Chapter 595: Patriot Avenue

Two days later, early morning, Old Town of the Capital, Patriot Avenue.

In the streets of the Old Town where sanitary conditions are generally not up to standard, night security is chaotic, and garbage trucks only visit once a week on average, Patriot Avenue is definitely an exception.

It has a garbage truck that passes by every day, patrol guards specially assigned by the Police Department, and walls that are regularly repainted three times a year.

Yes, unlike other streets that are generally ignored for twenty or thirty years, where it doesn't matter even if the wall paint is completely gone, Patriot Avenue not only has special sanitary measures, but even the walls are frequently and luxuriously repainted. It is so clean and tidy that it doesn't look like a street in the Old Town at all.

As for the reason...

As a street rebuilt with special funding from the Ministry of Finance to commemorate the soldiers who fought bravely in the War of Defense, Patriot Avenue is not only the face of the King and Parliament, but also the residence of a large number of soldiers who were wounded and retired in the war six years ago. It is only natural that it should receive some preferential treatment, and no one would question this.

Unfortunately, these preferential treatments in public expenditure do not seem to solve the general poverty of the retired soldiers, and the glorious experience of fighting for the country cannot exempt them from violent beatings by patrol guards when they urinate near the walls after drinking.

"Stop! Damn it! Pull up your pants!"

After hurriedly kicking down the drunkard standing by the wall, looking at the fresh urine stains flowing hot on the fiery red wall, the two patrol guards couldn't help but show expressions of wanting to cry.

Done for, how is it in the place where I patrol again? I'm afraid my salary will be deducted again!

Looking at the drunkard who was kicked down halfway through urinating, with a large stain on his pants, the two guards looked at the empty street around them and couldn't help but surround him, gritting their teeth and kicking the drunkard.

"Dog thing! This wall was painted to commemorate the War of Defense!"

"This is the third time this week! Damn it! Can't you go urinate somewhere else?"

"Beat him!"

After kicking for a while, looking at the drunkard who curled up and didn't make a sound, the two guards who were bound to have their salaries deducted were still not relieved. They directly dragged him to the urine stains on the wall, threw him a broken rag, and ordered him to wipe the urine stains clean with annoyance.

But after the drunkard stood up tremblingly, he didn't pick up the rag on the ground that smelled of urine. Instead, he reached into his pocket and grabbed something, then his throat moved up and down, and he spat a mouthful of yellow-green phlegm towards the brightly painted wall.

Immediately after, accompanied by a light "ding" sound, an iron combat commemorative medal with a robin feather printed on it, which could only be obtained by participating in the War of Defense, was "spat" onto the memorial wall of the War of Defense along with that mouthful of phlegm.

"Patriot Avenue? Heh!"

Unfortunately, it's still a bit off.

Looking at the three hands on the watch that were jumping constantly but finally stopped in the "human" zone and failed to reach the "anomaly" zone, the old man with drooping corners of his mouth across the street shook his head, then said to the middle-aged man across the table:

"This person is not bad. He has a painful past and intense emotions, and in all aspects, he is very close to the standard of becoming an anomaly. He has the qualifications to let the seed 'sprout'."

"But his soul is not pure enough. He has too many messy distracting thoughts. To give birth to a true anomaly, he still needs to experience a more unforgettable pain, a despair that completely knocks him into the abyss..."

"Does he have family?"

"Yes."

Looking at the drunkard being kicked by the two guards, the middle-aged man with some gray hair at his temples was silent for a while, then answered:

"Old Bakins' wife died of illness, but he has a twenty-year-old son who joined us three years ago and is now responsible for purchasing daily necessities."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, the old man with a natural crying face raised his eyelids and said with interest:

"How is their father-son relationship?"

"Very bad."

The middle-aged man... or rather the leader of the rebels, hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said:

"Old Bakins suffered a lot of injuries in the War of Defense six years ago. His right leg was penetrated by a nail gun, and his stomach was also injured by a whale oil bomb dropped by an airship, which caused him to itch unbearably every time it rained or snowed, so he could only drink alcohol to relieve the pain all year round."

