Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1185 The Last Hope
"Moo (Don't get me wrong, we didn't mean to call you that)."

Seeing Lyon's increasingly tense expression, the old ox quickly raised its two front hooves and gestured twice, then mooed earnestly with its face full of sincerity:

"Moo moo moo (Although we are no longer completely controlled by Frederica's will after leaving her, we are still part of her consciousness, so we are still inevitably affected by her)"

"So...you call me a pervert because she thinks I'm a pervert?"

"That's how it is!" x14
"Moo! (That's right!)"

"..."

While dreams are inherently abstract, yours is a bit too abstract...

Looking at the fifteen cross-dressing perverts with their faces smeared with plaster, dressed in white dresses, and even speaking in high-pitched voices, Leon, unable to bear the sight any longer, couldn't help but ask:

"Whether we save Frederica or not can wait. Can you change out of your clothes first?"

"It can't be changed."

The muscular man shook his head and said:
"Only the Holy Maiden can enter the Holy Land; otherwise, she will fall into the mist and never be able to return. Once we change out of these clothes, we will no longer be the Holy Maiden."

The problem is, even dressed like this, he doesn't look like a saint!

Seeing the unwavering agreement on the faces of these perverts, Leon had no choice but to try another approach, tentatively suggesting:
"Should we go outside and talk about it?"

"This won't work either."

The muscular second man shook his head and said:
"Frederica has only been here once, and it is the most unfamiliar place to her in the entire dream. Therefore, we are least affected by her, which is why we can act more freely."

She is too familiar with the outside world, and the impression it left on her is too deep. Our every move is influenced by her subconscious, and we can hardly do things that we 'would not do'.

So if we leave here, we'll revert to our original state in the dream, and we'll never be able to communicate with you normally again.

"..."

But our communication isn't exactly normal right now... Oh well, if we don't go out, we don't go out...

Realizing that these fifteen cross-dressing perverts might be the biggest gain from his trip to the Old World, Leon could only take a deep breath and suppress his awkwardness as he spoke:

"Then let's continue here... So, what exactly is going on with Frederica? Can anyone tell me?"

"Moo (I'll do it)"

Carefully tucking in his belly to avoid tearing the seams of his white dress, Old Yellow... the old white ox stepped forward with a serious expression and mooed in a low voice:
"Moo moo moo moo... (To put it simply, Frederica should be the last saint of the lineage of hope, because after receiving the 'revelation' from the future, she did not lead us to hope, but instead led the entire race to destruction...)"

destroy?

Lyon frowned upon hearing this and asked:

"So the real you..."

"They're all dead." x14
"Moo (They're all dead)"

After answering Leon's question in unison, as if by a single person, the white-bearded old man sighed and took over the conversation:
"In the second month after Frederica left the Holy Land, we, who had avoided the Four Pillars Gods countless times through 'revelation', left the Magnet Plane where we originally lived under her guidance and migrated to a new place. Then we were attacked by the Four Pillars Gods on the way."

After about a day and a night, all the tribesmen, including Frederica's parents, perished. Only we and the children who had not yet entered the Holy Land managed to escape under the protection of the Holy Bull.

Even though the Holy Ox was faster than the Four Pillars God, it was too burdened by carrying the sacred land and could not keep running forever. However, no matter where it ran, the Four Pillars God seemed to know where we were and would catch up again in no time.

After escaping through dozens of planes, Lord Sacred Bull was on the verge of exhaustion. So, at my suggestion, he prepared to lead the Holy Land into the Ring of Time, voluntarily entering the temporal turbulence to gamble on his luck. But when Lord Sacred Bull arrived at the Ring of Time, three of the Four Pillar Gods were already waiting there…”

"Moo..."

Just as the white-bearded old man finished speaking, a huge, muffled moo, like thunder, suddenly rang out from above the canyon.

To Lyon's astonishment, a colossal bull's head, nearly a kilometer in diameter, suddenly pierced through the clouds above. A massive, terrifying bull's eye, resembling a crashing moon, peered down through the "gap" between the cliff tops on either side of the holy site.

"That is……"

"That is the true form of Lord Sacred Bull."

After looking up at the enormous bull's eye above, the white-bearded old man explained with a touch of sadness:
"Lord Sacred Bull was just like he is now, carrying the entire Holy Land and resolutely rushing towards the Ring of Time, wanting to knock the Crimson King, who was blocking the way, into the time turbulence as well, to carve out a last way out for us and those children."

