Two days later, in the early morning, the old city of Wangdu, Patriot Avenue.

Patriot Avenue is definitely a special case in the streets of the old city, where sanitation is generally not very good, security is chaotic at night, and garbage trucks only visit once a week on average.

It has garbage trucks that pass by once a day, specially assigned patrol guards from the police department, and walls that are painted regularly three times a year.

Yes, unlike other streets that have been ignored for twenty or thirty years, and even if the wall paint is completely gone, Patriot Avenue not only has special sanitary measures, but even the walls are frequently lavishly painted, and it is neat and clean that it does not look like a street in the old city.

As for the reason......

No one would dispute that the Avenue of Patriots, as a memorial to the soldiers who fought valiantly in the Great Patriotic War, and which was rebuilt with a special grant from the Ministry of Finance, is not only the face of the King and the Parliament, but also the residence of a large number of soldiers who were wounded and discharged from the war six years ago.

Unfortunately, these preferential treatment in public spending do not seem to solve the widespread poverty of the retrenched soldiers, and the glorious experience of fighting for their country does not save them from violent beatings by patrolling guards when they are drunk and defecating near the wall.

……

"Stop! Damn it! Put your pants on!"

After hurriedly kicking down the drunk man standing by the wall, looking at the hot fresh urine stains dripping from the fiery red wall, the two patrolling guards couldn't help but show a look of wanting to cry without tears.

It's over, why is it in the place where I patrol again, I'm afraid that my salary will be deducted again!

Looking at the drunk man who was kicked down halfway on the ground, and his pants were directly stained, the two guards looked at the deserted streets around them, and couldn't help but surround him, and kicked at the drunk man through gritted teeth.

"Dog thing! This is a wall painted to commemorate the Great Patriotic War!"

"It's been three times this week! Damn it! Can't you go somewhere else to urinate?"

"Beat him!"

After kicking and beating for a while, looking at the drunk man curled up without saying a word, the two guards, who were bound to be deducted from his salary, still did not feel relieved, and dragged him directly to the urine stain on the wall, threw him a rag, and ordered him to wipe the urine stain clean with an annoyed face.

But when the drunkard stood up tremblingly, he didn't pick up the urine rag on the floor, but reached into his trouser pocket and grabbed something, and then his throat moved up and down, and with a thud, he snapped out a thick yellow and green phlegm, and spat it on the brightly painted wall.

Immediately afterward, with a soft "ding" sound, an iron battle medal printed with robin feathers, which could only be obtained by participating in the Great Patriotic War, was "spit out" on the wall of the Great Patriotic War along with the sputum.

"Patriot Boulevard? Oh!"

……

It's a pity that it's still a little bit worse.

Looking at the watch, it couldn't stop beating, but finally stopped in the "human" area, and failed to reach the three hands of the "abnormal" area, the old man across the street with drooping lips shook his head, and then said to the middle-aged man on the other side of the table:

"This man is not bad, with a painful past and intense emotions, who is very close to the standard of being an anomaly in every way, and has the qualifications to make the seed "germinate".

But his soul is not pure enough, there are too many messy distractions, and before the birth of a true anomaly, he still needs to go through an even more unforgettable pain that will knock him completely into the abyss......

Does he have a family?"

"Yes."

Looking at the drunk man who was kicked and beaten by the two guards, the middle-aged man with a little white hair appeared on his sideburns was silent for a while, and then replied:

"Old Baggins' wife died of illness, but he has a twenty-year-old son who joined us three years ago and is now in charge of the procurement of groceries."

"Oh?"

After hearing the middle-aged man's words, the old man, who was born with a crying face, raised his eyelids and said with interest:

"How's their father-son relationship?"

"Very bad."

Middle-aged man ...... Or rather, the leader of the chaotic party hesitated, shook his head, and said:

"Old Baggins suffered a lot of injuries in the Great Patriotic War six years ago, his right leg was pierced by a shooting nail, and his stomach was also injured by a whale oil bomb dropped by an airboat.

And the kingdom did not give much money for the retrenchment, and most of it was drunk by him, so his wife had liver disease and was not cured, and died within two years, and then he drank even more fiercely, and often beat little Baggins when he was drunk, and little Baggins hated him very much as his father."

"That's pathetic."

After glancing at the drunk across the street with pity, the Aquarius Director sighed:

"It's a pity, if only he had one who was unwilling to give up no matter what, but continued to work hard to take care of his son.

In this way, it is only necessary to let the last person who is unwilling to give up on him, to express his utter disappointment in him, or to devise a small accident for his son, and to forcibly extinguish the last light in his heart, and to completely cleanse his soul with the pain that erupts.

And under the scrubbing of despair that swells to the extreme, his soul will be stripped of all impurities, and at a certain moment there will be only the purest obsessions, and in this way, he will truly break away from the ordinary and successfully cross the threshold of the abnormal, but now he ......."

Looking at the "soul" needle stuck below the anomalous line on his watch, the Aquarius Director shook his head and said:

"No way.

Maybe I might have pushed his wife when she died, but after all these years, his soul has become completely numb, covered with a thick layer of dust, and no longer meets the conditions to become an anomaly."

"That's ......."

After sighing together, the middle-aged man got up and said:

"Then let's go see the next person, I've met a lot of people who may become anomalies over the years, it's rare for you to come to me once, just meet them all!"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid it's too late."

After looking at the watch in his other hand, the Aquarius Director shook his head and said:

"There will be an internal inquiry against me soon, and if I don't pass the question, I will have to accept the memory reading of the bureau, so I have to go back and prepare in advance, and I don't have time to read them one by one."

Internal inquiries from the Cleanup Bureau?

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then frowned and asked:

"How? Aren't you one of the twelve most powerful directors? Why is it still subject to internal scrutiny? Who can judge you?"