"And the severance pay given by the Kingdom was not much to begin with, and most of it was drunk away by him, so his wife's liver disease couldn't be treated, and she died within two years. Later, he drank even more fiercely. When he was drunk, he often beat Little Bakins, and Little Bakins also hated his father extremely."

"That's really pitiful."

After looking at the drunkard across the street with some pity, the Water Bottle Director sighed:

"Unfortunately, if he had a son who was unwilling to give up on him no matter what and continued to try hard to take care of him, that would be great."

"In that case, as long as the last person who is unwilling to give up on him expresses complete disappointment in him, or designs a small accident for his son, forcibly extinguishing the last lamp in his heart, he can use the erupting pain to completely refine his soul."

"And under the scouring of despair that expands to the extreme, his soul will be stripped of all impurities, and at a certain moment, only the purest obsession will exist, and by this, he will truly break away from the ordinary category and successfully step into the threshold of anomaly. But now..."

Looking at the "soul" needle on the watch that was stuck below the anomaly line, the Water Bottle Director shook his head and said:

"It's impossible."

"If it was when his wife had just died, maybe I could have pushed him, but after so many years, his soul has become completely numb, covered with a thick layer of dust, and no longer meets the conditions to become an anomaly."

"I see..."

After sighing together, the middle-aged man stood up and said:

"Then let's go see the next person. I have met many people who could become anomalies over the years. It's rare for you to come to see me once, so let's just see them all together!"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid it's too late."

After looking at the watch on his other hand, the Water Bottle Director shook his head:

"There will be an internal inquiry against me soon. If I don't pass the inquiry, I will have to accept memory reading by the bureau, so I must go back early to prepare. I don't have time to see them one by one."

Internal inquiry of the Cleanup Bureau?

The middle-aged man was stunned upon hearing this, then frowned and asked:

"What's going on? Aren't you one of the twelve directors with the greatest power? Why are you still being subjected to internal review? Who can review you?"

"Of course it's the other directors~"

The Water Bottle Director said nonchalantly:

"I have done so many things outside over the years. Although I have always been very careful and haven't even used my true face, it is inevitable that I will leave some traces. The Cleanup Bureau is full of talents, and there will always be people who can notice something wrong."

"Or rather, being able to hold on until today to be inquired is already beyond my expectations. Since the Aquarius... hmm... since a big event in the past, the world has become more and more chaotic in recent years, and a large number of outer gods are ready to move, causing the bureau to lose many good hands. Otherwise, I'm afraid I would have been exposed long ago." "..."

"I don't know about these things."

The middle-aged man shook his head:

"I just want to know, when can you come back?"

"If it's fast, one or two weeks."

The Water Bottle Director added calmly:

"You should be able to guess that for an organization as large and loose as the Cleanup Bureau, being able to complete the inquiry of senior members within one or two weeks is already surprisingly fast."

"Then what if it's slow?"

"If it's slow, of course, it means I'll never come back!"

Seeming to think of something interesting, the Water Bottle Director laughed and said:

"This time, the people who initiated the inquiry against me not only include the top three directors in the bureau, but even several branch directors of the Zodiac. If I can't get through it, I'm afraid I won't even have the qualification to run, and I will be taken down on the spot."

"Hmm... putting it that way, let's set a limit of two weeks. If I haven't returned after two weeks, just assume I've been slaughtered. By then, run if you should run, hide if you should hide. Anyway, with the concealment of your ability, there are not many people in the bureau who can find your location."

"..."

You are really... frank enough...

After clicking his tongue speechlessly, the middle-aged man said expressionlessly:

"Then let's wait until you pass the inquiry and come back. I'll keep an eye on those people first."

"Hmm... if you want to check the qualifications of those people, you don't necessarily have to wait for me to come back."

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, the Water Bottle Director pondered for a while, and then actually took off the strange watch with six hands on his left wrist and threw it towards the rebel leader.