But in the end, just one step away, he was stopped by the combined efforts of the Four Pillar Gods, and Lord Sacred Bull was killed by the enraged Crimson King, nailed directly to the mountainside of Mount Ring of Time. If you go there now, you should still be able to see Lord Sacred Bull's body nailed there.

"..."

So the real old ox is almost as big as a small mountain range, while the old ox in the holy land that likes to smoke is actually just an incarnation.
After glancing up at the cow's eyes, Lyon looked away and continued to ask:

"So what happened to you in the end? Were you killed by the Four Pillars Gods?"

"No, because of Lord Sacred Bull's resistance, the Four Pillars Gods didn't have time to attack us. The one who truly killed us was Frederica."

The white-bearded old man sighed:

"After the Holy Bull was killed, Frederica told us that in the revelation she received from the Holy Land, there was actually a last glimmer of hope, but if we wanted to grasp this last glimmer of hope, we had to give up everything and actively become a part of her."

To willingly become a part of her?

Feeling a strange sense of familiarity with the description, Leon racked his brains for a moment, then asked in astonishment:

"The essence of the root?!?"

"Moo (yes)"

After both the large and small bull eyes glanced at Lyon, the two "holy bulls," one big and one small, spoke in unison:

“Moo moo moo moo… (That’s what Frederica said. Although they had lost faith in her because of her, they had gone down a dead end. But the Four Pillar Gods were watching them from the outside, and they had no choice but to accept it.)” “Yes, after the Holy Bull was also killed, we had no other choice but to trust Frederica one more time.”

The white-bearded old man closed his eyes, his expression incredibly complex, and said:

"Frederica had everyone else in the Holy Land hold hands and form a circle around her, and after everyone was united, she came over and gave me a tight hug, and then... and then..."

Then, everyone remaining in the lineage of hope was "eaten up" on an existential level. The will of each individual was "submerged," and they became a part of Frederica, the sustenance for the birth of the Root Essence.

Based on his understanding of the essence of the origin, and after guessing what the white-bearded old man was unable to say, Leon took a deep breath and vaguely understood the plight of the remnants of the old land.

……

The "revelation" Frederica received from the future was probably the most complete destruction of her entire race. After witnessing the destruction of the Old Earth's remnants, she completely lost hope, believing that with her and the Old Earth's remnants' strength, there was no way to stop it from happening.

After learning of the existence of the Essence of Origin from the future, she concluded that only the Essence of Origin could fight the enemy. Therefore, she chose to use a method she did not understand, by absorbing the remnants of the old land from which she originated, and condensed a small amount of the Essence of Origin.

If we think about it even more cruelly, the fact that the remnants of the old land were intercepted and killed by the Four Pillar Gods, and that the Holy Land and the Old Yellow Ox were repeatedly caught up with, could all be the result of her manipulation to bring all of this to fruition.

After all, no one knows what she saw in the future. She might have felt that rather than stubbornly prolonging the situation and ultimately leading to the destruction of the entire clan, it would be better to meet the end sooner and then sacrifice everything to make this a desperate gamble.

Furthermore, judging from the behavior of these people, Frederica, perhaps out of compassion or some unrealistic expectation, preserved as much of their will as possible during the process of "absorbing" the remnants of the old land.

Although these people had become a part of her, they retained some personal will and were temporarily separated from her will by this dream based on her memories, thus regaining their "body" and "personality" and briefly possessing freedom at the level of will.

So although these people were born from dreams, they are not entirely false dreamers. They are a part of Frederica, but also a reflection of their former selves. They are the remnants of the old land who were absorbed, and the parts of themselves that remain in Frederica's heart.

"And then what?"

Having formed some vague deductions, and looking at the sorrowful figures in his dream before him, Leon couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He then steeled himself and pressed on with the question:

"What did Frederica do? By using the essence of the source that you all gathered, she defeated the four pillar gods who were hunting you down?"

"Yes."

The white-bearded old man, dressed in comical attire, nodded slightly, then replied with a sorrowful look in his eyes:
"She didn't lie to us on this point. After condensing those Root Essences, the Four Pillar Gods were utterly powerless against her. The Crimson King, who killed Lord Sacred Bull, was also killed by her several times. But in the end, Frederica still lost, lost to..."

