Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1154 The New Director Takes Office with Three Tons of Fire
While that's the correct meaning, you didn't have to be so blunt... Never mind.

Faced with the Scorpio director's unexpected talent for "grasping the essence," Lyon smiled helplessly and nodded in response:

"Yes, if the cleaners sent out by the bureau really encounter that level of crisis, then they should contact headquarters in time and request support from the board of directors."

Furthermore, the top priority right now is to maintain stability in the present world as much as possible, deepen cooperation with the Twelve Kingdoms, and complete the exploration of the present world first. Once the newly recruited Cleaners have grown to a certain level, we can begin exploring other planes... Oh, right.

At this point, Lyon suddenly remembered something, turned to the Taurus director, and asked:
"Your Excellency Taurus, our Cleanup Bureau is understaffed, and most of them are just on-the-job cleaners. If we want to quickly screen suitable candidates, we definitely need the cooperation of the Twelve Kingdoms. Could I..."

"You don't need to ask me that."

After shaking his head at Lyon, the Taurus director pointed to the crown on his head and reminded him with a smile:
"Although the process was a bit sudden and the former director did not completely step down, you are indeed now the director of the Cleanup Bureau. You don't need to ask for my opinion on what to do anymore; you can just make your own decisions."

At this point, seemingly recalling Lyon's past actions, the Taurus director hesitated slightly before quickly adding:

"Of course, although you're the director, when it comes to matters with particularly significant impact, if the situation isn't too urgent, you might as well discuss it with us again. But don't worry, we certainly won't hold you back unnecessarily; we're mainly thinking of helping to identify and fill any gaps..."

"It should."

Understanding that she was worried he might go too far and overdo it, Leon simply nodded in agreement and began to speak in cooperation:

"And even if you hadn't mentioned it, I was already planning to ask everyone to help me with the selection process. After all, such a large-scale expansion of enrollment is unprecedented, and I lack experience in this area. It would be bad if something went wrong because I overlooked something."

Great, great, that's wonderful!
Seeing that Lyon did not show any resistance to the suggestion of "overseeing", the last weight that had been hanging over the hearts of the board members was lifted off their feet, and some even showed a look of relief.

After all that has happened, Aquarius seems to have grown a lot. From the cynical and rebellious little cleaner who would do anything he didn't like, he has gradually become the steady and mature new director, and he seems more and more reliable.

"Leon."

After calling out, the Taurus director, his eyes full of admiration, smiled and asked:

"Since everyone is free now, why don't you tell us what your future plans are, and we'll see if we can give you some advice?"

"I can't ask for it."

After giving her a reply that was quite in line with the expectations of the senior members, Leon frowned and thought for a moment, then spoke amidst the expectant gazes of the board members:

"The first step in expanding recruitment is definitely to find those who have been exposed to anomalous substances before. They usually have the qualifications to become cleaners, such as various churches. So I plan to bring in the official forces of the Twelve Kingdoms and immediately conduct a comprehensive survey of all churches in the world."

Are they targeting those followers of Outer God?

After listening to Lyon's words, the board members couldn't help but exchange glances, finding that those who supported him and those who didn't were roughly evenly split.

Those followers of the Outer Gods have indeed been immersed in the religion to a certain extent over the years, so they can seamlessly become cleaners without much training. Recruiting these people can indeed allow the Cleanup Bureau to expand rapidly, but doing so will also make the Cleanup Bureau less "pure".

Since Outer Gods are the Cleanup Bureau's greatest enemy, in the past, Cleanup Bureau members could be criminals or villains, but they absolutely could not have faith, lest they be targeted by a true god who had designs on the mortal world, or have their intelligence or operations leaked. If things are done this way now...

"Once the census is complete, all churches will be banned. Those who believe in demons or evil gods will be wiped out, and believers with relatively moderate doctrines will also be taken away, locked up, and reformed!"

"?!"

“In the past, we didn’t have enough manpower to take care of everything, but now that we have the time and the Twelve Kingdoms are helping us, it’s time to give those churches in the world a good lesson.”

