449: Chapter 449 Cleaning Skill Upgrade: The Overlord Among Cleaners (Part 2)

A light blue light screen emerged in the air.

As the light flickered, several prompt messages refreshed and flashed past one after another.

[Congratulations, through unremitting efforts, your craft has broken through the Bottleneck, reaching a higher level and achieving the Great Master level]

[Congratulations, through unremitting efforts, your craft has reached the Peak, hitting the current limit of your ability and gaining a qualitative leap]

[Cleaning lv2 (MAX)]

Seeing this, Fang Cheng raised his eyebrows, his gaze narrowing slightly.

It actually reached max level?

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A trace of surprise flashed through his heart.

But on second thought, this seemed to be within reason.

Just like those language skills he learned before, any skill had its potential limit and could not be upgraded indefinitely.

After all, this was the real world, with a fixed social order and natural rules.

Unless one encountered an enormous Opportunity, breaking the shackles, everything had its limits.

And Cleaning, fundamentally, was just an ordinary life skill.

Even if he practiced it to the extreme, becoming an overlord among cleaners, a Great Master among scavengers...

In essence, he was still just a cleaner.

As for what the prompt message said... "Gaining a qualitative leap"?

Fang Cheng's gaze brightened, and a wave of anticipation surged in his heart.

He was just about to carefully examine the specific changes brought by this skill reaching max level.

"Chengcheng, dinner is ready! You've been busy all morning, come inside and eat."

The call of his mother, Li Biyun, came from inside the house, carrying a hint of urging.

"Coming right up."

Fang Cheng immediately responded loudly.

Looking up, unconsciously, the sun had already risen overhead, and it was close to noon.

He quickly glanced at the cluster of light on the panel that had not completely dissipated yet. With a thought, the panel concealed its radiance.

Then, looking at the courtyard he had swept clean and almost immaculate, his troubled thoughts seemed to be swept away along with it, becoming clear.

Lunch was still simple home-style dishes: a plate of stir-fried pea shoots, a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, yam and spare rib soup, and steamed turbot.

The dishes were matched very thoughtfully, obviously catering to Grandfather Li Zhenhua's light taste for postoperative recovery and also considering Fang Cheng's dietary preferences.

At the dining table, Grandfather Li Zhenhua was still nagging Fang Cheng to seize the Opportunity of the "government job", but was stopped by Li Biyun with her eyes several times.

After finishing the meal, Fang Cheng took the initiative to take on the chore of washing the dishes.

When everything was cleaned up properly, he returned to his second-floor bedroom.

Closing the bedroom door, cutting off all external sounds, the whole world instantly quieted down.

Fang Cheng took a deep breath, his mind sinking into his consciousness once more, and that familiar panel emerged accordingly.

He directly focused his gaze on the skill bar that had already reached the apex.

[Cleaning lv2 (MAX)]

[Received enhancement reward, skill special effect: "Trace Back"]

Here it comes!

Fang Cheng's spirits lifted, and he carefully read the detailed description that emerged below.

[Trace Back]

[Passive effect: Your "Scavengers Eye" has received an ultimate enhancement. Not only can you see subtle traces that ordinary people cannot perceive, but you can also clearly perceive their freshness and intensity through the residual energy halo on the traces.]

"Freshness and intensity?"

A thought of doubt flashed through Fang Cheng's mind.

This description was a bit too abstract.

The panel seemed to sense his doubt, and then several new annotations emerged.

[For example, newly formed fingerprints or footprints will have very bright energy halos, while those left days ago will appear dim due to energy dissipation.]

[At the same time, the force applied to the surface of the object will also affect the intensity of the halo. The greater the force, the brighter the halo; the lighter the force, the dimmer the halo.]

[Bloodstains also follow a similar rule. As time passes, they will present energy halos of different colors ranging from bright red to dark purple in your vision.]

[Through comprehensive and precise discrimination of the halo's "freshness" and "intensity", you can trace the time when the trace was formed back into the past, and its accuracy is directly related to your Mental Energy.]

[With your current mental attributes, the time error can be controlled within about one minute.]

The corners of Fang Cheng's mouth twitched slightly.

How did this art style feel a bit weird...

It didn't look like doing Cleaning, but rather like performing an autopsy.

Suppressing the sense of strangeness in his heart, he continued reading downwards.

[Active effect: When you concentrate your mind and touch a key trace marked by "Scavengers Eye" with your hand, you can trigger "Trace Back"]

[Ghost-like black-and-white afterimages will flash in your mind when the trace was formed, reconstructing the dynamic picture of that moment for you]

Fang Cheng's breathing paused slightly.

This had completely exceeded the scope of "Cleaning".

