Chapter 530

The anomalous items of the cleaners are powerful, but not all cleaners have the ability to take on a thousand enemies alone. The true forms of most cleaners still haven’t transcended the realm of humans; they can bleed and get injured just the same.

Cleaners like myself who lack area-of-effect abilities, once surrounded by a well-organized army and hit by clusters of heat weapons or even heavy artillery bombardment, can at best hold out for a little longer before ultimately meeting our end the same way.

When it comes to heat weapons, if Crocodile Kingdom claims second place in the world, no one dares to claim first. With my abilities leaning more towards “support,” I’m truly struggling to move forward here…

“Mr. Leon.”

After casting a glance at the bustling Zone 3 Administrative Area in the distance, Algernon hesitantly asked, “What should we do next? Should we continue investigating Zone 1?”

Upon hearing this, Leon glanced at him and shook his head, saying, “No need. We’ve already learned pretty much everything we needed to investigate.”

“Eh?”

“For us, the most significant intelligence from Zone 1 boils down to two points.”

Leon raised a finger and said,

“The first piece of valuable information is the exact location of Apheta 01.

Even though we didn’t enter the core area, I wandered around the periphery and memorized the soul fluctuations of about fifty people. Finding Zone 1 again will be much easier now.

By locking down the position of Zone 1 Research Area, we’re also locking down the approximate location of Apheta 01. Our goal is to destroy it, not take it away, so knowing its general location is sufficient.

As for the second piece of intelligence, it’s confirming who our enemy really is.

While Mr. Bell likely has issues, the intel he provided to gain our trust isn’t necessarily false. Apheta 01’s most critical ‘component’ is probably the brain of the former Princess Phelia.

If that’s the case, it’s basically confirmed that Prince Andre was the one who wiped out the royal family, and only he had the capability to ambush Nicole and Bureau Director Edward. Our target can be locked onto him.”

“But there are still so many other things we haven’t figured out yet?”

Algernon questioned with some confusion, “Like the truth behind those events back then, why King Fein needed Apheta 01 so badly that he was willing to sacrifice his own daughter, and why Prince Andre slaughtered the royal family… these matters…”

“The truth behind these matters is important, but it’s not worth risking ourselves further to investigate.”

Interrupting Algernon, Leon calmly stated,

“If we were stronger, and didn’t have to worry too much about our own safety, naturally we could investigate a bit more to see if there were any extenuating circumstances or hidden reasons.

But given our current situation, what we’ve uncovered so far is enough. As long as we know Apheta 01’s location and confirm who’s targeting us, the next steps become much clearer.”

Much clearer… So where exactly does it get clearer? I don’t understand at all…”Simply put, after determining the situation, we can start planning our move against Prince Andre.”

Noticing Algernon’s confusion, Leon explained,

“I’ve met Prince Andre and observed his condition. He’s just an ordinary person. For us, the real trouble isn’t his strength, but his status.

He can command armies to blockade or even bomb entire districts, and with the various detection methods provided by Apheta 01, we wouldn’t even be able to get close to him. We’d be caught and blown to pieces before we even saw him.”

“Yeah…”

Hearing this, Algernon couldn’t help but sigh, his face full of frustration as he said,

“I never thought regular human stuff could be so troublesome. Those soldiers searching Zone 3 just toss out a palm-sized gadget, and within two seconds, they can collapse a building.

And those strange capture nets they stick to the ground with iron plates, which they carry by hand and push forward, look harmless, but any trees they sweep over instantly carbonize and shatter. It’s truly…”

“Don’t worry, we don’t have to deal with those things.”

Glancing at the search progress in Zone 3, Leon explained,

“In short, Prince Andre himself isn’t worth mentioning, but the power represented by his status is truly troublesome. If we can somehow make his power ineffective, dealing with him will be much easier.”

Algernon asked curiously, “But he’s a prince, controlling the entire army of Crocodile Kingdom. How can we make him lose his power?”

“Don’t worry, I know how to handle this.”

Ryon, the mastermind of rebellions and coups, grinned and said,

“If Crocodile Kingdom were larger, it might be more difficult, but the kingdom is small, with a limited population. It’ll be easy to pull off. I estimate it’ll take about two or three days.”

Eh? Overthrow Crocodile Kingdom in three days? After hearing Ryon’s words, Algernon’s mind buzzed with confusion, unsure whether he was dreaming or if Ryon was talking nonsense.

Regardless, Crocodile Kingdom may be small, but it’s still a complete nation. Taking down its prince in three days… How is that even possible?

“Senior Algernon, the soldiers over there have started expanding their search range. If we don’t leave soon, we might be discovered.”

Noticing Algernon’s doubts, Leon didn’t explain immediately but turned to leave the rooftop, calling out,

“Let’s go. We’ll find a safe place to rest first, grab something to eat, and I’ll explain along the way how we can take down Prince Andre in three days.”

“Alright…”

Still feeling it wasn’t very reliable, but since Leon seemed confident and he had no better ideas, Algernon took one last look at Zone 3 Administrative Area in the distance before turning around and half-believingly following along.

Not long after the two left, the soldiers in Zone 3 seemed to receive some orders. Leaving a small portion of personnel to continue the thorough search, the remaining soldiers quickly split into several teams and began checking all high-rise buildings that could observe the situation in Zone 3.

However, when one team of soldiers reached the rooftop, Leon and the other had already left the building, using identification cards “borrowed” from passersby to disappear among the crowd watching the commotion.

(End of Chapter)