"Of course it's the other directors~"

The director of the water bottle said with a disapproving face:

"I've done so many things out there over the years, and although I've always been very careful, and I haven't even used my true face, it is inevitable that some traces will be left, and there are many talented people in the Cleanup Bureau, and there are still people who can detect that something is wrong.

Or, to be able to hold on until today to be questioned, is already very unexpected, from the ophiman...... Well...... Since a major event in the past, the world has become more and more chaotic in recent years, and a large number of external gods are ready to move, resulting in a lot of good hands in the game, otherwise I am afraid that I would have been exposed long ago."

「……」

"I don't know about these things."

The middle-aged man shook his head and said:

"I just want to know, when will you be back?"

"A week or two, if you hurry."

The director of the Aquarius added with a nonchalant face:

"As you might guess, it's surprisingly fast that a large and loose organization like the Cleanup Bureau can complete the questioning of senior members in a week or two."

"What about slow?"

"If it's slow, of course, you'll never come back!"

As if remembering something interesting, the Aquarius director laughed and said:

"This time, not only the top three directors of the bureau were challenged, but there were even several directors of the Zodiac Bureau, if I couldn't stand it, then I was afraid that I wouldn't even have the qualifications to run, and I would be taken down on the spot.

Well...... If I don't come back in two weeks, you'll be slaughtered by me, and then you can run and hide, anyway, with the concealment of your ability, there are really not many people in the bureau who can find your place."

「……」

You're really ...... Frank enough......

After a somewhat speechless snort, the middle-aged man said expressionlessly:

"Then wait until you come back after a successful question! I'll watch those people first."

"Hmm...... If you want to check the qualifications of those people, you don't have to wait for me to come back."

After hearing the middle-aged man's words, the Aquarius director pondered for a moment, and then untied the strange watch with six hands on his left wrist and threw it towards the leader of the rebellious party.

"This thing is called the [Dream Seeker], and the original ability was used to realize dreams, but after I modified it, this thing can also check if a person has the potential to become an anomaly, as long as a drop of blood or something like hair is used as a mark."

As he spoke, the Aquarius Director pointed his finger at the lid of his watch, pointing to the hands below and explaining:

"These six pointers are divided into three groups, representing the past and the future, the body and the soul, and the character and emotions, and if one of the three points reaches the anomalous range, it proves that the person has the qualifications to receive the 'seed'.

For example, the gentleman on the other side called Old Baggins, his 'past' pointer and 'emotion' pointer are both in the anomalous range, but the 'soul' pointer is not up to the mark, so it lacks the conditions for the seed to germinate, so it is unlikely to be an anomaly."

Past and future, soul and body, character and emotions?

After carefully remembering the meaning of these six hands, looking at these three sets of strange hands engraved with wonderful patterns, the middle-aged man couldn't help but ask suspiciously:

"Why is it that just one movement in a group is enough to be an anomaly?"

"Hmm...... Something is hard to explain...... In this way, you can understand the world as a canvas and everyone as a pen."

After thinking about it, the director dipped his finger in the coffee, drew a coffee-colored water mark on the tablecloth, and then continued to explain:

"A person's past experiences, and his future developments, are the handwriting he has drawn and will draw in the world; Whether it has a unique soul or a wonderful body determines whether the technique of painting is realistic or abstract.

As for personality and emotions, the former determines how a person will treat the world, and the latter is how a person will respond to the world after experiencing the world, which is equivalent to what color the pen paints on the canvas."

Looking at the middle-aged man who was a little confused, the director of the Aquarius sighed and said:

"To put it more simply, these three sets of pointers are to find out what kind of painting a person paints in the world, what techniques he uses to paint, and what kind of paint he uses to paint.

Therefore, if each of these three sets of pointers has an 'abnormality', I can ensure that the drawing drawn by this pen is also 'abnormal'......

Do you understand?"

"I guess I understand......

After nodding with little confidence, the middle-aged man said with some curiosity:

"And what if all six hands moved? What kind of anomalies can such a person produce?"

"If someone really makes all six hands move......

The director of the Aquarius frowned and said:

"That is the painful past, the great future, the strong body, the pure soul, the paranoid character, the crazy emotions...... To be reasonable, if you meet such a person, I suggest you run quickly."

"Huh?"

"If there is such a person, whether he is good or evil, he is destined to change the world completely,

Set off an incomparably terrible wave.

This kind of anomaly derived from people is like an extremely magnificent picture drawn with the most brilliant and crazy colors and the most unbridled and wild brushwork...... Of course, it could also be a picture scroll of destruction."

「……」

"In short, change is terrible, especially for people like you and me, who are not good things, and if you follow him and push him around, you will probably die, and you will stand opposite him and try to stop the tide, and the result will be even more lifeless.

So if you really meet this kind of person, don't think about superfluous things, don't do superfluous things, and just hide as far as you can."

"Okay......

"Besides, this statement was not placed with you for nothing."

After looking at the middle-aged man who looked a little dazed, the director of the water bottle raised his hand, pointed in the direction of the police department, and said with a serious face:

"In addition to finding out what makes someone else an anomaly, this thing can also help you find the anomalies I created...... Don't forget what you promised me!"

"You mean...... What's in that red-haired chief's drawer?"

"Yes."

The director of the Aquarius nodded, and said with a serious face:

"There's something very important to me, and it's in the woman's drawer, and it's like a photograph.

Normally, you don't have a chance, but she is the one who challenged me this time, so when the questioning begins, you can sneak into the cleanup bureau through the [Gate of the Other World] while she is away.

Next, the hands of the Dream Watch will automatically lead you to the photo I want, and if you manage to bring it back to me, I will definitely give you a satisfactory reward."