Chapter 448

Staring at the rebels surrounding her with bewildered expressions, yet blocking the road solidly, Iron Princess’s heart instantly sank.

Though she’d already known from Veronica’s memory fragments that this kingdom was already rotten, it being this bad still exceeded her imagination.

The guard army stationed in the Capital City had a flag officer who couldn’t even understand flag signals, and the palace attendants were neglecting their duties; all absent from their posts during broad daylight. The two patrol soldier groups outside were like the walking dead, allowing these rebels to invade without shedding any blood. But…

How was this possible? Iron Princess, pinned down by the bald woman following Leon’s orders, could not help but feel aggrieved as she lay on the ground, starting to wildly speculate where things went wrong.

The situation in the royal palace was definitely off. Even if the kingdom was corrupt, it shouldn’t have deteriorated to this extent. Moreover, though the old king was obstinate and foolish, his brain wasn’t as stupid as his son’s; he should be able to manage a single palace properly.

So, the answer was simple: the Clearing Bureau must’ve done something, or they got wind of it ahead of time and deliberately set a trap for her!

“I admit defeat!”

When Leon, with a sheep head tied to his left waist and an old king’s head tied to his right, arrived, the Iron Princess lifted her head while pinned down and said resentfully, “But can you tell me how I got exposed? Was it some information from the Watchtower Palace? Or did someone from our side leak everything to you beforehand?”

Huh? Upon hearing Iron Princess’s inquiry, Leon couldn’t help but slightly raise his eyebrows.

From the tone… weren’t you some suddenly berserk anomalous item, but rather an opposing force of the Clearing Bureau who infiltrated the palace with premeditation? “Heh heh.”

Just as Leon was pondering how to extract some information, the black goat hanging from his waist mocked coldly,

“Get better through practice! Accept your loss! Don’t die looking for excuses! We look down on people like you who keep making excuses!”

You?! Foolish demon! You know nothing!

Provoked by the black goat’s disdainful eyesight, Iron Princess glared angrily at it, just about to retort when she saw Leon approaching. She quickly warned,

“Don’t come near! I know what your ability is. It’s best if you don’t touch me with your hands. If you dare to touch me once, I’ll self-destruct immediately, ensuring you won’t get anything out of me!”

Knowing my ability, huh…

Upon hearing Iron Princess’s threat, Leon couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

If she knows my background, then she must have seen the records I submitted. This person is likely affiliated with the bureau, or at least has connections with someone inside. This is quite…

Although I’ve long known that the Clearing Bureau is a very loose organization, chaotic internally, how is it so easy for anyone to pry out information from the bureau? Is it really feasible?

…

“Leon Lane, I know you!”

Just as Leon was cursing the Clearing Bureau silently, the Iron Princess took a deep breath and gritted her teeth as she looked at him standing two steps away:

“You are a Level 3 Cleaner of the Clearing Bureau Virgo Branch, with an abnormal ability called ‘Compulsory Intelligence Acquisition,’ which works exceptionally well with demon-type anomalous items. Although you’ve only been in the Clearing Bureau for over two months, your record is astonishing. In the first month of employment alone, you have a record of personally exorcising a Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, at the year-end gathering of the Clearing Bureau, you publicly exposed Aquarius Director’s plan, surviving and forcing him to flee. Later, you jointly disrupted a Scale Gold Religion meeting with two Level 1 Cleaners from the Virgo Subdivision, killing a Holy Spirit and repelling the Goddess of Wealth who came from the Dream Realm.

During the recent Soulfall Black Abyss descent, you even held back the Nightmare King who physically descended with the help of the Chief of the Scorpio Division. You personally released the [Dream-Eating Armor], devouring half the Dream Realm, causing the most severe disaster in a hundred years…”

“…”

Impressive… seems like whatever I report, you know everything. The MI6 penetrated by the KGB probably doesn’t have as many leaks as our own Clearing Bureau. This job of mine, although decently paid, is truly screwed up…

Seeing Iron Princess recounting his career details like the back of her hand, Leon sighed involuntarily, feeling a bit numb. He instructed the other rebels to retreat further to avoid hearing too much, then directly countered,

“What do you mean by reciting my file?”

Feeling she finally found an opportunity to negotiate, Iron Princess’s tense body relaxed slightly. She stared into Leon’s eyes and said,

“Do you want to know where I got all this intelligence? Or more straightforwardly, do you want to know who the traitor inside the Clearing Bureau is?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must tell me first who the traitor is on our side!”

“Alright, then you speak first.”

“No! You go first!”

Shaking her pressed shoulders, Iron Princess insisted,

“I’m already in your hands now. If I speak first and you renege, what then? Either you go first, or the deal’s off!”

“Fine.”

Leon’s eyes flickered slightly. Thinking that he knew nothing anyway, and whatever he could bluff would be beneficial, he started fabricating,

“I can’t mention that person’s name, but I can tell you, it’s someone you absolutely wouldn’t expect.”

Someone we absolutely wouldn’t expect? Hearing this, Iron Princess frowned deeply,

“What difference does that make compared to saying nothing? No way! Not acceptable!”

“If not, forget it then.”

Skilled in negotiation tactics, Leon understood that whoever showed more concern would inevitably lose in negotiations. He simply chose to flip the table and extended his hand toward the pinned-down Iron Princess.

“Wait! Hold on!”

Desperately scrambling backward to avoid Leon’s hand, Iron Princess yelled,

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell you, but you need to show some sincerity! One sentence isn’t enough!”

“Then I’ll add another one.”

After thinking for a moment, Leon continued his fabricated description, “The traitor among you is someone who has died once before.”

Died once?

After carefully pondering Leon’s words, Iron Princess’s expression suddenly became solemn.

According to this condition, the recently deceased Aquarius Director undoubtedly counts as one. But apart from him, there seem to be others worth suspecting. The old Pillar Deities were all killed by the Clearing Bureau before, including… the Snake Man? “Your turn.”

After pretending to sound profound and uttering a few nonsense statements, seeing Iron Princess’s face filled with doubt, clearly starting to wildly speculate, Leon maintained his serious expression and urged,

“Speak! Who inside the bureau conspired with you and leaked my file?”