"This thing is called the 【Dream-Seeking Watch】. Its original ability was to realize dreams, but after my modification, this thing can also check whether a person has the potential to become an anomaly. Just use a drop of blood or hair as a marker."

As the Water Bottle Director spoke, he pointed his finger at the watch cover and pointed to the strange hands below to explain:

"These six hands are divided into three groups, representing past and future, body and soul, character and emotion. Among these three groups, if one hand in each group reaches the range of anomaly, it proves that this person has the qualification to accept the 'seed'."

"Like that Mr. Old Bakins across the street, his 'past' hand and 'emotion' hand both reached the range of anomaly, but the 'soul' hand did not meet the standard, so he still lacks the conditions for the seed to sprout, and it is unlikely that he will become an anomaly."

Past and future, soul and body, character and emotion?

After carefully remembering the meaning of these six hands, looking at these strange hands engraved with wonderful patterns, the middle-aged man couldn't help but ask suspiciously:

"Why is it enough to become an anomaly as long as one moves in a group?"

"Hmm... it's a bit hard to explain... let's do this. You can understand the world as a canvas, and understand everyone as a pen."

The Water Bottle Director thought for a while, dipped his finger in coffee, drew a coffee-colored water mark on the tablecloth, and then continued to explain:

"A person's past experience and his future development are the traces he has drawn and will draw in the world; and having a unique soul or a wonderful body determines the technique used by this pen when painting, whether it is realistic or abstract."

"As for character and emotion, the former determines how a person treats the world, and the latter is the feedback a person gives to the world after experiencing it, which is equivalent to what color traces this pen draws on the canvas."

Looking at the somewhat confused middle-aged man, the Water Bottle Director sighed:

"To put it simply, these three groups of hands are exploring what kind of painting a person is drawing in the world, what technique is used to paint, and what kind of pigment is used to paint."

"So among these three groups of hands, if each has an 'abnormality', it can ensure that the painting drawn by this pen is also 'abnormal'. By then, I only need to provide a little help, and this abnormal pen can draw a painting scroll called 'anomaly'..."

"Do you understand?"

"I probably understand..."

After nodding with insufficient confidence, the middle-aged man asked curiously:

"Then what if all six hands move? What kind of anomalous object can such a person catalyze?"

"If someone really makes all six hands move..."

The Water Bottle Director frowned:

"That would be a painful past, a great future, a powerful body, a pure soul, a paranoid character, a crazy emotion... speaking reasonably, if you meet such a person, I suggest you run away as soon as possible."

"Ah?"

"If there really is such a person, no matter if he is kind or evil, he is destined to completely change the world and set off an incomparably terrible wave."

"The anomalous objects derived from such people are like painting scrolls of extreme beauty drawn with the most brilliant and crazy colors and the most wanton and wild brushwork... of course, they could also be picture scrolls that destroy everything."

"..."

"In short, change is terrible, especially for people like you and me who are not good things. Following behind him to fan the flames is estimated to be a narrow escape, and standing opposite him trying to stop the tide will result in ten deaths and no life."

"So if you really meet such a person, don't think about extra things, and don't do extra things. Just run as far as you can and that's it."

"Okay..."

"In addition, this watch is not placed with you for nothing."

After looking at the middle-aged man whose eyes were a bit dazed, the Water Bottle Director raised his hand, pointed in the direction of the Police Department, and said seriously:

"Besides checking other people's qualifications to become anomalies, this thing can also help you find the anomalous objects I created... Don't forget what you promised me!"

"You mean... the thing in the drawer of that red-haired director?"

"Yes."

The Water Bottle Director nodded and instructed seriously:

"There is something very important to me that is placed in that woman's drawer. The appearance is probably a photo."

"Usually you don't have a chance, but this time the person who initiated the inquiry against me is her, so when the inquiry starts, you can take advantage of her absence and sneak into the Cleanup Bureau through the 【Gate of the Other World】."

"Next, the hands of the 【Dream-Seeking Watch】 will automatically take you to find the photo I want. If you can successfully bring it back and hand it to me, I will definitely give you a satisfactory reward."

(End of chapter)