Chapter 595: Dream-Seeking Wristwatch and Entrustment

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

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

It has garbage trucks that pass by once a day, patrol guards specially dispatched by the Police Department, and walls that are regularly painted three times a year.

Yes, unlike other streets that are generally ignored for twenty or thirty years, even if the wall paint is all gone, Patriot Avenue not only has special sanitary measures, but even the walls are frequently painted luxuriously. It is so clean and tidy that it doesn't look like a street in the Old Town District 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. No one would question this.

Unfortunately, these preferential treatments in public expenditure seem to be unable to solve the widespread poverty of the retired soldiers, and the glorious experience of fighting for the country cannot exempt them from the violent beatings of patrol guards when they excrete 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 steaming down the fiery red wall, the two patrol guards couldn't help but show expressions of wanting to cry.

Finished, how come it's in the place I patrol again? The salary is afraid it will be deducted again!

Looking at the drunkard who was kicked down halfway through urinating, his pants directly stained a large piece, the two guards looked at the empty street around them, couldn't help but surround him, and kicked and beat the drunkard with gritted teeth.

"Dog thing! This is a wall 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 and beating for a while, looking at the drunkard who curled up without saying a word, the two guards who were bound to have their salaries deducted still didn't vent their anger, 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 a face full of annoyance.

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

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

"Patriot Avenue? Heh!"

Unfortunately, it's still a little bit off.

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

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

"But his soul is not pure enough, and there are too many messy distracting thoughts. To give birth to a true anomalous, he needs to experience a more unforgettable pain, a despair that will completely knock him into the abyss..."

"Does he have family?"

"Yes."

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

"Old Bajinsi's 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?"

After 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 rebel faction hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said:

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

"And the retirement money given by the Kingdom was not much, and most of it was drunk away by him, so his wife got liver disease and couldn't be cured, and she died in less than two years. Later, he drank even more fiercely. After getting drunk, he often beat Xiao Bajinsi, and Xiao Bajinsi also hated his father extremely."

"That's really pitiful."

Looking at the drunkard across the street with 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 was unwilling to give up on him expressed complete disappointment in him, or designed a small accident for his son, forcibly extinguishing the last light in his heart, he could use the erupting pain to completely refine his soul."

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

Looking at the "Soul" hand on the watch that was stuck below the anomalous line, the Water Bottle Director shook his head and said:

"Impossible."

"If it was when his wife just died, maybe I could push 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 anomalous."

"So that's how it is..."

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

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

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

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

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

Internal inquiry of the Cleanup Bureau?

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

"How did this happen? Aren't you one of the twelve directors with the greatest power? Why would you still be subject 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 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 someone who can notice something wrong."

"Or rather, being able to hold on until today to be inquired is already beyond my expectations. Since the Snake Bearer... hmm... since a certain 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, which has caused the bureau to lose quite a few 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 and said:

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

"Fastest, 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 high-level members within one or two weeks is already surprisingly fast."

"Then what about the slowest?"

"The slowest, of course, is that I will never come back!"

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

"This time, those who initiated the inquiry against me include not only the top three directors in the bureau but even several directors of the Zodiac branches. 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... if you put it that way, let's set a limit of two weeks. If I haven't come back after two weeks, you can assume I've been slaughtered. At that time, run if you should run, hide if you should hide. Anyway, with the concealment of your ability, there are really 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 will watch 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."

After 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 toward the leader of the rebel faction.

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

As the Water Bottle Director spoke, he stretched out his finger and pointed at the watch cover, pointing to the hands below and explaining:

"These six hands are divided into three groups, representing the past and future, body and soul, character and emotion respectively. And among these three groups, if each group has a hand that reaches the anomalous range, it proves that this person has the qualification to accept the 'seed'."

"Like that Mr. Old Bajinsi across the street, his 'Past' hand and 'Emotion' hand both reached the anomalous range, 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 anomalous."

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

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

"Why is it enough to become an anomalous if only 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."

After thinking for a while, the Water Bottle Director dipped his finger in coffee and 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 brushstrokes he has drawn and will draw on the world; and having a unique soul or a wonderful body determines the technique when this pen draws, whether it is realistic or abstract."

"As for character and emotion, the former determines how a person will treat the world, and the latter is what kind of feedback a person will give to the world after experiencing it, which is equivalent to what color marks this pen draws on the canvas."

Looking at the middle-aged man who was a bit confused, the Water Bottle Director sighed and said:

"To put it simply, these three groups of hands are probing what kind of painting a person is actually drawing on the world, what technique is used to draw, and what kind of pigment is used to draw."

"So among these three groups of hands, if each has an 'abnormal' one, it can be guaranteed that the painting drawn by this pen is also 'abnormal'. At that time, I only need to provide a little help, and this abnormal pen can draw a painting scroll named 'Anomalous'..."

"Do you understand?"

"Roughly 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 and said:

"That is a painful past, a great future, a powerful body, a pure soul, a paranoid character, a crazy emotion... To be reasonable, if you meet such a person, I suggest you run 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 terrifying wave."

"The anomalous object derived from such a person is like a painting scroll of extreme beauty drawn with the most brilliant and crazy colors and the most wild and unrestrained brushwork... Of course, it may also be a picture scroll that destroys everything."

"..."

"In short, change is terrifying, especially for people like you and me who are not good things. Following behind him to push the waves will probably be a narrow escape, and standing opposite him trying to stop the tide will be a ten-death-no-life result."

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

"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 toward the direction of the Police Department, and said seriously:

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

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

"Yes."

The Water Bottle Director nodded and instructed seriously:

"There is a thing that is very important to me, which is placed in that woman's drawer. The shape is probably a photo."

"Usually you don't have a chance, but the person who initiated the inquiry against me this time includes 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 Wristwatch】 will automatically lead 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) ===== CHAPTER 596 =====