Recalling the situations he had heard about and seen in some churches, Lyon said with a hint of disdain in his eyes:

"The present world is the present world of humankind, not the present world of external gods. Although there are relatively mild external gods among those worshipped by churches, they ultimately treat believers as servants or even slaves. Even so, every year a large number of ordinary people belittle themselves and actively join various churches."

Those who were forced by circumstances to join the church for help are one thing; they were harmed by the Twelve Kingdoms' negligence and had little other choice. They can't be blamed. But those who joined the church for desires, wealth, or power should all be severely corrected!

Correction... So you weren't planning to recruit them into the Cleanup Bureau?
"Of course, we still need to hire people."

Seeing the doubts in the directors' minds, Lyon took the initiative to explain:

"The believers and priests of those major churches are all quite capable of becoming cleaners. Their experiences, willpower, and other qualities are much stronger than those of ordinary people. With proper training, they can almost all be transformed into qualified cleaners."

But we can't just accept them into the Cleanup Bureau like that. To join, they must undergo very rigorous reform and re-education!

"Leon..."

Upon hearing this, the director of Jinniu couldn't help but ask:

"What you mean by 'reform and re-education' are you referring to..."

"The main purpose is to dispel superstition."

Li, the God of Cookery, said with a serious expression:
"After the church census is completed, I plan to compile a list based on the situation of each church, and then ask the directors with free time to find their true gods one by one, arrest them, and lock them up with the believers, so that their gods can personally persuade them not to be superstitious."

"..."

"Furthermore, for those true gods who promote harmful superstitions, a performance evaluation system for persuading believers must be established. If even being imprisoned alongside their own true god cannot awaken those believers, then it proves that the arrested true god has failed to persuade them effectively and must apologize and repent before all believers."

"..."

"As for those true gods who repent but still don't work properly, I plan to establish a bottom-ranking execution system. The true god with the lowest percentage of believers to persuade each month will be treated as promoting superstition and seriously endangering public safety, and sent directly to the realm of the dead for all his believers to observe. And if even that doesn't work..."

"You can persuade them! You definitely can!"

Seeing that Lyon seemed prepared to "develop" further, the Taurus director, who was already getting a little numb from listening, quickly grabbed him, his expression quite strained, and said:
"Believe me, after being lectured like this, even the most devout believer would break down..."

"is it?"

Upon hearing this, Lyon raised an eyebrow and said with some surprise:
“I’ve seen the records from the bureau. Those fanatics were willing to die for their true god, yet they couldn’t even survive three rounds of modifications?”

Why would we need a tricycle? They wouldn't even survive your first round of modifications!

The director of Jinniu said with a slight toothache:

"The root of faith lies in mystery and greatness. They are willing to die for the true God, but they cannot accept the defeat of the true God. When you capture their true God, the faith of those believers will probably collapse. You don't need to go to that extent, just be close enough!"

"That's okay..."

Faced with the persuasion of the Golden Bull board member, Lyon had no choice but to nod in agreement, but then couldn't help but emphasize:

“But even without the three-wheeled reform, those churches should be abolished. My idea is to eliminate them all. The education system of the Twelve Kingdoms should follow suit, reducing or even eliminating all church-related subjects, and gradually abolishing all kinds of church schools. We must ensure that future generations have a correct worldview from a young age, and not develop a worship mentality towards the true God after a chance encounter.”

"This is no problem."

The Cancer director responded, then looked at Lyon with some confusion and asked:

"But given your current situation and that of the mortal realm, these true gods pose no threat anymore, right? Is it worth you expending so much effort to target them?"

If you look at it from the perspective of a threat, it's definitely not worth making a big fuss about, but it's a different story from the perspective of an emblem.

After nodding to the Cancer director, Lyon answered earnestly:
"It's very important. If we can actually achieve it in the end, the benefits will probably be no less than exploring the fourteen planes."

If the Cleanup Bureau and the Twelve Kingdoms can truly cooperate this time and wipe out all the churches in one fell swoop, I feel I'll most likely get a new badge like "Faith Killer" or "Ragnarok," and it will almost certainly be a top-tier, unique badge.

