Chapter 539

Apheta 00 replied, “His soul is quite the hassle. I’ve been crunching numbers nonstop with all my processing power, but I can only manage basic encoding. Occasionally, he even breaks free of control. However, his brain isn’t too difficult to handle.”

“Even after his brain repairs itself quickly post-damage, its structure isn’t much different from an ordinary human’s. Pour in some top-grade gel and add a few special components, and that should be enough to fool his brain.”

“So, did it work or not?”

Upon hearing this, Prince Andre furrowed his brow, turned sideways, and said with an unfriendly expression:

“I don’t want to hear excuses. Right now, I just want to know: if even the cleaners sent back there fail, can I send the Chief of the Scorpio Division over to deal with him!”

“More or less, more or less~”

Apheta 00 smiled gently and said, “Physically, there’s no issue; mainly, it’s the soul that’s problematic.

If an ordinary person’s soul is like mist, then a low-rank cleaner’s soul is like cotton, and the soul of a Bureau Director of the Zodiac Divisions is like the hardest diamond. Controlling him for your tasks is akin to carving patterns on a diamond—it’s tough to ensure there won’t be complications.”

“So, it can be used, but there’s also a significant chance of losing control?”

“You got it.”

“…”

“How about this? Why don’t you go back to the Execution King Assembly and ask them for help?”

Apheta 00 suggested,

“Didn’t they give you a hand when dealing with the Chief of the Scorpio Division before? Ask them again this time and let them help you take care of Leon.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Prince Andre shook his head and said,

“The Watchtower Palace of the Clearing Bureau is quite troublesome. They paid a heavy price just to barely get a small amount of strength through the Watchtower Palace, sealing off the soul of the Chief of the Scorpio Division for me.

Repeatedly attacking the Watchtower Palace in a short period increases the likelihood of drawing the attention of the Clearing Bureau. At that point, both our situations will become even more complicated than they are now.”

“There’s nothing we can do then.”

“Where’s the problem?”

“There’s nothing I can do given the limits of my abilities.”

Apheta 00 shrugged and said, “With my technical level, I can’t fully control the Chief of the Scorpio Division’s soul. I can only forcibly add some basic instructions to his soul while keeping his consciousness clear. Once his emotions become too intense, the chances of breaking free will increase significantly.”

“Then, don’t let his emotions get too intense.”

After glancing at Apheta 00, Prince Andre said, “Your research on brains and souls leads Crocodile Kingdom’s scholars by at least a hundred years. Using materials of the same grade provided by the Execution King Assembly, selectively damaging part of the Scorpion Bureau Director’s brain to keep his emotions consistently muted shouldn’t be too hard for you, right?”

“Ah… Fine then!”

Apheta 00 nodded reluctantly and then said with a somewhat regretful expression, “It’s such a pity. This is the brain of a cleaner at the same level as our ancestors. It’s the first time I’ve gotten such excellent material, and before I could even start studying it, I have to damage his brain first. What a waste.”

“Waste is better than being killed by an out-of-control puppet. Besides…”

After another look at Apheta 00’s face, Prince Andre stared intently and said, “Apheta, you’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”

“Hmm?”

Apheta 00 feigned surprise, “My dear nephew, how could you think that?”

The lack of a direct answer meant there was something going on…

After staring at Apheta 00’s unchanged expression, Prince Andre nodded and then squinted his eyes slightly as he said, “If I’m not mistaken, didn’t you install a device to detect souls on ‘Secret Nail’? And ‘Secret Nail’ lost contact very close to the target. The detection device should have collected the target’s soul data. Did you find anything useful?”

“Yes, and quite a lot.”

“Is that so…”

Prince Andre’s eyebrows twitched upon hearing this.

“So… you admire him?”

“Just a little~”

Pinching two fingers together to make a tiny gesture, Apheta 00 smiled sweetly and said, “Since you’ve figured it out, Auntie won’t hide it from you anymore. During the years you’ve kept me locked up, life has been rather boring. If you bring Phelia back, Auntie will probably be locked up even longer. So naturally, I’m not too hopeful for your victory.”

“Moreover, these two encounters haven’t exactly given you any advantages. To avoid retaliation in case you fail, Auntie thinks it’s understandable to hedge my bets a bit, don’t you agree?”

“Not bad.”

After listening to Apheta 00’s words, Prince Andre nodded slightly and then calmly said:

“If I win, you’ll be locked up until the day I die, and I’ll destroy you right before I pass away. It’s normal for you to seek your own way out, and I won’t get angry about such things.”

“That’s good to hear~”

Glancing at Prince Andre’s expression, Apheta 00 smiled sweetly and said, “So, do you want to ask what I’ve been doing behind your back?”

“It’s not hard to guess. You can’t disobey the orders of the Time Sharing Scepter, nor can you truly betray me completely. So, it’s probably something insignificant to me but meaningful to them…”

After a brief moment of thought, Prince Andre calmly opened his mouth and said:

“You’re preparing to inform him through those cleaners of the whereabouts of the woman who was captured along with the Chief of the Scorpio Division, am I right?”

“Absolutely correct~”

Apheta 00 blinked and then smiled sweetly, saying,

“And if they choose to rescue her instead of coming straight for you, then Auntie would have bought you some time to prepare further strategies against them. That’s helping you too, isn’t it? How nice of Auntie, huh?”

“Not bad.”

After glancing at Apheta once more, Prince Andre urged,

“Get to work. Hurry up and deal with the Chief of the Scorpio Division’s brain. There aren’t many cleaners left.”

“Already on it, already on it!”

…

“Ahhh!!! Don’t come near me!”

As the aunt and nephew were scheming against each other, the battle on the other side had reached its conclusion.

In the terrified expression of a plump female cleaner, Leon, whose face was flushed with alcohol, burped loudly, reeking of booze. Then, he grabbed the transparent fishing line next to him, pulled the plump female cleaner toward him, and cleanly decapitated her with one swift stroke!

Seeing the last companion eliminated, the twenty-odd heads piled up on the ground belonging to Gemini Division cleaners couldn’t help but sigh in despair together.

“We’re utterly finished…”

“How is this guy indestructible!”

“Isn’t his strongest anomalous item sealed? Why is he still so strong?!”

(End of Chapter)