Looking at the Black Gold Beetles that climbed onto human foreheads and then settled down, and then looking at the beetle climbing his pant leg, Leon, with goosebumps on his back, couldn’t help but ask:
"These bugs are my insurance for this operation."
Seeing Leon’s face full of resistance, the lanky man’s face couldn’t help but reveal a malicious smile. He then answered with a laugh for the first time since meeting Leon:
"Their name is ’brain-eating insects,’ and they directly devour the target’s brain, completely preventing them from dreaming, and after eating the target’s brain, they reproduce infinitely."
"Think about it, the most troublesome thing about the Nightmare King is that it can move infinitely within human dreams, right?"
The Scorpio Branch Director looked at Leon, whose eyes had suddenly widened, and slowly said:
"But dreams are something that still require people to have brains to make. As soon as it enters someone’s dream, I let the ’brain-eating insects’ gnaw on their brain, causing the Nightmare King to fall out of the dream.
Or even simply, just gnaw all the brains of those having nightmares, so we don’t have to worry about it making the entire Kingdom have nightmares after its arrival."
Because brainless people can’t dream, so in order not to have nightmares forever, we just gnaw all brains in advance, right?
You are truly a little genius!
After his cheeks twitched a bit, Leon decisively stretched out his finger and poked the Black Gold Beetle crawling toward his head.
[Name: Dream-Eater Mutant Shell (Dream-Eating, Fission)]
[Appearance: A strange beetle belonging to the Scarabaeidae family of the Coleoptera order, with a black shell like lacquer and brilliant golden wings, abdomen patterns resembling the face of a screaming person, similar in size to an adult male human’s thumb nail]
[Abilities: Dream devouring, Fission reproduction]
[Price: An anomalous item that can only be used once in a lifetime. After giving orders to the mother bug upon using the item, it equates to signing an irreversible contract. The user’s dreams for life will be used as food to feed the Dream-Eater Mutant Shell’s mother bug]
[Record: The Purification Bureau Scorpio Sub-bureau’s second-generation director, after killing the Dream Realm God "Fallen Dreamer," used its corpse to nurture special beetles with the ability to devour living dreams. As long as people continue to dream, they can reproduce nearly endlessly.
Over four hundred years ago, two Dream-Eater Mutant Shell larvae were stolen from the Scorpio Branch’s warehouse. Within 32 hours, they multiplied by nearly a billion, devouring fifteen percent of the world’s dreams that day, and continued to rapidly divide.
To resolve this anomalous item runaway event, the bureau had to take extensive measures... causing damage... restricting... receiving calls for assistance... forcibly opening... carrying...]
[Evaluation: The nemesis of Dream Realm creatures, an anomalous item the Nightmare King dreams of destroying. If you can collect all the mother and larvae bugs and deliver them to the Dream Realm to the Nightmare King, it is willing to kowtow to you for a hundred years]
[Contamination Value: 60.1]
Hell, turns out it’s a bluff! Gave me quite a scare!
After reading the "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell" record, Leon sighed deeply and let go of the Lust Dream Invader. Noticing his action, the lanky man sneered, eyes gleaming with humor:
"What, afraid of having your brain gnawed? If you’re scared, just say the word, and I’ll retrieve the brain-eating insects, spare your brain."
This guy is really annoying...
Seeing the lanky man’s eyes full of sneakiness, obviously deriving great pleasure from mocking him, Leon’s cheeks couldn’t help but twitch once, then simply shut his mouth.
Oh well... getting mocked is fine. Though he has a foul mouth, he indeed brought out an anomalous item specifically for the Dream Realm. Just with this thing, he qualifies as MVP for this operation, as long as no incident happens to the Kingdom’s people, getting teased twice doesn’t matter.
Phew... this kid’s ability isn’t simple...
Watching him poke a beetle on his shoulder then relax, pretending not to hear and ignore him, the Scorpio Branch Director couldn’t help but squint.
According to the anomalous item records reported by that vile woman, Leon Laine’s Level 3 Cleaner core anomalous item is named "Compulsory Information Acquisition," capable of forcibly acquiring a portion of an anomalous item’s information through touch.
When touching weaker anomalous items, the information acquired is very complete, but the stronger the touched anomalous item, the less information can be acquired, sometimes completely unable to gain intelligence, just a fairly good auxiliary ability.
However, the "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell" I brought out, although non-lethal, only extremely effective against Dream Realm creatures, and with only one potential use in a lifetime, its registry number is very far back, only getting number 057.
Nonetheless, the item’s status is not low at all. Without crossing the true god-level threshold, it’s impossible to drive the mother bug, a genuine true god-level anomalous item.
Faced with something of this level, this kid just poked it once, and his tense body unexpectedly relaxed afterwards. If my guess is right, he should have seen through my "brain-eating insects" lie by acquiring intelligence from the "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell."
Even for true god-level anomalous items, just a light touch yields intelligence. That’s so-called "Compulsory Information Acquisition" ability, likely far superior in rank than what that vile woman reported!
Noticing the lanky man turning his head, starting to examine him up and down, Leon blinked warily but still inquired politely:
"Mr. Edward, do you have any questions for me?"
Of course there are questions, and quite a few.
Staring into Leon’s eyes for a moment, he noticed Leon’s gaze had become slightly more amicable compared to the start. The lanky man pondered a bit, suspecting that Leon might have indeed realized the cost of using the "Dream-Eater Mutant Shell," hence slightly changed his attitude toward him.
This kid carries an anomalous item inherently of high status, though currently still a bit young and lacking caution, unable to conceal emotions, but seemingly promising for the future...
Re-evaluating Leon’s "value," the Scorpio Branch Director pondered for a moment. He then gently rubbed his stiff face, calmly patted Leon’s shoulder, slightly kindly stating:
"It’s nothing... I just thought for a moment there, realizing what the nightmare said actually made sense. For a Cleaner, the most important attribute is not your current strength but the courage and guts to face formidable enemies.
You know there’s a possibility of being permanently enslaved by the Nightmare King and yet dare to stay and stand alongside me fighting. That’s truly remarkable. What I previously said about you being a liability was slightly excessive."