I! Cleaner!-Chapter 503 - 438: This Door Must Not Be Opened

Leon noticed the same anomaly on his body. After pondering for a moment, he turned back to look in the direction of the palace.

Although it’s not entirely clear what’s going on, it’s estimated that over ninety percent of this anomaly’s source is in the palace. As for why he can make such a judgment...

Let’s just say, thankfully, he has a good habit of learning diligently in both his past and present life.

Squinting at the distant citizens being transformed, estimating a rough arcuate boundary, Leon took a charcoal pencil from the mirror world, along with a map of the palace vicinity he obtained from the rebels, and drew a half-decent accurate arc on the map.

According to the work knowledge taught by senior Emma, anomalies with such wide-ranging effects generally have two modes of activation.

Either everyone who satisfies the conditions is immediately affected, like his Heart of Ambition, or it spreads outwards in a ring from the center of the anomaly holder.

Now, the citizens near the palace have all turned into Ironskin People, but those further away have not been completely affected, showing a clear sequence. Therefore, it can be determined that the activation mode of this anomaly is the latter.

Since the range of the anomaly is known to be a circle, and it is continuously expanding from a certain center, next comes a classic geometric problem.

Given an arc of a circle, how do you find the center of the circle?

The answer is to make points A and B on the arc, connect AB, draw the perpendicular of AB, then find point C, connect BC, draw the perpendicular of BC, and where these two perpendiculars intersect is the approximate center of the circle.

After sketching on the map with the charcoal pencil, seeing the two intersecting perpendiculars converge at the palace, Leon marked a big X on the palace, identifying the approximate location of the "iron anomaly".

His initial guess was correct; that thing should be inside the palace.

It can also largely exclude parts like the Glory Square, the royal gallery, the museum, the royal stables, the Foreign Office area, and all other buildings in the front half of the palace complex, directly locking onto the rear part’s sleeping quarters.

According to the information he received, the princess should be under house arrest in the sleeping quarters, and it would be best to head over quickly. Moreover... the coup mustn’t stop!

...

Looking at the X on the hand-drawn map, Leon stretched his seemingly normal but cold, hard iron hand, immediately deciding to continue his action.

Although he doesn’t know the effect of this "iron anomaly", with his Heart of Ambition’s substitute-death ability, the risk of danger is not great.

Considering his identity as the leader of the rebels, even if the Heart of Ambition doesn’t activate, he can declare war on the Kingdom on the spot, activate the War Cornerstone’s combat undying effect, gaining another layer of Undying Body.

If a double-layered Undying Body still couldn’t save him from this sudden "iron anomaly", then he might as well admit it was fate.

Moreover, even if not considering the possibly-dangerous princess, such a good coup opportunity doesn’t come often.

If the director hadn’t received news from the Snow Maiden and discovered that the female reporter following the Aquarius Director suspiciously entered the Demonic Soul Abyss, heading to the dream realm to capture her, it would have been difficult to lead the rebels to storm the palace.

It’s known that the director’s hair must be somewhere in the palace.

Once the director’s Slaughter Blood Hair detects the anomaly’s aura approaching, with the director’s speed, it’s estimated she could be at the palace in less than half a minute.

Only with her gone to another world, unable to detect the aura here, can Leon lead the rebel anomaly holders to raid the palace. At any other time, it would have required a sacrifice of lives.

So facing this heaven-sent opportunity, whatever the iron anomaly is, it’s worth Leon taking a gamble!

"Guest?"

Leon, who had lifted up Prince Freckles and gotten back onto the carriage, looked at the Ironskin coachman whose mouth moved slightly, revealing a simple yet somewhat unsettling smile.

"Have you finished your business?"

"Yes, it’s done."

Nodding to the Ironskin coachman, Leon said:

"Keep going forward. The palace doesn’t allow carriages from outside to enter. Just stop at the registry after passing through the square in front of the palace... This is for the fare."

"Alright!"

After taking the Silver Wheel from Leon, the Ironskin coachman’s smile grew more genuine, and the parked carriage started moving forward again with the grating screech of iron horses.

It’s just that because the joints of the iron horse could never function like real horse joints, the carriage, upon restarting, braked sharply every so often, causing Prince Freckles to turn pale as he huddled on the seat.

Hmm... It seems like that previous emergency brake that let Joshua unexpectedly avoid his hammer strike happened just like this.

Understanding the reason, Leon, under Joshua’s terrified gaze, pulled out the small silver hammer stuck in the seat, then said with a slightly concerned face:

"Are you feeling dizzy? Would you like me to help you sleep for a bit?"

"..."

Seeing the small silver hammer in Leon’s hand, the already numb Prince Freckles shivered, instinctively wanting to get off and run, but remembering the cold and eerie iron world outside the carriage, he couldn’t bring himself to move.

Although staying on the carriage might lead to a beating, at least his captor still resembled a human, and considering his status as a prince, it should be... perhaps... unlikely he’d be killed... right?

But those creepy Ironskin People outside, he wasn’t so sure about. A Cleaner might not kill a prince, but those things might not care about his status, so choosing between the two, staying on the carriage to be beaten seemed safer.

"Uh... could you put away the hammer?"

Mustering some mental preparation, staring at the shiny hammer in Leon’s hand, Prince Freckles wailed:

"Like before, could you just use your hand?"

"..."

"As you wish."

...

"Bang!"

Just as Prince Freckles successfully negotiated some leniency, a piercing racket continuously emerged from the seemingly calm sleeping quarters at the back of the palace building complex, causing the face of the female officer guarding outside to turn pale.

"Clang!"

Judging from the sound, it seemed that the desk had been overturned by the princess!

"Clang!" "Crashed!!!"

That sound... it should be the dismantling of the bed frame, and it’s probably completely taken apart!

"Bang!" "Squeak———"

It’s over. Most likely the cabinet has been toppled by the princess, cutting the carpet and starting to drag heavily on the floor! What... what should be done?

And as the female officer outside was anxious and pacing, wanting to peek inside but helpless, a series of angry footsteps echoed from the corridor.

"What’s going on!"

Listening to the constant ruckus from Princess Veronica’s bedroom, the queen arrived after being informed, yelling angrily:

"Is this how you watch over her? Letting her wreak havoc inside like this?"

"Your majesty..."

At the queen’s scolding, two female officers quickly knelt, and one of them had the courage to reply:

"The door was locked from the inside by the princess. We... we don’t have the key, and we dare not enter..."

"Useless things!"

Scowling at the responding female officer, with an air of frenzy, arrogance, and five parts of imperiousness, echoing Joshua’s demeanor before getting beaten, the queen shouted in anger:

"Someone! Break the door open! I want to see what nonsense she’s up to in there!"