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Chapter 449 Cleaning Skills Upgraded, the Overlord Among Cleaners (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival)

A pale blue light screen appeared in the air.

As the light flashed, several notification messages refreshed and passed by.

Congratulations! Through your tireless efforts, you have broken through your skill bottleneck and reached a new level, now at the master level.

Congratulations! Through your tireless efforts, you have reached the pinnacle of your skills, achieving a qualitative leap in your current abilities.

【Cleaning lv2 (MAX)】

Upon seeing this, Fang Cheng raised his eyebrows and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Has it reached the maximum level?

A hint of surprise flashed through his mind.

But on second thought, it seems to make sense.

Just like the language skills we learned before, every skill has its upper limit and cannot be improved indefinitely.

After all, this is the real world, with its fixed social order and natural rules.

Unless an extraordinary opportunity arises to break free from constraints, everything has its limits.

Cleaning, in the final analysis, is just an ordinary life skill.

Even if you master it to the extreme, becoming the king of cleaners, the master of street sweepers...

In essence, he was still a cleaner.

As for what the prompt message says... "to achieve a qualitative leap"?
Fang Cheng's eyes brightened, and a sense of anticipation welled up in his heart.

I'm about to carefully examine the specific changes brought about by reaching the maximum skill level.

"Chengcheng, dinner is ready! You've been busy all morning, come in and eat."

From inside the house came the voice of Li Biyun, the mother, calling out with a hint of urgency.

"Hey, here we come."

Fang Cheng immediately responded loudly.

Looking up, I realized that the sun had already risen high overhead, and it was almost noon.

He quickly glanced at the lingering light on the panel, and with a thought, the panel's radiance vanished.

Looking at the yard that I had swept so clean and almost spotless, the turbulent thoughts in my heart seemed to be swept away and become clear.

Lunch was a simple home-cooked meal: a plate of stir-fried pea shoots, a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, yam and pork rib soup, and steamed turbot.
The dishes were carefully prepared, clearly to cater to the grandfather's light palate during his post-operative recovery, and also to take into account Fang Cheng's dietary preferences.

At the dinner table, Li Zhenhua kept urging Fang Cheng to make the most of his "government work" opportunity, but Li Biyun stopped him several times with a look.

After dinner, Fang Cheng volunteered to wash the dishes.

After everything was tidied up, he returned to his bedroom on the second floor.

Closing the door shut out all outside sounds, and the whole world instantly fell silent.

Fang Cheng took a deep breath, his mind sank into his head again, and the familiar panel appeared.

He immediately focused his attention on the skill bar, which had already reached its maximum.

【Cleaning lv2 (MAX)】

[Receive enhancement reward, skill effect: "Traces Rewind"]

coming!

Fang Cheng's spirits lifted, and he carefully read the detailed explanation that appeared below.

[Traces Retrospective]

[Passive Effect: Your "Scavenger's Eye" is greatly enhanced, allowing you to see not only minute traces that are imperceptible to ordinary people, but also to clearly perceive their freshness and intensity through the residual energy aura on the traces.]

"Freshness and intensity?"

A question flashed through Fang Cheng's mind.

This description is a bit too abstract.

The panel seemed to sense his confusion, and then several new comments appeared.

For example, newly formed fingerprints or footprints have a very bright energy aura, while those left several days ago appear dim due to energy dissipation.

[At the same time, the force applied to the surface of an object also affects the intensity of the halo; the greater the force, the brighter the halo, and the lighter the force, the darker the halo.]

Bloodstains follow a similar rule; as time passes, they will display different hues in your field of vision, ranging from bright red to dark purple.

By accurately discerning the "freshness" and "intensity" of the aura, you can trace the formation of traces back to the past; the accuracy is directly related to your mental strength.

With your current mental attributes, you can control the time error to around one minute.

Fang Cheng's lips twitched slightly.

This art style feels a little strange...

It doesn't look like cleaning; it looks more like performing an autopsy.

Suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, he continued reading.

[Active effect: When you concentrate and touch a key trace marked by the "Scavenger's Eye," you can trigger "Rewind."]

[The ghostly black and white afterimage of the moment the mark formed will flash through your mind, reconstructing the dynamic scene of that instant for you.]

Fang Cheng paused slightly in his breathing.

This goes far beyond the scope of "cleaning".

If the previous "scavenger's eye" was merely "discovery," it meant he possessed eyes that surpassed the sense of smell of a hunting dog and the vision of a falcon, enabling him to quickly find "something wrong."

