Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1253 Smokers and the Cyclone Mountain
Wangdu, Old Town, Jianqiao Street, Xingfu Apartment, Rooftop Terrace.

"Moo moo moo! (Wow! This stuff is pretty good! It's incredibly satisfying to smoke!)"

"That is required!"

Watching the old ox beside him, its eyes gleaming after taking a puff of its "Gaote" cigarette, and then puffing its lips into its mouth, the black goat, standing on its hind legs, grinned smugly. It put a rolled-up piece of paper between its hooves and put it in its mouth, then, while fiddling with the lighter's roller to light it, it snorted with a crooked mouth:
"Don't let the cheap price and broken leaves fool you, this tobacco is made with the best materials. It's all made from the finest tobacco scraps, without any artificial flavorings or bitter leaves. It might be a bit strong for some people, but it's just right for us... Here, take it, it's yours!"

After handing over the remaining half-packet of "Gate," the black goat strode to the edge of the rooftop, raised its hooves to brace itself against the somewhat rusty railing, looked down at the bustling Jianqiao Street below, and said with a nostalgic expression:
"Actually, it's not that we think this cigarette is that good. With our current status and position, what good cigarettes can't we smoke?"

"As long as I ask, people will rush to bring me cigarettes ten times stronger than this. So the main reason I still stick with this brand is out of nostalgia... After all, that's how I met that kid Leon."

After exhaling a large smoke ring with an excessively high tar content, the black goat standing against the wind by the rooftop railing, while calmly puffing out clouds of smoke, recalled with a sigh:
"Back in the day, we were ambushed and ended up in this world. We were caught by that red-haired woman from the Virgin Division and put on her desk as decoration... When we were guarding other anomalies, Leon was still a complete newbie. He didn't even know what anomalies were and went to ask for help in the middle of the night."

It's just that I took a liking to him and couldn't bear to see him jumping around in such a panic, so I accepted his weekly offering of a pack of cigarettes and generously helped him out. Later, I even rescued that kid from dire straits several times, which led to my current status as the God of Cookery, who is renowned throughout the land...

"Hey, I usually don't like talking about this with people, it's so boring, but we just clicked. You... um... don't tell anyone! Especially that kid Leon, I'm afraid he'll feel guilty after hearing it and insist on making me some kind of original sin demon, that wouldn't be good."

"Moo (Oh)"

Looking at the black goat on the edge of the rooftop, smoking alone with its back to everyone else, its imposing aura rising to the heavens before the smoke itself, the old ox blinked, then stuck its purplish-red tongue out of its mouth and tapped at places on the black goat's body where it could hide something, but found nothing. Then, somewhat curious, it asked:

"Moo moo moo? (You smell so strongly of cigarettes, you must still have some left, right? Where did you hide the rest?)"

"..."

No... is now the time to ask about cigarettes?

Seeing that the old ox, after he had laid out his seniority, did not immediately bow down and acknowledge him as the elder brother, but instead focused on finding a cigarette, the black goat's face darkened, and a sense of powerlessness towards the ox... smoking welled up in his heart.

As Lyon's first anomaly, protecting the cowardly God of Food, single-handedly conquering the twelve kingdoms, descending into the abyss and ascending to heaven, a peerless powerhouse who struck fear into the hearts of the gods of the Source God Platform... and the only livestock of the Ryan family, the Black Goat has always held an extremely secure position as the chief livestock.

Unfortunately, Leon is a treacherous fellow. He left himself in the present world and went to the old land through a dream. He actually forgot his duty to the old and became fickle, bringing back a chicken and a cow from who-knows-where. This is rather ungrateful.

If it were just that silly old hen, it wouldn't matter. It only deserves to be kept by Anna in the apartment kitchen. It's a worthless piece of trash. Maybe if anyone in the Ryan family has a headache or fever, Anna will cook it up to nourish them. It's nothing to worry about.

But this old ox in front of me is different. It is said that it not only worked hard and made great contributions, carrying Leon in and out of the old land seven times, so it is qualified to be kept on the roof of the Happy Apartment just like me. It even has the same hobby as me. Both of us are seasoned smokers who were personally fed by Leon... This is outrageous!
"Cough cough cough... Ugh!"

Clearing his throat forcefully, spitting out a mouthful of phlegm (which he then utterly rudely spat out from the rooftop), the black goat, whose position as the chief livestock had been challenged, turned around and said with a displeased expression:
"Is this the time to talk about this? We're talking to you... Holy crap, what is this thing?"

"Moo? (What?)"

"We're talking about that thing you've got in your mouth!"