If the previous "Scavengers Eye" was just "discovery", giving him a pair of eyes surpassing a hound's sense of smell and a falcon's vision to quickly find "what's wrong".

Then the current "Trace Back" was the ultimate evolution from "discovery" to "analysis" and "restoration".

Fang Cheng quickly compared the old and new abilities in his mind.

Previously, through "Scavengers Eye", seeing a button left in the corner, the conclusion reached was:

"There is a button here."

While the current "Trace Back", the information given might be:

"This button was torn off from a male about 1.8 meters tall during a fierce struggle by the other party three hours ago, and rolled here."

This was simply the super reasoning ability only found in novels and movies, materialized by the panel in a more intuitive way.

Excitement flickered in Fang Cheng's eyes, just like a child getting a novel toy.

He then made a decision to personally test the power of this new ability.

Fang Cheng looked around his bedroom.

The room was not big, but it was kept in good order by his mother.

His gaze quickly locked onto the spot by the window next to the bed.

The oak flooring there had been decorated for just over a month, smooth and flat, with almost no visible wear.

But under the passive effect of "Scavengers Eye", Fang Cheng could clearly see that there were a few faint footprints remaining on that piece of flooring.

The edges of the outline, almost merging with the wood grain, were emitting a faint halo.

That was left when he came back from morning exercise today, walked out of the bathroom barefoot after taking a bath, and stood here gazing at the scenery outside the window.

Because his feet still carried a bit of moisture at the time, it left traces on the floor that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

This was it.

Fang Cheng walked to the trace, slowly squatted down, and extended his right index finger.

Then, concentrating his mind, he gently tapped on the outline of one of the clearest footprints.

The moment his fingertips touched the cold wooden floor, a peculiar energy resembling a weak electric current was transmitted from his fingertips to his brain.

In an instant, the scene before Fang Cheng's eyes did not change at all, but deep in his mind, a bizarre picture emerged out of thin air.

That was a silent, black-and-white three-dimensional image.

A translucent "ghost" outline composed of countless points of light, completely identical to his own physique, appeared on the floor.

He could clearly "see" this ghost outline walking from the direction of the bathroom, raising its foot with undried moisture, and stepping on the spot touched by his finger.

With this step, countless tiny water droplets splashed around, and the moment a complete footprint was left was perfectly reconstructed.

This ghost afterimage dissipated in less than a second, but the information impact brought by that instant made Fang Cheng's heartbeat quicken.

It really works!

Fang Cheng suppressed his excitement, stood up, and cast his gaze toward the neatly folded quilt on his bed.

His mother would enter his room every morning to clean and tidy it up once.

Taking advantage of the good weather today, she even carried the quilt outside to sun it.

Fang Cheng walked to the bed, his gaze patrolling across the bed.

Soon, in the vision of "Scavengers Eye", he found a few fingerprint traces also emitting halos remaining on the wrinkles at the edge of the quilt.

He extended his finger again, gently touching one of the clearest fingerprints.

"Trace Back!"

Another black-and-white movie-like image emerged.

This time, he "saw" a pair of female hands gently and skillfully pinching the corner of the quilt, exerting slight force to fold the quilt neatly in half.

He could even judge the direction and clever force his mother used at that time through the movement of the wrist in the afterimage.

As well as the time this happened, about two hours and eight minutes ago.

Fang Cheng slowly withdrew his finger, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath.

He finally understood completely that this panel didn't want him to take the ordinary path at all.

Incomparable case-solving and reconnaissance abilities...

The top-tier crime scene analysis expert...

Any elaborately woven disguise would be reduced to nothing in front of him...

It was clearly urging him to run wildly down the path of "stealth assassination" and "destroying corpses and erasing traces" all the way to the dark!

At this moment, Fang Cheng's understanding of the skill "Cleaning" was completely subverted.

He couldn't help thinking of an old saying: In every trade, there is a master.

Sure enough, no matter how ordinary the profession was, as long as skill experience was continuously accumulated and proficiency was polished to the apex, a qualitative change would occur, reaching a Realm difficult for ordinary people to attain.

And he, who possessed the panel, had even elevated the skill of Cleaning to another level that could be called a miracle.

Fang Cheng stood up and stared at his palms.

Perhaps he was now truly the overlord among cleaners and a Great Master among scavengers!

Just as he was immersed in this wonderful self-positioning, a sudden cell phone ringtone rang abruptly, interrupting his thoughts.

Fang Cheng turned his gaze to the bedside table, where the blue messenger bag he had bought two days ago was lying quietly.

He then walked over, unzipped it, and took out the incessantly vibrating phone from inside.

The name jumping on the screen was "Xiaosa".

Fang Cheng remembered that Xiaosa had contacted him yesterday.