"Ok."

Seeing Lyon's serious expression, the Cancer director nodded and volunteered:

"I don't have anything else to do right now, so leave this to me. Once you've made the list, I'll lead a team to capture the corresponding True God... Besides this, do you have any other plans?"

"There are more, and a lot of them."

"Many refers to..."

"It means a lot in the literal sense."

After listing all his ideas and the various possible badge effects, Leon hesitated slightly before adding:

"Or rather, a great many."

"..."

Wouldn't that be the end of it?
Seeing that Lyon's expression didn't seem feigned, the directors began to panic. The most impatient of them all, Scorpio, couldn't help but ask:

"Not counting those that are too small or too fragmented, how many ideas do you have that have a similar impact on the present world as the church census and believer conversion we just discussed?"

"That's not much, only three..."

Three? That's alright...

"Around thirty, and there are a few more that could have an even greater impact."

"?!!!"

"Um... how about we take a break first?"

Seeing the board members' expressions suddenly tighten after he finished speaking, Lyon blinked and then considerately asked:

"Can you handle this? If not, let's take it one step at a time. Let's stop here for today and you can all rest a bit."

"do not……"

After a quick exchange of opinions, the Taurus director closed his eyes, then smiled wryly and said:

"Let's continue. How can we sleep if you don't finish telling us all thirty things?"

"..."

……

Three months later.

As Nightmare, shrouded in black mist, returned to the boundary between the dream world and reality, all the dream beings around him looked at him and laughed. A succubus-like, lewd dream giggled:

"That Nightmare! You've been drafted by the Cleanup Bureau again, haven't you?"

The nightmare, shrouded in black mist, did not answer, but instead addressed the dream-trafficking demon in the dream well near the border:

"Bring two fresh blobs of fear, and a wail filled with despair." Then, nine fragments of mental energy were sent over.

Seeing that the nightmare didn't respond, the other dream beings deliberately shouted loudly:

"You must have been caught by the newly established education branch of the Cleanup Bureau and stuffed into the dreams of human children to give them extra lessons!"

Upon hearing this, Nightmare's eyes widened in surprise:
"How...how can you slander someone's innocence like this?"

"What innocence?"

The one who had spoken first, Yinmeng, waved her hand to dispel the black mist surrounding Nightmare, revealing the teacher's uniform of the Travelling Thrush Kingdom hidden beneath, and laughed loudly:
"Last month in the Fallen Soul Abyss, I saw with my own eyes that you were caught by the Virgin Division's cleaner. That female cleaner pried open your mouth and poured a potion into it, dissolving all the bone spurs and fangs on your body, and giving you a completely human appearance."

Later, you and five hundred other nightmares who were arrested in the same batch were locked in the same classroom-related nightmare, crying while reciting elementary school textbooks on the desk! You even discussed how to teach more effectively... How shameful!

Hastily blowing out black mist to obscure the human's not-at-all-grotesque or terrifying body, the nightmare's face darkened, and veins bulged where bone spurs had once stood on its forehead. It argued incoherently:

“Memorizing elementary school textbooks is not shameful…Memorizing textbooks…Is tutoring children shameful?”

Then came incomprehensible words, such as "This is the Nightmare King's favor towards me," and "Tutoring the Nightmare King's younger siblings is also the duty of the Nightmares, a good job that others would beg for."
Phrases like, "At least they paid with fragments of their mental energy, and even praised my explanation, encouraging me not to tremble next time," drew laughter from the dream world creatures, instantly filling the area around the boundary with a joyful atmosphere. And then...

"Boom~"

With a soft popping sound, a slender figure, radiating starlight, suddenly emerged from the Dream Well, bumping into Nightmare's arm with a thud and sending the surging gray cloud in his hand flying into the surrounding dreamscape.

"Bastard!"

Before he could even taste the fear he had gained by "selling himself" for money, it was spilled by someone else. Enraged by the nightmare of being forced to teach the black books, he grabbed the newcomer and shouted:
"Don't go! You have to pay...you! You! Are you human? A cleaner?!"

　Two-in-one, huh...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)