Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1153 Treasures and Exploration Plan

"Stop it!"

Unaware that the former director of the Cleanup Bureau had changed his attitude because of the badge, the Taurus director's face darkened as he watched the former director's words become increasingly outrageous, even asking him if he had any plans to divorce after Lyon revealed that he was married.

"Right now you only have a chance to avoid death, it's not certain you'll be alright! Hurry back to your homeland, save your life first!"

"I know."

The head of the sanitation bureau wasn't angry at being yelled at. He glanced at Ang again with admiration, then replied cheerfully:
"I'm just trying to have a backup plan. If we can actually get married, and I still don't make it back from the old land alive, my great-granddaughter will still have someone to take care of her, right?"

"..."

"Hehe, I'm not going to say anything more."

Seeing the glare from the Taurus director, and knowing that she might snap if things continued, the head of the sanitation department quickly waved his hand to indicate that he was leaving. Then, noticing that Leon didn't seem very interested in his great-granddaughter, he couldn't help but continue his "promotion":

“My great-granddaughter is a playwright. You might not get along, but her mother is a cleaner in the Lion Division. She was just promoted two years ago. If you have time, you might want to get to know her; you might have more in common. But her mother’s mother…”

"Fuck off!"

With a swift wave of his hand, as if swatting away flies, he dispersed the increasingly rambling director of the Cleanup Bureau. Then, the Taurus director turned to Leon, who was smiling wryly, and said with some displeasure:
"Don't listen to that old man's nonsense! Now that we're married, let's not think about anything else. We can't do anything immoral!"

"Um……"

Lyon nodded helplessly in response, then replied with a somewhat strained expression:

"The director probably realized he might not die, and got a little too excited, so he acted on a whim... Anyway, I won't take it seriously, and I don't mean any harm."

Huh? You didn't mean that at all? Not even a little bit?
Looking at Lyon, who was making such a confident promise, the Taurus director, who should have been relieved, suddenly felt something was off and suddenly remembered a troublesome redhead who had been single all this time.

Well... I hope that my insistence on making Leon more moral just now won't backfire and ruin Olivia's lifelong happiness?

"But... I mean, but."

After secretly crushing two sound-blocking anomalies to ensure his words wouldn't be heard by the other board members, the Taurus board member, unable to bear seeing the red-haired woman end up alone, unusually betrayed his moral standards. Driven by maternal instinct, he coughed lightly and subconsciously turned his head away, saying:

"If your marriage is really unhappy, then if you have any thoughts about other people, I, as an elder, can understand it..."

"..."

"But forget about Armando's great-granddaughter. If we're really considering it, we should start with people close to us, especially those we always hang out with for drinks, and preferably with some emotional connection, like... um... but I'm just saying, we still need to try our best to be moral people!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Morality! Morality is definitely the way!"

He quickly changed out of the new badge, disabling the "Promising Future" matchmaking effect. After helping the Taurus director's moral fastidiousness overcome his matchmaking urges, Leon couldn't help but secretly marvel at the new badge's effect—it was so powerful that it suppressed the Taurus director's sense of morality—while trying to change the subject:

"By the way, Taurus, before I returned, the Third Hokage told me that Capricorn and the others had almost finished purifying the [treasure], is that right?"

"That's right!"

Upon hearing Leon mention the fragments of those three [treasures], Director Taurus visibly improved, smiling and nodding.
"Although it's not all done yet, the fragments of [Inheritance] you retrieved and most of the [Connections] that the Ancient King spat out have been initially purified. The [Creation] of the Myriad Things Celestial Cicada is too complex and difficult to handle, but it is estimated that it can be purified in about half a year."

That's really good news.

Upon hearing this, Lyon couldn't help but smile, his expression quite expectant as he said:

"So, in six months at most, will we humans be able to directly possess the ability to communicate telepathically and pass on memories, and also have a constant stream of inspiration?"

"Hmm... this seems a bit difficult..."

"???"

"The main issue is quantity... Apart from the [Connections] that the King of the Old Earth spat out, the [Inheritance] and [Creation] that you snatched back are only fragments. And when these are distributed among everyone, their effectiveness is somewhat diminished..."

