I! Anomaly Cleansing Agent!

“Well, you’re… actually not too bad…”

Facing Leon, who had not only successfully escaped the dream with a “three against one” but also brought along the Snow Maiden, the Scorpion Bureau Director awkwardly praised him before seemingly feeling embarrassed about being trapped by nightmares. His dog-like eyes flickered as he explained:

“Hmm… I was almost done here, but unfortunately, these six Nightmare Messengers won’t engage me head-on.

Their task seems to be holding me back, so they’ve been running around in the six layers of dreams. Whenever I manage to eliminate one, the other five immediately resurrect it through joint handling…

In short, wait outside for a bit. Traveling through nightmares is tough for me; I can’t keep up with these nightmares. Let me think of a way to corner them all.”

So, your issue is that you can fight them, but you can’t catch up to those Nightmares? After hearing the Scorpion Bureau Director’s words, Leon paused briefly and then turned to look at the Snow Maiden behind him.

Although the current Snow Maiden is in a damaged state, having lost her core ability to cover memories and even weakened in her ability to summon snowstorms, she still remains a Nightmare Messenger granted power by the Nightmare King, capable of moving freely within nightmares.

So, if she could open a passage…

“You give up on that!”

The Snow Maiden lying on the ground immediately sat up, her elegant neck raised, and her cold, beautiful eyes glaring hatefully at Leon: “You wretched human! Don’t forget what you’ve done to me! I will absolutely not help you!”

“…”

Ah Zhe… Honestly, I didn’t do anything outrageous, right? It was you who started bothering me first. Why does it feel like I’m some sort of villain abducting innocent maidens?

Faced with the Snow Maiden’s bitter resentment behind him and the increasingly strange gaze of the Scorpion Bureau Director in front, Leon, feeling his reputation tarnished, couldn’t help but argue:

“It’s not like… I didn’t destroy your nightmare core, and aside from dragging you out of the dream, I didn’t do anything else, right?”

“What more do you want me to do after this?”

Recalling the painful experience of being dragged out of the dream while crying and her nightmare being completely corrupted by some weird tune, rendering it useless, the Snow Maiden felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow.

…

Nightmares may be the masters of dreams, but unlike humans who can have new dreams every night, most nightmares can only sustain one dream, the very dream that birthed them. Born there, growing there, and destined to perish there.

For a nightmare, the importance of its companion dream is comparable to a harbor for a ship or a hometown for a traveler, with unparalleled special significance. The connection between them is even closer than that between plant roots and the earth.

Being forcibly dragged out of its companion nightmare is akin to someone waking you up from sleep, stripping you naked, and throwing you onto the street.

And this detestable human not only dragged her out of the nightmare but also thoroughly polluted her companion nightmare. It’s like not only stripping her naked and throwing her on the street but also enthusiastically picking up a pen to draw a line of wagging turtles on her body! An ultimate humiliation for a nightmare! “Anyway, give up on that!”

Looking at the detestable human who destroyed everything she held dear and indirectly caused her expulsion from the ranks of nightmares, the Snow Maiden, her eyes bloodshot, stubbornly swore: “Even if I get burned by the sun tomorrow morning or get killed right now, I will absolutely not help you!”

“…”

Fine…

Seeing the Snow Maiden’s glare as if she wanted to tear him apart, Leon abandoned any thoughts of persuading her and instead tapped his cufflink, pulling out a black Snake Skin Scroll, a menacing Demon Parchment, and a sharp knife.

Ding, Leon Lane uses [Unjust Snake Contract] to initiate a trade.

Trade item: [Demon Lexicon]

Trade content: Herself.

“Mm…”

After cutting his arm with the knife, Leon endured the pain and brought the wound close to the [Unjust Snake Contract]. A large amount of dark red blood was instantly forcibly extracted, quickly soaking into the snake skin scroll.

What… What is he trying to do? Sensing something was off, the Snow Maiden on the ground couldn’t help but widen her eyes in alarm. Just as she was about to shout a question, she suddenly felt a heavy sensation in her chest. The demon parchment Leon had previously taken out was somehow resting there.

“???”

Realizing she strangely lost control over herself, the snake skin scroll, now glowing with an eerie red light after absorbing the blood, established a mysterious link to Leon. The Snow Maiden was utterly shocked.

“You! What did you do to me?”

“Nothing.”

Wrapping the [Infected Blood Band] around his arm to heal the self-inflicted wound, Leon’s face still somewhat pale, used the knife to cut the climbing rope tied to his sleeping bag and then instructed:

No mistakes in the first content at 69 Book Bar!

“Get up, it’s time to work.”

“???!!”

As Leon’s words fell, the Snow Maiden, filled with terror, discovered that no matter how much she resisted internally, her body obediently reacted, emerging from the sleeping bag with remarkable efficiency.

And following Leon’s instructions, she silently connected to the nightmare world maintained by the other six nightmares and began searching for the location of the trapped Scorpion Bureau Director.

No! No! No!!!…

Is this some kind of anomaly? Watching the Snow Maiden’s face filled with resistance yet compelled to search for him within the nightmare world, the Scorpion Bureau Director couldn’t help but gape in astonishment.

Even though the Snow Maiden appeared injured and had left her own nightmare world, appearing weaker than an average person, her “rank” and “weight” hadn’t changed—she was still a Level 1 Cleaner.

Yet, as a Level 3 Cleaner, Leon managed to forcibly suppress the Snow Maiden’s will and control her, someone far stronger than himself, simply by expending some blood… Isn’t this Snake Skin Scroll a bit too “excessive”?

After scrutinizing the snake skin scroll in Leon’s hand for a while, the Scorpion Bureau Director couldn’t resist his curiosity and asked his question when the Snow Maiden opened the nightmare world.

After hearing his question, Leon shook his head, his expression slightly complicated as he replied:

“It’s not actually that overpowered… Hmm… What I mean is, its effect has significant limitations, not as crazy as you think, and it’s actually pretty fair.

Strictly speaking, dream realm beings don’t have souls; they are aggregates of memory and fantasy. In our human definition, they’re closer to ‘items’ than ‘people,’ which is why they can be directly exchanged.

As for why I could control her beyond my level… It’s not just the blood I used for the ‘trade,’ but also the demon parchment that appeared on her chest.

That thing is called the [Demon Lexicon], an anomalous item with a Leon Value as high as 42 points. In terms of value, it’s worth more than the Snow Maiden herself. The cost I paid was actually quite substantial.”

(End of Chapter)