Seeing the old ox puffing on a huge cigarette, as thick as a baby's fist, billowing smoke across the rooftop, Black Goat gasped and hurriedly asked:
"What kind of cigarette can be rolled so thick? Where did you get this thing from?!"

"Moo (Made using your half-pack of cigarettes as a template, mixed with a bit of the essence of dreams)"

The origin of dreams... The origin of dreams? Holy crap! There's even such high-level stuff!!!

Seeing the enormous cigarette, its lips coated with a dreamlike, magnificent color, and each puff seeming to conjure up a thousand fleeting dreams, the black goat was stunned, babbling incoherently:

"You...you...you..."

"Moo? (Would you like one too?)"

"..."

Although offering this cigarette might be unbecoming of the chief livestock of the Ryan family, its eagerness to offer it to me clearly shows that it has been subdued and is willing to become its little brother. As the eldest brother, accepting a cigarette from its little brother is not only not unbecoming, but is actually giving it face!
Having worked under Lyon for so many years, the Black Goat had long since developed a strong mentality. It only took him half a second to convince himself, take the cigarette from the old ox's hoof, happily put it in his mouth, light it, and then...

"Dengdengdeng!"

broken!

Hearing hurried footsteps coming from the stairwell behind him, Black Goat's expression immediately changed, and he quickly warned:

"It's Anna! The smoke from that cigarette you're making is too thick! The kitchen is just one floor below the rooftop; she probably saw the smoke and came looking for us! Quickly hide the cigarette!"

"Moo (Oh)"

Upon hearing the black goat's warning, the old ox readily nodded, then simply opened its mouth and swallowed the cigarette, which was over thirty centimeters long. Afterward, it shook its head with a look of disgust, refusing the black goat's request to help hide the cigarette.

"Moo moo moo (You've already put it in your mouth, it's covered in saliva, I'm not going to help you hide it)"

"..."

Damn it!
I never expected my newly recognized (one-sided) little brother to be so disloyal. He was reluctant to throw this epic cigarette downstairs, but he was also afraid of being caught by Anna who came up to check on the situation.

So the black goat gritted its teeth and stomped its hoof, and to the old ox's astonishment, tilted its head back, opened its mouth, and swallowed the cigarette that was more than 30 centimeters long. Then, with a thud, it jumped back to the temporary sheep pen on the rooftop and became a well-behaved black goat again.

"Squeak!"

With some difficulty, Anna pushed open the rusty iron door and rushed out of the stairwell. Looking at the peaceful rooftop in front of her, Anna, who was carrying water, was slightly taken aback.

I just saw smoke up there, how come it's gone as soon as I came up?

Although it seemed like nothing had happened, Anna, out of caution, did not leave immediately. Instead, she carefully searched the rooftop, even digging up the haystacks used to feed the cattle and sheep, checking all possible locations where a fire source might be hidden, but she found nothing.

Strange... Could it be that I really saw it wrong?
Feeling that the smoke she had just seen didn't seem like a hallucination, Anna frowned after her fruitless search and then instinctively turned her gaze to the only two living things on the rooftop... the old yellow ox leisurely chewing hay in its pen. "Moo~"

Why are you looking at me like that? I'm just an ordinary old ox. Do you think I can open my mouth and tell you who started the fire?

"..."

My brother brought back this cow, and it's really weird, especially its eyes... If it weren't a cow, I'd even think it was a cunning little old man... Oh well...

After shaking her head slightly to confirm there was no fire, Anna picked up the bucket and was about to leave when she suddenly smelled a strange aroma, like... smoked mutton?
"oops!"

Seeing the black goat in the pen suddenly startle, smoke billowing from its ears and nostrils, and its short wool spontaneously combusting, Anna cried out in alarm. She quickly kicked the trembling goat to the ground, picked up a bucket of water, and poured it over its head.

Oh no! Brother, your lamb is on fire!
……

"What's going on?"

After bringing his "of unknown origin" son home and handing him over to his sister Anna, who was in charge of suppressing all dissent, Leon frowned as he looked at the black goat, which had turned into a charcoal-black goat:
“Anna said she saw a huge plume of smoke on the roof from the window across the street. When she came up, she found you on fire. No matter how much water she poured on it, she couldn't put it out. It even burned the haystacks and other things on the roof... Didn't I tell you two to keep a low profile these past few days? What on earth are you two up to?”

"..." x2
I really didn't know; I'm just an old ox who likes to take a couple of puffs of cigarettes.

We don't know either; we're just a black goat that occasionally spontaneously combusts.