But at that time, he was sweeping graves with his Family at Xishan Cemetery, and his phone was left in the car, so he didn't answer it.

Perhaps realizing that he, the guild leader, was busy, the other party didn't continue calling afterward.

Fang Cheng didn't care at the time.

After all, according to the agreement, if they encountered a truly urgent matter, Xiaosa would contact him directly through the mental connection.

Calling at this time point should be...

The thought flashed by; Fang Cheng swiped the screen and answered the call.

"Guild Leader."

Xiaosa's respectful voice came from the other end of the phone, mixed with a hint of relief.

Like a ship drifting in the dark for a long time, finally seeing the lighthouse guiding the way.

"It's me, speak."

Fang Cheng's voice was calm and waveless, yet it made Xiaosa's spirits lift, as if he instantly found a pillar of support, and all his confusion and unease settled down.

"Guild Leader, I encountered a very weird matter and wanted to report it to you."

He didn't beat around the bush and immediately got to the point:

"The night before yesterday, I had a dream that was unrealistically real. In the dream, I was trapped in a psychiatric hospital, and there was also a hotheaded guy whose name I didn't know with me."

"We seemed to be in a game; not only did we receive quests, but we also encountered many terrifying monsters, and in the end, we both died inside."

"I originally thought it was just a nightmare, but after waking up, some information inexplicably appeared in my head, saying something like 'nightmare trial failed', and that it would open again in seven days..."

His speaking speed was not fast, but he was clear and logical, pouring out his bizarre encounter that night.

Fang Cheng listened quietly without interrupting.

After Xiaosa finished speaking, Fang Cheng feigned pondering for a moment before slowly opening his mouth:

"That was not a dream. What you encountered was a Mental Secret Realm."

"A Mental Secret Realm?"

Hearing this, Xiaosa's tone could not help but be filled with confusion.

"Right, you can understand it as a special space between reality and illusion."

Fang Cheng's voice carried a kind of detachment that saw through everything:

"Those aristocratic families with a long Legacy are able to remain prosperous for a long time precisely because they hold the keys to enter such Secret Realms."

"Their Family descendants conduct trials inside, utilizing the immortal characteristic to challenge fatal dangers that cannot be faced in reality, thereby greatly sharpening their mental willpower and tempering combat skills."

"A-Ren, being able to encounter this can be considered a rare Opportunity; you must seize it well."

This half-true and half-false explanation was both to maintain his unfathomable image and out of a bit of mischievous intent.

He wanted to see to what extent his two subordinates, Xiaosa and Xu Hao, could grow under pressure.

"Yes, I understand."

Xiaosa's voice suddenly became solemn.

He recalled the secrets hidden on the backside of the world that were occasionally revealed when talking with the Guild Leader before.

Those high-and-mighty aristocratic families were able to build huge plutocrat Empires and firmly control the lifeline of the social economy.

Precisely because they possessed power beyond the secular world that ordinary people could hardly imagine.

It seemed that the existence of the "Mental Secret Realm" was just the tip of the iceberg of this power.

Now, he had actually touched the threshold of this mysterious Domain, which made Xiaosa feel both panic and irrepressible excitement in his heart.

"As for the matter of the Secret Realm, comprehend it more yourself."

Fang Cheng changed the subject, pulling the topic back on track, and asked:

"How are the conditions over at the Red Tiger Gang and Chen Chen?"

"Guild Leader, I was just preparing to report to you."

Xiaosa answered immediately:

"Ever since escaping from the Noah Building that night, that guy Chen Chen was truly scared quite a bit and fell sick as soon as he went back."

"Now the Noah Organization is wanted nationwide by the police, and he is terrified of being implicated, scattering money everywhere to pull strings and wipe his own backside clean."

"To dodge the limelight, he has already ordered all branches to contract their forces, and gang members must act low-key, even actively pulling out of several of the most lucrative territories in Jiangdong District."

"In Chen Chen's own words, this is called cutting off the tail to survive, enduring for the moment, and plotting for the future."

"Can Chen Chen still hold steady?"

Fang Cheng continued to ask.

"From the current perspective, apart from losing some venues and territories, the Red Tiger Gang's Origin Qi has not been damaged, and at least it hasn't affected the normal business of Yuanchen Group."

Xiaosa sorted out his thoughts, paused for a moment, remembered something, and added:

"Right, Guild Leader, there are some movements over at the Noah Organization. They seem to have found a backer recently."

"Oh, who?"

"I heard from Chen Chen that it seems someone from the Xiao Family went to the Dongdu Branch of the Noah Organization and met with that Station Chief surnamed Feng."

"The Xiao Family?"

Hearing this, Fang Cheng was slightly startled, and a trace of minute fluctuation appeared in his tone.