After roughly estimating the effects, Director Jinniu said uncertainly:
"The Crimson Overlord spits out the least amount of [inheritance], and the inherited memories will only appear in the next generation, so the effect is the worst."

Judging from the current situation, it seems that even after the next generation is born, there won't be enough time to directly form a clear inherited memory. At most, it will only make these children more adept at 'learning' the knowledge that their ancestors have already mastered.

"That's pretty good too."

After imagining what the Golden Bull director had said, Lyon nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Although it's not as convenient as directly inheriting memories, it's still good for improving learning ability. Over the years, it can make the world a better place... By the way."

At this point, Lyon suddenly remembered something and quickly asked:
"Is this kind of inherited ability only passed down within blood relatives, or is it more 'broadly' inherited?"

"You're more inclined towards the latter, aren't you?"

After thinking for a moment, the director of Jinniu replied:
"Our ancestors were able to communicate directly through their minds. The gap in 'knowledge' between them was not too large, and they were even more 'similar' in their thinking. The connections between people were much closer."

Therefore, this "inheritance" is not a continuation of bloodlines, but rather an inheritance at the level of the entire clan. As long as ancestors have possessed certain knowledge, children born afterward will naturally inherit some of that knowledge, regardless of whether they are direct blood relatives.

"That's good……"

Upon hearing this, Lyon immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Monopolies are not limited to the forms of "wealth" and "power." The inheritance of "knowledge," "experience," and even "opportunities" can also create extremely serious unfairness. If inheritance can only be passed down through bloodlines, it might actually cause problems in the long run.

Having confirmed that this hard-won [inheritance] shouldn't bring any more or bigger trouble, Leon pressed for further information:

"What about the [connection] with the Old King? We captured him directly, so he should have the most treasures on him."

"Ah."

Upon hearing this, Director Jinniu nodded slightly, then hesitated for a moment before removing the "silencing" device and addressing everyone:
"Gentlemen, let's continue with the topic we discussed before the Director returned... Have you all decided how to handle the [connection] extracted from the Old King?" How to handle it? What does that mean?
Upon hearing this, Lyon was slightly taken aback and couldn't help but cast a questioning glance at the Taurus director. Knowing that Lyon had just returned from the Source God Platform and was still somewhat unaware of the situation, the Taurus director promptly offered an explanation:

"Unlike the Crimson King's [Legacy], the [Connection] retrieved from the Old Kings is the most abundant. Even if it were distributed directly to everyone, it would be enough to grant ordinary people a portion of the ability to communicate telepathically."

But we had a slight disagreement about whether or not to do it, and while we were arguing, the director suddenly made a move, so we swayed his opinion as well.

I see……

After listening to the explanation from the Taurus director, Lyon nodded slightly, seemingly understanding. He then turned to face the directors who were looking at him and took the initiative to ask a question:

"Everyone, is your biggest point of disagreement that opening up direct communication through the mind will completely disrupt the current order of the world?"

The impact of this is too great; we certainly can't just give it to them without considering the consequences.

Upon hearing this, the Capricorn director sighed and was the first to speak, saying:

"Yes, after I purified the [connection], I discovered that this kind of spiritual communication is two-way. It is not only the 'output' at the level of consciousness, but also includes the 'reading' part. And with the current strength of our human souls, it is impossible to perfectly conceal our thoughts."

Therefore, if we open up the "connection" directly to everyone, given the level of control that ordinary people have over their own mind and will, most people will become almost 'transparent' to each other. As soon as the two sides start trying to communicate, their innermost thoughts and ideas will all leak out.

Those with sufficiently strong mental power, roughly comparable to a regular level-two cleaner, could even actively acquire a portion of another person's thoughts even if the other party was uncooperative. Doing so would definitely cause chaos.

"I think so."

After the Capricorn director finished speaking, the Virgo director beside him said with a serious expression:

"The present is different from the past. Our ancestors were able to accept [contact] because their souls were strong enough and they were used to this way of communication, so they wouldn't be completely 'transparent' from the start."