Just as the white-bearded old man was about to finish speaking, his expression suddenly froze slightly, and then the white plaster on his face and arms quickly fell off, and the ridiculous white dress he was wearing was quickly replaced by his original linen robe.

"what?"

Looking at the white dress that hadn't completely come off, the white-bearded old man, the sorrow in his eyes fading, blinked in confusion, then looked bewilderedly at Leon, who was wearing a "suit," and asked:
"Frederica? What are you doing... Damn it! What are you doing?!"

Looking at his grandsons, their faces painted with makeup... like wall paint, each wearing a tightly stretched white gauze dress, and even the sacred cow wearing one, the white-bearded old man, now back to "normal," clutched his chest and roared in fury:
"You beasts! You...you beasts! I'm going to beat you to death today!"

The rather traditional old man with a white beard clearly couldn't accept his grandsons' "cross-dressing fetish." With a ferocious look in his eyes, he grabbed his cane and pounced on them, ready to teach these lawless scoundrels a lesson. This caused a chaotic scene as the equally clueless muscular men were chased away.

While the old man and the muscular men were arguing, Leon sighed inwardly and then looked up at the bull's eyes above.

A reflection identical to Leon's... and the suit he wore, was in the old ox's eyes, looking down at Leon who had transformed into "himself," and said with a headache:

"You're surprisingly difficult to deal with... So you weren't completely unaware before, but rather discovered that I was trying to seize the source of Number 7, but deliberately didn't stop me?"

We've been discovered after all... It seems this is all we can get out of them this time, but getting this much information is already beyond our expectations.

Looking up at Frederica, who appeared in the bull's eyes, Leon pondered for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. Unusually, he did not refuse to communicate, but nodded in response.

"more or less."

"It's not just about the same."

Looking at the chaotic holy site below, and the cross-dressing perverts wearing the same dress as her, Frederica shook her head helplessly, then frowned slightly and said:

"Because I am stealing the source of dreams through this dream, this dream, which is tainted by countless sources, will become extremely tough due to the taint of these sources. Even I will find it difficult to completely erase it; at most, I can only temporarily destroy a part of it."

And you can, after I leave, consume the Dream Source to restore this dream, and then come back to investigate my past... For this little dream, you're actually willing to let me take thirty percent of the Source? Is it worth it?"

It's definitely worth it, and not just any ordinary value.

Completely ignoring Frederica's question, Leon, wearing a matching suit, tilted his head back and asked with sparkling eyes:
"Frederica, what exactly is your relationship with Number One? Devouring? One-sided absorption? Or is it a symbiotic relationship where each of you possesses a portion of the will, but one side is dominant?"

"Was it that the original Number One needed the Essence of Origin, and because this Essence of Origin was formed by you and the remnants of the Old Earth, killing you would mean losing this Essence of Origin forever, so they chose to make you a part of it?"

"..."

Even though he wasn't even a descendant of the original people, why did he seem more difficult to deal with than everyone else combined?
Looking down at Leon, who was scrutinizing her and seizing every opportunity to gather information, Frederica frowned. Without a word, she turned and left, determined that even if it meant consuming a portion of her essence, she absolutely could not give Leon the chance to continue digging into her past.

As she turned around, a streak of light a hundred times more dazzling than the Root of Brilliance swept past, and the once relatively stable dream plane was shattered into pieces before Lyon's eyes.

The group of cross-dressing perverts who were just making a ruckus vanished without a trace along with the dream... Only an old yellow ox wearing an oversized white dress remained, looking completely bewildered.

"Stop standing there like an idiot, hurry up and come inside!"

He casually conjured up a dream and tossed it over, hitting the dazed old ox on the head. Leon, with a hint of heartache, urged:

"It wasn't easy to protect you! If she realizes something's wrong and comes back to fight, I might not be able to protect you again!"

"Moo...Moo moo moo? (But I...shouldn't I have been erased along with that dream by her?)"

"It's a bit complicated to explain..."

Looking down at his arm and sensing the slight, linear damage to his soul, Leon sighed:

"To put it simply, all those cigarettes you smoked before weren't for nothing... Hurry up and come in! If you linger any longer, she might come back and silence you!"

　Cough cough cough...you know what I mean...Or2
　　
　
(End of this chapter)