So the current "trace backtracking" is the ultimate evolution from "discovery" to "analysis" and "reconstruction".

Fang Cheng quickly compared the old and new abilities in his mind.

Previously, through the "scavenger's eye," I saw a button left in a corner and concluded that:

There's a button here.

The information provided by the current "trace backtracking" might be:

"This button was torn off by a man who is about 1.8 meters tall during a fierce fight three hours ago, and it rolled here."

This is the kind of super reasoning ability you only see in novels and movies, which the panel visualizes in a more intuitive way.

Fang Cheng's eyes sparkled with excitement, like a child who had received a new and exciting toy.

He then decided to personally test the power of this new ability.

Fang Cheng looked around his bedroom.

The room wasn't big, but it was kept very tidy by my mother.

His gaze quickly settled on the spot by the window next to the bed.

The oak floors there were just installed a little over a month ago; they are smooth and flat, with almost no wear and tear.

However, under the passive effect of "Scavenger's Eye", Fang Cheng could clearly see that there were a few faint footprints left on the floor.

The outline, almost blending seamlessly with the wood grain, emits a faint halo.

That was left by him when he came back from his morning exercise, took a shower, walked barefoot out of the bathroom, and stood here looking out the window at the scenery.

Because my feet were still slightly damp, I left marks on the floor that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

It is it.

Fang Cheng walked to the mark, slowly squatted down, and extended his right index finger.

Then, focusing his attention, he gently tapped on the clearest outline of one of the footprints.

The moment my fingertips touched the cool wooden floor, a strange energy, like a weak electric current, flowed from my fingertips into my brain.

In an instant, the scene before Fang Cheng's eyes did not change at all, but deep in his mind, a strange image appeared out of nowhere.

It was a silent, black-and-white 3D image.

A semi-transparent "ghost" silhouette, composed of countless points of light and perfectly matching its own shape, appeared on the floor.

He could clearly "see" the ghostly silhouette walking from the direction of the bathroom, lifting its foot, still damp with moisture, and stepping on the spot his fingers were touching.

With each step, countless tiny water droplets splashed outwards, perfectly reconstructing the moment when a complete footprint was left behind.

The ghostly afterimage vanished in less than a second, but the information it conveyed in that instant made Fang Cheng's heart race. It really works!

Fang Cheng suppressed his excitement, stood up, and turned his gaze to the neatly folded quilt on his bed.

His mother would go into his room every morning to clean and tidy it up.

Today, taking advantage of the nice weather, I even took the quilt outside to air it out.

Fang Cheng walked to the bedside, his gaze sweeping over the bed.

Soon, in the "scavenger's eye" field of vision, several fingerprint marks that also emitted a halo were found on the folds of the edge of the quilt.

He reached out his finger again and gently touched one of the clearest fingerprints.

"Backtrack!"

Another black-and-white film-like image appeared.

This time, he "saw" a pair of women's hands gently and skillfully pinching the corner of the quilt, applying slight force to neatly fold the quilt in half.

Even the movement of the wrist in the afterimage can be used to determine the direction and skill of the force applied by the mother at that time.

And the time this happened, approximately two hours and eight minutes ago.

Fang Cheng slowly withdrew his fingers, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath.

He finally understood that this panel never intended for him to follow the usual path.

Unparalleled crime-solving and investigative abilities...

Top-tier on-site analysis experts...

Any elaborate disguise will be rendered useless in the face of one's own true nature...

It's clear he's determined to run headlong down the path of "stealth assassination" and "destroying evidence" until the very end!

At this moment, Fang Cheng's understanding of the skill of "cleaning" was completely overturned.

This reminds me of an old saying: "There are 360 ​​professions, and every profession can produce an expert."

Indeed, even the most ordinary profession can undergo a qualitative change and reach a level that is difficult for ordinary people to achieve by continuously accumulating skills and experience and honing proficiency to the extreme.

Having a panel has elevated the skill of cleaning to a level that can only be described as miraculous.

Fang Cheng stood up and stared at his palm.

Perhaps, I am now the undisputed king of cleaners, the master of street sweepers!
Just as he was immersed in this wonderful sense of self, a cell phone rang abruptly, interrupting his thoughts.

Fang Cheng turned his gaze to the bedside table, where the blue shoulder bag he had just bought a couple of days ago was lying quietly.

He then walked over, unzipped the jacket, and took out his constantly vibrating phone.

