundred eleven bottles of wine, I’ve also arranged for some anomalous material to be sent along for your training, as well as several notebooks I wrote during my own studies of the Taurus secret arts—they should aid your cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lastly, I won’t waste words on vague hopes of meeting again soon. You’ve already learned from Olivia about the decision I made with the other two Directors: the upcoming Palace Ascension Ceremony has been canceled. Our meeting at Headquarters two days ago was likely our final one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On some day six months from now, I will ascend directly from Headquarters to the Watcher Palace, igniting a torch with my soul to illuminate your path through the endless night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Best wishes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taurus Director\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Appendix: After I finished this letter, the Pisces Director reviewed your file and became very interested in you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He believes your ability to forcibly extract anomalous information closely resembles the Pisces lineage’s “Anomalous Observation” secret art, and suspects you may be recognized by the Pisces Star Palace—eligible to fully study its secret arts. After my ascension, you may visit him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So that’s how it was…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reading the letter delivered with the wine, Leon suddenly understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the Pearl was replaced with over a thousand pre-brewed bottles—Taurus Director feared Red-haired Director would “take desperate measures” and just steal it outright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm… you know what? Given my understanding of the Director’s moral compass, she really might’ve done it. Taurus Director truly understands her—and he’s still so kind, sending materials, notebooks, even helping me gain access to the Pisces secret arts… uh…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Leon held the letter, marveling at the Director’s reliability and generosity, a sudden chill ran down his spine. When he turned around in alarm, he found his own Director staring at him with a furious, murderous gaze, clutching a letter in her hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh… Director, you really don’t need to look at me like that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nervous under her cannibalistic stare, Leon swallowed hard and forced a smile:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I only drink to taste—I take just a sip from each bottle. Please, don’t glare at me like that. I swear, I only take one sip. The rest are all yours, okay?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All mine… as if I could even drink them!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Leon’s words, the Red-haired Director bit her lip, her eyes suddenly reddening. She pointed at the mountain of wine bottles beside her, her face twisted with grief:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These wines are all inscribed with Word-Spell seals. They taste like wine only in your mouth—in anyone else’s, they’re just plain water. I drink them and get nothing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>6\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing the Director’s words, Leon could only grimace and shake his head. Inside, he gave Taurus Director a thumbs-up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as the Aquarius lineage has “Overgod’s Forked Fingers”—a supporting art designed to suppress divine flesh for harvesting “Anomalous Creation” materials—so too does the Taurus lineage possess auxiliary arts to complement its main art, “Anomalous Forging.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Director’s predicament was clearly caused by the Taurus lineage’s “Master-Recognizing Word-Spell,” a lock that prevents unauthorized use of anomalous objects. The [Twelve Ant Nests] on the upper floor of the Virgo Branch were sealed with this same art.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A technique capable of locking down numbered-grade anomalous objects was used to seal ordinary wine bottles. Taurus Director might as well have fired a cannon at a mosquito—overkill taken to its extreme.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well… I really can’t help you then…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surprised by how far Taurus Director had gone, Leon could only shrug helplessly. He gave the tearful Red-haired Director a pitying glance, then hurriedly began hauling crates of wine into the storage room on the first floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Red-haired Director stood slumped nearby, staring at the wine she could see but not drink, her stomach churning with sour resentment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Should I give him a hard time? Or find an excuse to dock his salary?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Leon scurry like a diligent little squirrel, hauling crate after crate of fine wine into the room, the Director’s gaze grew increasingly bitter—and increasingly dangerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t Leon’s fault she couldn’t drink the wine. But I’ve bought him drinks so many times—my bar tab is longer than my arm. I always thought of him when I found something good. Now he’s hoarding it all for himself—he drinks, I watch; he gets drunk, I drool…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I don’t do something about this, I won’t sleep a wink this month!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sss… that red-haired bitch looks like she’s about to snap.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Leon finished moving all the wine and slammed the storage room door shut, Black Goat emerged from the glass of the lightbulb, warning in a hushed tone:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kid, listen up—she’s nice to people in the Bureau, sure, but she’s no ordinary grudge-holder. You’d better tread lightly these next few days!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed. So much fine wine passing through his hands, yet not a single drop for her—her resentment had thickened into something almost solid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Black Goat’s warning, Leon nodded helplessly, acknowledging its truth. He uncapped a bottle, sipped a tiny amount with exaggerated decorum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What else could he do? Though he felt guilty, finishing these thousand sips would upgrade his [Wine Martyr] to his second chromatic badge: [Wine Immortal]. Besides, he hadn’t cast the Word-Spell himself—he wasn’t being unfair… Mmm… no wonder it’s the Pearl of the Brewing God—this wine is exquisite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With great willpower, Leon suppressed the urge to down the whole bottle. He tightly resealed it, opened the next one, and—trying hard to keep his expression neutral while burdened by the guilt of hoarding wine behind the Director’s back—tipped back a large gulp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mmm. Delicious.\u003C\u002Fp>",1098,"2026-06-20T03:18:31.831Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","d7f5a3a64c70da9fbfddb1b9c7e3551bd3526155bab910803d9710bde2fd64dc","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-269","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-267",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-the-cleanup-crew-cover.jpg"]