Chapter 393

“These bugs…”

“These bugs are the insurance I prepared for this operation.”

After casting a glance at Leon, whose face was full of resistance, a malicious smile involuntarily appeared on the tall, thin man’s face. Then, for the first time since meeting Leon, he replied with a grin: “Their name is ‘Brain-devouring Demon Bugs.’ They will directly swallow the target’s brain, completely preventing the target from dreaming, and after devouring the target’s brain, they will infinitely reproduce.”

“???”

“You think about it, isn’t the most troublesome thing about the Nightmare King its ability to move freely within human dreams?”

Casting a glance at Leon, whose eyes suddenly widened, the director of the Scorpio Division slowly said: “But dreams, in the end, can only be dreamt by those who have brains. Once it enters someone’s dream, I’ll let the ‘Brain-devouring Demon Bugs’ chew up that person’s brain, causing the Nightmare King to fall out of the dream.”

“And even more straightforwardly, if we just chew up the brains of those who have nightmares beforehand, then there’s no need to worry about it causing everyone in the kingdom to have nightmares when it arrives.”

“…”

Because people without brains can’t dream, so in order to not have nightmares for life, you’re going to eat all the brains ahead of time, right?

You damn genius!

His cheek twitched slightly, then Leon decisively extended his finger and poked one of the black-gold beetles crawling toward his head.

[Name: Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle (Dream-eating, Fission)]

[Appearance: A strange beetle belonging to the family Carabidae and genus Scarabaeus, with a lacquer-like black shell and brilliant golden back wings. The abdominal pattern resembles a screaming human face, and its size is comparable to the thumbnail of an adult male.]

[Ability: Devour dreams, split and propagate]

[Cost: Can only be used once in a lifetime. After using this anomalous item to command the mother bug, it is equivalent to signing an irreversible contract with the mother bug. All dreams of the user in the future will serve as food to feed the mother bug of the Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle.]

[Record: The second-generation director of the Scorpio Division of the Clearing Bureau raised these special beetles by feeding them the remains of the dream realm deity “Dreamfaller” after killing it. They possess the special ability to devour the dreams of living beings and can nearly infinitely propagate as long as there are people who dream.]

[Over four hundred years ago, two sub-bugs of the Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle were stolen from the warehouse of the Scorpio Division. Within 32 hours, they propagated to nearly hundreds of millions, devouring one-fifteenth of the world’s dreams that day and continued to split rapidly.]

[To solve this anomaly loss incident, the Clearing Bureau had no choice but to make a big fuss… cause damage… impose restrictions… receive aid… forcibly activate… carry…]

[Assessment: The nemesis of dream realm creatures, an anomalous item that the Nightmare King would dream of destroying. If you can collect all the mother and child bugs and deliver them to the dream realm to give to the Nightmare King, it will bow to you for a hundred years.]

[Taint Value: 60.1]

“…”

Shit, it was just bluffing! You scared me! After finishing reading the record of the [Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle], Leon sighed in relief and loosened his grip on the [Desire Dream Infiltrator]. Noticing his action, the tall, thin man couldn’t help but sneer, his eyes filled with mockery:

“What? Afraid your brain will be eaten? If you’re scared, just ask me, and I’ll take back the Brain-devouring Demon Bugs and spare your brain.”

“…”

This guy is really annoying…

Looking at the tall, thin man who clearly derived immense pleasure from teasing him, Leon’s cheeks couldn’t help but twitch, and he obediently shut his mouth.

…

Hiss… This kid’s abilities might not be simple…

Seeing how Leon casually poked the beetle on his shoulder, took a deep breath, and then pretended not to hear and ignored him, the director of the Scorpio Division couldn’t help but squint.

According to the abnormal item records reported by that woman, Leon Lane’s core abnormal item as a Level 3 Cleaner is called [Compulsory Information Acquisition]. It can obtain some information about abnormal items through touch.

When touching relatively weak abnormal items, the obtained information is very complete, but the stronger the abnormal item touched, the less information can be obtained, and sometimes no intelligence at all, making it just a fairly good auxiliary ability.

However, the [Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle] he took out, although limited due to lack of lethal power, being only effective against dream realm creatures, and usable only once in a lifetime, received the number 057 because of these limitations.

But the rank of this thing itself is not low at all. Without crossing the threshold of True God level, it’s impossible to drive the mother bug, making it a genuine True God-level anomalous item.

Yet, facing something of this level, this kid just poked it with his hand, and his tense body relaxed. If his guess is correct, he should have deciphered his lie about the “Brain-devouring Demon Bugs” by obtaining the intelligence of the [Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle].

Even True God-level abnormal item intelligence can be directly acquired with just a touch; his so-called [Compulsory Information Acquisition] ability must be much higher in rank than what that woman reported!”What’s wrong?”

Noticing that the tall, thin man turned around and started sizing him up, Leon couldn’t help but become alert and blinked but still politely asked: “Mr. Edward, do you have any questions you want to ask me?”

“…”

Of course, there are plenty of questions.

Staring into Leon’s eyes, noticing that his gaze towards him has become slightly friendlier than before, the tall, thin man thought for a moment, suspecting that he probably already knew the cost of using the [Dream-eating Anomalous Beetle], which is why his attitude towards him has slightly improved.

So, considering everything, this kid’s innate abnormal item is of extremely high rank. Although he’s still young and somewhat lacking in vigilance, unable to conceal his own emotions, he seems promising in the future…

No! He’s already pretty good now!

After pondering over Leon’s resume, the tall, thin man was somewhat surprised to find that what that nightmare said earlier wasn’t entirely nonsense.

Regardless of anything else, this kid joined the Cleaning Bureau just two months ago and already has a medium-high taint value among Level 3 Cleaners. With another month or two of cultivation, he could likely reach the threshold of Level 2 Cleaner.

Moreover, he has records of single-handedly dealing with Holy Spirits and uncovering the conspiracy of the Aquarius Director while surviving under the director’s hands. For a newcomer, this level is already outstanding!

Reassessing Leon’s “value,” the director of the Scorpio Division contemplated for a moment, then rubbed his stiff face, looking calm as he patted Leon’s shoulder with a slightly kinder demeanor and said: “Nothing… I just thought about it, and I realized that what that nightmare said does make sense. For example, the most important thing for a cleaner isn’t their current strength, but the courage and audacity to face strong enemies.”

“You know very well that you might be permanently enslaved by the Nightmare King, yet you still dared to stay and fight alongside me. That’s truly remarkable. My previous comment calling you a burden was a bit excessive.”

“…”

???????

(End of Chapter)