The name flashing on the screen is "Xiaosai".

Fang Cheng remembered that Xiao Sa had contacted him yesterday.

However, he was visiting the Xishan Cemetery with his family at the time, and his phone was left in the car, so the call couldn't be connected.

Perhaps realizing that the association president was busy, the other party did not call again.

Fang Cheng didn't pay attention at the time.

After all, according to the agreement, if a truly urgent situation arises, Xiaosa will contact him directly through the mental link.

Calling at this hour should be...

The thought flashed through his mind, and Fang Cheng swiped the screen to answer the call.

"President."

A composed and respectful voice came from the other end of the phone, tinged with a hint of relief.

Like a ship that has been adrift in the darkness for a long time, finally seeing a lighthouse to guide its way.

"It's me, speak."

Fang Cheng's voice was calm and even, yet it invigorated Xiao Sa, as if he had instantly found his backbone, and all his confusion and anxiety had found their place.

"President, I've encountered something very strange and I'd like to report it to you."

He didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point:
"The night before last, I had a dream that was so real it was unbelievable. In the dream, I was trapped in a mental hospital, and there was a clueless young man whose name I didn't know with me."

"It was like we were in a game. We not only received missions, but also encountered a lot of terrifying monsters, and in the end we all died in there."

"I initially thought it was just a nightmare, but after waking up, some extra information appeared in my mind, saying something about 'failed nightmare trial' and that it would reopen in seven days..."

He spoke slowly but clearly, recounting the bizarre experience of that night in detail.

Fang Cheng listened quietly without interrupting.

After speaking succinctly, he pretended to ponder for a moment before slowly opening his mouth:
"That's not a dream; you've encountered a mystical realm."

"Mystic Realm?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Sa's tone was filled with confusion.

"Yes, you can think of it as a special space that lies between reality and illusion."

Fang Cheng's voice carried a knowing calmness:

"The reason why those long-standing families have been able to prosper for so long is because they possess the key to enter these kinds of secret realms."

"Their family members undergo trials inside, using their immortality to challenge deadly dangers that they would never face in reality, thereby greatly honing their mental will and refining their combat skills."

"Ah Ren, it's a rare opportunity that you've met him, so you should cherish it."

This half-truthful explanation was both to maintain his mysterious image and to harbor a mischievous intention.

I want to see how much my two subordinates, Xiao Sa and Xu Hao, can grow under pressure.

"Yes, I understand."

The carefree voice suddenly turned solemn.

He recalled the secrets hidden on the other side of the world that the chairman had occasionally revealed during their previous conversations.

Those powerful and influential families are able to build vast financial empires and firmly control the lifeline of the social economy.

It is precisely because they possess a power that transcends worldly concerns and is unimaginable to ordinary people.

It seems that the existence of the "spiritual mystical realm" is just the tip of the iceberg of this power.

Now, he had actually touched the threshold of this mysterious realm, which filled Xiao Sa with both fear and uncontrollable excitement.

"You'll have to figure out the secret realm for yourself."

Fang Cheng abruptly changed the subject, steer the conversation back on track, and asked:
"How are things going with the Red Tiger Gang and Chen Chen?"

"President, I was just about to report to you."

Xiao Sa replied immediately:

"Ever since that night when he escaped from Noah Building, Chen Chen was really scared and fell ill when he got back."

"Now that the Noah organization is under full police control, he is afraid of being implicated and is spending money everywhere to bribe people and clean up his mess."

"To avoid trouble, he has ordered all branches to shrink their influence, and gang members must keep a low profile. They have even voluntarily withdrawn from some of the most lucrative territories in Jiangdong District."

"In Chen Chen's own words, this is called cutting off one's tail to survive, enduring for a while and then planning for the future."

"Can Chen Chen still hold his own?"

Fang Cheng then asked.

"From the current perspective, apart from losing some venues and territories, the Red Tiger Gang is still intact and at least it has not affected the normal business of Yuanchen Group."

Xiao Sa quickly organized his thoughts, paused, then remembered something and added:

"By the way, Chairman, there's been some activity from the Noah Organization. It seems they've recently found a powerful backer."

"Oh, who?"

"I heard from Chen Chen that someone from the Xiao family went to the Noah Organization's East Capital branch and met with that station chief surnamed Feng."

"The Xiao family?"

Fang Cheng was taken aback upon hearing this, and a slight fluctuation appeared in his tone.

　Wishing all my book lovers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival, a joyous family reunion, and all the best!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)