[{"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-977":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},2286813,4472,"Chapter 977","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-977",977,"\u003Cp>“Sss…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Leon’s proposal—which was less a wild idea and more like dragging a celestial horse on a hellish high-speed ride—the two exiled siblings involuntarily exchanged glances, finding their pupils trembling wildly in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We knew you were odd, but aren’t you a bit too odd? Even the most imaginative person wouldn’t think of simply destroying the entire kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whether to act on it is up to you—I just threw out an idea.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon spread his hands, his expression unchanged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After you two surrendered, part of the Blood Oath was broken, proving my theory was at least correct: the oath’s foundation is indeed your status as the Krook royal family.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Krook Kingdom has just declared its fall, yet its territory remains intact—you still might leave this place, or be taken beyond its borders—so the Blood Oath hasn’t fully dissolved.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Therefore, to break the remaining half of the oath, the best solution is to treat the root cause: destroy Krook Kingdom outright, rendering the Execution King Society’s oath fundamentally null, and your problem will be resolved.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“….”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The logic holds, but isn’t your method a bit too extreme?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Isn’t there a gentler way?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After listening to Leon, Prince Andre couldn’t help but suggest:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For example, you lead forces to occupy it, then do something else to strip Krook Kingdom of its territorial legitimacy in name.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s possible—but can you wait until then?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon pointed at Philia’s body, draped in crow feathers, and reminded him:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aside from directly acting—destroying Krook Kingdom in one stroke—no other method can complete the ‘destruction’ of its territory before your souls dissolve. You two and Krook Kingdom have no possibility of coexistence left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, this was truly the only way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After glancing at his sister’s condition, Prince Andre sighed heavily, then stumbled around and waved toward the distant giant painting, “Sunset.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Never imagined that after becoming a deposed monarch, he’d end up destroying Krook Kingdom himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he stood before the painting, meticulously brushing the people out of the kingdom’s territory, Prince Andre seemed to grasp something faintly, his expression complex as he glanced back at Leon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noticing his strange gaze, Leon asked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nothing…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prince Andre shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m just wondering why you proposed this solution.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course—to defend Watch Palace, and thereby protect all humanity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Leon, ever loyal to the Cleanup Bureau, answered without hesitation:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For our Bureau, if even one royal line goes completely extinct, a Saint-level ‘anomaly’ can freely enter the mortal world. If more than three lines vanish, even weaker True Gods can barely squeeze in—this outcome is utterly intolerable to the Bureau.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And besides that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prince Andre turned back, continuing to paint the citizens out of Krook’s territory, murmuring with confusion:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Since the first time I met you, I’ve felt you held some inexplicable malice toward Krook Kingdom—after the attack on Administrative District Three, it intensified, as if…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re mistaken.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon cut him off instantly, gazing straight ahead with a candid expression:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I treat all kingdoms equally. I harbor no special malice toward you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After glancing at Leon’s expression, Prince Andre hesitated, then said nothing more, continuing to wield his brush, preparing to destroy Krook Kingdom. Beside him, Leon sent the pup to take the bandit siblings away, and cast a sidelong glance at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This man’s intuition is unusually sharp. For Krook Kingdom—with its grotesquely warped structure—I truly had no good intentions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on the documents I obtained after attacking District Three, Krook Kingdom controls a vast territory—nearly 400,000 square kilometers—with over 37 million people living under its “system.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But excluding the 1.3 million citizens in Krook’s 800+ districts who daily chew on revolting vegetable paste, the remaining 96% don’t live—they merely endure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially the floating crystal mines: every year, countless die extracting this material. Other mines and resource sites, though less bloody than the floating crystal fields, are no better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krook Kingdom’s prosperity and advancement were built on the flesh and blood of over 35 million people—exchanging 96–97% suffering for just 3–4% luxury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While such imbalance exists in most kingdoms, differing only in degree, Krook Kingdom took it to extremes: it took all the gains and dumped every burden without exception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, considering even the worst order is better than chaos, and that destroying a kingdom outright would bring consequences from the Cleanup Bureau, I might have sought a gentler, gradual approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, since this ties to Watch Palace and carries the “greater good” of protecting all humanity, I must strike decisively—tear off this festering wound entirely!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Almost done…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After prolonged painting, “Sunset Over Krook” had been defaced by Prince Andre’s brush into “Krook Kingdom, Empty After All Citizens Were Safely Blown Away by a Storm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gazing at the wild expanse beyond the canvas, where countless bewildered “black dots” dotted the landscape, Prince Andre exhaled softly, then, under Leon’s expectant gaze, raised his brush, heavy with pigment, and pressed it firmly against the far edge of the canvas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A brilliant radiance erupted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Prince Andre’s brush moved, the edge of the orange-red sunset subtly bled gold, then rapidly faded. Strangely, the lighter the colors on the canvas became, the fiercer the sun’s glow grew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Prince Andre took up the broken half of his palette knife and scraped off the thick base layer, applying only a thin wash of pale white, the once-gentle sunset on the horizon had blazed to a brilliance that blinded the eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Krook Kingdom’s 800+ districts, countless roaring flames erupted—all flammable things ignited, and even non-flammable metals began to glow red and soften under the savage heat of the blinding white sun.\u003C\u002Fp>",934,"2026-06-20T03:18:35.371Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","96bdbbc350bc30c81d95ee93a9cfceb2fbec33746e1a0c12b05b06e48f7523bb","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-978","i-m-the-cleanup-crew-chapter-976",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-the-cleanup-crew-cover.jpg"]