Tsk... Judging from these two's habits, they might have accidentally set the sheep pen on fire while smoking and bragging, and then be too embarrassed to admit it... Oh well, now is not the time to worry about that.

After glaring at the black goat, who was suspected of being the culprit, and considering that it hadn't hurt anyone and was unlikely to hurt anyone, Leon didn't pursue the matter of it burning the house. Instead, he beckoned to the old ox and asked with a frown:

"I want to ask you something... Do you still remember the Lord of All Spirits?"

"Moo? (The Ruler of All Spirits? That doe disguised as a mare?)"

"Yes, that's her."

After rummaging through the charred haystacks and finding a large bundle of relatively intact hay, Leon sat down and began to speak with a furrowed brow:

"When I was carrying my son and preparing to go home, the Cleanup Bureau suddenly sent a message saying that the Ancestral Land of All Spirits had suddenly begun to shrink, and then someone crossed over from the edge of the Ancestral Land of All Spirits and the mortal world and entered the Holy Spirit Realm in the Fourteen Planes. It is highly likely that it is the Lord of All Spirits."

"Moo moo moo? (So... even the Ancestral Land of All Spirits was destroyed by Fu? The Ruler of All Spirits escaped death?)"

"Seems to be."

Lyon nodded slightly.

"She contacted the Cleaners stationed in the Holy Spirit Realm directly and obtained their contact information for the Cleansing Bureau headquarters. According to Lord Taurus, the Lord of All Spirits looks quite disheveled and seems to have lost most of his roots."

"Moo moo moo? (So what is she doing in the mortal world? Is she asking to be taken in? Or is she asking you for help?)"

"Help."

After recalling what the Taurus director had relayed, Lyon began to speak:

"According to the Lord of All Spirits, she and Number 12 made a deal with Frederica behind her back because of some selfish motives, in exchange for a small amount of Dream Roots, and joined forces with the Lord of Suspended Stars to plan to connect the Astral Plane and the Spiritual Realm."

But Frederica, using some unknown method, launched a sneak attack just as they were about to succeed, killing Number 12 directly, then severely injuring her and the Star Lord, shattering the nascent mental domain in one fell swoop, and forcibly binding all the 'Root Planes' together.

Then, the Star Lord, ambushed, was no match for Frederica and could only flee to Mount Ring of Time, where Frederica forced him to jump off the summit.

Did he jump off Huan Shi Mountain?

The old ox hissed upon hearing this, and then, abandoning its usual oxenly act, it spoke in human language with wide-eyed surprise:
"Below the pass of the Ring of Time is a turbulent flow of time! Jumping down would be the same as certain death, wouldn't it?"

"not yet."

Lyon shook his head and said:
"The Lord of All Spirits said that after the donkey jumped off the top of the Ringing Time Mountain, Frederica left. She had a fragment of her spirit planted in the Lord of Suspended Stars. After Frederica left, he mustered up his courage and went to take a look."

She discovered that the donkey hadn't been swept away by the temporal turbulence. Instead, like Director Armando and Director Aries who had been chased into the Ring of Time by the Pillar Gods, it was temporarily stuck in a relatively stable temporal interlayer. It hadn't yet fallen into the deeper temporal turbulence; it just couldn't get out..."

"This is too fake! What a coincidence!"

Before Leon could finish speaking, the old ox, who was quite familiar with the Ring Mountain, began to shake his head vigorously and directly refuted him:
"Although there are countless time layers deep in the Ring of Time Mountain that record the past, countless time layers are created and destroyed every second. Very few can remain stable for a month before being swept away by the time turbulence. The probability is frighteningly low."

"In my opinion, there's definitely something wrong with that deer. Either she was unaware of the situation and was deceived by Fu, or Fu has some leverage over her, and she's directly colluding with Fu to trick you into going there."

"I also think there's something wrong here."

Nodding in agreement with the old ox's assessment, Lyon added:

"Although I don't know much about the situation in the Ring of Time, I do know Frederica quite well. She rarely acts without a purpose; almost everything she does is intentional. And this isn't the first time she's tried to get me to the Ring of Time."

When the seabed froze, the Four Pillars of Destiny tried to trick me into going to Mount Ring of Time by cooperating with Evangeline. Later, Director Armando and Director Aries were also chased into Mount Ring of Time by the Pillars of Destiny and are waiting for rescue. Now, the Lord of the Suspended Stars seems to have escaped into Mount Ring of Time and needs my rescue...

What exactly is going on with Mount Ring of Time? Why does Frederica so desperately want me to go there?

　Cough cough cough cough cough cough...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)