But after losing contact for thousands of years, we humans have become accustomed to communication without it, developing new methods and habits. Contact suited our ancestors, but it may not suit us.

really……

After listening to the two directors' views, Lyon nodded in agreement.

As times change, so do things. Compared to our ancestors in the old land, people in the present world are vastly different in terms of lifespan, mindset, and innate abilities. Apart from both being human, they are practically two different species. And the gap in social structure is even greater.

The overly transparent and efficient communication methods of our ancestors, when applied to modern humans, are like a maglev train traveling through the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, rampaging through the streets. For modern humans who can't even build proper roads, this sudden breakthrough in efficiency is probably more of a curse than a blessing.

Even under the regulation of the Cleanup Bureau, people will eventually be able to adapt to this "retro" way of communication and evolve a new social structure, but this process will still cause massive panic and chaos.

"But we can't just stop using it altogether!"

Seeing Lyon nod slightly, seemingly agreeing with the ideas of the Capricorn and Virgo directors, the Scorpio director couldn't help but say urgently:

"This is a treasure that we finally managed to retrieve! Our predecessors sacrificed countless lives and searched for it for thousands of years without success. Now that we have it, are we just going to leave it here and not use it?"

"I also think it's a bit of a pity."

After the Scorpio director finished speaking, the Cancer director followed up with his statement, looking at Leon with a serious expression:

"While Capricorn and Virgo's words are not without merit, this is, after all, a treasure that humanity has lost for a long time. We shouldn't simply discard it out of fear of causing trouble. As for the potential chaos that might result from establishing 'connection'..."

Aquarius, many of the things you've done in the past have indeed caused considerable chaos in the short term, but haven't they all ultimately yielded relatively good results? So, if in the long run it can make the world a better place, then I think temporary chaos is acceptable.

"..."

Good grief, I've actually become an example...

After smiling at the Cancer director, Leon turned to look at the Taurus director behind him and asked with some curiosity:

"Your Excellency Taurus, what are your thoughts?"

"I……"

Upon hearing this, the Jinniu director hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said:
"I tend to agree with Cancer's perspective. Although opening up [connections] will inevitably bring a lot of chaos, I still have some hope for humanity. If we can communicate better, there will be less secrecy and scheming in the present and future, and the future might even be better?"

Is it okay to have expectations of humanity? It is certainly acceptable to have expectations of humanity, but we can never completely let go and entrust everything to humanity. We still need to have a safety net.

Looking at the board members who were all staring at him, seemingly waiting for him, the "new director," to make a decision, Lyon, who held the key voting rights, hesitated for a moment, then, without indicating that he would join any side, proposed:

"Everyone's ideas have some merit... How about we compromise?"

"?"x5
"I think instead of directly choosing whether to use it or not, we should adjust the scale of releasing [Contact] instead of releasing it all at once. Instead, we should first give it to people who can properly control [Contact]... such as cleaners with a mental strength level of two or above."

Amidst the thoughtful expressions of the board members, Lyon began to explain his thoughts:
"Humans are not yet ready to accept [connection], but it's different for the Cleaners. If they could have the ability to communicate telepathically, it would be a huge boost for all the Cleaners, and now is the perfect time to use it."

In order to resist the possible attacks, we need to explore the fourteen planes. The cleaners who have left the present world to explore other planes are in dire need of an effective means of communication on a large scale.

Furthermore, if the [Contact] isn't released directly, but instead prioritized for the cleaners who can control it to use it according to their own abilities, then the strength of the [Contact] should be greatly enhanced, perhaps even enabling direct communication over long distances.

At this point, Lyon paused slightly, then continued:
"My idea is that, during the exploration of surrounding dimensions, if a cleaner encounters danger, they can use the ability provided by [Contact] to immediately request help from other nearby cleaners or even headquarters. At that time..."

"I understand!"

The Scorpio director couldn't help but slap his thigh, his face flushed with joy, and said:
"When the time comes, if anyone in the present world and the fourteen surrounding planes dares to mess with the cleaners we sent out, we board members will immediately rush over and deal with them!"

　Two-in-one... Or 2...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)