I! Anomaly Cleansing Agent!

Upon hearing Leon’s third question, not only did the jade-eyed maiden’s expression change in shock, but the four cleaners from the Scorpio Division also involuntarily trembled all over, their faces full of shock as they looked at Leon.

“No way, right?”

The female cleaner exclaimed with eyes wide in disbelief:

“I already investigated this with the director. The Crocodile Royal Family may be reclusive, but there have been plenty of activities in recent years. Even during last year’s year-end celebration, the King of the Crocodile Kingdom gave a public speech. There’s no way they’re almost all gone, right?”

“Mona senior, I’ll explain why I suspect this later. Please don’t interrupt me for now.”

After giving the female cleaner a glance that wasn’t too harsh, Leon stared at the somewhat disoriented jade-eyed maiden and said firmly:

“Princess Phelia… although I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with you, I’ll call you that for now. I hope to hear a straightforward answer from you: Are there any other living members of the royal family besides yourself and Prince Andre? Yes or no!”

“Of course there are!”

Interrupted by the female cleaner, Phelia calmed down a little and blinked her big eyes as she said, “I don’t know about others, but Father and Mother are still alive. Everyone else I know is fine too. I even greeted Mother just the day before you kidnapped me.”

So… could I have guessed wrong? Upon hearing this response, Leon couldn’t help but frown slightly. Meanwhile, Franky, hidden inside the sheep, after identifying Phelia’s soul state, cautiously said, “Although I’m not very perceptive, I do understand a bit about souls. What she says should all be true.”

“…”

Phew… somehow managed to get through it…

Seeing Leon, who didn’t refute Franky’s judgment but was silently frowning, Phelia couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief stealthily.

I didn’t expect that when I was pretending to faint and secretly listening, just a little smugness would get me caught, almost exposing everything, including part of the royal family’s situation. This is truly…

With a slight fear, Phelia glanced at Leon again. Although lacking the support of her original form’s computational power, making it hard to act completely real, she still followed her usual “behavior model,” blinking her eyes pitifully and said, “You can ask whatever you want, I… I will answer them all. I just beg you not to hurt me. Everything I’ve said is true.”

All true…

Looking at the frail and cute appearance of the jade-eyed maiden, Leon slightly raised his furrowed eyebrows, as if realizing something crucial, and once again fixed his gaze on Princess Phelia.

True words prove nothing! When dealing with internal investigations within the Clearing Bureau, didn’t I always tell the truth too? But did that stop me from attacking the palace?” “Alright, I’ll rephrase my question.”

Understanding this, Leon relaxed his brows and then, under the nervous gaze of the jade-eyed maiden, asked again,

“In the Crocodile Royal Family, besides you and Prince Andre, are the bodies of the other members still their original bodies? Are their souls still their original souls? Or more deeply, is their state of ‘being alive’ like normal people who can run, jump, eat, and chat, or are they simply ‘existing’?”

“…”

“…”

Just as Princess Phelia was struggling to respond, the usually lazy Prince Andre, instead of basking in the sun on his bedroom balcony, arrived at the palace of the Crocodile Kingdom aboard the royal dedicated floating car.

“Dong~~~”

With the resonant sound of a giant pendulum striking the bell, the steam clock towers standing on either side of the palace gates slightly turned, the bronze doors’ old massive pendulums moved apart left and right, and along with them, the doors behind opened as well, revealing a glass corridor brightly lit with lamps.

Compared to the palace where the royal family resided, this building resembled a huge exhibition hall more. On the small exhibition stands below which had clock face markings, were placed one ingenious and precise mechanical artifact after another.

Airships, floating cars, mechanical hearts, huge differential engine units, mechanical giants nearly five meters tall… Even on the largest stand on the left, there was an entire miniature model, seemingly depicting the entire Crocodile Kingdom, constantly alternating and rotating like a Rubik’s cube.

Below these exquisite exhibition stands, on specially reserved slopes, detailed records were kept of the inventors and functions of the mechanical artifacts, the evolution of iterative designs, and even more core design ideas and reasons, making each one a rare treasure.

However, Prince Andre, whose face showed a slight fatigue, ignored these treasures that could drive all kingdoms crazy, walked indifferently through the glass corridor, passed through a clock-shaped shielding circular island corridor, and entered the main hall located behind the hall.

“Who?”

The moment Prince Andre entered the main hall, a voice tinged with confusion came from deep within the hall.

Following the sound, Prince Andre saw a stalwart middle-aged man dressed in a king’s robe, holding a gem-studded time staff, sitting on a high platform throne facing the door, looking curiously at him.

“You are…”

The emerald eyes stared at Prince Andre for a while, and the stalwart middle-aged man on the throne couldn’t help but widen his eyes. Then he first looked at the boy around twelve or thirteen years old beside him, then looked at the young man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight in front of him, and said confusedly: “Who are you? Why do you look so much like my Andre?”

Compared to the front hall filled with countless exhibition stands but devoid of people, the main hall of the Crocodile Palace, though several times smaller, was much livelier. In this main hall with tightly closed windows offering better privacy, there were thirty-odd rows of seats, with about a hundred and fifty people sitting.

Without exception, upon hearing the stalwart middle-aged man’s inquiry, the people sitting on the seats turned around in surprise to look at Prince Andre, emitting exclamations one after another.

“It really is…”

“He looks so alike!”

“In fifteen or sixteen years, Prince Andre might look just like this.”

“That’s true, but his expression is too cold, not as cute as Prince Andre.”

“Hey! Who are you?”

“Rude guy, guards! Guards!”

“Where are you? Where are you? Let me see too!”

Strangely enough, regardless of what words were spoken, including the stalwart middle-aged man on the throne, everyone in the main hall remained seated without getting up, twisting their heads as best they could to look toward the entrance.

Given the size of the main hall isn’t particularly spacious, some people couldn’t see Prince Andre’s face no matter how they twisted, even though moving their seat a little would allow them to see, yet no one got up. They preferred to twist themselves into strange positions rather than leave their original seats.

“…”

Silently standing at the entrance for a few seconds, Prince Andre didn’t respond to anyone, but directly strode into the main hall, stepping on the red carpet laid in the center, passing through the thirty-odd rows of seats, and stood in front of the stalwart middle-aged man.

(End of Chapter)