Chapter 553

As Apheta 00 was enveloped in paint and entered the painting, returning to the banquet of yore, Leon cautiously stepped into the cooling lake behind Research Institute No.1, treading through the somewhat chaotic water currents beneath his feet.

“Relax, just boldly move forward; generally, there won’t be any problems.”

Noticing Leon seemed a bit tense, Mona’s soul popped out and offered reassurance:

“Regardless of what obstacles lie ahead, my ‘Clear Path Forward’ can carve out a way. If it weren’t for that Death Ambassador stopping us before, we could have even briefly transcended life and death. This is just a small lake. As long as you reserve a little strength to ensure the effect of ‘Clear Path Forward’ doesn’t suddenly cut off, you definitely won’t drown.”

“Hmm, hmm.”

After responding, Leon explained:

“I’m not actually worried about drowning but about being detected by instruments meant to detect anomalous items. If the Scorpio Division Bureau Director intercepts us before we destroy the mechanical intelligence core, Phelia’s coup will turn into a joke.”

“You don’t need to worry too much about that.”

After hearing Leon’s concerns, Franky also popped out, speculating along with him:

“Among the abnormal items Bureau Director Edward commonly uses, there are mostly rule-based and lethal types. The few defensive ones he has are mostly single-target defenses, lacking large-scale protective means. The Mechanical Intelligences of the Crocodile Kingdom are very huge, and there will always be places they cannot defend. Even if intercepted by the Bureau Director’s dolls, our goal of destroying the Mechanical Intelligence shouldn’t be hard to achieve.”

“Hopefully.”

Responding without much confidence, Leon squinted and gazed at the massive round shadow at the bottom of the cooling lake, frowning slightly: “Senior Ruben, what kind of anomalous items does Bureau Director Edward usually use?”

“The Bureau Director has a very special anomalous item called roughly ‘Puppet Chamber,’ which enhances puppets and doll-like things, ensuring they cannot be destroyed by any means. Therefore, he likes to collect various doll-type anomalous items.”

After hearing Leon’s question, Reuben’s soul also emerged and answered:

“The most commonly used anomalous item among them is a pale doll covered in thorns. Anyone whose Leon Value is lower than the Bureau Director, once seen by this doll’s gaze, will be forcibly turned into the same kind of doll and suffer identical damage as the pale doll.

The second most frequently used one is a cruciform puppet board hanging with numerous transparent silk threads. If touched by these threads, one loses control over their body, becoming a puppet entirely under his control.

Then there are several other dolls or transformation puppets with different effects, used to handle various emergencies and suited for different environments.”

“What about underwater?”

“Not clear about underwater ones.”

Female Cleaner Mona shook her head and said, “Bureau Director Edward didn’t take us on many missions, nor did he dive underwater with us. But he did mention casually that he indeed has corresponding anomalous items.”

“Is that so.”

Hearing this, Leon nodded and then pointed to the massive shadow below, frowning deeply: “Could this thing down there be the anomalous item your Bureau Director uses underwater?”

Upon hearing Leon’s inquiry, the three Cleaners from the Scorpio Division couldn’t help but momentarily freeze, then simultaneously leaned down to look, followed by sharply inhaling in unison.

No reason why, as Leon gradually ventured deeper into the cooling lake, the true form of the massive circular shadow at the bottom finally revealed itself.

The main body of the Mechanical Intelligence that Leon and his team were searching for was still deeper in the lake, while what they initially thought was the Mechanical Intelligence’s main body turned out to be an enormous strange fish vertically suspended in the lake.

Under the dim light at the bottom of the lake, the streamlined tubular body of the strange fish was completely made of wood, coated with waterproof paint. Its two astonishingly large pectoral fins were tightly pressed against the belly of the strange fish, shimmering with metallic luster.

Below, the crescent-shaped flat tail fin was made of some unknown material, neither stone nor jade, looking incredibly heavy. With every slight movement, it would stir up the water currents in the cooling lake.

This thing is way too big! Looking at the terrifying doll-fish, which exceeded twenty meters in length and had a size comparable to an eight-story building, the four of them couldn’t help but feel their scalps tingle.

Even among the Cleaners who deal with anomalous items, few could go head-to-head with such a large creature underwater, let alone one reinforced by the ‘Puppet Chamber,’ making it indestructible.

With the predictable strength and hardness of the opponent, if this thing caught up and slapped them, even someone made of iron would likely turn into a flattened iron pancake!

And worse yet, before Leon could react, the imposing puppet fish already sensed them, unfurled its metal fins tucked on both sides of its belly, sliced into the water currents at the bottom of the lake, and then with a powerful downward sweep, shot upward like lightning!

No mistakes here, content found at 69 Book Bar!

My God! Seeing the puppet whale speeding up like an arrow released from a bowstring, Leon no longer held back his trump cards, directly pulling out a bottle of alcohol and gulping it down while tossing out a handful of nut-sized seeds with shells.

“Reuben!”

“Right away!”

In the anxious reminder of Female Cleaner Mona, Reuben’s weak soul suddenly lit up, and the shelled seeds tossed by Leon instantly swelled dramatically, leaping across countless years in the blink of an eye, producing fruits as hard as small table tops.

Meanwhile, Franky, who was ready, threw out bundles of transparent fishing lines, stringing all these strangely shaped giant fruits together, creating a massive weighted fishing net with dangling weights around its edges.

“BOOM!”

The charging massive strange fish, seemingly blind, directly charged into the fishing net without hesitation. However, it only slowed down slightly, continuing to rush upwards forcefully despite having hundreds of table-sized ‘weights’ attached.

“How is this possible?!”

Seeing that their joint efforts with Franky could only slightly hinder the strange fish, Reuben couldn’t help but be shocked.

These were specially selected seeds by him! Even disregarding Franky’s fishing net, the combined weight of the shells of over a hundred waterlogged plants might weigh eighty to ninety tons. How could this fish continue rushing upwards while carrying such a heavy load?! “I’ll handle it!”

Since no one maintained it, the path carved out by ‘Clear Path Forward’ in the lake had already been shattered by the massive water currents brought by the strange fish, causing water to seep inward everywhere.

Taking advantage of the brief slowdown of the strange fish, Leon, who successfully activated ‘Immortal Drinker,’ tightly gripped the ‘Silver Knife’ and plunged into the water in the opposite direction, slashing downwards towards the oncoming whale’s head.

(End of Chapter)